All Chapters of After Rebirth, I Refused to Be His Replacement: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

The words had barely left my mouth when the entire dining hall went silent.Twenty years ago, the Moretti family took Celeste and me in and raised us as future Donna candidates.For years, I pushed myself through finance, investment development, family politics, and the rules of both the legal world and the underworld.Everyone knew how much I had sacrificed just to stand beside Adrian as his Donna.And now, before he could even make his choice, I had given it all up myself.Adrian froze for a second.After that brief flicker of shock, his eyes went cold again.The words had barely left my mouth when the entire dining hall went silent.“Elena,” Rosalie said with a frown. “Do you understand what you’re saying?”“I do.” I met her gaze. “Adrian’s heart belongs to someone else. The Moretti family needs a Donna trusted by her husband, not a backup bride pushed onto the stage.”Adrian stared at me for a moment, then suddenly rose.His chair scraped against the marble floor with a sharp, ugly

Chapter 2

The air in the study dropped several degrees.I didn’t turn around. I only asked Adrian, "Is that what you want?"He stood by the window with an unreadable expression. A few seconds passed, and he did not deny it.Vito slammed his palm on the desk. "Nonsense. Elena has lived in Moretti territory for twenty years. Even if she doesn’t marry Adrian, she is still family.""Godfather," Celeste said softly, "I only think the rules should be clear. Otherwise, people outside will think the future Donna can’t even secure her own place."Adrian finally said, "If we’re cutting ties, then cut them clean."I looked at him and smiled, feeling simply absurd.I had needed my death in the last life to understand this. This time, he handed it to me in one day."Fine," I said. "Let’s settle the accounts."I turned and swept my gaze over everyone in the room.“After I turned eighteen, Godfather started letting me handle the legal messes no one else wanted to touch. I cleaned up Black Bay Casino within six

Chapter 3

The Moretti estate felt like a tomb the next morning.Adrian sat in the study while his phone lit up and went dark again. By sunrise, the news had spread through every corner of Chicago’s underworld.[Former future Donna leaves Moretti in an old red cape. Her red silhouette becomes the internet’s latest punchline.][Celeste returns. Elena Vega gets pushed out.][Twenty years of Moretti training ends with one broken scooter.]In the video, Elena wore the red cape and walked barefoot down the stone steps before climbing onto the old Vespa. Reporters laughed around her. She never lowered her head.Adrian’s eyes stayed fixed on the red cape. His fingertip suddenly went rigid.Celeste came up behind him and looped her arms around his shoulders. Her voice sounded pleased. "So? My media arrangement worked, didn’t it? Now no one will say I stole her place."Adrian looked up. "You called the reporters?"Celeste paused for a beat, then smiled. "I only let them know the truth. She chose to leave

Chapter 4

That night, the Moretti estate held the family dinner as planned.Celeste wore a white satin dress and sat beside Adrian while relatives and capos congratulated her. Her smile looked gentle and polished. She already carried herself like the mistress of the estate.One chair at the table remained empty. It was Elena’s seat.For twenty years, she had sat there during family meetings and private dinners. The seat was close to Vito and not far from Adrian, which let her push bad numbers and reckless decisions back across the table before anyone did something stupid.Celeste spotted the chair, and her smile thinned. She walked over and kicked one leg of it."Why is there still a place for an outsider at this table?"The old butler lowered his head. "I’m sorry, Miss Vale. It was my mistake."He was about to remove it when Adrian spoke. "Put it back."The dining room went silent.Celeste turned to him, her face slightly pale. "Adrian, what do you mean?"Adrian didn’t look at her. He spoke onl

