Bone Possolo

On my wedding day to Julian Moretti, the future Mafia Don, I was deliberately sent to the wrong penthouse. My half-sister Sofia had crawled into my fiancé's bed, leaving me to be discovered by the family's exiled, alcoholic cousin. In my past life, I was shattered by this orchestrated betrayal. I cried and begged when Julian publicly humiliated me, choosing his illegitimate mistress over his rightful bride. I played the perfect, dignified Mafia wife for years. I swallowed his insults, ignored his infidelities, and accepted my ruined reputation to keep the peace. But my blind obedience only paved the way for my murder. Julian discarded me, and I was poisoned to death so Sofia could steal my crown as the Mafia Queen. Until my agonizing last breath, I didn't understand. I had honored our families' blood alliance flawlessly. Why was I the sacrificial lamb while they were rewarded for their treason? Opening my eyes again, I was back on the dark leather sofa, suffocating in my heavy silk wedding dress. This time, I didn't shed a single tear. I grabbed a heavy brass letter opener, marched straight into the Don's main study, and slapped the Underboss across the face in front of the entire family. "A Valdez woman does not share her husband," I declared coldly. "To honor the alliance, I will marry Dante." If they wanted to make my humiliation a fact, I was going to make it a funeral.

Tomorrow was my wedding day to Jason Brennan, the heir to a powerful Mafia family. My family, the Falcones, had even taken in an orphaned girl, Elena, treating her like my own sister. But in my nightmare of a past life, I choked on my own blood, poisoned by the arsenic Elena slipped into my food every day. As I lay agonizingly close to death, Jason stood over me with a cold laugh, holding Elena in his arms. "We just needed the Falcone wealth, Bella. And the docks." Then came the gunfire. I was forced to watch them slaughter my father and my brother, tearing my family out by the roots. After my death, Elena even spread vicious rumors that I was a barren spinster, twisting their foul betrayal into a tragic tale of noble sacrifice to completely destroy my legacy. The metallic tang of my own blood was so real I could still taste the ash. I didn't understand why the girl my family sheltered for eight years would repay our charity with such venom. And I understood even less how the man who swore to love me could orchestrate my brutal murder without a shred of hesitation. Bolting upright in bed, drenched in cold sweat, I realized I had returned to the night before my wedding. This time, I wouldn't just cancel the engagement. I would hand their treason directly to the Mafia's most terrifying Enforcer, and watch them burn.

I gave up half my soul and my rare White Wolf bloodline to save Alpha Silas from deadly silver poisoning. For three years, I hid my painful scars, believing my sacrifice was the foundation of our eight-year love. But on the morning of our mating ceremony, he wrapped my handwoven bridal cloak around another woman. He had mistaken a lying Beta female for his savior, and to pay off her family's massive debts, he decided to sell me off. He forced me to drink wine laced with Wolfsbane, entirely paralyzing my inner wolf. He took my dead mother's sacred amulet and gifted it to the liar. Then, he threw my weakened body into a transport vehicle, sending me as a tribute bride to a rumored mad and dying Alpha. When wild rogues ambushed our convoy and trapped me in a burning car, Silas was right there. But instead of saving me, he rushed to shield the lying woman from a tiny scratch, leaving me to burn alive. As the flames licked the windshield, my heart shattered completely. I had torn my own spirit apart to keep him alive, and this was my repayment? To be poisoned, robbed, and left to die in the ashes for a parasite? But I didn't die in that fire. The "dying" Alpha tore open the crushed metal to pull me out himself. He wasn't a cursed old man, but a terrifyingly powerful Lycan—and my true fated mate. This time, I will embrace my new empire, and watch Silas lose absolutely everything.

I sold three years of my life to a billionaire to save my mother. I was his pretend fiancée, a stand-in for his ex, counting down the days until the contract ended and we could finally be free. But just as we were about to escape, his real girlfriend returned and publicly accused me of faking a pregnancy to trap him. My fiancé, Drake, didn't hesitate. He called me a disgusting gold-digger and threatened to pull my mother's medical funding to force me into an abortion. The shock of his cruelty sent my mother into cardiac arrest. She died right there in the hospital. They demanded I abort a child that could never exist, a lie built to destroy me. But they didn't know my secret. After my mother' s death, I finally told him the truth that shattered his world: I was born without a uterus. And with her last letter in my hand, I walked away from him forever.

