My Rival Bragged About Her Don Husband, But He Was My Secret Husband Chapter 10

My Rival Bragged About Her Don Husband, But He Was My Secret Husband Chapter 10

The Costanzo family’s internal succession was officially settled and announced: Ava Costanzo, sole legitimate heir, assuming full authority over all family operations.

The papers covered it. So did the television stations.

Jason told me: “Everyone in the chat saw it. Nobody said a word all day.”

Now they were scared.

That evening, Dylan posted one line: “So, those people at the wedding. They were real?” No one answered.

The people who’d laid hands on me at the wedding left the group chat one by one, like it had never happened.

Selena went silent.

I took my position as heir but still said nothing publicly about my marriage to Julian. That forced him to go to extreme lengths trying to win back my forgiveness.

In the days that followed, Casey and the others all found themselves mysteriously let go from their jobs, and even their parents couldn’t hold onto theirs.

Mr. Gray was terminated without notice and no school in the area would take him.

Dylan apparently got drunk, got into a fight, and broke his leg so badly it would never fully heal.

As for Selena: all I said to her was, “You were just Julian’s plaything. We were never in the same league,” and she lost her mind.

First, she called a handful of Julian’s business partners and whispered that the Moretti family was unstable, that the alliance might fall apart – suggested they “hold off” on renewals.

Dogs eating dogs – always entertaining.

Then she found someone to make an introduction to the Benedetto family on the East Coast, a small crew with an old grievance against us. She offered Julian’s internal company financials in exchange for help spreading more damage to my reputation.

The Benedetto head called me personally that same night.

“A woman brought me something from the Moretti family. We’ve had our differences with you, But this kind of move isn’t something I do.”

“Thank you.”

I put down the phone and had the story out by morning. The Benedettos were the first to put out a public statement: no connection to “that woman,” no knowledge of any information she’d provided. The other contacts Selena had approached didn’t bother with statements. They just blocked her.

I went to find Selena myself.

She was held down on the floor, just like I’d been that day.

I had them break her joints. One by one.

“Ahh – please – I know I was wrong – let me go – I’ll never go after you again-”

She’d burned my pendant. She’d pay back in bone. Too bad she didn’t have the same spine I did.

I crouched down and patted her pale face.

“You are wrong. That garbage was never something I wanted.”

Julian didn’t touch Selena himself, not until she’d recovered. Then he showed up at her apartment with his men and spent a night making sure she understood her mistake. He left her in the street at dawn with nothing on her.

Selena broke.

Julian paid off her family and had her committed to a psychiatric hospital.. He came to find me after it was all done.

“Ava, everything’s been handled. Are you satisfied?”

I smiled slightly.

“I never asked you to do anything.”

“Our marriage is over. The divorce agreement will come to you through my lawyers.”

His face drained.

He knew his only value to the family was being married to me.

“Nono – I know I was wrong – you can punish me however you want

I pulled my hand away from him.

“Stop following me. We end the marriage – the business relationship can continue. But if you push this, I can’t guarantee anything.”

Julian signed.

The day after the divorce was finalized, I had Sandro notify the Moretti family: the freight line partnership was terminated. Costanzo-controlled docks were closed to Moretti vessels.

At the same time, I made contact with the Corsello family, the Morettis’ biggest rival.

A week later, we signed a docking agreement.

The day news got out, three Moretti-linked companies dropped thirty-two percent. Julian called nonstop, frantic. I didn’t pick up.

He drove to the estate and shouted my name through the iron gate until his voice gave out. “Ava! Come out! You tricked me!”

I stood at the second-floor window and watched. I didn’t go downstairs.

He was willing to deceive me. He should have been prepared for what came next.

He finally left dispirited.

Word reached me that night: he and his mother had been thrown out of the Moretti family house together. I imagine they were furious at themselves for handing a fool like that to us.

A year later, the Costanzo family had nearly doubled its reach.

The Moretti family, cut off from the alliance, had spent that year closing two casinos and selling off a dock. They were barely holding together, being carved up piece by piece.

One winter evening, stopped at a red light, I happened to look out the window.

Two figures crouched at the roadside, wrapped in worn coats, a bowl on the ground in front of them. Margaret and Julian. The smell coming off them seemed to reach the car.

Parasites. That was all they had ever been capable of being.

I reached into my pocket, found a coin, rolled down the window, and flicked it out.

Julian looked up and his expression cracked open with something like hope. “Ava – it’s you-”

Still like a stray dog that had just spotted scraps.

The light turned green.

I rolled the window up.

I didn’t look back. I didn’t think our paths would ever cross again.