The Don’s Runaway Wife

“What concerns you matters more.” Those words felt like a blade sliding straight into my chest.

Wasn’t I supposed to be the most important person in his life?

Since when had Stella Rossi taken my place?

The drug coursed through my bloodstream, heat rolling through my body in waves while my heart felt like it had been dropped into ice.

I wanted to storm inside and demand an explanation from Victor Moretti himself, but my legs felt as heavy as lead.

And then the accident happened.

Outside the restaurant.

A black SUV lost control and came hurtling straight toward the building, smashing directly into the floor-to-ceiling glass windows.

The explosion of glass echoed through the street, shards scattering everywhere as terrified screams erupted inside the restaurant.

In the chaos, I saw Victor move almost on instinct.

He lunged forward and pulled Stella into his arms, turning his body so that his back faced the crashing vehicle and the rain of glass, shielding her completely.

A jagged shard sliced across his temple, and blood instantly ran down his face, staining half of it red.

“Victor!”

Stella cried out, her face pale with shock.

But he only frowned slightly, his voice rough. “I’m fine.”

Moretti family bodyguards rushed in immediately, clearing the area and securing the scene.

Victor was helped to his feet, his face already frighteningly pale, yet the first person he looked at was still Stella.

He spoke softly to reassure her.

“I’m going to the hospital to get this taken care of. You’re afraid of blood, so don’t come. I’ll have someone escort you home.”

His voice was gentle, almost coaxing, like he was calming a frightened child.

From beginning to end, he never once noticed that I was standing right there at the entrance.

In that moment, I felt frozen in place.

So this was the truth—Victor would risk his life to protect Stella.

“Shocking, isn’t it?”

A soft voice sounded beside my ear.

I turned stiffly. Stella had somehow appeared next to me without my noticing.

Her face still held the pale look of someone who had just been frightened, but her eyes had already returned to their usual softness, and beneath it there was unmistakable triumph.

“You didn’t expect Victor to risk his life for me, did you?” she said as she stepped closer, her gaze full of quiet mockery.

“Elena, have you ever wondered why Victor loved you so much in the first place?”

“Many years ago Victor was ambushed and badly wounded. I was the one who saved him. I hid him at the old Rossi estate and took care of him for three days and nights. When he finally woke up, he spent a long time searching for me.”

“Eventually he traced the lead back to the Rossi family and learned that the person who had saved him might have been one of the Rossi daughters, which is why he approached our family in the first place.”

“But unfortunately for him, the information he found was wrong. He thought you were the one who saved him.”

“So he married you and indulged you without limits.”

My breathing stopped.

Every memory that had once made my heart race flashed through my mind— the way he used to look at me with quiet intensity, the way he indulged every whim I had, every moment of warmth he had ever shown me.

So that was it.

He had simply mistaken me for someone else.

“Later,” Stella sighed softly, though the pride in her voice was impossible to hide, “somehow he discovered the truth and realized that the one who saved him back then was actually me.”

“So of course he took all that affection back from you.”

She looked at me and smiled, the expression both gentle and cruel.

“Victor is a man who takes responsibility seriously. Even after learning the truth, he wouldn’t divorce you easily because he feels obligated to you.”

She leaned closer, her voice lowering into something venomous.

“But with your pride, Elena, once you know the truth you won’t cling to a marriage that was never meant for you.”

The triumph in Stella’s eyes was no longer hidden.

My chest felt like it had been torn open, cold air rushing into the wound until every organ inside me ached.

So that was the truth.

The last three years had been nothing more than a ridiculous misunderstanding.

If Victor didn’t love me, he could have told me the truth.

I am Elena Rossi. I can love deeply, but I can also walk away.

No matter how much I loved a man, I would never steal someone else’s.

I didn’t know how long I stood there while the drug continued to churn through my body, but the pain in my chest had already eclipsed everything else.

I stumbled to the curb and flagged down a taxi.

“Hospital,” I said. I needed the antidote, and more than that… I needed clarity.

I lay in the hospital bed staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep the entire night.

Early the next morning the doctor walked in holding a report.

“Miss Rossi.”

“Congratulations. You’re two months pregnant.”

My entire mind went blank.

I stared at the ultrasound image in my hands, the tiny life barely visible on the screen.

And suddenly I understood something.

This child should never be born into a marriage built on a lie.

I picked up my phone and called my best friend.

“Lillian, I need a favor.”

“I’m sending you the divorce papers. Find a way to make Victor sign them.”

A marriage that existed only because of obligation…

was not something I was willing to keep.