My Husband Gave My Seat to His First Love. I Gave His Family an Eviction Notice

The entire Ricci family had been planning a trip out west together. But the moment my husband's old flame, Bianca, heard about it, she insisted on coming along.

There was only one problem. There wasn't an extra seat on the flight.

Lorenzo didn't hesitate.

He canceled my reservation and booked Bianca a seat with the rest of the family. Then he bought me a train ticket instead, expecting me to spend thirty-six hours crossing the country in a cramped coach seat by myself.

I looked around at the rest of the Ricci family, waiting for someone to object.

No one did.

One by one, they sided with Lorenzo, as though it were perfectly reasonable for his wife to be pushed aside to make room for another woman.

So I didn't argue.

I simply took the train ticket and headed west alone.

What none of them knew was that I had no intention of coming back with them.

Three months later, the entire Ricci compound was in chaos, and Lorenzo was tearing the city apart looking for me.

...

It was rare for my husband to be granted a stretch of time away from Family business, so we decided on a long pilgrimage together. I had begun planning six months ahead, choosing destinations, laying out the route, booking everything. Since no one in the Ricci house ever lifted a finger, I was the one left in charge of flights, hotels, meals, every last arrangement.

I didn't mind the work. It would be worth it as long as everyone was happy. Seats were hard to come by, so I reserved tickets for the whole family early. When Gianna mentioned she had never flown first class, I paid out of my own pocket to upgrade every one of them.

Just before we were set to leave, my husband told me, "Bianca heard about the trip and wants to come along. The flight's full now, so you'll take the train. I already bought your ticket."

He sent the electronic ticket to my phone.

"What is the meaning of this?" I asked. "This was supposed to be a family trip, and you're bringing Bianca along?"

"Of course," Lorenzo replied. "Bianca wants to come, so I have to bring her."

I was furious. "When my own sister asked to join, you were very clear. A family trip, you said. You didn't want outsiders. Just us. Now Bianca wants in and you agree without blinking?"

"Bianca and your sister are different." His hand drifted to the back of his neck, rubbing it slow. "We're closer than family. We practically are family."

Scoffing, I spat, "I bought those plane tickets ages ago. Why am I the one taking the train?"

"There were no seats left, so I refunded yours and got one for Bianca. The train's all that's open for you." Lorenzo shrugged, indifferent to whatever I felt about it.

I looked at the ticket he'd sent. Thirty-six hours. A hard seat.

"So you buy Bianca a first-class seat while I sit upright for thirty-six hours on a train?" I asked, disbelieving.

He smirked. "Didn't you say you liked watching the scenery roll by from the train? Here's your chance to see all of it."

I turned toward my in-laws. The old man, Salvatore, quickly looked away, his cane still against the floor. Rosa tried to soothe me, pressing her handkerchief to her lips before she spoke. "Adriana, cara, Bianca and Lorenzo have known each other since they were small. They have so much to catch up on. It only makes sense for them to sit together. Bear with it for now. We'll all meet up once you arrive."

Gianna crossed her arms and lifted her chin. "Sis, Bianca has a delicate constitution. There's no way she could survive a train ride that long. You're strong. Healthy. You can manage."

I laughed, bitter. "Who actually belongs to this family? It's starting to look like Bianca is the real Donna of this house!"

Lorenzo scowled. "It's a train ride. It's not a big deal. And Bianca is practically one of us. It's only right we make her comfortable. Can't you be gracious for once? Set a good example?"

Just then the doorbell rang through the compound. Gianna ran to answer it. Bianca stood on the threshold.

"Bianca, you're here! I've been waiting for you!"

Gianna dragged Bianca's two large suitcases inside, beaming.

"Oh, Bianca, I've missed you so much! If only you hadn't gone away, you could've married my brother, and we'd all be family for real!" she cried, throwing an arm around Bianca's shoulders.

Rosa took Bianca's hand in both of hers, her voice sweet as poured wine. "Exactly. I always said you and Lorenzo were made for each other. In my heart, I've always seen you as the Donna of this house. No one else could ever compare."

Bianca's fingers tightened on the strap of the bag hanging from her shoulder, and she smiled.

They said it openly, right in front of me, without a flicker of shame. In that moment, I felt my heart grow cold toward this family, the one whose name I had kept solvent while they spent.

Bianca and Lorenzo had been sweethearts once, back before the Ricci name meant anything to me. But when the family fell on hard times, when the blood debt came due and the old alliances went quiet, she left the country without hesitation. It was I who settled that debt, five hundred thousand paid to bury a marker that would have buried them. Out of gratitude, Lorenzo married me. I had given this family everything short of my own blood.

My in-laws were faded and unwell, no rackets left to their name, no tribute coming in. I'd raised Gianna since she was ten, handled all of it, the cooking, the laundry, collecting her from school, sitting through the tutors and the meetings the matriarch couldn't be troubled to attend. She was fifteen now. I had raised her for five years. I was only her brother's wife, yet I had been more of a mother to her than anyone in that compound.

I had been generous with the old ones too, ten thousand a month into their kept purse, every meal set on their table by my hand, practically spoon-fed. I never once felt like a daughter of the house. I felt like hired help who paid out of her own pocket for the privilege of serving.

I had never expected anything back. And yet, after all of it, they treated me as less than an outsider at their own door.

