Mafia Lord's Mute Sweetheart

Chapter 170: Chapter 170 Cheating?

Cedric immediately frowned.

”She’s my wife,” Cedric corrected, his voice sharp.

Alessio’s smile became slightly sharper, a glint of satisfaction in his green eyes.

”Then perhaps you should treat her like one,” Alessio said, his tone was sharp.

The room fell silent.

Jessica’s smile disappeared for a moment. Her eyes flickered between the two men.

Cedric stared at him with open hostility. His blue eyes burned with barely contained anger.

”You don’t know anything about us,” Cedric said coldly, each word dripping with contempt.

”You’re right,” Alessio shrugged, completely unbothered. ”I don’t.”

Then he looked toward Daisy, his expression softening almost imperceptibly.

”But I know what I saw,” Alessio added, his voice quieter now.

Daisy’s hands were still trembling.

Alessio noticed immediately.

Without making a show of it, he reached down and caught her hand. His fingers closed gently around hers, warm and steady.

Daisy looked at their joined hands. Then she looked up at him.

His expression had changed. The teasing smile was gone. His eyes were calm and serious, focused entirely on her.

”This isn’t what it looks like,” Alessio said dryly as he looked at Cedric.

Cedric stared at him, his jaw tight.

”You literally kissed her,” Cedric pointed out, his voice rising.

”I know,” Alessio said simply.

”Then how is it not what it looks like?” Cedric demanded, stepping forward.

Alessio paused, his green eyes steady.

”Because you’re assuming,” Alessio said simply.

Cedric’s face flushed with anger. His attention remained fixed on Daisy.

She wasn’t looking at him.

She was looking down at the hand Alessio was holding.

Cedric felt another strange irritation in his chest, hot and unfamiliar. He didn’t like seeing them like this. He didn’t like the way Alessio stood so close to her, the way she didn’t pull away, the way her fingers rested so naturally in his.

Meanwhile, Daisy’s thoughts were completely confused.

She had never looked at Alessio in that way. To her, he had always been her friend. She had never imagined him as anything more. Her heart had always belonged to Cedric. At least, she had believed that.

But now, with Alessio’s fingers wrapped securely around hers and she could still feel the faint warmth of his earlier kiss at the corner of her lips, something inside her felt strangely different. Her heart was beating faster. Her head felt light. She didn’t understand it.

She looked at Alessio again. He was standing beside her as if protecting her from the awkwardness of the room, his expression calm and confident.

And somewhere deep inside her heart, something tiny seemed to move. Just something small. Something unfamiliar. Like a seed that had quietly fallen into the soil and had only just begun to sprout.

”Daisy! Come here.”

Cedric’s voice suddenly hardened.

Daisy looked up at him. Her heart was still racing from Alessio’s closeness but the sharpness in Cedric’s tone pulled her back to reality.

He was staring at her with an expression she had rarely seen directed at her before. There was anger in his eyes, hot and barely contained, but beneath it was something else that almost looked like panic. His jaw was tight, his hands curled into fists at his sides.

”You’re my wife,” he said, his voice tense and strained. ”Are you cheating on me with him?”

Daisy stared at him in disbelief.

For a moment, she genuinely couldn’t understand what she had just heard.

Cheating?

Her?

She slowly pointed toward herself, her eyes wide with confusion. Her finger trembled slightly as she gestured. Me?

Cedric’s jaw tightened. ”Yes, you.”

Daisy’s eyebrows rose. Her lips parted slightly, but no sound came out.

She couldn’t believe the audacity. It was the second time he was accusing her of cheating!

Hadn’t he just been kissing Jessica? Hadn’t she walked in on them locked together, his lips on hers, completely lost in their own world? Hadn’t he told her repeatedly, openly, without shame, that he loved another woman? That his heart belonged to Jessica and always would? That she, Daisy, was nothing more than a burden he had been forced to carry?

And now he was really asking whether she was cheating on him?

Beside her, Alessio was equally surprised.

He looked at Cedric for a long second, his green eyes narrowing. He tilted his head slightly, studying the man before him with a mixture of disbelief and quiet amusement.

Again?

This man really had a talent for creating scenes. A talent for pointing fingers while standing knee-deep in his own mess.

Alessio glanced at Daisy, then back at Cedric. What exactly did he expect from her? If Cedric could openly have Jessica in his life while still being married to Daisy, if he could kiss his mistress in front of his wife’s hospital room, why was he suddenly acting as though Daisy had committed some terrible betrayal?

Alessio’s expression became slightly colder His green eyes hardened, and his posture shifted almost imperceptibly.

So what if she is?

If Daisy eventually wanted to move on and live her own life, why shouldn’t she? Cedric couldn’t keep one foot in his marriage and another with Jessica, then demand that Daisy remain completely devoted to him. He couldn’t have it both ways. He couldn’t enjoy the freedom to love another woman while expecting Daisy to stay faithful to a man who had never been faithful to her.

Alessio’s gaze dropped briefly to their joined hands. Her fingers were still trembling slightly in his grip, but she hadn’t pulled away. She hadn’t let go. And that meant something.

He wasn’t going to force Daisy into anything. He wasn’t going to push her or pressure her or make decisions for her. But he certainly wasn’t going to stand there and let Cedric make her feel guilty either. Not when she had done nothing wrong. Not when she had been the one who was hurt, over and over again.

Daisy, meanwhile, finally shook her head firmly. Her caramel hair swayed with the motion, catching the dim light of the room.

No.

Cedric stared at her. His blue eyes searched her face, looking for something, a lie or any sign that she was hiding the truth from him. ”Then what was that?” He pointed sharply toward Alessio. ”What was that kiss?”