The Don Chose Her, I Chose Left Chapter 09

The Don Chose Her, I Chose Left Chapter 09

My formal wedding ceremony with Dante Moretti was locked in for the following month. 

Custom wedding invitations mailed out to every 

prominent mafia household across the entire city shortly afterward. 

This celebration was nothing like Julian’s cheaply skimped dozen–table sham from weeks prior. 

Word quickly circulated among every regional capo and consigliere that the long–dormant Bellandi–Moretti alliance was officially being 

restored via our nuptials. 

As soon as Julian Russo caught wind of our upcoming wedding plans, he raced straight over to 

the Bellandi estate late that same night. 

Just a handful of days apart had already whittled away his healthy frame into a gaunt, exhausted 

shadow of his former self. 

“Elena.” 

“Don’t go through with marrying him.” 

Julian’s bloodshot eyes flooded with tears as he 

clutched my wrist tightly, voice cracking with 

desperate regret. 

“I’ve learned my painful lesson, I’m truly sorry for 

everything.” 

“I’ve permanently cut all ties with Bianca 

completely.” 

“I swear on my family name I’ll never see her 

again.” 

“Call off your wedding with Dante Moretti, 

please?” 

“We’ve shared eight irreplaceable years of history 

together.” 

“You abandoned your entire Bellandi family just to 

build a future alongside me once.” 

“Why shut the door on our relationship 

permanently without granting one final second 

chance?” 

“Your choice to leave me behind’s downright 

cruel.” 

I pulled my arm free from his desperate grasp without an ounce of pity. 

“Julian.” 

“I already handed you countless chances to fix 

everything.” 

“Eight whole years I waited patiently for our wedding day to arrive.” 

“Even after all your pre–wedding betrayal I still held 

back from lashing out.” 

“But you crossed the unforgivable line by spending 

your wedding eve in bed with Bianca.” 

I fixed a cold stare onto his hunched shoulders. 

“Go home.” 

“Whatever existed between us ended ages ago.” 

I’d never signed legal marriage paperwork with 

him down at City Hall, and that single fact 

remained my biggest blessing after all the chaos. 

I turned my back on his ongoing pleas and walked 

back into the estate’s main residence without 

another word. 

Julian stood stranded in the sprawling driveway 

completely lost with nowhere left to go across the 

sprawling city. 

At his lowest point he stumbled back to the 

Russo–owned underground private bar, ordering 

round after round of the strongest distilled liquor 

available on their menu. 

He drank himself into full unconsciousness. 

His guys arrived one by one trying to drag him 

away from the bar counter. 

“Quit drinking yourself into an early grave, Julian.” 

“Knocking back bottle after bottle won’t reverse 

Elena’s upcoming wedding to Dante Moretti.” 

“She’s never coming back no matter how much 

alcohol you consume.” 

“You’re only wrecking your own physical health for 

nothing.” 

None of their repeated warnings managed to pull 

the heartbroken man away from his liquor. 

Out of final desperate options, his guys fetched 

Bianca to attempt calming their distraught Don 

down. 

“Stop drinking right now, Julian…” Bianca snatched the whiskey bottle straight from his grasp and 

pouted irritably. 

“Wasting your life away over that unfaithful 

woman’s ridiculous.” 

“She cheated on you on your own wedding night by bringing another man into your bridal suite, 

proving she’s always been loose.” 

“Count yourself lucky you dodged marrying such a 

dishonest wife.” 

Julian snapped into a violent rage mid–sentence at 

her harsh insults about me, yanking her shirt collar 

tight in his clenched fists and roaring in her face. 

“You’ve got zero right talking trash about Elena!” 

“She’s spent eight loyal years by my side, I know 

her true character better than anyone alive!” 

“Bianca! How dare you even show your face 

here?!” 

“Every disaster stems directly from your manipulative lies and fake terminal illness act!” 

