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Reborn, I Refused the Mafia Husband Who Buried Me Alive
Novelix
Completed
Adrian DeLuca was supposed to marry my sister, but he chose me instead. I gave him thirty years, followed him into exile, and bore him eight children. When we finally returned to Chicago, I discovered the truth: my children called my sister Mom, Adrian had married her, and I had only ever been useful for giving the DeLucas heirs. After my sister died, Adrian buried me alive beside her. Then I woke up at nineteen, the day before his proposal. This time, I refuse him. But he was reborn too.
Chapters (2)
第1章
Adrian DeLuca was supposed to marry my sister.
Everyone knew it.
He and Isabella had grown up together, and by the time they were eighteen, half the families in Chicago assumed the Morettis and DeLucas would eventually join their families through marriage.
Then Adrian came to our house and asked for me instead.
Isabella took my hand afterward.
"Don't overthink it, Elena. Adrian and I are practically family. That's all we've ever been."
I believed her and I married him.
A few years later, Adrian lost a vicious power struggle inside the DeLuca family. We were pushed out of Chicago and sent to manage one of their least important territories.
I followed him.
For thirty years, I helped him rebuild.
I gave birth to five sons and three daughters.
Then Adrian finally regained his place in Chicago.
He went back first.
Weeks passed.
He never came for me.
So I went after him.
And found all eight of my children gathered around Isabella at the DeLuca estate.
They were calling her Mom.
I thought I had misunderstood.
Then I saw Adrian standing beside her.
The wedding ring on Isabella's finger told me everything.
"What the hell is this?"
Adrian immediately moved between us.
"Lower your voice. Isabella's sick."
I looked at my children.
"I carried every one of you. I raised you. And you're calling her your mother?"
My oldest son wouldn't even look ashamed.
"Isabella is Dad's wife."
"So what does that make me?"
No one answered.
Isabella did.
She had always been fragile.
Now she was dying.
She looked at me from her bed and said, "I lost thirty years with Adrian because of you. When I'm gone, I don't want to spend eternity wondering if you finally took my place."
Then she asked Adrian for one last gift.
She wanted me buried with her.
I laughed because I thought even Adrian would know she was insane.
He didn't.
Three days after Isabella died, Adrian's men forced me into a coffin.
My children watched.
I begged Adrian to stop them.
"I'll leave. You can have everything. I'll never come back."
His answer came through the open coffin.
"Isabella spent her whole life sharing what should've been hers."
"She deserves peace now."
Then they nailed the coffin shut.
I screamed until my voice gave out. I clawed at the lid until my fingers bled. For three days, I waited for my husband or one of my eight children to change their mind.
No one came.
When I open my eyes again, I'm nineteen.
And Adrian is coming to the Moretti house tomorrow to propose.
I don't waste time wondering how I'm alive.
I write two letters.
One goes to Dante Russo.
The other goes to Julian Romano.
Then I give them to Lena.
"Make sure they get these personally."
The next afternoon, Adrian arrives with his father and two DeLuca captains.
This isn't a romantic proposal.
In families like ours, marriage is business.
The DeLucas get a stronger alliance with the Morettis.
My father gets DeLuca money, protection, and access.
And both families get exactly what they want.
My father calls me downstairs.
Adrian smiles when he sees me.
"Elena."
I remember that smile above my coffin.
"No."
"I haven't asked yet."
"You don't have to."
"Someone else already approached the family about me."
Adrian's smile disappears.
"Who?"
"That's between my father and them."
Before he can push further, Isabella rushes in.
"Elena, what are you doing?"
She looks genuinely anxious.
"You've known Adrian your whole life. You know he'd take care of you."
He turns back to me.
"If Isabella is what you're worried about, don't be. There's never been anything between us."
"He's telling the truth," Isabella says.
I look from one liar to the other.
Then I smile.
"Fine."
Adrian relaxes.
"So you'll marry me?"
"I said I'll consider it."
I turn to Isabella.
"If you're this sure Adrian is the right man for me, convince Dad."
Before she can answer, one of my father's men hurries into the room.
"Mr. Moretti needs Isabella in his office. Now."
Isabella frowns.
"Why?"
The man looks at Adrian.
Then back at her.
"Because copies of your letters to Adrian are everywhere."
"People are saying you've been sleeping with your sister's future husband for years."
第2章
Copies of Adrian and Isabella's letters cover his desk.
My father looks ready to kill someone.
"The Morettis do business with people who care about loyalty. I'm not sending Elena into a marriage while the entire city thinks her fiancé is sleeping with her sister."
His eyes move to Isabella.
"Adrian marries you."
Exactly what I wanted.
The letters aren't real.
The affair is.
In my first life, I spent years handling Adrian's correspondence when we were exiled from Chicago.
Before that, I had spent half my childhood helping Isabella with schoolwork whenever she was too sick to finish it herself.
I know how both of them write.
I only had to put the right words in the right hands.
By dinner, every important family in Chicago knows about Adrian DeLuca and Isabella Moretti.
The alliance can survive a scandal.
But only if the two people at the center of it get married.
Later, Isabella's mother asks me to take her medication upstairs.
I do.
Then I hear Isabella speaking before I enter.
"Mom, I can't marry him alone."
I stop outside the door.
"You wanted Adrian."
"Wanting him isn't the problem."
Her voice drops.
"The doctors already told you what pregnancy could do to me."
"And Adrian needs children."
"The DeLucas need children. There's a difference."
I don't move.
"His father won't accept a marriage that could leave the succession uncertain," Isabella says. "You know that."
"So what do you want me to do?"
Then Isabella says my name.
"Elena."
"She can have the children."
Her mother doesn't sound shocked.
That is the worst part.
"Elena marries into the family too," Isabella continues. "Not publicly. I don't care what arrangement they use."
"I'll be Adrian's wife. She can give the DeLucas what they need."
"And Adrian?"
"He'll agree."
Of course he will.
Suddenly, thirty years of my first life make sense.
Why Isabella got the life Adrian showed the world while I got the pregnancies.
Why no one cared how many times childbirth nearly killed me.
Why eight children I carried grew up believing Isabella was their real mother.
I wasn't accidentally trapped in their marriage.
I was part of the plan.
I leave the medicine outside the door.
Two weeks later, my father still refuses to reconsider.
The DeLucas will get their alliance.
Adrian will marry Isabella.
And I will be free.
Or so I think.
Five days before the wedding, Lena finally comes into my room carrying two envelopes.
"Both of them answered."
Dante.
Julian.
For the first time in weeks, I can breathe.
I reach for the letters.
A knock interrupts us.
One of my father's men stands outside.
"Elena, your father wants you downstairs."
"Why?"
"There's someone here from the Commission."
My stomach tightens.
When I enter the study, Adrian is waiting beside a Commission representative.
A contract lies open on my father's desk.
I see my name before anyone says a word.
Adrian watches me read.
"I transferred one of our most profitable shipping corridors to get the Commission's approval."
I look up.
He gave away DeLuca territory.
For me.
"The Moretti-DeLuca alliance goes forward," he says.
"Isabella marries me."
He pauses.
"And you're coming with us."