For years, I believed my unique blood was a gift to save the man I loved. Now, he saw it as a poison. At the urging of his venomous new lover, Kim, he believed I was a family enemy trying to destroy him. He subjected me to endless torture, draining my life force to treat Kim' s fake pregnancy. Each extraction, which he saw as me faking my pain, was actually pushing my body toward total collapse. I endured it all for one reason: to protect my innocent brother, Benny. But how could the man whose life I'd secretly preserved be so blind to the truth? When they captured Benny and threatened his life, I offered my final sacrifice. I gave Cliffton my entire remaining life force, dissolving into light before his very eyes. And in that instant, as his cured parents appeared to reveal every lie, he finally understood: he had just murdered his own salvation.

My engagement to Ethan Hayes was a decade-long silent contract, a symbol of a love I held with quiet desperation, though his light never truly shone on me. Then Chloe Davis appeared, all sweetness and light, and Ethan, who' d been indifferent to me, fell completely for her. In my first life, that look drove me mad, leading me to uncover Chloe' s dark secret: she was the daughter of the man who ruined Ethan' s family, driving his parents to suicide. My attempt to save him backfired catastrophically. During a heated confrontation, Chloe pushed Ethan's uncle, David Hayes, who died instantly. Ethan walked in, seeing only me standing over the body with a terrified Chloe pointing a trembling finger. He refused to listen, convinced I was a jealous fiancée eliminating a rival. I was wrongly imprisoned for his uncle' s death, dying alone and forgotten, while Ethan and Chloe' s twisted tragedy bound them together in a life I couldn't share. All my love, my loyalty, my sacrifices, meant nothing. But then, I opened my eyes. I was back in the university library, a full year before the tragedy unfolded. My past life was a finished story, but this was my second chance. I swore a cold, hard resolve: I would not interfere. I would not save him. I would watch their great love story play out to its inevitable, disastrous end. My first act? Terminating our engagement.

The biting cold was the last thing I felt, a numbing seeping into my bones as I lay dying in our remote mountain cabin. My husband, Mark, had left me here to freeze and starve, locking the door and cutting the phone line, his eyes devoid of any love. He did it for my groundbreaking eco-city designs, which he planned to steal and present as his own, aided by my own sister, Chloe. I had confronted them, screaming and crying, showing them the printed evidence of their betrayal, but Mark merely looked at me with terrifying calmness. "You can't prove anything, Ava," he' d said, "It's your word against mine. And Chloe's." Then, like a fool clinging to the last sliver of hope, I had agreed to his suggestion of a trip to the cabin to "talk things out." The same cabin where he' d previously dismissed our miscarriage as "bad timing," letting our baby die for his ambition and covering his tracks with Chloe's scent. Now, shivering under a flimsy blanket, my fingers numb, all I could think of was the hidden hard drive containing irrefutable proof of their treachery. But what good was it? I was about to be just another tragic story, while they would have everything. Then, a sudden, violent jolt. My eyes snapped open. I wasn't in the cabin. The air was warm, stuffy, and smelled of stale coffee. I was at my desk at the firm. It was two weeks before the confrontation, before the blizzard, before my death. Impossible. A dream? A hallucination? Yet, it was undeniably real. A miracle. I was back. And this time, there would be no foolish hope. No direct confrontation. A slow, cold smile spread across my face. Mark and Chloe thought they could destroy me. They were about to find out how wrong they were. This time, I' d be setting the trap. This was for revenge.

The cold concrete walls of the visitor' s room blurred. My wife, Sarah, sat opposite me, her eyes burning with contempt, dressed in a sharp business suit. "Ethan, that data-exfiltration device was clearly planted by you," her voice, a venomous echo, replayed. "You were just jealous of Alex and wanted him dead! I truly regret leaving Alex for a simpleton like you; you deserve to rot in prison for what you did to him!" That was the last time I saw her before the life sentence. Before everything went black. The betrayal was so fresh, it felt like it happened only a second ago. Alex Thornton, her charismatic tech mogul mentor, gifted her a sleek, black smart ring. As an FBI agent, I recognized it immediately: a sophisticated data-exfiltration device. I tried to warn her, even reported it to the Bureau, cushioning the blow to protect her, sacrificing my own promotion. It was a fatal mistake. Alex died in a suspicious car accident as the FBI closed in. My grieving, loving Sarah then wove a web of digital lies, leaking classified intel and manipulating logs, pointing every piece of evidence directly at me. The jealous, jilted husband. The perfect story. Then, a jarring, insistent beeping cut through the darkness of my prison cell memory. I gasped, my eyes flying open. I wasn' t in a cell. I was in my own bed. My alarm clock. 7:00 AM. My heart hammered. Sarah was still asleep. On her nightstand, gleaming, was the smart ring. It was today. The day it all began. A cold dread washed over me, followed by something hot and sharp: a second chance. The humiliation, the cold slap of betrayal, her mocking words. My colleagues' faces, pity mixed with confusion, as they cuffed me. I had sacrificed everything for a woman who saw me as a simpleton. The love I felt for her was now a black hole. In the quiet of the morning, with the woman who would destroy me sleeping peacefully beside me, I made a new vow. Not of love, or loyalty, but of self-preservation. And justice.

