The Heiress' Revenge-Chapter 115

A R I A N A

For a long time I just stared at him as I struggle to digest the words, nothing making sense to me.

Ex-wife.

Son.

His.

I took a step back, my back hitting the hard edge of my desk. The pain was sharp real. It grounded me in this nightmare.

"No," I whispered. Then louder. "No!"

I looked right at Dante. "All this time," I said my voice shaking. "All this distance. The coldness. You not looking at me not touching me." I could feel my face getting hot, the tears drying up replaced by so much rage and pain. "No wonder It all makes sense now! No wonder you don’t give me the attention I want or spend all your time with her. It’s because of her, isn’t it? Your ex-wife!"

I said the word like it was poison.

Dante flinched.

"It’s because you want her back!" I yelled the truth of it felt like a knife twisting. "That’s it, right? You brought her here your secret family because you want her back! Was our whole marriage just a lie? Was I just some... some placeholder until she showed up again?"

"Ariana please," Dante said his voice choked, trying to take a step towards me, his hand out.

"Don’t you ’please’ me!" I screamed, slapping his hand away. "Answer the fucking question... you want her back, don’t you? After all these lies, just tell me the truth.."

He dropped his hand then he slowly nodded,

"I... I love her," he said the words so soft I almost didn’t hear them. Then he looked up, and his eyes were empty. "I love Melissa. I always have and she came back... I may have loved you, but having Melissa back made me realize that my feelings for her never died...I want her back. I want my real family back."

The room went completely silent.

I couldn’t breathe.

It was like he had reached into my chest and ripped my heart out with his bare hands.

"You love her," I repeated the words numb on my tongue. "You want your real family." I let out a sound that was half-laugh, half-sob. "No dante! You told me you wanted me back when you came to London... you promised me that you wanted me and the kids... what are we then? A fake family? A practice family?"

He didn’t answer, he just watched me with those dead empty eyes.

"I’m sorry Ariana" he says, reaching into the inner pocket of his suit jacket, pulling out a thin beige folder.

He held it out to me.

I looked at it like it was a snake. "What is that?" I asked my voice barely a whisper.

"Look," he said his tone flat. "Just look and see."

My hands were trembling so badly I could barely take it.

I fumbled with it my fingers clumsy. I finally got it open and slipped the papers out.

The words at the top were big and black. PETITION FOR DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE.

Divorce papers.

My eyes scanned the page. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

It was all there.

Dante Russo.

Ariana Melendez.

Irreconcilable differences.

My name and his name. Our marriage reduced to a case number and legal terms.

I gasped a painful sound as the papers fell from my hands fluttering to the floor like dead leaves.

"No," I breathed shaking my head back and forth. "No Dante, you can’t. You can’t do this. You can’t do this to me... to us"

"I already have," he said. "I’m so sorry it had to end like this, I’ve filed them this morning."

I stared at him, my mind screaming. This wasn’t happening. This was a bad dream. I would wake up any second now. I would wake up and he would be beside me in bed, pulling me close, kissing my hair.

But I didn’t wake up.

He took a breath. "I’m taking the kids Ariana."

Another blow. This one knocked the air completely from my lungs. "What?"

"Asher, Isabella and Sofia I’m taking them. You are not... you are not in a fit state to keep them... Melissa and I will provide a more stable home for them together with Leo. For all of them."

Melissa and I, he said it so easily, like they were already a unit...planning a future with my children.

The shock was so deep it was almost peaceful for a second.

I just looked at him, searching his face, his eyes, for any sign of the man I married. Any sign of love, of regret, of the dante who held me all night, who whispered "forever" into my skin.

This wasn’t him, it can’t be. He was being controlled or brainwashed. Melissa had done something to him.

This robotic cruel person was not my husband.

I shake my head moving so fast, reaching up and cupped his face in my hands. His skin was cold. I leaned in and pressed my lips to his a soft pleading kiss.

But he didn’t kiss me back, his hands came up, pushing me hard enough that I stumbled back into Angelo, who caught me.

"Stop it Ariana," Dante said "we’re done"

I broke into sobs, my knees on the floor right next to the scattered divorce papers. I grabbed the hem of his pants like a beggar.

"Please," I sobbed the words tearing from my throat. "Dante please. Don’t do this. I’ll do anything. I’ll... I’ll be better Just don’t leave me Don’t take my babies. Please."

"You can’t," I cried, my chest heaving. "You can’t do this to me. My heart... it can’t take it. I’m going to die if you leave me too. I feel like I’m dying right now. Please, if you ever loved me even a little bit, please don’t do this!"

I looked up at him, my vision blurred. t.

"Your things from the main house are already packed," he continued as if giving me a grocery list. "You can come by tomorrow to pick them up"

He turned to leaveJust like that.

"DANTE!" I screamed his name. It was a raw, shattered sound. "LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT WHAT YOU’RE DOING!"

He paused at the door. He half-turned his profile cold and sharp. "Goodbye Ariana."

And he walked out.

The door clicked shut behind him.