The Mafia Wife’s Revenge

A week before the trial for my mother's drunk-driving death was set to begin, I was tied up, my eyes stabbed blind, my throat slit, my eardrums pierced. That night, all the evidence and testimony I had prepared turned into scrap paper. I nearly broke. My husband, Don Adrian Black, held me in his arms, gripped my hand, and taught me braille, little by little. Back then, I couldn't see anything, couldn't hear anything. The whole world was nothing but his fingers. He wrote in my palm and told me not to be afraid. My husband, Don Adrian Black, held me in his arms, gripped my hand, and taught me braille, little by little. Back then, I couldn't see anything, couldn't hear anything. The whole world was nothing but his fingers. He wrote in my palm and told me not to be afraid. A week later, I could already write out all my testimony in braille. That trial, I thought I had won. From that day on, Adrian took me all over the world seeking treatment. Until the ninth drug trial, my left eye regained light. My ears could hear sound again. I could finally speak. I was so excited I was almost shaking. I followed the location on Adrian's phone and rushed to the hotel where he was. But when I stood outside the private room, my raised hand froze in midair. Laughter from men drifted through the gap in the door. "Boss, you crippled your own wife to protect Chloe, fine, but you even taught her to read 'I will never forgive' as 'I voluntarily forgive.'" "That day in court, a few of us down there nearly died laughing." "The wife probably won't figure out in her lifetime that her own mother was killed by her best friend driving drunk. And she even wrote that friend a letter of forgiveness with her own hand." The laughter was like a knife, slicing into my ears that had just regained their hearing, cut after cut. I looked through the gap in the door. Adrian sat in the center of the sofa, Chloe in his arms. Chloe was once my best friend, and she had been with Adrian for five years. Adrian looked down at her, his voice low and calm. "The person's already dead. Can't be saved. The night it happened, I found the best doctors. I've done right by Emma." He paused, and held Chloe tighter. "But Chloe's been with me five years. I never gave her a proper status. That's what I owe her." The confession in that room was like a slap across my face. A second earlier, I'd wanted to rush in and tell him I could see, I could hear, I was almost well. But I forced those words back down. The door of the private room suddenly opened from the inside. The moment everyone saw me standing at the doorway, their expressions froze. "How did she get here?" "She didn't hear everything we just said, did she?" Someone quickly relaxed. "What are you afraid of? A deaf, mute blind woman. Boss goes home, makes up a couple lines in braille, and how would she ever know?" Everyone in the room relaxed, their eyes on me carrying undisguised contempt. Adrian let go of Chloe and stood up from the sofa. "Enough. We're done for tonight." He walked over to me, took my hand, and led me downstairs. His grip was sometimes firm, sometimes light. This was the rule he had set for me. A tight grip meant a step down. A lighter grip meant we were almost at the door. Out of the bar, cold wind blew over. He draped his jacket over my shoulders. He walked over to me, took my hand, and led me downstairs. His grip was sometimes firm, sometimes light. This was the rule he had set for me. A tight grip meant a step down. A lighter grip meant we were almost at the door. Out of the bar, cold wind blew over. He draped his jacket over my shoulders. Like always, he opened the car door for me, helped me in, and waited until I was settled before closing it. Adrian had always been like this. Whether before my accident or after, he could make tenderness flawless. In that moment, I even wished everything I had just seen and heard was fake. But in less than five seconds, the dream ended. Adrian opened the passenger door, lifted Chloe in his arms, and set her in the passenger seat. He buckled her seatbelt, then took out a blanket and laid it over her legs. Every movement was tender enough to sting. The car went to Chloe's apartment first. Adrian got out and carried Chloe inside. When he came back, there was a kiss mark on his neck, lipstick smeared on his lips, and a scent of perfume on him that nothing could cover. After we got home, I picked up the braille paper and carved a line into it. "Adrian, the day of my mother's trial, was the braille you taught me correct?" Adrian froze for a moment, then quickly wrote back on the paper. "Of course, honey." "Why did you suddenly come looking for me today? Didn't I tell you I had a family obligation tonight?" I looked up at him and laughed coldly inside. There wasn't even a trace of guilt on his face. "We've been married five years." Adrian took a contract out of the study and held it out to me. "Fifty percent of the company shares, transfer document. Baby, this is a gift from your husband. Sign it." But Adrian. If you keep saying this is a share transfer for me, why does the paper say "Transfer Agreement for All Design Works Under the Name of Emma Vale"? Why does the transferee's line read the name Chloe Reed? He took my hand, his tone as gentle as before. "Remember how I taught you to sign? I'll teach you again. You should write: I voluntarily accept the share transfer." He gripped my hand and, stroke by stroke on the paper, wrote something else entirely. "I voluntarily transfer all works under my name to Chloe Reed."

