He Sent Me Away So I Took His Crown Chapter 11
On the third day after the truth came out, the Moretti family canceled its fall grand auction.
Luca spent two straight nights in the inner hall.
Buyers were demanding to know if the bloodline records were still valid, outer-circle personnel were terrified they wouldn’t get paid, and the five district leaders wanted explanations about the family’s ownership structure and the internal tribunal now being convened.
Bianca stayed by his side the whole time.
In the past, when Luca was exhausted, this was exactly what he’d liked—Bianca sitting by the window, making light conversation. She never asked about numbers, registry systems, or where the next round of tribute would come from. She only told him everything would pass.
But this time, every chime of the silver bells on her wrist reminded him of the hand in the control-room footage, reaching for the activation switch.
At dawn, Luca finally said, “Go back to Bellandi territory.”
Bianca froze.
“Every leader is watching us now. If you stay here, it only makes this worse.”
“I can help you.”
“Help with what?”
The words had barely left his mouth before both of them fell silent.
Bianca’s eyes reddened.
“You used to like having me around. Every time Elena made a scene, you said I was the only one who didn’t force you to choose.”
Luca looked at her tears and, for the first time, felt nothing.
He suddenly thought of the previous nine times.
Every time he’d had his men escort me to the river house, I had never cried in front of him.
He had mistaken that for not caring.
But maybe I had simply waited until the door closed, cried alone, and then still prepared the next day’s duty roster for his racing operation.
He returned to the master bedroom in the main house.
The half of the closet that had been mine was now empty.
There was no ring on the nightstand. The main house key, the wife’s signet ring, and everything else that had marked me as under Moretti protection had been placed neatly in a black velvet box.
Beneath it lay the marriage dissolution agreement.
For the first time, Luca realized I hadn’t left behind a single thing he could use as an excuse to call me back.
He sat there with the wedding ring in his hand until dawn.
At the next day’s council, Vittorio issued his order over an encrypted video link.
Luca’s status as heir was suspended. He was ordered to surrender command of the inner hall and all armed personnel. Until the tribunal ended, any district leader could refuse his orders.
The heir’s signet ring, which he had worn since he was twenty-one, was taken from him by an adviser and locked in a black box in front of all five leaders.
Luca did not resist.
As the metal left his finger, he finally understood that every time I had removed the wife’s ring over those nine departures, what I had lost was never just a piece of jewelry.