Flaunting My Ring? Too Bad Your Man Is My Husband—and I Hold the Pen to His Fortune! Chapter 04
“Elara?”
His face went white. The arm around Mirella
dropped.
Mirella froze. Her crying stopped.
“Elara? Severin, who is she?”
I raised my phone, hit play, and turned the
volume all the way up.
Mirella’s smug, cruel voice filled the space
between us.
“If her mother died, the wife would be all
alone…“”
“I really wanted that new Chanel bag. It was
exactly five hundred thousand…“”
Severin’s usual commanding presence
crumbled.
“Elara, wait-”
I turned and walked away.
“Elara!”
I heard Mirella scream in panic. “Severin!
Where are you going? Come back!”
I didn’t look back. I went straight to the
ticket counter and bought a ticket on the
next flight home.
The man who claimed he was drowning in
“business“” bought the seat behind me and
followed me all the way to our shabby
apartment, still wearing that custom suit
that cost more than our yearly rent used to
- be.
“Elara, please. Let me explain.”
SMACK!
I slapped him across the face.
His head turned slightly. He looked at me
with red–rimmed eyes.
“If I hadn’t come to see you myself, how long were you planning to lie? A year?
וור
Forever?”
“It’s not like that-”
“Severin, watching me scrape by, watching
me live in fear… was it fun pretending to be a Don?”
I walked past him and yanked my old
suitcase out of the closet.
“Elara, where are you going?”
“Where do you think? You have your whore.
I’m leaving!”
“No!”
His hand shot out and clamped down on my
wrist like a vice.
“You can’t leave. I can fix this. I’ll end it.
Don’t go. I’m begging you.”
I wrenched free. SMACK!
My other hand hit his other cheek.
“You killed my mother. And you expect me
to stay?”
Severin’s fists trembled.
I kept packing. A dull thud came from behind
- me. He’d dropped to his knees.
“I know I’m a piece of shit, but…
“”
He
looked up, eyes red. “I was terrified.”
I frowned.
“Elara, I was scared. Scared you’d leave me. By then, I’d already screwed up. I’d made a mistake outside. I knew the truth wouldn’t
stay buried forever. You’d find out
eventually.”
He swallowed hard.
“If everything came out… you’d… your mother was gone. You’d only have me left. Even if you… you’d have nowhere to go.”
“I thought I could still make it right…“”
My fists shook.
“Severin, what are you even talking about?”
“I wasn’t lying, Elara.” He looked at me with
that sickening tenderness. “Your mother
was already dying.”
“Even if that five hundred thousand saved
her life, she would’ve lived without dignity,
in agony.”
“Maybe death was a release. She’d said
things like that before. I just…”
SMACK!
I slapped him again. Tears blurred my vision.
“That was my mother! Who gave you the
right to decide whether she lived or died? If it
was Mirella’s mother, would you have let her
die too?”
Pain twisted his face.
“Get out.”
Severin stayed on his knees, motionless.
“No.”
““I pushed him away and tried to leave. He grabbed my legs, clinging like a drowning
man.
“Elara, if you walk out that door, I’ll jump
out this window right now.”
“Fine.” My eyes burned.
“Then jump.“
