The Mafia’s Substitute Bride Chapter 09

Callum blocked my path.

His eyes were red as he held out a bracelet.

“Vivienne, I got your mother’s bracelet back. I waited six months just to return it to you.” His voice cracked. “I divorced Mara a long time ago. You don’t have to give her anything anymore. Please forgive me. Divorce Dante. Let’s go back to how things were.”

I took the bracelet.

My voice was cold.

“Callum, I told you. We can’t go back.”

“Why?” His body shook. “We were together for so many years.”

“I am Dante’s wife now,” I said. “I’m old-fashioned. Once I marry someone, I don’t betray him.”

He choked on his words.

For once, Callum Shaw had nothing to say.

I walked past him and didn’t look back.

After that, I never saw him again.

Through friends, I heard he started drinking heavily. His kidney failed again.

This time, it came fast.

No cure. No miracle donor. No Vivienne waiting quietly in the next room.

Six months later, Mrs. Shaw called me.

She was crying. “Vivienne, please. Callum doesn’t have much time. Come see him one last time.”

I said no.

Not long after, Callum died.

Mara couldn’t pay her debts. She was handed off to an old man and spent her days regretting every lie she

had ever told.

None of it had anything to do with me.

Dante and I grew closer every day. Old Don Russo’s health even improved, almost like a miracle.

Five months later, I gave birth to a daughter.

A gentle husband.

A sweet daughter.

A life that finally belonged to me.

Dante had never agreed to an arranged marriage.

He had lived abroad for years and returned to Chicago only two days before the wedding.

The moment he landed, his parents told him Old Don Russo had arranged a marriage contract for him.

Dante thought the whole thing was absurd.

An arranged marriage in the twenty-first century?

He decided to stop it.

On the wedding day, he planned to intercept the convoy and call off the ceremony himself.

Then the truck flipped.

Cars crashed.

He saw a bride in white trapped inside the wreckage.

Without thinking, he ran toward her.

He was supposed to say, This marriage was our families’ idea. I’m not interested. If you want to cancel, we

can cancel.

Then he saw her face.

His heart slammed against his ribs.

The girl he had liked in high school was standing right in front of him.

The words “Let’s cancel today’s ceremony” became, “Let’s go to the estate chapel.”

Everything after that felt inevitable.

The chapel.

The vows.

The wedding night.

The honeymoon in Europe.

That night, Dante tried to be respectful.

“Vivienne, I know this isn’t what you wanted. If you regret it, I won’t touch you. I’ll respect your choice.”

He expected her to say no.

Instead, she said, “I’m willing.”

“Dante, since I decided to marry you, I’m ready to spend my life with you. No regrets. I want to be your wife”

Dante’s heart nearly burst.

He pulled her into his arms like she was his whole world.