Vengeful Matrimony | ✔️

Chapter 36

GISELLE

"You and Nicholas don't seem to get along," I mumbled as Nicholas walked into the ballroom to go meet Fabiano.

Nicolo rolled his eyes, following me into the ballroom until we stopped by a tall table. "Does Nicholas even like anyone?"

"I beg to differ," I said, jokingly, but Nicolo seemed to have taken me seriously.

"Good for you," he said. "I didn't think things would improve between you two."

"Why not?"

Nicolo's reply was cut off when two women walked over to us, their smiles already in place, but I knew better than to trust that. Mother had a perfect smile, but in reality, she was the devil's incarnate just like my father.

"Giselle, is it?" The much slender one on the right asked. When I nodded, she continued. "How have you been? Lucia told us a lot about you."

"All good things I hope," I said, matching their smile and upbeat tone.

The other woman giggled. "Of course. She couldn't stop bragging about the pink diamond ring your husband got you. How much was it?" She asked the first woman.

"Twenty-one million dollars?"

I shrugged. "I don't recall, but it did cost quite a fortune."

I remembered how much the ring cost. How could I ever forget how Nicholas so easily departed with twenty-five million dollars in one night? Their fascination with the cost of the ring was off-putting.

"You don't have it on tonight," the slender woman noticed. "In fact, you don't even have your wedding ring on tonight."

I looked down at my finger, and indeed it was bare. I still hadn't gotten the pink diamond ring from Nicholas - he probably forgot to hand it over - and as for my wedding ring, I hadn't laid eyes on it since Nicholas took it off the other day.

"Are you and Nicholas separated?" Woman two asked, her eyes shining with glee. What the fuck was this about? "Come to think of it, where's he?"

"He's over the..." I trailed off when I couldn't find Nicholas or Fabiano in the ballroom.

"They left already," Nicolo whispered into my ear.

That finally brought him into the focus of the women.

"I see. You're with Nicolo D'Onofrio now? How ambitious!" The slender woman said, her eyes holding disdain. "You're even worse than your mother."

"You're wrong, Martha," Nicolo said, his tone cutting. "We're not together, so you can keep those marriage offers coming, yeah? Gina is finalizing her third divorce, isn't she? I can't promise I'll be the last."

I bit down on my lip to hold back my laughter. I never expected Nicolo to shut them down like this, and from the look of things, both women were mortified. Good riddance. They came here intending to humiliate me, but they were the ones facing humiliation.

"I don't feel quite comfortable wearing the pink one. I lost my wedding ring this morning, but Nicholas promised to get me another one tomorrow. We had to attend Father's party, so we couldn't get it today," I lied, effortlessly, surprising even myself. What was Nicholas turning me into?

"We'll see you around."

Both women turned on their heels.

"Rispetto quello che ho detto. È una brutta cagna!" The slender woman hissed.

"Non capisco come e perché Nicholas si sia sposato con lei," the other one said.

"What did they say?" I asked when they'd scurried off. "I only got bitch out of that."