Flaunting My Ring? Too Bad Your Man Is My Husband—and I Hold the Pen to His Fortune! Chapter 07
“Elara…”
Severin’s voice went soft, pleading.
“I can transfer everything to you. Today.”
““But divorce… no.”
I looked at him.
“You already signed the agreement.”
“I can’t change my mind?”
“No.”
Severin straightened up slowly. The Don’s
mask slipped back into place.
“You’re really set on this?”
“Yes.”
“Then my answer is no.‘
He shook his head slowly.
“All assets will be in your name by sunset.”
“I can leave with nothing. But you can’t
leave me.”
“Severin!”
“I’m sorry.”
His voice dropped, hard as steel.
“Just this once, Elara. Trust me.”
Then he turned and walked out of the room.
For the next week, only a hired nurse took
care of me.
Severin never came back.
But the transfers and documents kept
coming, one after another. Everything
moved into my name, just like he’d
promised.
I left the hospital early. My ankle ached with
every step.
But my chest ached more.
I went back to the mansion.
Before I could push open the heavy front door, I heard voices from the study.
“Don, transferring all these assets to your
wife just to delay divorce papers… the cost is too high.”
Severin’s voice came back cold.
“It’s strategy.”
“My mother hates Mirella.”
“She never liked Elara either, but at least she
could tolerate her.”
“Mirella has a terrible temper. She’s stupid.”
“If Elara and I divorce, all my mother’s
attention–and all her resentment–will
shift to Mirella.”
“I can’t let that happen. It would be a
nightmare.”
A chill ran down my spine.
“So the wife is still just a shield?”
“Smart move.”
“Exactly.”
Severin’s tone was eerily calm.
“Spoiling Elara, putting assets in her name.
-it keeps my mother distracted.”
“Besides, Elara survived ten years of hard
times. She’s tough.”
“Mirella has been coddled since college.”
“A few harsh words from my mother would
crush her.”
“It’s simple. Don’t ask why.”
Click.
I pushed the door open.
Severin was leaning against his desk, a glass
of whiskey in his hand.
When his eyes met mine, the shock on his
face was almost funny.
I walked in, ignoring everyone else, and
tossed the printed transfer documents onto
his desk.
“Take your things back.”
Salvatore and the others stared.
Severin stood up straight.
“Elara, you’re back. I…“”
“I don’t want your money.”
I looked at him.
“I want a divorce.”
His face went white.
“I’d been drinking earlier. I didn’t mean
what I said.
“Divorce.”
I repeated.
“Follow the agreement.”
“You leave with nothing.”
“Then get the hell out of my life.”
Severin stared at me, the light in his eyes.
fading.
“If you really want a divorce…”
His voice dropped, dangerously calm.
“Then we do it the right way.”
“But Elara, as long as I don’t admit to betrayal, and as long as the Vescari family seal hasn’t been reaffirmed, that agreement
isn’t legally binding yet.”
I froze.
The corner of his mouth lifted–slow,
mirthless.
“You think pulling out that old paper will
push me out?”
“““No.”
“You’re” naive.”
“In this family, documents help. ““But
whoever controls the documents, the
witnesses, the committee–that’s who really
has the power.
My hands clenched:
So that was it. He wasn’t afraid of losing
money. He was sure the family’s rules were
still in his hands.
“Think carefully, Elara.”
“With me, you’re” still Mrs. Vescari.
“Without me, you’re nothing.”
“The clothes you’re wearing, the house
you’re living in, the money in your account
right now–I gave you all of it.”
“If I wanted, I could make it all stop.”
I suddenly remembered our wedding.
He’d cried when he saw me in my dress.
Everyone said it was so touching.
I’d believed it then. How could I have given
my whole life to a man like this?
I didn’t answer. I turned and walked out of
the study.
Even if I got nothing, I wouldn’t stay with
this man one more day.
“Elara!”
His voice chased after me. This time, there
was finally panic in it.
That evening, I stood at the nearly empty
downtown bus station.
