They Chose Her. I Chose to Disappear 5

Chapter 5 

Adrian and Luca paled simultaneously. 

Adrian went white as a sheet and stumbled. He didn’t even notice when the locket Valentina had given him struck the doorframe and cracked. 

“She’s dead?” 

“What happened? How is this even possible?!” 

“Did one of Don Lorenzo’s enemies get to her while we were gone? Take revenge on her instead of him?” 

He completely unraveled. The words “death certificate” had shattered his composure. A hundred terrible scenarios flooded his mind, leaving him paralyzed with fear. 

Luca kept his face calm, but his knuckles were white where he gripped his phone. 

He ground out, 

“Keep digging. I don’t believe it.” 

Seconds later, he grabbed Adrian’s shoulder, his voice ice. 

“Calm down. This is just another one of her games. She’s mad we’ve been focusing on Valentina 

and ignoring her.” 

Adrian’s fingers dug into the doorframe, his eyes red. 

“No,” he whispered. 

“She’d never file a death certificate just to throw a tantrum. It’s tied to her legal identity. Filing it 

means she’s giving up being Elena Moretti forever…” 

His breath caught, his voice shaking. 

“It means… she’s giving up on us.” 

There were only two possibilities. Either she was dead. Or she’d walked away and never wanted to 

see them again. 

The room went dead silent. Luca’s phone slipped from his hand and crashed to the floor. 

Chapter 5 

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They’d grown up with her. They knew she never made impulsive decisions. Once she set her mind! to something, nothing could change it. 

The past months of her quiet compliance flashed before their eyes. And with a sickening jolt, they understood. Her compliance hadn’t been surrender born of affection. It had been detachment, practiced and deliberate, a prelude to leaving. 

Neither of them could name what they were feeling. When Valentina called out behind them, they didn’t answer right away. For the first time, they’d forgotten she was there. 

Valentina hung her head, her voice trembling with fake tears. 

“It’s alright if you don’t want to be my maid of honor, Elena. I just beg you, please don’t ruin my wedding. I never meant for Adrian to still have feelings for me after all this time…” 

Adrian and Luca said nothing. The sight of Valentina begging an empty room was deeply unsettling 

In the silence, Valentina finally realized something was wrong. She looked up. When she saw the empty room, her carefully crafted mask of hurt shattered. Humiliation burned through her, and she wanted to disappear. 

She cursed Elena viciously under her breath, then turned her anger on Luca and Adrian too. 

Furious, she snapped, 

“Why didn’t you tell me? You just let me make a fool of myself?” 

Both men frowned, but their lifelong habit of indulging Valentina won out. 

Luca pushed his own feelings aside and explained what had happened gently. 

When Valentina heard that Elena had renounced the Moretti name, she could barely suppress a 

smile. 

She’d wanted to keep Elena around to torment her forever, but having her gone entirely was almost as good. 

She basked in the triumph of having beaten Elena, of having run her off in disgrace. She didn’t notice the two men beside her frowning deeper and deeper. 

Adrian pressed his lips into a thin line and met Luca’s gaze. The unspoken question hung between them, clear as day. 

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Elena was gone, heartbroken, and Valentina was smiling? If she was really as kind and fragile as she pretended to be, shouldn’t she be crying, begging them to find her? 

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