The Frame-Up He Believed Chapter 08

The Frame-Up He Believed Chapter 08

“Ela-”

He charged at me, arms open.

Alexander stepped in front of me.

“Castellano. What do you think you’re doing with my fiancée?”

Dominic’s head snapped toward him. His fist slammed into Alexander’s face.

“Elena is my wife. Who the hell are you?!”

I slapped Dominic across the face.

“Who said you could hit him?”

Dominic froze.

I slapped him again-backhanded.

“We already signed the divorce papers. Who are you performing for?”

Dominic’s eyes filled with pain as he watched me shield Alexander

“Baby-you-”

I hit him a third time.

“Don’t call me that.”

“We’re divorced!”

His eyes were pleading. Desperate. Almost pathetic.

“Ela, I know. The baby-that was my fault. But I had no idea Irina was messing with my phone-you can’t just sentence me to death like this! It’s not fair!”

“Irina and I aren’t what you think-”

I didn’t want to hear it.

I looked him dead in the eye.

“You still cheated.”

“Dominic, I don’t care who you love anymore. It doesn’t matter.”

“We’re over. I don’t love you anymore. Do you understand?”

“When the waiting period’s up, we’ll get the final judgment. After that, I never want to see you

again.”

Dominic sucked in a breath. His face went white as death.

It was like all the air had been knocked out of him. Every breath felt like a knife.

“No-Ela. Please forgive me.’

His voice started shaking.

“It was my mother. She kept pushing for an heir-you know how it is with my father’s bastards, I had no choice-”

I was done with excuses.

“Are you finished?”

“Leave me alone.”

My coldness cut right through him. He clutched his chest, gasping for air like he was drowning.

I hadn’t seen him this pathetic since before he was claimed by the Castellanos.

Someone squeezed my hand. I looked up. Alexander was staring down at me, barely hiding his

nerves.

“Are you going back?”

I squeezed his hand back.

“Never.”

I didn’t bother looking at Dominic’s face. I pulled Alexander and walked away.

But Dominic wouldn’t give up.

He camped outside my new place every day. Every time I stepped out, he was there.

He dragged his feet. Refused to sign the final papers.

The waiting period was over. The family elders had sent three reminders. But he held on.

I had no choice. I made the family lawyer start the forced process.

Dominic never thought I’d go that far.

“Ela. You really have to take it this far?”

I laughed.

“See? Even now, you still think I’m just throwing a tantrum.”

“I’m not. I moved on a long time ago. When I see you now, it’s like seeing a stranger on the street.

want to end this. For good.”

Dominic had always trusted my love too much. .

I’d been with him when he was nothing-just some street punk from Brooklyn, and I didn’t care

what anyone thought.

He’d cheated on me so many times, and I never really left.

He thought I never would.

He just refused to believe that I’d stopped loving him.

He looked at me—one long look. And in that moment, the light in his eyes went out.

“Is this what you want?”

I nodded.

I didn’t have another word in me.

Three days later, he signed.

The moment the papers were done, the Castellano Consigliere handed me the file.

Dominic stood across the table. His lips moved, but nothing came out.

After I got the divorce decree, I found out what happened in those few days.

Dominic didn’t let his rage rot inside him. He threw all of it at the people he’d once protected.

He hated his father for all those bastards. Hated his mother for pushing him. Hated Irina.

He purged the Castellano family at a speed no one expected. Kicked his own father out of the inner

circle.

He had Irina’s baby terminated. Made her kneel in the rain at our unborn child’s grave..

Irina knelt there, shaking. Scared for her life, she let something slip.

Dominic found out-Irina had been planted by Gianna from the start. His mother had pulled the

strings, brought her in from the Russian syndicate.

The one who’d drugged him that night? Also Gianna.

Dominic found everything. Said nothing.

He did one thing.

He sent three young women to his father. Then had the photos and addresses delivered to Gianna’s hospital room.

The day Gianna saw those pictures, her blood pressure spiked. She was rushed to the ICU.

Dominic never went to see her again.

A week later, I got a package at the Moretti estate.

Inside was a backup of all Castellano intel on the Russian syndicate. And a letter.

One line.

“I’m sorry. The password is the date you saved me that year.

I folded the letter. Put it in a drawer.

No reply.

The day after the divorce was final, Alexander’s car pulled up outside the Manhattan courthouse.

Dominic walked out, suit sharp, but hollow.

He saw me. Stopped.

Then his gaze landed on Alexander. There was hate in it. Bitterness. And something else.

“Alexander Volkov.”

Dominic’s voice was rough as sandpaper.

“You’re the Moretti Don now. You knew who she was from the start.”

Alexander didn’t deny it.

“The day after your wedding, I came to see you. Remember?”

I blinked.

I didn’t know about this.

Dominic’s eyes went dark.

Alexander spoke again. His voice was calm.

“I told you that day-if you ever made her unhappy, I would take her away.”

“And you said that would never happen.”

“That day, you meant it. So did I.”

Dominic stood there. Motionless.

A long time passed. Then he twitched a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. His voice was barely a

whisper.

“How did I end up here?”

Alexander didn’t answer. He opened the car door for me.

I looked back at Dominic one last time.

Through the window, I saw him still standing there. The Manhattan sunset stretched his shadow long across the ground-like a man who had nothing left.

The car pulled away.

I rested my head on Alexander’s shoulder.

The wrong people drift apart.

The right ones always find their way back.