Chapter 5

The day after I met Victor D'Amico, I went with him to New York.The D'Amico headquarters was not some gaudy mansion. It was a plain black building in Manhattan. The lower floors housed a legal security company and an investment fund. The upper floors held the true heart of the East Coast Commission.When Victor took me into the conference room, lawyers, accountants, security chiefs, and representatives from several branch families filled the table.He threw the South Dock plan onto the table. "She dragged Moretti out of the mud and onto a negotiating table. She can save D'Amico five years of mistakes. From today on, Elena Vega is my special consultant."Some people were not convinced.Victor tapped the table. "If you don’t like it, ask her questions. If you stump her, the seat is yours."That afternoon, they took turns throwing problems at me: port taxes, underground casino cleanups, federal investigation risks, union strikes, and the laundering of old assets into clean structures.I

Chapter 6

My relationship with Matteo became public without any grand spectacle.There were no roses covering the floor, and no staged show with reporters blocking the door. At one Commission dinner, someone tested him by placing me in the seat below his. Matteo pulled the chair beside him in front of everyone."She sits here."After that, New York’s underground understood.The future mistress of D'Amico was not a woman taken in out of pity. She was someone who could sit beside Matteo and read ledgers, negotiate, pull a trigger, and set rules.Meanwhile, news from Chicago still reached me from time to time.After Celeste took over the South Dock redevelopment, trouble surfaced in the first year. She thought the family ring and a list of contacts would let her copy my results. She did not understand that those names were held together by years of credibility.She changed contractors without warning and angered the union. To prove herself to Adrian, she launched the casino license application earl

Chapter 7

The evening after our engagement was announced, I left the Manhattan headquarters for home.Our car stopped at a red light when a man suddenly stepped in front of it. The bodyguards drew their guns at once, and the driver hit the brakes.Through the window, I saw Adrian Moretti standing in the headlights.Three years had changed him. He was thinner. The once untouchable heir now carried exhaustion in his eyes, and dark stubble shadowed his jaw.I lowered the window halfway."Mr. Moretti, do you need something?"The address made his face pale."Elena." His voice was hoarse. "I’ve been looking for you for three years.""I know.""Then why wouldn’t you see me?"I looked at him calmly. "Because there was no need."Adrian’s throat moved as if every word cost him. "I know about the red cape now. That night by the lake, you saved me. Not Celeste."I said nothing."I also read your notebook." His eyes reddened. "Elena, I was wrong. I was wrong from the beginning. I treated her lie as a life de

Chapter 8

When I returned to the D'Amico residence, Matteo was in the kitchen.An East Coast mafia heir stood with his sleeves rolled up in front of a pot and a cutting board full of tomatoes. The picture looked so wrong that I almost laughed before I reached the door.He looked up and noticed my mood at once. "Who did you run into?""Someone irrelevant."Matteo did not ask more. He turned the heat down and came over to take off my coat. "Dinner will be late. It’s my first time making seafood risotto, and the chance of failure is high."I couldn’t help smiling. "The D'Amico heir has things he’s bad at?""Of course." He looked serious. "Making you eat on time, for one. Getting you to admit you’re tired, for another."I looked at him and suddenly felt that the past was like a distant city light. I could still see it, but it no longer lit the road under my feet.I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around his waist.Matteo paused, then held me back. "What’s wrong?""Nothing." I pressed my face aga

Chapter 9

Matteo and I set the wedding for early autumn.The ceremony took place at the D'Amico estate north of New York. Black cars filled the grounds. Representatives from the East Coast, Sicily, and Chicago arrived under heavy security.I wore a simple white wedding dress with no dramatic skirt and no excessive jewelry. Matteo had once told me I did not need anything to prove I deserved that wedding.When I walked toward him, his eyes never left me.He did not look at me with judgment. He did not look at me with compensation. He did not look at me as someone else’s shadow.He looked at me with certainty.Just before we exchanged rings, I saw a familiar figure outside the estate.Adrian.He did not approach. He did not try to break in. He only stood at a distance in a black suit, quiet as a past that could no longer be rewritten.Matteo followed my gaze and understood.He showed no displeasure. He only asked softly, "Do you regret it?"The guests had gone very quiet.Wind moved through the ros

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