My Runaway Groom Came Back I Became His Aunt! novel Chapter 11

Chapter 4

Standing against the light, Dominic’s outline was blurred and indistinct.

I was released from the basement, and the wedding was arranged in a rush.

The night before the ceremony, my mother spoke casually in the living room.

“Since you’ve come to your senses, prepare yourself properly. Rhea has been emotional lately. Make your peace with Rhea. It’s for the best.”

his or the

Vincent tapped his cigar, the falling ash a silent countdown to my relevance. “Amelia, behave. The Ravello family is still willing to let you retain some dignity.”

I wanted to laugh, but I no longer had the strength to move a single muscle in my face.

Those weeks of confinement and torment had drained every trace of life out of me. When I remained silent, Vincent’s tone hardened.

“The deal is already done. You get to marry him. What more do you want?”

“If you really want to talk about fairness, you’ve been living on borrowed time and stolen pearls. All of it belonged to Rhea.”

“If you keep acting out, the Ravello family won’t keep you, and I won’t protect you.”

I stayed quiet for a long while before finally asking, “What deal did you make?”

“A very profitable one,” Vincent said, puffing on his cigar with satisfaction.

“Tell me.”

ן

“He agreed to marry you. In exchange, I’d take the Don’s position, and I would make sure he became the mayor of our city.”

“A perfect deal, isn’t it? You even get to become the mayor’s wife. Wonderful outcome.”

I felt myself plunge into an icy void.

The absurdity of it all was so overwhelming I couldn’t form a single coherent sentence.

Rhea, safely tucked between them, broke the silence.

“Amelia, I want your cheesecake again. The one you used to make just for Dominic.”

Cheesecake. The memory struck like a blade.

That cake was the one I baked the night Dominic’s father was sentenced, when he lay feverish and half-conscious.

I stayed beside him the entire night, baking batch after batch until dawn. It had become something sacred, Chapter 4

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something only we shared.

Dominic once pressed me against the kitchen counter, hands marking me with a possessiveness, making me swear I would never make that cheesecake for anyone else.

Now it had become a tool he used to please another woman. And I had become nothing more than a pawn in his climb to power.

A bitter laugh tore out of me. Years of hatred surged like a breached dam.

“A perfect deal? What do you think I am?”

I grabbed the steaming coffee pot and threw it at Rhea’s feet. The glass exploded, hot liquid splashing across

her calves.

She screamed and dove into my mother’s and Vincent’s arms, and Dominic slapped me across the face.

“Hopeless. What did you expect? This isn’t a fairy tale. It’s business. It’s power. Don’t be naive. Wake the fuck

up.”

11

“If I marry you, what then? Are you going to offer me to another man if it benefits your career?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” His voice was frigid, devoid of warmth. To him, I wasn’t even a person. I was inventory.

I snatched a vase and charged at him. He struck me again, harder.

In the end, they sent me to a psychiatric hospital for “intentional harm” and “posing a threat due to mental instability.”

The signatures on the commitment papers belonged to Dominic and my own brother, Vincent.

Meanwhile, Rhea walked down the aisle in a custom-made wedding gown.

While I lay strapped to a bed, enduring forced treatment, they consummated their marriage on what should have been my wedding bed.

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