“You tricked me into ruining my engagement and lost the love of my life because of your selfish 

scheming!” 

“What makes you think you can walk back into my 

life now?!” 

A sudden suspicious observation halted his screaming tirade; tiny red blotchy rashes dotted 

Bianca’s exposed neck skin. 

“What’s this rash all over your throat?” 

Bianca’s face paled instantly, stammering out a 

rushed excuse. 

“I told you already, it’s a lupus–related breakout…” 

“That doesn’t match typical lupus symptoms at 

all.” 

A terrible premonition settled heavy inside Julian’s 

chest. 

He dragged Bianca straight to the Russo Family’s 

exclusive private boutique medical clinic and 

forced her to complete a full comprehensive blood 

panel against her constant protests. 

Once lab results landed on his desk, confirmation. 

hit like a ton of bricks. 

No lupus diagnosis existed anywhere on her medical paperwork–her HIV screening returned. preliminary positive results instead. 

Julian’s entire world shattered into irreparable 

pieces on the spot. 

“You monster…” He choked her neck in a blind fit 

of murderous rage, eyes blazing with unbridled 

hatred. 

“You partied recklessly overseas contracting an incurable disease, lied about terminal lupus to manipulate me into sleeping with you!” 

“I’ll kill you for destroying my life and future!” 

Clinic staff plus multiple Russo security guards intervened just in time to pry his hands free from 

her neck. 

Bianca scrambled out of the medical facility in a panic, purchasing the earliest available international flight ticket to flee back overseas 

within hours. 

Julian wandered aimlessly through city streets like 

an empty soulless husk after leaving the clinic, 

eventually collapsing unconscious onto the 

sidewalk from extreme physical and mental 

exhaustion. 

On the exact day Julian received his own high–risk. 

exposure lab report and crumbled into total despair, my lavish fairytale wedding with Dante. 

Moretti unfolded across immaculately manicured 

lawns of the Moretti estate. 

Fresh–cut flowers blanketed every available 

surface, glowing string lights twinkled above the 

ceremony space as a professional wedding orchestra performed classic wedding 

processional melodies. 

Nearly every influential crime family representative 

operating within city limits traveled to attend our 

landmark nuptials. 

Standing before our presiding officiant plus all 

gathered family elders from both powerful 

bloodlines, Dante and I exchanged handwritten. 

vows and custom wedding bands. 

He stared deep into my eyes during his promise, 

serious and sincere, nothing left of his usual 

playful cocky demeanor. 

I met his loving gaze and spoke my required 

wedding response clear and steady. 

“I do.” 

Our wedding night arrived soon after, and the 

perpetually easygoing Dante grew shy and 

awkward like a bashful teenage boy. 

He pulled me into a tight secure embrace as if 

clutching onto irreplaceable treasure he’d spent 

decades waiting to finally hold. 

“Elena.” 

“You boarded my ship for good now, no escape 

allowed ever again.” 

“I’ve no plans to run away.” I wrapped my arms 

securely around his torso and replied earnestly. 

“Dante.” 

“As long as you never betray my trust, I’ll remain 

devoted to you for all our years ahead.” 

Rumors trickled back to me later that Julian knelt 

outside the tall iron perimeter gates of the Moretti 

estate all through the freezing overnight hours, 

crying and begging for a single audience with me. 

He never gained entry past the property line 

though. 

Our estate’s head butler dragged him off the 

premises like a stray unwanted dog before dawn 

broke. 

Before getting escorted away, Julian slipped a 

sealed handwritten letter into the butler’s care to 

pass along to me. 

When the envelope finally landed in my 

possession, I didn’t spare it a single glance 

upward. 

I gave a flat, detached instruction instead. 

“Burn the whole unopened letter.” 

“Anything coming from him’s nothing but filthy 

garbage.” 

I’d escaped my toxic manipulative ex at last. 

My remaining life path stretched forward bright 

and full of endless good fortune from that 

moment onward.