A single suitcase sat at my feet. The city
lights blurred in the damp air.
Headlights washed over me. A black stretch limousine pulled up slowly.
A familiar, unexpected voice made me go.
rigid.
“Elara Vescari.”
I turned cautiously.
An older woman stepped out of the car. She
was beautifully dressed, her silver hair
perfectly combed.
Severin’s mother. Isabella Vescari.
“Take this.”
She handed me a folder–a confirmation
document stamped with the family seal.
It said clearly: Upon confirmation of Severin,
Vescari’s adultery, the original agreement
takes immediate effect. Elara Vescari has the
right to initiate divorce and asset division.
I was stunned.
“This isn’t pity.”
Isabella shoved the documents into my
hands. She was surprisingly strong.
“It’s a debt. Repaid.”
“I couldn’t speak.
She leaned against the limousine and calmly
lit a thin cigarette.
“I admit, I used to think you weren’t good
enough for him.”
“A gold digger waiting to cash in?”
She blew out smoke.
“But time proved me wrong.”
“No gold digger would spend ten years with
a man who had nothing.
“No scheming woman would work herself to
the bone while genuinely believing her
husband was a failure.”
“My son was lucky to marry you.”
She looked me straight in the eye.
“He wasn’t good enough.”
“It wasn’t you.”
I could barely believe those words were
coming from her.
“Child, I made peace with you years ago.”
“I just never said it out loud.”
“He wasn’t good enough for you then. He’s
even less good enough now.”
“You’re” strong.”
“Take this document. Go build something of
your own.”
“It’s not too late to start.”
A bus rumbled into the station. The doors
hissed open.
I looked at her one last time. Then at the
folder in my hand.
Then I turned and walked into the dim bus.
Isabella Vescari smoked her cigarette down
to the filter.
Another Rolls–Royce screeched to a halt
behind the limousine.
Severin stumbled out of the car.
“Elara!”
He ran to the platform, searching wildly.
“Mother! Where is she? ““Why didn’t you
stop her?”
Isabella didn’t move.
Severin spun toward the bus about to pull
away.
“Let her go!”
She snapped.
He staggered to a stop.
“She’s gone, Severin.”
“Mother…“” He turned, eyes red, his face frantic. “How could you just stand there?”
Isabella’s face in the light of the fireworks
was cold as frost.
“What else can you give her?”
“More lies? A bigger golden cage?”
“You lost her, Severin.”
“You did.”
He laughed bitterly. Tears finally fell.
“I’m not good enough for her… Is that what you came to tell me?”
“How ridiculous. Who was it who suggested
testing her in the first place?”
“Who told me to hide my assets and see if
she was only after money?”
“It was me.”
Isabella’s voice rose–sharp and clear.
“But you agreed.”
“You said three years.”
“You said if she could tolerate you
pretending to be poor for three years, I had to accept her.”
“And I did.”
Severin froze.
“She stayed for ten years, Severin. Ten“” full
years.”
“When were you going to tell her the truth?”
“When did you stop the test?”
She flicked the cigarette butt onto the wet
pavement and crushed it with her heel.
“You only stopped when you found a
younger woman.”
“A woman who reminded you of what Elara
was like before you hurt her.”
“No…“”
His voice cracked like a child’s.
Isabella exhaled her last breath of smoke.
“You’re” your father’s son.”
“Charming.”
“No loyalty at all.”
Back in that silent, empty mansion, Severin
started drinking.
He ordered that no one touch Elara’s things.
Not a hairpin. Not a book. Not even the old
cup she’d used.
He sat at her vanity and stared at the silver
pen she’d used to write the old agreement.
One night, he got blackout drunk.
Regret and alcohol burned through his
reason.
He saw her standing there. For a moment,
she was looking down at the agreement.
“Elara!”
He lunged.
But his arms grabbed only air.
His elbow knocked the silver pen off the
table.
It fell onto the marble floor.
The delicate tip broke.
Just like…