My ex-best friend, Chloe, just waltzed back into my life, smooth as honey with a hidden sharp edge, and immediately made herself at home. She ran her perfectly manicured finger over my prized possessions, claiming credit for my life' s work, Harmony, the AI wellness companion I poured my soul into. My boyfriend, Liam, my partner of seven years, stood right by her side, smiling his easy smile, letting her spin her lies and seduce him right in front of my eyes. He didn't see the manipulation, the insidious way she tried to erase my achievements and claim them as her own, because with Chloe, he never did. He even defended her when our son, Leo, in his innocent honesty, exposed Chloe for stealing my presentation and called her a "mean witch." Liam chose her, the manipulative liar, over me and our child, sending us away so she wouldn't be "upset." My heart shattered as I saw her Instagram post – Liam at a dimly lit bar, his arm around her, the caption mocking me: "#RealConnection #Finally." The betrayal was a physical blow, a complete and utter dismantling of my world. But Chloe and Liam just pushed me to the brink, because in that moment of absolute despair, my dormant "Influence Algorithm"-a system I built to subtly sway public opinion-began to hum to life. And I knew, with chilling certainty, that I wouldn' t just survive; I would be ready to fight back.

My freshman year at Green Mountain College was supposed to be about freedom. But my mom, Susan, had other plans for her only daughter. She turned my dorm room into a high-tech prison, monitoring every single video call, scrutinizing my bank account, and even tracking my social media DMs "for my safety." It wasn't safety; it was relentless, suffocating surveillance, a gilded cage I desperately wanted to escape. Then came the ultimate college freshman nightmare: my debit card (tied to Mom' s account, of course) got declined at the crowded campus coffee shop. Total humiliation. A kind senior, Liam, stepped in and paid for my coffee and bagel; a simple, unexpected act of grace. But that small kindness triggered a reaction I never anticipated. Hours later, Liam messaged me, sending a screenshot that made my blood run cold. My mother had instantly found his Venmo payment, tracked him on Instagram, and sent him a chilling message, warning him off her "vulnerable" daughter. Liam, understandably, blocked me instantly, dissolving my only new connection. Mom's video call that night wasn't an interrogation; it was an execution, dredging up every past friendship she' d ever destroyed, every connection she' d severed. She wasn't just protective; she was ensuring I was utterly, completely hers. The shame of that night quickly curdled into a burning, unyielding rage. She wasn't trying to keep me safe; she was systematically isolating me, controlling my finances, my friendships, my entire existence. I finally saw the pattern with terrifying clarity, a sinister obsession veiled as maternal love, one that perhaps even connected to my father' s "factory accident" years ago. The thought that she might have secretly engineered my entire life filled me with a chilling dread. I wasn't just terrified anymore. I was done running. If she wanted to monitor my life, I decided to give her something truly alarming to find. I created Ryder Stone, the brooding musician, everything she' d despise. It was time to stop being her puppet. It was time to turn her own controlling surveillance into my weapon, inviting her into a trap she wouldn' t see coming.

