CHAPTER 4
861 Words
THE MORETTI'S HEIR
“Touch her again”.
The voice wasn't loud.
It didn't need to be.
The laughter that had filled the marketplace disappeared instantly.
Eleanor froze.
She knew that voice.
Slowly, she turned.
Lucien stood at the entrance of the crowd, one hand resting casually in his pocket, the other holding the small package he'd gone to collect.
His expression was unreadable.
But his eyes were fixed on Eleanor's injured arm.
A murmur traveled through the crowd.
“Isn't that…?”“Lucien Moretti?”
“The Moretti heir?”
“The heir to the Moretti Group?”
“No way…”
“He actually came here himself?”
People began stepping aside as Lucien walked toward them.
The woman who had been humiliating Eleanor suddenly straightened her dress, her confidence returning.
She clearly hadn't yet understood what was happening.
Lucien stopped beside Eleanor.
His gaze moved from the blood on her arm to the woman standing opposite her.
His voice was calm.
“Who hurt my wife?”
Silence.
The woman's eyes widened.“Your… wife?”
She looked at Eleanor.
Then back to Lucien.
For a moment, she looked genuinely confused.
Then she laughed.
“Her?”
Eleanor's eyes narrowed.
The woman looked around at the crowd as though she'd just been handed another opportunity to embarrass her.
“Lucien, surely you're not talking about her.”
Lucien's expression didn't change.
The woman stepped forward.
“You don't know who she is.”
Eleanor folded her arms despite the sting in her arm.
“Apparently, you know far too much about me.”
The woman ignored her.“She comes from nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
Whispers immediately spread through the crowd.“She was born into a poor family.”
“Really?”
“I heard her father had debts.” The woman raised her voice.
“She has no family name worth mentioning, no status, no wealth. She's a lowborn girl who somehow managed to get herself close to powerful people.”
Eleanor's jaw tightened.
But she didn't lower her head.
Instead, she smiled faintly.
“You seem strangely obsessed with my background.” The woman scoffed.
“Because someone needs to remind you of it.” Lucien finally spoke.
“Are you finished?”
The woman turned toward him.
“I’m only telling you the truth.”
“No.”
Lucien's voice was colder this time.
“You're humiliating a woman because you believe her background makes her beneath you.”
The woman laughed nervously.
“You can't seriously be defending—”
“My wife?”
Lucien finished the sentence for her.
The woman's face went completely blank.
The crowd erupted into whispers.
“His wife?”
“Eleanor is Lucien Moretti's wife?”
“The Moretti heir married her?”
Eleanor herself looked at Lucien.
He glanced down at her.
“Did I say something wrong?”
She shook her head slowly.
“No.”
His mouth curved slightly.
“Good.”
The woman suddenly stepped forward.“Lucien, you don't understand. My father has known your family for years. Our families have business together.
You can't simply—”
Lucien looked at her.“Your father.”
She nodded quickly.
“Yes.”
Lucien took out his phone.
“What's his name?”
The woman's confidence returned.
“Why?”
“Just answer me.”
She swallowed.
“Adrian Vale.”
Lucien nodded once. He made a call.
“Cancel the Vale contract.”
The woman's face dropped.
“What?”
Lucien continued speaking into the phone.
“Every agreement between the Moretti Group and Vale Industries. Effective immediately.”
“Lucien!”
He ended the call.
The crowd went silent.
The woman stared at him in disbelief.
“You can't do that!”
Lucien slipped his phone back into his pocket.
“I just did.”
“But my father—”
“Your father signed those contracts because he believed he had my respect.”
Lucien glanced at Eleanor's injured arm.
“He no longer has it.”
The woman looked horrified.
“You're destroying my father's business because of her?”
Lucien's eyes hardened.
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“I'm protecting my wife.”
The woman opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Lucien turned toward the crowd.
His voice carried across the entire marketplace.
“Let me make something very clear.” Everyone became silent.
“This is my wife.”
He placed a protective hand around Eleanor's waist.
“She doesn't need a powerful family name to stand beside me.”
His gaze swept across the crowd.
“And anyone who thinks her background gives them the right to humiliate, threaten, or lay a finger on her…”
He paused.
His expression turned cold.
“…has just discovered how expensive that mistake can be.”
Eleanor looked up at him.
For the first time since the humiliation began, she smiled.
Not because she needed Lucien to fight her battles.
But because he had made one thing very clear.
He wasn't ashamed of her.
He had chosen her.
And the entire marketplace had just witnessed it.
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