My Boyfriend Had a Wife Before Me Chapter 03
The smile on my face froze.
But the tears I had been forcing myself to hold back finally
spilled over.
Yes.”
I shouldn’t have come.”
“I shouldn’t have disturbed the peaceful life of your family.”
“After all… I was the one who didn’t belong.”
Cassian’s expression darkened immediately.
His brows drew together, and his voice turned cold.
Arabella.”
“What exactly are you trying to do?”
Knock it off, give me a break!”
Aralyn quickly stepped forward and wrapped her fingers
around Cassian’s arm. ]
Cassian…”
She probably misunderstood.”
“Let me explain everything to Miss Sterling.”
“I wasn’t talking to you!”
I looked at Aralyn.
My voice was colder than I felt.
Aralyn’s eyes instantly filled with tears.
She lowered her gaze, looking like she had been hurt but was
too gentle to fight back.
The little boy in her arms noticed her expression.
He struggled out of her embrace and landed on the floor.
Then he ran toward me with his tiny steps.
“You’re mean!”
Don’t hurt my mommy!”
Before I could react, he kicked my leg.
Then he reached out and tried to push me.
But his small body couldn’t keep its balance.
He fell backward onto the floor.
The next second, his cries filled the room.
“Ah!”
Aralyn immediately rushed over.
She pulled the child into her arms and held him tightly.
Then she looked at me.
Tears were already rolling down her cheeks.
“Miss Sterling!”
“If you have a problem with me, come to me.”
“Don’t take it out on a child.”
“How could you do something like this?”
Cassian’s face changed instantly.
He crossed the room in a few steps.
The next second, his hand struck me across the face.
The sharp pain made my head turn to the side.
Before I could recover, his foot hit my stomach.
I collapsed onto the floor.
He didn’t even look at me.
His only concern was protecting Aralyn and the child in his arms.
His eyes turned colder than ice.
“Arabella.”
“He’s my son!”
“You touched my son?”
“Have you completely lost your mind?”
I curled up on the floor, clutching my stomach where he had kicked me.
The pain was unbearable.
But the pain in my heart was worse.
I looked at the man standing in front of me.
The man who once held my hand through the darkest days
of his life. The man who was now protecting another woman and her
child from me.
It felt almost ridiculous.
Almost impossible to believe.
Back then, when the Moretti Family was falling apart…
When rival Mafia Families tore apart our territory and
everyone who had once sworn loyalty abandoned us…
Aralyn was the first person to betray Cassian.
She was supposed to become his Mafia bride.
But the moment the Moretti Family lost power, she
destroyed their engagement.
She took what she could and left.
Then she used her beauty and married into another powerful
Mafia Family.
Not only did she abandon Cassian…
She joined forces with them and helped push the Moretti
Family toward ruin.
And me….
I was the one who stayed.
gave up my future.
I left my family.
followed Cassian to Geneva when he had nothing left.
We lived in a basement apartment.
We ate whatever we could afford.
Sometimes, that meant cold baked potatoes left from the
night before.
I stayed beside him when no one else believed in him.
I watched him rebuild the Moretti Family from nothing.
Step by step.
Blood debt by blood debt.
Until he stood at the top again.
But after everything I had given him…
After five years of loyalty and sacrifice.
I still couldn’t compete with the woman he had loved first.
“Fine.”
“You wanna be kind.”
“You wanna repay your old feelings.”
“You wanna take care of her and her son.”
“I won’t stop you.”
pulled out my salary card and threw it onto the table in front of him.
“Give me back everything I earned from the Luxury Art Gallery.”
“Every payment from my exhibitions.”
Everything that belongs to me.”
From today on…”
“We’re even.”
Cassian stared at the card.
For a moment, he looked surprised,
Then his expression hardened.
Arabella.”
You are my woman.”
“Stay with me, and you’ll never have to worry about your future.”
“Why are you fighting over these little things?”
“Aralyn has been through enough.*
“She has a child now.”
“Stop making this harder than it needs to be.”
He opened the drawer and took out a check.
Then he placed it in front of me.
Write the amount.”
I’ll give you whatever you want.”
I stared at the check.
Then I pushed it away.
I don’t want your money.”
“I want what belongs to me.”
“My artwork.”
My ownership rights.”
“My awards.”
“My name.”
“Everything that was taken from me. And I’m going to leave you.”
Cassian slowly raised his eyes.
The warmth disappeared completely.
Only the cold authority of Don Moretti remained.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Don’t forget who you’re standing against.“.
“Everything you have…”
The life you live.”
“The protection you received.”
It all came from the Moretti Family.”
His voice dropped lower.
The Moretti Family controls half of Geneva’s underground territory.”
If you really wanna turn against me…”
“Go ahead.”
*But don’t expect me to show mercy.”
My entire body went still.
At that moment, something inside me finally broke.
I had seen Cassian’s cruelty many times before.
I had watched him deal with traitors inside the Moretti Family.
One order from him could strip a man of his family’s protection.
One decision from him could destroy decades of carefullybuilt power.
He had never been soft.
He had never allowed anyone to challenge his authority.
But I had never imagined…
That one day…
That same ruthlessness would be turned against me.
Just as the tension reached its breaking point, Aralyn
suddenly cried out.
Cassian!”
The baby can’t breathe!”
Cassian’s expression changed instantly.
He didn’t spare me another glance.
He picked up the child and rushed toward the door.
When he passed me, he stopped briefly.
Then he turned coldly toward the enforcers.
Remove her.”
“She is not allowed back here again!”
I stayed on the floor.
Watching the three of them leave together.
A real family.
A family I had never been part of.
My body felt empty.
My mind repeated only one thought.
Leave.
I had to leave.
I returned to the small Moretti villa where Cassian and I had lived for five years.
It was never really our home.
Most days, I was the only one there.
Cassian only came when he had time.
I moved quickly.
I packed everything that belonged to me.
I carefully placed my parents‘ belongings at the bottom of my suitcase.
The last pieces of my old life.
Then I grabbed my luggage and headed for the door.
But before I could leave…
Several black SUVS suddenly stopped outside the villa.
The engines went silent.
The doors opened.
Several unfamiliar men stepped out.