The Don Picked His Mistress，I Picked ChicagoChapter 3

I take off my wedding ring and set it on top of the signed divorce papers.

Six years.

I give Luca Delgado six years of my life.

Then I spend three months learning the truth.

That is enough.

I leave the house on Bellhaven Lane before the sun comes up.

The roses are still in the windows.

Sasha's little pink slippers are still by the door.

The nursery door is still open behind me.

I don't look back.

"If I look back, I'll break."

So I don't.

I drive to my father's house with my head aching and my stomach burning like someone poured acid into it.

The Vance estate used to be full of people.

Lawyers. Drivers. Guards. Accountants. Men in dark suits waiting for orders.

Now it is too quiet.

Half the staff is gone.

The lights are dim.

The old family crest over the front door has a crack through the middle.

Vance Holdings is my father's whole life.

He builds it from nothing.

He turns a dirty dockside trucking route into hotels, ports, medical centers, and shipping lines.

He does it the hard way.

He does it with blood under his nails.

Then Luca turns it into a game board.

My father has been sick since the first hit.

Every loss takes something from him.

When I walk into his room, he looks smaller than he did yesterday.

His hands are thin.

His face is gray.

But when he sees me, light comes back into his cloudy eyes.

"Wren," he says. "You're home."

I force a smile and sit beside him.

"Yeah, Dad. I'm here."

He reaches for my hand.

His fingers shake.

"Did Luca help us?"

My throat tightens so hard I can barely breathe.

"Is my son-in-law finally helping Vance Holdings through this mess?"

I lower my head fast.

I can't let him see my eyes.

"Yes," I lie. "He helped."

My father smiles.

The smile cuts me worse than any knife.

"I knew it," he says. "That boy loves you. He wouldn't let you suffer."

Something hot pushes behind my eyes.

I bite my tongue until I taste blood.

"Right," I whisper. "He wouldn't."

I kneel beside the bed and hold his cold hand between both of mine.

"So you have to get better, okay? Vance still needs you. I still need you."

Dad nods.

He tries to answer.

Then his face twists.

His hand flies to his chest.

"Dad?"

He slides sideways off the bed.

The heart monitor screams.

For one second, I don't move.

I just stare.

Then I start screaming too.

"Nurse! Doctor! Help!"

People rush in.

Hands shove me back.

A doctor checks him and starts barking orders.

"He's having a massive heart attack."

Another doctor looks at me, pale and sweating.

"Miss Vance, he needs to be moved now. His full records and surgical team are at Vance Medical Center. We have to transfer him there."

"Then call them," I say. "Now. Call them now."

I grab my phone first.

My fingers shake so badly I almost drop it.

When Vance Medical answers, I nearly sob with relief.

"This is Wren Vance. My father is in cardiac arrest. Send an ambulance. Open the cardiac floor. Now."

The woman on the phone goes quiet.

Too quiet.

Then she says, "Miss Vance, I'm sorry."

My blood goes cold.

"What do you mean, you're sorry?"

"The hospital is under emergency ownership transfer. All entrances are sealed. No patients in or out until the handover is complete."

For a second, I don't understand English.

"What?"

"I'm sorry. The order came from Mr. Delgado's office."

The room tilts.

The war table flashes in my mind.

Red pins.

Sasha's name.

Ninety-seven dead assets.

"No," I whisper. "No, no, no."

I call Luca.

He doesn't answer the first time.

Or the second.

Or the fifth.

When he finally picks up, there is noise behind him.

Music.

Laughter.

Dice rolling across a table.

"Luca," I say, choking on every word. "My dad is having a heart attack."

He exhales like I have ruined his day.

"Wren, stop."

I grip the phone so hard my nails bend.

"He needs Vance Medical. Your men locked it down. Open it. Please."

His voice turns flat.

"You threatened me with divorce an hour ago. Now your dad is dying?"

"Luca, I am not lying."

My voice cracks.

"He's dying right in front of me."

Before he can answer, Sasha squeals in the background.

"Another six!"

My stomach drops.

Her voice comes closer.

"Luca, baby, I landed on Vance Medical Center. I want it. I'm turning it into a luxury beauty clinic."

I stop breathing.

"You’re playing again?"

My own voice sounds strange.

Small.

Dead.

"Luca, no. Not the hospital."

I start sobbing.

"My father needs that hospital. He really will die."

"Enough," Luca snaps.

The cold in his voice freezes me in place.

"You're using your father's life because you can't stand Sasha winning. When did you get this damn petty?"

I stagger back like he hit me.

"I am begging you."

"Let the transfer go through," he says to someone beside him. "Handle anything else after."

Then he comes back to me.

"You play the game, you pay the price."

The line goes dead.

I sink to the floor.

The phone slips out of my hand.

"You play the game?"

A laugh breaks out of me.

It sounds ugly.

Crazy.

"But I never played."

I never rolled the dice.

I never touched the board.

So why am I the one losing everything?

The doctors keep working.

They push meds.

They shock him.

They call times and numbers I don't understand.

But my father's face gets grayer.

His fingers grow colder in mine.

I crawl back to the bed and take his hand.

"Dad, hold on."

My tears fall on his wrist.

"Please. Vance needs you. I need you."

His eyes open a little.

He looks at me with the kind of love that makes my chest cave in.

"Wren," he whispers. "Don't lie to me."

I freeze.

"Vance is gone, isn't it?"

I shake my head hard.

"No. No, it's not. I can fix it."

He lifts his hand with all the strength he has left and wipes my tears.

"I don't care about the company."

His voice is almost gone.

"I only care about you."

I press his hand to my face and sob.

Years ago, when Luca is thrown out of his own family, my father is the one who backs him.

He signs over trust shares.

He gives Luca men, money, contacts, and protection.

At our wedding, my father puts his hand on Luca's shoulder.

"I only have one daughter," he says. "You marry her, you become my son. Treat her well. That's all I ask."

Luca kneels in front of him with red eyes.

"I swear on my life."

I believed him.

My father believed him too.

The monitor suddenly screams one long, flat sound.

My father's hand slips out of mine.

"No."

I grab him.

"Dad?"

No answer.

"Dad!"

The doctors try to pull me back.

I don't let go.

I throw myself over his chest and scream until my throat tears.

But he never opens his eyes again.

Outside, sirens finally rise in the distance.

Too late.

My phone rings.

Luca.

I stare at the name until the letters blur.

Then I answer.

His voice is softer now.

"The game is over. I was just making Sasha happy. The hospital is important to your father. I won't give it to her."

I look at my father's open eyes.

My whole body goes numb.

"Stop being mad," Luca says. "Take your dad to the hospital."

I can barely make a sound.

"No need."

"What do you mean, no need?"

I hang up.

A second later, another message comes in.

From Chicago.

"The promise always stands."

"Wren, I'll come get you tomorrow."

I lower my forehead to my father's cold hand.

For three months, I swallow every scream.

Now the tears finally come.