Before My Mafia Husband Returned from the Dead, I Rejected the Proposal My Best Friend Arranged Chapter 04

Before My Mafia Husband Returned from the Dead, I Rejected the Proposal My Best Friend Arranged Chapter 04

Luca had really come back to life!

Everything the floating comments had said was true.

For the past three months, Vanessa and Ethan had been taking advantage of my trust in them, treating me

as if I’d never notice what they were doing.

My vision blurred. I was furious that they had deceived me together, and I could barely stand the thought that Luca might already believe their lies.

I immediately started toward him. I needed to explain everything to him myself.

“Serena!”

Ethan grabbed my hand and forced his fingers between mine.

To everyone watching, we looked exactly like a devoted husband and wife.

“I knew you’d come. You still love me.”

I looked straight into Luca’s eyes.

My teeth were chattering, but I didn’t have enough strength to pull free from Ethan.

“Ethan, let go of me. I never agreed to marry you…”

His fingers dug into my shoulder so hard it felt as if he might crush the bone, yet he kept smiling.

To anyone else, he looked like a gentle husband whispering something affectionate to his bride.

“Come on, behave. We’re getting married.”

He dragged me toward the stage, and I turned my head, desperate to look at Luca.

If he really had been following me this whole time, then he had to know I was being forced into this.

I didn’t want to die.

“Luca…”

But the moment I turned, Vanessa stepped in front of me and blocked my view.

“Have you lost your mind? Luca is dead. Your husband now is Ethan.”

With Ethan on one side and Vanessa on the other, they pulled me onto the stage.

Luca stood in the crowd, watching me in silence. His face was completely unreadable, and that silence made

me realize he might already believe everything Ethan and Vanessa had told him.

He didn’t believe me.

But after the performance Ethan and Vanessa had put on, why would he?

I didn’t want to die.

I clenched my teeth and used the last of my strength to shove Ethan and Vanessa away.

“I’m not marrying him!”

“Serena!” Vanessa snapped.

“Stop denying this relationship. You’re more than three months along already. Do you really want your child

to be born without a father?”

For a moment, I couldn’t even process what she’d said. A loud buzzing filled my ears as I stared at her,

making sure I hadn’t misheard.

“What are you talking about? I’m not expecting a child!”

Mrs. Reed sighed.

“Serena, how can you lie about something like this? I did your ultrasound yesterday. I still have the report.”

The ultrasound report appeared on the large screen.

Before I could say another word, the banquet hall erupted into whispers. Several members of the Moretti

extended family exchanged looks.

If I were proven to have betrayed my marriage while Luca was still alive, my claim to the trust and the

Family’s business interests could immediately be challenged.

“Luca’s only been dead three months, and she’s nearly four months along. Doesn’t that mean she was already

sneaking around with this guy while she was still with Luca?”

“How does she still have the nerve to keep taking distributions from Mr. Moretti’s trust and holding rights in

his businesses?”

“If Mr. Moretti knew, he would never let someone who broke her marriage vows remain on the Family rolls!”

The insults and accusations came at me from every direction.

I raised my voice, trying to defend myself. I kept pointing at my stomach and insisting that I wasn’t expecting

a child, but the accusations didn’t stop.

No one wanted to listen to me.

“Serena, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have disappointed you. But this has nothing to do with the child. Don’t hurt

yourself just to prove a point.”

Ethan dropped to his knees in front of me. His eyes were red and his voice shook as he spoke, making him

look like someone genuinely worried about his partner.

When I lowered my eyes and said nothing, my mother rushed over and slapped me across the face.

“Enough. The medical records are right there on the screen. How long are you going to keep denying it? All our relatives and friends are here today. Are you determined to humiliate the Bell family in front of everyone? You’ve already ruined your reputation. Other than Ethan, who do you think would still stand beside you?”

My cheek burned.

And suddenly, I understood that nothing I said would matter.

Vanessa wanted Luca to believe I’d betrayed him so he would kill me, leaving her free to become his next

wife.

Ethan loved Vanessa, so of course he would do whatever she asked.

My own mother resented me for refusing to use my trust distributions to pay my brother’s expenses, so she’d accepted 500,000 and sold my marriage, my reputation, and my inheritance rights along with it.

And Luca had watched his wife betray him with his own eyes.

They all wanted the same thing: for me to lose Luca, lose the protection of the Moretti Family, and lose any

chance to defend myself.

No one would believe me. No one cared.

Through the noise of everyone condemning me, Luca moved through the crowd wearing a mask and stopped

in front of me.

The floating comments, the dream, and that suffocating feeling all came rushing back.

I couldn’t stop myself from trembling.

“How could you not believe me? I thought you were dead. Ethan and I…”

Luca’s eyes were bloodshot, the red veins standing out starkly.

He raised a hand, the veins visible across the back of it, and brushed it over my cheek.

His voice was quiet when he spoke.

“Congratulations.”

Then his hand closed hard around my throat.

His jaw tightened, and there was nothing left in his eyes but hostility.

My breath cut off. I grabbed his wrist with both hands and forced out the words.

The moment I finished speaking, Ethan and Vanessa both went rigid, and the whispers around us stopped.