The Seat Beside The Mafia Heir Chapter 10

The Seat Beside The Mafia Heir Chapter 10

Our marriage was quieter than I’d expected.

Quiet in a mafia sense.

At breakfast, he’d pour my coffee while taking reports on port disputes from a capo.

I’d be trying to get the baby to sleep in the living room while he dealt with disciplining a made man in the next room.

He never put me in direct danger.

But he never treated me like I was too fragile to understand what was happening.

He told me what was going on. He asked my opinion.

The first time I gave input, his consigliere visibly hesitated.

Lorenzo just looked at him.

“She’s my wife. If she’s at this table, she doesn’t need permission.”

That’s when I understood what a real place at the table meant.

It wasn’t about what people called you.

It was about someone pulling out the chair for you.

Donna Isabella was kind to me.

She visited often and had tea with me.

One afternoon, watching the baby sleep, she said, “You’re luckier than

I was.”

I looked at her.

She smiled.

“You married into Valenti. But Valenti didn’t swallow you whole.”

I understood.

When she married Vittorio, she gave him the Greco resources and trust.

He treated them like trophies.

Lorenzo was different.

When he took over Valenti Holdings, the first thing he did was transfer Isabella’s assets back to her.

He said it wasn’t charity. It was returning what was owed.

Nina heard about it and slammed the table.

“That man’s a keeper. Mafia or not, at least he knows how to pay debts.”

I said, “Can you compliment someone without making it sound like a verdict?”

She rolled her eyes.

“I didn’t make him get on his knees. That’s generous of me.”

Luca sat next to her quietly.

“I think Lorenzo is scary.”

Nina looked at him.

“What’s he going to do to you? You didn’t steal Gia’s fiancé.”

Luca went silent.

I laughed so hard I nearly choked.

That was our life now.

I thought about who I used to be sometimes.

The girl who waited seven years for Matteo’s “someday.”

She wasn’t stupid. She just believed in promises too much.

But promises are cheap.

What’s rare is someone who puts his name, his power, and his future in front of you and means it.

Lorenzo did.

When the baby turned one month old, Valenti Estate held a small family dinner.

“Small” by Valenti standards still meant half the room was full.

Core family members. Greco old guard. Representatives from partner families.

I wore a black dress and held the baby beside Lorenzo.

People called me Signora Valenti.

It felt strange at first.

Lorenzo asked quietly, “Don’t like it?”

I shook my head.

“Just thinking how strange life is.”

Three months ago, I was packing my bags in Matteo’s penthouse.

Now I was standing in Valenti Estate’s main hall, wearing their name.

Lorenzo smiled slightly.

“You adapted fast.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“I crashed Serena’s dinner the first time we met.”

“I remember.”

His voice dropped.

“I thought, that woman’s no guest.”

I asked, “Then what is she?”

Lorenzo took my hand.

“She’s the one at the head of the table.”

After dinner, Nina held the baby and wouldn’t let go.

She stared at Lorenzo and me for a long time, then sighed.

“Serena stole your fiancé and sent you into the Valenti Family. I guess

she did one thing right.”

I said, “Don’t jinx it.”

Nina laughed loudly.

I looked out the window.

Night had settled over Palermo. The lights at Valenti Estate burned steadily.

Lorenzo came up behind me and draped his coat over my shoulders.

“Cold?”

“I’m okay.”

He stood behind me, his hand resting on my waist.

In the distance, people were talking business. Guards patrolled the gates.

It was a dangerous world.

I wasn’t afraid.

Because I hadn’t been brought here as a trophy.

I walked in on my own.

I used to think seven years of love was worth waiting for.

Now I know the right person doesn’t leave you standing outside.

He opens the door. He reaches for you. And he tells everyone else:

She sits beside me.

I looked back at Lorenzo.

“When do we start the love part?”

He kissed my forehead.

“Whenever you’re ready.”

I thought about it.

“Then now.”

Lorenzo smiled.

His eyes caught the light, and for once, the cold Valenti heir looked warm.

And I thought Nina wasn’t wrong.

Serena stole my fiancé.

But I took the world she could never enter.

Fair enough.