He Chose Another Heir, Now He Wants Me Back novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: What He Said to the Families

The old hall of the Families smelled of wax and cold stone.

I had last stood in it at eighteen, with a ring on my finger and a white ribbon in my hair.

Now two rows of benches faced each other under the painted ceiling, and a hundred people sat on them in black.

Alessio walked in beside me with his bandaged hand in his pocket.

Ruggero already waited at the center table with the green registry book open in front of him.

Livia sat on his left in her plain black dress.

She had left Nico at home, and she did not look at me.

An old man with a white beard struck the table with his stick.

"The Families are met," he said. "Ruggero Bellandi has a question for the Don."

Ruggero stood and folded his hands.

"Nephew," he said. "Before this hall, I ask you plainly. Two women answer to the name Signora Bellandi in this city. One is in my registry as the mother of your heir. The other you called your wife in a hospital room, in front of two witnesses."

A hundred heads turned toward us.

"Which of them is it?"

My throat went dry.

I had told myself I would stand and say nothing.

Alessio stepped forward and took his hand out of his pocket.

"There is one woman I call my bride," he said, and his voice filled the hall. "She is Serena Albani. She has been my bride since the winter ball when she was eighteen."

"She left you," said a woman on the benches.

"She did."

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