The Girl Who Was His Replacement for Nine Years Finally Left Him Chapter 09

The Girl Who Was His Replacement for Nine Years Finally Left Him Chapter 09

I forced myself to stay calm, keeping my expression completely neutral.

I shook my head and answered evenly, without a hint of emotion. “No. I’ve never heard that name

before.”

The man frowned and studied me more carefully.

Apparently, he thought I looked nothing like the woman they were searching for.

The Blair Valenti they were looking for was a meek, submissive woman, the wife of the Moretti family’s boss, with fear always lurking in her eyes.

The woman standing in front of them now was completely different.

I wore a simple cotton blouse, my hair pulled into a low ponytail. There was a little coconut on my hands, and my eyes were clear and open.

We might as well have been two different people.

They asked me a few more questions, and I managed to answer every one without giving anything

away.

Luckily, Mrs. Bruno came in from outside just then. She immediately started complaining in the local dialect, grumbling that they were blocking her customers and getting in the way of her

business.

Seeing that, the men stopped questioning me.

“Sorry to bother you.”

They turned and left.

I watched them disappear around the corner before my tense shoulders finally began to relax.

My palms were covered in cold sweat. I almost lost my grip on the spoon in my hand.

Mrs. Bruno noticed how pale I looked and asked worriedly, “What happened?”

I forced a smile. “Nothing. They just scared me a little.”

Mrs. Bruno patted my hand and told me not to worry. The neighborhood was safe, she said. People

with bad intentions knew better than to cause trouble around here.

I nodded, but I knew better.

If Matteo had managed to track me down this far, he wasn’t going to give up easily.

Those men had only been the first wave.

It wouldn’t be long before Matteo came himself.

After closing that night, I sat alone in the empty shop for a long time.

I had thought I’d gotten far enough away.

I had thought that changing my name and starting over somewhere new would finally let me cu

ties with my past for good.

But apparently, I had been wrong.

Some people and some things were like a sickness that refused to go away. You could run from

them, but eventually, they’d find you.

For a moment, I considered leaving town that very night.

But then I looked around the shop.

I looked at everything I’d built piece by piece. The wallpaper I’d put up with my own hands. The

dishes I’d carefully picked out one by one for the display case.

I couldn’t bring myself to leave.

Why should I?

I hadn’t done anything wrong.

Why should Matteo get to show up whenever he wanted and disrupt my life whenever he pleased?

Why should I be the one running away?

This little town was my home now. This shop was something I’d poured my heart into.

Why should I leave?

The moment I came to that decision, I suddenly wasn’t afraid anymore.

Fine. Let him come.

I wasn’t the same Blair he had once been able to control.

If he came to talk reasonably, I’d tell him exactly how things stood between us. Then we’d go our

separate ways for good.

If he tried anything, I’d call the police.

This was a country governed by laws. I refused to believe Matteo could throw his weight around here the way he had in Ironport.

m not running anymore.”

I whispered the words to the empty shop.

My gaze was steady. There wasn’t a trace of hesitation in my eyes.

Three days later, just as I was getting ready to close for the evening, a familiar figure appeared in the doorway.

The man wore a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms. He was still tall and

broad–shouldered, with sharp, deep–set features.

But he was much thinner than I remembered.

His jawline looked almost carved from stone.

There were red veins in his eyes, and dark stubble shadowed his chin. The arrogant, careless air of

old–money privilege he once carried was gone.

It was Matteo.

He stood in the doorway, his eyes fixed directly on me.

He looked like a man who had spent years searching for something, only to finally find the

obsession he could never let go of.

The moment our eyes met, the entire room seemed to go still.

My hand paused around the cleaning cloth.

Then I continued wiping down the counter as if I hadn’t seen him.

Matteo stepped inside.

He moved slowly, as though he was afraid of startling me, or perhaps because he still couldn’t believe the woman standing before him was really me.

He stopped in front of the counter.

When he finally spoke, his voice was so hoarse it sounded scraped raw.

“Blair.”

I didn’t stop wiping the counter. I didn’t even look up.

“Sir, we’re closed. If you’re here for dessert, come back tomorrow.”