When the pen reached the name Chloe Reed, I raised my hand and threw it down. "I'm not signing." Adrian frowned. "What's wrong?" I fought hard to press down the sob in my throat and carved a few words into the braille paper. "I don't want it anymore." Coming to New York, going from an unknown newcomer to the position of chief designer, took me six years. Everything I had now, I'd earned with my own two hands and my own blood and sweat. But now, Adrian wanted me to hand it all to Chloe with my own hands. Coming to New York, going from an unknown newcomer to the position of chief designer, took me six years. Everything I had now, I'd earned with my own two hands and my own blood and sweat. But now, Adrian wanted me to hand it all to Chloe with my own hands. The impatience in his eyes was almost impossible to hide, but his tone softened anyway. "Baby, I want to give you security. You can't see, can't hear, can't speak clearly. I'm afraid someone will take advantage of you later." He was still lying to me. Braille was my only way to communicate with the outside world. And my outside world was only Adrian. The night I was attacked, I endured the double agony of losing my mother and being tortured. Back then, I even thought about slamming my head into the wall to go be with my mother. It was Adrian who arrived when I was about to split my head open and locked me tight in his arms. From that day on, he taught himself braille and taught me over and over, like teaching a newborn child. I couldn't hear or see. So the moment he told me in braille that the trial was won, I decided he was the one for life. But now that I could finally see, could finally hear the truth, my heart ached like it was about to burst. The living room was dead silent. Until Adrian's phone rang. The caller was Chloe. He picked up, and Chloe's crying came through immediately. "Adrian, please save me, okay? I'm begging you... he's going to beat me to death..." On the other end, there were sounds of arguing and things being smashed. A man was shouting. "Didn't we say you'd trick a woman into having a baby for your brother within two years? Where is she?" "Do you even care about your brother? He was born brain-damaged. I think your wings have grown now. I'll beat you to death today!" Chloe screamed. Adrian's face instantly darkened. Chloe cried until her voice went hoarse. "Adrian, Emma can't see or hear right now. Please help me, just one night." "Just one night..." Adrian clenched his fists. In the end, he spoke. "Okay." That one word, "okay," was like an electric current through my body, nailing me in place. I turned to run. But it was too late. Adrian grabbed my hand and pulled me into his arms. "Emma, haven't you always wanted a child? I'll give you one." I raised my hand to push him, but he gave me no room to refuse, gripping my wrist and pulling me toward the bedroom. Fear rose from the bottom of my heart, almost swallowing me whole. Ten minutes later, Chloe pushed open the villa door and walked in. Her face was covered in tears, her voice still shaking. "My brother's already on his way. He'll be here any minute." "Adrian, thank you, really..." Still crying, she took a bottle of pills out of her bag. "My brother's already on his way. He'll be here any minute." "Adrian, thank you, really..." Still crying, she took a bottle of pills out of her bag. "Ovulation pills. Give them to her to drink, and she might conceive tonight." Adrian took the pills, poured them into a cup, and held it to my lips. "Milk. Drink it while it's warm. It's good for you." He pressed the braille paper he'd written into my palm. He was still lying to me. But Adrian, did you forget? I'm allergic to milk. I shook my head. Adrian paid no attention to my reaction at all. He pinched my chin and tried to force it down my throat. "Enough!" A rough, hoarse voice tore out of my throat. I raised my hand and knocked the cup from his. "How long are you two going to keep lying to me?" In that moment, all the grievance I'd swallowed came flooding out like a broken dam. The cup shattered on the floor. Adrian almost instinctively shielded Chloe behind him. Both their faces were full of disbelief. "Emma..." Adrian stared at me. "You've recovered? You can see, and you can hear?"

Tears poured from my eyes, dropping one by one onto the floor. Adrian's expression changed. "Emma, you're better, why didn't you tell me? I'm..." Before he could finish, I cut him off. "Stop pretending, Adrian Black. We're getting a divorce." I stared at him, speaking word by word. "My mother's car accident, my kidnapping, being crippled like this—I'm reporting all of it. I'll pursue it to the end." My voice was hoarse and ugly. Every word I spoke felt like that knife once held to my throat, slicing my throat open again. When he heard "divorce" and "report," Adrian's face sank instantly. "Divorce?" He looked at me coldly. "Emma Vale, are you sure?" "You're a cripple now. Other than me, who would want a woman like you?" After the accident, I'd endured countless stares and whispers. But when the word "cripple" came out of Adrian's mouth, my heart hurt worse than being cut open alive. Anger and grievance surged up. I raised my hand and slapped him hard across the face. "Adrian, what about my mother's life, a living, breathing life? What about all this suffering I've taken on for no reason? Do you even have a heart?" Adrian went from having nothing to where he was today. Without my mother, he could never have gotten this far. The year he first built the Black family's legitimate business, he didn't have a cent. My mother not only sold the house and sold her jewelry. Without either Adrian or me knowing, she also sold the cornea of one eye. The year he first built the Black family's legitimate business, he didn't have a cent. My mother not only sold the house and sold her jewelry. Without either Adrian or me knowing, she also sold the cornea of one eye. She wired the money into Adrian's account. That whole month, she deliberately avoided me. By the time Adrian and I found out, it was already two months later. My heart ached for her. She just smiled and said, "Don't I still have one eye? If I'd sold both, I wouldn't get to see my precious daughter and son-in-law happy in the future. Otherwise I really would've traded both for cash to give you." Tears streamed down my face, beyond control. Adrian stood in front of me, looking down at me, calm in a way that was terrifying. "Emma, I admit your mother helped me back then. So after her accident, I found the best doctors and used the most expensive medicine. After she died, I gave her the most dignified funeral." "We already have a status between us. But Chloe has nothing." He looked at me, his tone matter-of-fact. "It's precisely because I love you, precisely because I won't abandon you, that I chose to hurt you in order to protect Chloe." Every word out of his mouth was like a needle stabbing into my eardrum. That pain was even clearer than the day my eardrums were pierced. Outside the villa, the sound of a car engine came. The next second, the door was kicked open from outside. A bald man led in a dull-faced, clumsy-moving man. That was Chloe's father, Frank Reed. Beside him was Chloe's brother, born with brain damage, Noah Reed. Frank's eyes swept over me. "This is her? Not bad-looking."