Replaced at the Altar, Returned as an Heiress Chapter 06
By the time Matteo’s plane reached Sicilian airspace, I was already seated at the head of the Venturi council table.
The lawyers and senior family members placed the final inheritance documents before me. I reviewed each page, then pressed the Venturi seal onto the last one.
From that moment, Venturi Shipping, the private bank, and the European holdings came under my authority.
For years, I had treated this position as a burden.
I had wanted one chance to choose love without family interference. I wanted to know whether a man who knew nothing about my name, wealth, or power could still choose me sincerely.
Matteo had once made me believe the answer was yes.
Now I understood that he had loved the version of me who depended on him, obeyed him, and would never leave
He had never regarded the real Isabella as his equal.
When the meeting ended, my aunt handed me the next day’s schedule.
“Bank meeting in the morning. The port in the afternoon. The family dinner is this weekend.”
I accepted the file.
“Fine.”
She studied me.
“Any regrets?”
I remembered Matteo standing in the chapel while Sofia wore my crown and received the congratulations meant
for me.
“No.”
Footsteps sounded beyond the council chamber.
The head of security entered and spoke quietly to my aunt.
“The DeLuca family has requested permission to land at the private airfield. Matteo DeLuca is aboard.”
My aunt looked at me.
“He is coming.”
I closed the file.
I had spent too many years waiting outside DeLuca doors.
Now it was Matteo’s turn.
“Make him wait.”
Matteo waited at the Venturi family’s private airfield for three hours before he was granted permission to enter
the estate.
By the time he was escorted into the reception room, I had just finished a meeting with the bank’s board. Several
family advisers followed behind me. They acknowledged Matteo with polite nods and nothing more.
No one addressed him as Don.
No one rose to offer him a seat.
Matteo was clearly unaccustomed to such treatment. His gaze settled on the Venturi signet ring on my hand, and for several moments, he said nothing.
I took the seat at the head of the room.
“You have ten minutes.”
“Come back to New York with me.”
He stepped toward the table, his voice still carrying the authority he had always used with me.
“I will not recognize the termination documents. We can reschedule the registration and hold another wedding. Choose any chapel and any gown you want. I will arrange everything.”
I looked at him.
“You think I left because I did not get the wedding I wanted?”
“I know you’re angry.”
Matteo lowered his voice.
“I handled that day badly. But Sofia only wanted to fulfill a childhood dream, and the ceremony had no legal effect. You were always the woman I intended to marry legally. You were the woman I wanted as my wife.”
“So I should be grateful?”
His brows drew together.
“Isabella, I never touched her.”
I opened the photograph Sofia had posted on the night of the wedding. In the comments, someone had asked whether Matteo had spent the night with her.
Sofia had replied:
He has always known how to take care of me.
Matteo looked at the screen, and his expression darkened.
“She wanted you to misunderstand.”
“You did not come home that night.”
“I was handling family matters at the private clinic. Marco and several others were there. You can verify it.”
He immediately called Sofia and put the phone on speaker.
She answered within seconds.
“Matteo, did you see her?” Sofia asked, making no attempt to hide her irritation. “Is she still making things difficult for you?”
“Why did you post that photograph after the wedding?”
Silence followed.
“It was only a picture.”
“You encouraged everyone to believe I spent the night with you.”
Sofia began to cry.
“I never said that. They misunderstood on their own. Are you really questioning me like this because of her?”
“Answer me. What happened that night?”
“We were with Marco and the others the entire time. Nothing happened.”
Matteo ended the call and placed his phone on the table.
“Now you can believe me. I never betrayed you.”
I nearly laughed.
