Revenge marriage to my ex-husband’s Rival

1.

Aria couldn't believe what her eyes were witnessing. She should've known there was more to that woman's presence than met the eye. She should've never trusted her with anything more than the business she was employed for. She should've known to always trust her own instincts. But no.. She had been foolish and in love. She didn't heed anybody's advice but her own. Look where that had gotten her.

"Honey, look, her eyes are so scary no?" A delicate voice giggles perversely, the owner of said voice, taking a deliberate step back from Aria, as she quaked in mock distress, leaning into the welcoming embrace of the man who was supposed to be Aria's loving husband.

"Don't mind her, my love, she's nothing to us now. You don't need to be at her mercy anymore," The handsome man, clad in a nice expensive form fitting suit spoke. His voice so cold and unfamiliar Aria felt her heart sink right to the bottom.

His dark somber eyes glowered menacingly at Aria, his firm thin lips pressed into a fine line. He then turned his attention toward his mistress at her words. His face softening as he cooed lovingly at her, his voice soft and sweet in a way he's never been to Aria before.

This can't be! She wanted to shout. This cannot be the man who had always been so indifferent to her. Who had never communicated with her in ways beyond short clipped sentences even after 5 years of marriage. This can't be the man who makes love to her as if he were performing the most detestable act. This can't be the man who she'd perceived not to have a lick of passion in him. Then what was this display? What the hell was she witnessing?

Opal turns her head to him, pushing up her barely covered busty cleavage into his arms, and he didn't hesitate in bringing her up closer to him, his hand immediately and naturally creeping low to cup her perky buttocks, as if an act he's practiced an unknown amount of times.

"Oh! Henri! Not in front of your wife.." Opal chastises, in faked indignation though she was unable to hide the pure glee in her eyes. "Oh am sorry for his indecent behavior Aria, I never wanted you to see us like this."

"Mrs Delarney," She corrected out of habit, her mind still unable to process the shock of what she was witnessing.

"Ha!" Unable to continue her charade Opal bursts out in a fit of cackles. "Did you hear her honey!" Then she suddenly turns pouty, before in a blink of an eye she breaks down into tears.

"Oh honey! Look how she undermines me, throwing out her name and injuring and insulting me with the fact that you're still married! Oh how terrible is she! How terrible are you for choosing her over me! Oh my poor baby, your mother is so unloved!" She wailed clutching her very pregnant belly, which looked seconds from bursting.

Aria took a step back in pure bewilderment watching all of this unfold. Doesn't she know Henri detests anything drama? Detests exaggeration and the fabrication? Especially right in front of his eyes? Shouldn't she know him better to know he abhors half assed acts?

But then to her absolute shock, Henri hurriedly pulls her to him, his hands quickly reaching over to wipe her tears, his voice purring his apologies and professing his love for her, while she stood there frozen.

Dressed in the lovely red dress that Henri had once complimented her on. The very first and only compliment he's spared her after their marriage. She stood in their grand living room personally decorated to the nines in reds and whites for what was supposed to be an anniversary surprise. And here she stood, watching as her husband loved on another. A woman he'd impregnated when he couldn't bear to brush arms with her for the past years much less bed her.

"H-Henri.." she couldn't help the broken whispers, as tears she didn't wish to shed filled her eyes.

"Oh hush now! Look what you've done to her you despicable woman! Is it not enough that your very presence distresses her?! Must you antagonize her? If anything happens to her and our baby because of your petty slurs, I promise I would make you, and your entire family pay." Henri barks out an angry roar, looking seconds away from putting his hands on her, eyes enraged with spittle flying out of his mouth.

She looked at him silently, her chest heaving, wondering what the hell she was even still doing there. Wondering what the hell she ever saw in the man in the first place? He was not worth fighting for. She had her dignity and she deserved better than him.

"Do not speak to me in that tone, Henri. I might not be the darling of your eyes, but I am still the Heir to the Moretti. And neither I nor my family will tolerate this behavior." She said calmly, remembering her roots, her bearing.

"This! This is exactly why I can't ever choose you Aria! I can't breathe the wrong way without having you shove down the Moretti name on me! The Moretti is all you have going for you. I never would've given you a second glance had you not been the daughter of who you are. No man would ever want you, Aria. You certainly don't have much to be desired for anyways."

Henri's words pierced through her like a thousand knives, and yet, they were a revelation. The cold, hard truth she needed to hear. He had never loved her, and she had been living in a delusion, holding onto a marriage that was nothing more than a façade.

She didn't respond to his cruel words. Instead, she turned away, her gaze lingering on Opal, who had now stopped crying, wearing a triumphant smirk. She had achieved her goal, to see her crumble, to see her defeated.

"I'll have my lawyers draft the divorce papers," she said finally, her throat raw with emotion, but her face remained fixed in a blank stare.

"Oh you need not worry yourself about that Aria. Oh sorry Mrs Delarney. Henri and I have already had the lawyers draft it. You only need to sign is all. We'll mail the letter to you at the earliest convenience. Would that be okay?" She asks, her voice filled with consideration, then not waiting for her to answer she turns to Henri, "Did I do good Honey? Do you think I could be a good madame?" She claps her hands excitedly.

"The best. No one comes even close to you, come now, the flight must have tired you, I'll have the butler prepare us a warm bath, what do you think of that?"

"Oh that sounds wonderful honey, come let's go, I can't wait!" She takes his hand, and leads him towards the stairway, walking past Aria as if she weren't even there, then as if Opal just remembered, she turned to her, "You can go now Aria, you'll be sure to receive the letter in a day or two!" Then without waiting for a reply, she gives a casual wave before she raced up the stairs, with Henri anxiously after her, crying for her to be careful for his sake and their baby's, and she just stood watching as they left, their laughters echoing even after they were long gone.

"Madame.." A voice calls softly to the side. And she mechanically looked up to see Alvin. Their..no the Delarney houses aged butler.

"I've called in the driver.." He informs, hesitating as if to say something, before he shook his head with a sympathetic frown on his face.

"Madame I-" he begins to say, but she raised a hand to shut him up.

"Do not bother Alvin. I'll be on my way now."

As she walked out of the extravagant Delarney mansion, the cool night air embraced her once more, and she finally let her tears flow. Tears of relief, of anger, and of sorrow for the life she had been living, a life built on deceit and betrayal. Built on hopes and longing.

Foolish. Utter foolishness.

Aria moretti. That was who she was at her core. And she hated that she ever allowed herself to be anything less. Not anymore.

You would pay for this embarrassment Henri Delarney. I made you who you are, and I could just as easily break you. You would rue this day, I promise. Moretti's never had been ones to take betrayal lightly. And I certainly won't be the first. She vowed solemnly.