The Girl Who Was His Replacement for Nine Years Finally Left Him Chapter 10

The Girl Who Was His Replacement for Nine Years Finally Left Him Chapter 10

Matteo’s breath caught.

He stared at me, disbelief and pain written all over his face.

“You really don’t want to see me?”

I finally stopped what I was doing and looked up.

My expression was blank. My eyes were as still as dead water.

“Don Matteo, you’re mistaken. We’re strangers. It’s not a matter of whether I want to see you or

not. I’m simply closing for the night. I have to go home and get some rest.”

The unfamiliar look in my eyes hit Matteo like a fist to the chest.

He could barely breathe.

The Blair he remembered had always looked at him with light in her eyes. Her gaze had once shone

like stars whenever she looked at him.

But that light was gone now.

When she looked at him, there was no difference between him and some stranger walking down the

street.

“Blair, I know I was wrong.”

There was a slight tremor in Matteo’s voice.

He had never lowered his head to anyone in his entire life.

He had certainly never apologized like this, with nothing left of his pride.

But standing in front of me, every ounce of arrogance and authority he’d once carried had been

shattered.

“I found out everything,” he said, his voice catching. “Chloe lied to me. She staged everything.”

“The nude photos were arranged by her. She planned the fall into the ocean. The rabbit incident years ago, and the time she had you locked in the punishment room. All of it was her doing.”

“I was an idiot. I was blind. She deceived me for nine years, and I let her. I was the one who failed

you.”

He rushed through the words as though he was afraid that if he spoke too slowly, I’d turn around and walk away.

“I already dealt with Chloe. She’ll never show up in front of you again. Blair, please come home with

me. Come back to Ironport. Come back to me.”
‘ll listen to you from now on. Whatever you want, you can have it. Everything the Moretti family

owns is yours. I’ll never let anyone hurt you again.”

As he spoke, he reached out to touch my face.

I instinctively stepped back and avoided his hand.

Matteo’s hand froze in midair.

The color slowly drained from his face.

I looked at him and suddenly laughed.

It was a quiet laugh, edged with mockery.

“Don Matteo, you’ve got it wrong. My name isn’t Blair Valenti. It’s Renee Blair. Blair Valenti died the day she went into the ocean.”

The moment I mentioned what had happened, Matteo’s face went white.

It was the one thing he regretted most in his life.

How had he ever been able to say those words?

Don’t save her. Let her die.

How had he been able to stand there and watch Blair fall?

“Blair, I know you hate me.” His voice was thick with emotion. “You can hit me. You can curse me out. Punish me however you want. I’ll take it. Just don’t shut me out. Please.”

The man who ruled Ironport with an iron fist, the unquestioned head of the Moretti family, now stood helplessly in front of me like a child who had finally realized he’d made an unforgivable

/ mistake.

Nine years ago, if he’d shown me even a little tenderness, I would have been so happy I couldn’t have slept.

Now, all I felt was amusement.

“Matteo, what makes you think I’d still be waiting for you?”

I leaned against the counter and folded my arms, my voice as casual as if we were talking about the

weather.

“You protected Chloe for eight and a half years and spent those same eight and a half years hurting me. I endured every punishment the family rules demanded. I swallowed every humiliation. I cried

more tears than I can count.”

“None of that disappears just because you say, ‘I was wrong.“”

“Nine years ago, when I married you with my whole heart, you didn’t appreciate me. When I gave you everything I had, you didn’t even see it. When people hurt me and I begged you to step in, you threw me into the punishment room instead.”

“At the abandoned docks, you chose Chloe. You stood there and watched me fall.”

“Did you ever think about today?”

“Now you finally realize you were wrong, and you want me to come back. Why? Because you hurt me badly enough? Or because you waited long enough to regret it?”

I spoke softly, one sentence at a time.

But every word cut into Matteo like a dull blade.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something.

Nothing came out.

Because everything I’d said was true.

He had been the one to push away the woman who loved him.

He had been the one to burn every bridge behind him.

“I know nothing I say now can fix this.”

Matteo closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, there was a stubborn determination in his gaze, the kind that came from having nothing left to lose.

“But I won’t give up.”

“You don’t have to come back with me. That’s okay. I’ll stay here with you.”

“I’ll wait one day for every day you refuse to forgive me. If it takes a year, I’ll wait a year. If it takes the rest of my life, I’ll wait for the rest of my life.”

I raised an eyebrow, completely unmoved..

“Do whatever you want. That’s your choice. But don’t interfere with my business, and don’t get in

my way.”

I finished speaking, walked around the counter, picked up my bag, and headed straight out of the

shop.

When I locked the door, Matteo was standing beside me, watching quietly.

I ignored him.

Once the door was locked, I started walking home.

He followed behind me, keeping a careful distance.

Like a silent shadow.

I kept walking at the same steady pace, without a single ripple of emotion in my heart.

If he wanted to wait, let him wait.

It had nothing to do with me.