The Girl Who Was His Replacement for Nine Years Finally Left Him Chapter 03

The Girl Who Was His Replacement for Nine Years Finally Left Him Chapter 03

Once I was back in the bedroom, I started packing.

After nine years, there was surprisingly little in this sprawling mansion that actually belonged to me. Everything I owned fit into a single suitcase.

I was almost finished when the noise downstairs gradually died down, replaced by the sound of a woman crying and the hurried shuffle of footsteps.

The next second, my bedroom door was kicked open.

My pupils contracted.

Valenti family enforcers.

Before I could say a word, a vicious backhand came flying across my face.

The blow left my head spinning. I crashed hard onto the floor, only to have someone grab me by the hair and drag me downstairs.

Matteo was murmuring softly to Chloe. When he saw me being dragged down like a dead weight, his hand resting on the arm of the couch paused for half a second.

Franco Valenti’s face was livid.

“I thought six months in the family punishment room would have taught you some discipline. I never imagined you’d still have the nerve to break the rules! Blair Valenti, do you really think the Valenti family rules don’t apply to you?”

I stared at him in confusion.

“Uncle Franco, I didn’t. Ever since I got out of the punishment room, I haven’t broken a single rule…”

I didn’t even get to finish before Matteo cut me off.

“See for yourself. What else is there to say?”

With that, he slammed a tablet onto the floor in front of me.

Displayed across the screen were trending posts from gossip sites and dark web forums. The photos from the living room were impossible to mistake.

Matteo’s face had been blurred.

Chloe’s face was crystal clear, completely exposed.

“There are only three people in this house,” Matteo said with a cold smirk. “If you didn’t post them, then who did? Me?”

Chloe’s eyes were swollen and red from crying. She sniffled as she said, “Blair, even if you hate me, you can’t post something like that. How am I supposed to show my face in public now?”

One look at the provocation hidden beneath her tearful expression, and I understood everything.

“I know neither of you believes me,” I said calmly. “But I didn’t do this. I’m not taking the blame for it.”

“You think I’m stupid?”

Matteo rubbed his temples, his patience clearly wearing thin. His fingers tapped irritably against the coffee table.

Franco caught the look he gave him.

A vicious glint flashed through his eyes.

He raised the heavy-duty leather baton with its metal weight and brought it down across my back.

A muffled groan escaped my throat as the metallic taste of blood flooded my mouth.

The baton came down again and again.

Every strike tore through my back like it was trying to rip the flesh clean off my bones.

My vision blurred. The voices around me grew more distant with every passing second.

Somewhere in the haze, I remembered Matteo nine years ago.

The warmth in his eyes.

The smile on his face.

Back then, he had promised me with absolute certainty that he would spend the rest of his life protecting me and giving me a safe, peaceful home.

Just before my consciousness finally slipped away, one image burned itself into my mind.

Matteo was soothing Chloe in his arms.

When he looked at me, he was standing above me like I was beneath him.

There wasn’t a trace of warmth in his eyes.

He simply watched as I was punished.

This was my husband.

The man I had loved with everything I had for nine years.

The punishment finally ended when the first pale light of dawn began creeping across the sky.

A few men in black suits walked into the room.

Matteo lit a cigar and spoke as casually as if we were discussing the weather.

“Those photos caused too much trouble online. Chloe is so humiliated she doesn’t even dare leave the house. We need something bigger to bury the story and kill the buzz. Blair, this mess started because of you, so you’re going to take the fall.”

He paused.

“Besides…”

He blew a ring of smoke toward my face.

“You have the Moretti family and the Valenti family behind you. No matter what happens, you’ll have access to your trust fund. You’ll never have to worry about surviving. Chloe is different. She has no family, no backing, no one to protect her.”

Something inside me finally snapped.

I thrashed against them and screamed like a madwoman.

“I told you I didn’t post those pictures! Matteo, you can’t do this to me!”

But after being tortured all night, I barely had enough strength to move.

The bodyguards swarmed me.

They tore apart what little remained of my clothes, exposing my battered, bruised body to everyone in the room.

Tears silently fell onto the floor.

I slowly closed my eyes.

I had loved this man for nine years.

I had endured countless beatings and family punishments for him.

And this was how it ended.

Humiliated. Broken. Abandoned.

I couldn’t remember how I ended up at the hospital.

When I opened my eyes again, all I saw was the stark white ceiling above me.

Matteo stood by the window with a cigar between his teeth.

His voice was lazy and indifferent.

“Blair, you’re so damn fragile, and you’re scared of everything, yet you keep pulling these pathetic little stunts behind my back. What was the point? You always end up paying the price yourself.”

My hand froze around the water glass.

My throat was raw.

“I didn’t post those pictures.”

“Enough. Do you think I don’t know what you’re like?”

His voice dripped with contempt.

“You’ve already been punished. You’ve already been humiliated. I’m not going to do anything else to you. Are you really going to die if you admit it?”

I pulled the corner of my mouth into a bitter smile and stopped defending myself.

Then his phone rang.

It was Chloe.

“What is it… You want something to eat? Wait for me at home… Don’t move. I’ll come back and make it for you…”

His tone was still lazy and casual, but the tenderness in his voice was something I had never received from him.

It was as if he were speaking to an entirely different person.

The moment the call ended, he didn’t even spare me another glance.

He turned and walked out.

I stared at the empty doorway.

My heart felt like a soaked piece of cotton, heavy and suffocating inside my chest.

He was going to cook?

In nine years of marriage, even when we had been at our happiest, Matteo had never cooked a single meal for me.

And now, the newly crowned Godfather of the Moretti family, a man whose hands had been stained with blood and who had probably never touched a spatula in his life, was willing to cook for another woman.

I checked myself out of the hospital alone and took a cab back to the mansion.

The moment I opened the door, I saw Matteo standing at the stove in an apron, busy cooking while Chloe stood beside him on tiptoe, laughing and playing around.

They looked like a happily married couple.

If this had happened before, I would have lost my mind.

I would have stormed into the kitchen and torn the whole place apart.

But not anymore.

In two days, I would be gone for good.

I had only come back for my luggage. This house would have a new mistress soon. There was no reason for me to stay somewhere I was no longer wanted.

I was carrying my suitcase downstairs when I found Matteo and Chloe sitting together at the dining table.

His eyes fell on my luggage.

The corner of his mouth lifted.

“What, running away from home again?”

I smiled.

“Yeah.”

He gave a mocking laugh.

“Fine. We have the family dinner tomorrow. Attend that, then leave.”

“Okay.”

With that, I picked up my suitcase and walked straight out of the mansion in front of both of them.