Bianca crossed the room to me, one hand curled around the strap of a bag she hadn't paid for, a smug smile on her lips. "Sorry, Adriana. If I hadn't decided to come along at the last minute, you wouldn't have lost your seat and gotten stuck on the train. At first I thought I'd sit this one out, since there was nothing left. But Lorenzo said he'd handle it. I didn't think he'd put you on the train, though. I even offered to take it myself, but Lorenzo worried about me traveling alone all that way. So I suppose I owe you thanks, for taking the inconvenience."

Gianna looped her arm through Bianca's, chin lifting, arms folding in that rehearsed way of hers. "Exactly. All kinds of men ride those trains, and if someone like Bianca caught the wrong eye, what then? Adriana's got that fierce look about her, like some soldier who's seen a war. She'd frighten them off before they got close."

When she finished, the two of them burst into laughter.

Seeing the anger on my face, Lorenzo softened his voice, one hand drifting to the back of his neck. "Alright. I know this arrangement isn't ideal for you. But it's the best we could do. You were eyeing that bag last week, weren't you? Go ahead. Buy it."

I held out my hand. "Fine. Five thousand."

"That's robbery. I already said you could have the thing, and now you want me to pay for it too? Don't push it," he snapped.

I smirked and let the words fall cold. "Since when do I need your permission to spend my own money? How much do you even bring in a month?"

His face flushed. "That's not fair."

He earned three thousand a month, a soldier in name who never truly earned his button. I brought in a hundred. His take didn't cover his own habits. I had bankrolled this entire household from the first day I set foot in it.

When we married, he brought nothing to the union. I settled that fifty thousand marker, added thirty more as a gift under witness, and bought the very ground the compound stood on. This comfortable life they all enjoyed sat on money that was mine.

If they loved Bianca so much, then let her be the one to pay for them.

"Adriana, get moving on supper. It's late, and the whole household's hungry," the matriarch pressed.

I didn't grace Rosa with an answer. Instead I turned to Bianca with a smile. "Bianca, you and Lorenzo came up together, didn't you? I imagine you took plenty of meals under this roof back then."

"Of course! In those days Lorenzo and I ate together practically every night," Bianca chirped.

"So after all those years away, you must be starving for Mamma's cooking." I looked to the matriarch and went on, "Rosa, shouldn't you be in that kitchen putting a proper plate together for Bianca?"

Having said my piece, I lowered myself onto the couch and switched on the television. A moment later Lorenzo came at me, irritation all over him. "How could you send Mamma into the kitchen? You know her health isn't good. Get up and make dinner."

I let surprise fill my face. "Rosa, you're unwell? Is it serious? Why would you keep that from me?"

The matriarch snapped, her voice sharp as a blade drawn. "Who's unwell? I'm perfectly fine. Stop trying to curse an old woman into the ground."

"Then why won't you cook for Bianca? Just don't feel like it?" I said, amused.

Her expression curdled in an instant. "Who said I wouldn't cook?"

She marched into the kitchen and spent the next two hours over the stove. When the food was finally set out, Gianna pulled Bianca into my chair. "Sis, Bianca's our guest. You wouldn't mind giving up your seat, would you?"

The matriarch joined in, pressing a bowl into my hands. "If sitting at the edge bothers you, take your plate to the kitchen and eat back there. And tidy up a little while you're at it."

So now I wasn't even fit for the table. In a house I kept lit, in a compound I'd paid for down to the last stone.

"No need. You all enjoy yourselves. A friend invited me out, so I'll eat with them," I said, flat and final.

Lorenzo looked put out. "We leave for the gathering tomorrow, and you're still going out? Have you even packed?"

"You don't have hands? Pack it yourself," I shot back.

That stunned him into silence, and I walked out.

I bought myself a fine meal at one of the better rooms in the city, the kind of place run quiet under a name everyone recognized. Steak, wine, lobster. With my own money, earned off my own operations, I could sit wherever I pleased and no one would dare seat me at the edge. I stayed out until well past midnight and took my time about it.

When I came back, the compound sat dark. However late the hour, not a single call, not a single message asking after me. They'd all gone to bed without a second thought, as though I were a soldier who didn't warrant one.

I felt my way through the dark, entered the bedroom, and sat down on the bed, only to be jolted by a scream that split the silence like a shot.

"Ah!"

I snapped on the light and saw Bianca lying in my place. The sight made my blood boil. Without thinking, I slapped her clean across the face.

Bianca burst into tears, and Lorenzo bolted upright, throwing an arm around her like a shield. "Why did you hit Bianca? We were only talking and must have drifted off."

"Is that so? You just 'happened' to end up in bed together, wrapped around each other?" I said, fury climbing.

"We were waiting for you! You were out so late, and Bianca stayed to keep me company. We talked a while, and then we fell asleep. It's perfectly ordinary!" Lorenzo thundered. His hand had already found the back of his neck, rubbing at it the way he always did when the lie ran ahead of him.

"Then why didn't a single one of you call? A message? Too deep in conversation with your 'oldest friend' to manage it? And the two of you couldn't sit and wait in the living room, you had to bring it into my bedroom?"

Lorenzo scowled. "You're being unreasonable, Adriana."

I was finished arguing. I turned to Bianca. "I'm back now. So why don't you leave? Or do you expect all three of us to share the bed?"

Bianca ignored every word, cradling her cheek and whimpering, "Lorenzo, it really hurts."

Lorenzo, all tenderness now, said, "I'll get you something for it."