Rejected By The Don, I Crowned Myself Chapter 06
A signed annulment decree. And clinic records confirming an abortion.
“Oh my god. That’s an annulment filing. They both signed it.”
“Wait, they’re getting an annulment? Then what the hell is this wedding?”
“Look at the other one. Clinic records. Dated the day after he walked out on the first wedding.”
The ballroom dissolved into chaos. Every voice talking over another.
Nico stood on the stage like something had been ripped out of him. His gaze was locked on the screen, and his eyes were burning red.
Annulled. When did he- He’d signed it. He’d signed it without even reading it.
And a child. There had been a child. She’d been pregnant and she never told him.
Why did she His vision swam. The stage tilted under his feet.
Before he could steady himself, the screen flickered again. A video began to play.
What filled the screen now was hospital security footage. The timestamp was from five years ago.
The patient on–screen was his grandmother.
In the crowd below, Tatiana’s face drained of color. She was shaking before she even started running. She bolted for the stage.
“Turn it off! Shut it off, right now!” No one moved. The footage kept rolling.
On screen, one hour before the time of death, Tatiana pushed open the door to the ICU. Her voice came through the speakers, and every word hit the room like shrapnel.
“You miserable old woman. You’re on your deathbed and you still couldn’t keep your mouth shut. You had to use your last breath to tell Nico to leave me.”
“Fine. Then let me help you along.”
Nico watched, eyes burning, as the woman on screen reached down, hit the mute button on the monitor, and pulled the oxygen mask off his grandmother’s face. She held it away. She waited.
The heart monitor flatlined. Then she put the mask back, smoothed the blanket, and walked out before the main alarms could trigger.
The screen went black. The ballroom was so quiet that every sharp intake of breath sounded like a I scream.
Tatiana’s mind was spiraling. She had paid off the hospital security team years ago. Every recording from that day should’ve been destroyed.
How was this possible?
She looked up at Nico. The expression on his face made her whole body lock up. She had never seen, him look like that. Not once.
“Nico, please, let me explain. That video, it’s not what-
His hand cracked across her face, cutting her off mid–entence. She hit the ground screaming, her cheek already swelling, tears streaming.
“Nico!” She scrambled to her knees and grabbed fistfuls of his trousers, clinging.
“I didn’t mean to. I was scared, you know me, Nico, you know me. You forgave what happened with Evelyn’s father. This isn’t any different!”
Nico’s face went completely dead.
She was right. He’d asked Evelyn to forgive this woman. He’d stood over Evelyn’s dead father and told her Tatiana didn’t mean it. His eyes closed. What had he done?
Nico shoved her away with his foot.
“Get her out.”
Real terror flooded Tatiana’s face. Nico’s obsession was the only thing keeping her untouchable. His name, his money, his blind devotion. Without him, she was dead, and she knew it.
Nico was shaking. His breath came fast and ragged. “Take her to the warehouse.”
Tatiana froze. “Nico. What are you doing?”
She lurched to her feet. “I didn’t mean to! You can’t-I’m not going to the warehouse! You can’t kill me!”
She bolted for the door. Nico stood motionless and watched the bodyguards catch her, pin her arms behind her, and drag her back.
Standing there, watching her scream, he finally understood everything he’d broken. Everything
Explore Nearby: Following For You he’d thrown away.
The second wedding ended worse than the first. After the last guest was gone, he walked to the bridal suite. The dress he’d had made for her was shredded, every seam ripped open, deliberately destroyed.
Evelyn. All of this was her doing. And she was gone.
He didn’t remember walking out of the estate. He didn’t remember driving back. When he opened the door to the apartment he hadn’t set foot in for a month, he stopped breathing.
Everything that had been hers was gone. Every photograph, every book, every trace that she had ever lived there. Erased.
The originals of the annulment papers and the clinic records sat on the coffee table. Waiting for him.
He sank onto the couch and stared at them. His face held nothing. No anger. No plan. Just loss.
He didn’t move. Not when the sky went black, not when morning crept back in. By dawn, his eyes were bloodshot.
He’d called her all night. Dozens of times. Every call went straight to the same automated recording.
Nico finally understood. He couldn’t find Evelyn. And Evelyn didn’t want to be found.