Ten Years Later, I Woke Up as the Wife of the Mafia Heir I Once Hated Chapter 02

Ten Years Later, I Woke Up as the Wife of the Mafia Heir I Once Hated Chapter 02

I wasn’t exaggerating.

Alex really did leave a mark on me. A deep one.

The first time I met him was at Sebastian Charleston’s birthday party.

That night, the whole Charleston estate was lit up like a palace. Every corner gleaming, every guest looking like they stepped out of a magazine.

As Seb’s girlfriend, I wanted to make a good impression on his family. Obviously. I’d picked out a gift way in advance, practiced my polite smile in the mirror, told myself to be graceful, composed, the whole deal.

But of course…

The second Alex laid eyes on me, his face just… dropped.

“Since when does the Charleston family let people of this caliber into our events?”

I froze.

Excuse me?

My caliber?

Okay, sure, the Whitmore name wasn’t as big as the Charlestons. But everyone knew we were still a respected family. We weren’t nobodies.

What kind of judgment was this? The guy literally took one look at me and decided I wasn’t good enough.

If it had been anyone else, I would’ve shot back immediately. No hesitation.

But this was Alexander Charleston.

Seb’s older brother.

The firstborn heir.

The guy everyone in the underworld whispered about like he was some kind of legend you didn’t want to cross.

Nobody challenged him. Nobody.

So I swallowed every ounce of pride I had and put on my best polite voice.

“Mr. Charleston, nice to meet you. I’m Elena Whitmore, Sebastian’s date.”

Alex didn’t even blink at my introduction. His expression stayed completely flat, like I was just another piece of furniture in the room.

He didn’t look at me again.

Instead, he curled his lip just slightly and turned to Seb standing beside me.

“Seb. Since when did you start lowering your standards?”

Seb’s face went red right away. He scrambled to defend me.

“Alex, Elena’s a good person. Really. If you just got to know her—”

“No need.”

Alex cut him off cold and clean.

He looked away, voice flat. “I got your gift. Go enjoy your party.”

Then he turned and walked off.

Didn’t even say happy birthday to his own brother.

Watching him leave, I realized for the first time that in Alex’s world, even Sebastian—his own blood—couldn’t change his mind.

And that was only the beginning.

Over time, I learned that when Alex Charleston decided you weren’t good enough, he didn’t need to do much. A few words from him were enough to make you question everything about yourself.

So yeah, I developed an instinctive fear of him.

Every time I ran into him at the Charleston estate after that—even just passing him in a hallway—my whole body would go stiff before I could stop it. I was always bracing myself for whatever humiliating thing might come out of his mouth next.

Back then, I used to worry about what would happen if Seb and I ever got married. Would Alex block it? Would he find some way to tear us apart? Because in that family, nobody could ignore his position.

But I never imagined…

I would somehow skip ten years entirely.

Open my eyes one day and already be Alexander Charleston’s wife.

With a five-year-old son.

Those impossible facts just kept circling in my head, over and over, like a broken record.

Before I knew it, I’d drifted off.

Half-asleep, half-dreaming…

I felt like someone was there with me.

Sitting by the bed. Watching me in silence.

I didn’t know how long they’d been there.

Then a hand brushed gently through my hair.

So careful. So tender. Like they were checking that something precious was still real.

Who was it…