My younger brother, Leo, died in the emergency room, a casualty of our parents'twisted "tests." For years, "system prompts" had controlled our lives, confirming that Leo and I were mere side characters in our adoptive brother Ashton's "golden-boy" narrative. The ultimate test arrived when our parents refused to pay for Leo's emergency treatment after Ashton knowingly gave him a peanut cookie, triggering his fatal allergy. The system grimly confirmed: "Allergen exposure by Subject Ashton: successful. Test parameters met." In the wake of Leo's death, my desperate attempts to raise cremation funds were sabotaged, and family accusations of fraud and dramatization poisoned my name. Ashton publicly smeared me, claiming I faked Leo's death, while my father imposed an impossible financial task that he systematically undermined. I was even abducted, drugged, and forced to sign away my inheritance, every path blocked. But the final, unbearable cruelty struck when Ashton live-streamed an exposé, accusing me of using  "fake ashes"  at Leo's memorial. My own father ripped open the small pouch I'd kept, scattering Leo's last physical trace to the winds as my mother screamed, calling me a "sick, attention-seeking monster." How could they be so cruel, so relentlessly focused on destroying me, even after Leo's death? As I collapsed, shattered, the live-stream viewers finally saw their monstrous deeds, prompting police intervention and ending their twisted game. Now, as the system prompts falter and Ashton faces justice, I am finally free to reclaim my life, guided by Leo's memory.

For six years, Ava Miller, a struggling musician in Austin, had shared her life—and her dreams—with Ethan Cole, a charismatic motocross legend. Their home felt comfortable, their routine established; she believed they were on an unspoken path toward forever. But her world crumbled when a drunken confession from Ethan’s closest friend revealed a devastating truth: Ava was merely a carefully chosen understudy, a "practice girlfriend," serving as a convenient placeholder for Ethan’s long-standing, unrequited obsession with his high school sweetheart, Chloe Vance. The betrayal was gut-wrenching. Ethan’s deepening disinterest was palpable, her birthday forgotten while he openly pursued Chloe. The vicious cycle escalated when Chloe’s jealous machinations led to Ava being brutally hit by a car. Yet, even from her hospital bed, Ethan, hopelessly blind to Chloe’s malice, coldly hung up on the nurses, dismissing Ava’s severe injuries as a mere act for "attention." Utterly discarded and bleeding, Ava was left to grapple with the horrifying realization: every tender moment, every song she’d penned for him, felt like a meticulously crafted lie. The man she loved saw her as less than nothing, a disposable echo of another woman. Was her entire existence with him a cruel illusion? With her spirit shattered but an unbreakable resolve forged in despair, Ava made the definitive choice to leave everything behind. She fled Austin for Boston, embracing a new path set by her family: an arranged marriage to a kind, stable doctor. But in a twist of fate, the past refused to stay buried, resurfacing dramatically on the very day Ava sought her new beginning.

I sell a special type of tea in a tea room. This tea, when added to food, makes it incredibly delicious and addictive, like a drug. Countless high-end restaurant owners come to me seeking it out. But I know that this tea is made by watering the plants with the blood of addicted individuals.

I was the perfect Mafia wife, my dowry the foundation of my husband's ambition. I paid for his Yale degree, his tailored suits, and the very mansion he called his own. My reward? He paraded his mistress into my bedroom and declared her his second wife, expecting me to silently finance their affair. They thought they had broken a merchant's daughter. They forgot I was raised by wolves. Armed with a blood chit—a life debt owed to my family by the most feared man in Chicago—I walked into the lion's den. I went to Damien 'The Wraith' Falcone, the Dark Don who rules the Outfit with an iron fist, to demand a simple annulment. But the King of Chicago isn't interested in simple transactions. He saw the steel beneath my silk, the vendetta burning in my eyes. He granted me my freedom, but at a price: my allegiance. Now, I'm a pawn in his lethal game of thrones, caught between a treacherous husband I swore to destroy and a ruthless Don who looks at me with a terrifying, possessive hunger. In a city built on loyalty and betrayal, I'm about to teach them all that a queen's wrath is the deadliest weapon of all.

I was three days away from marrying the Underboss of the Fazio crime family when I unlocked his burner phone. The screen glowed toxic bright in the dark next to my sleeping fiancé. A message from a contact saved as 'Little Trouble' read: "She is just a statue, Dante. Come back to bed." Attached was a photo of a woman lying in the sheets of his private office, wearing his shirt. My heart didn't break; it simply stopped. For eight years, I believed Dante was the hero who pulled me from a burning opera house. I played the perfect, loyal Mafia Princess for him. But heroes don't give their mistresses rare pink diamonds while giving their fiancées cubic zirconia replicas. He didn't just cheat. He humiliated me. He defended his mistress over his own soldiers in public. He even abandoned me on the side of the road on my birthday because she faked a pregnancy emergency. He thought I was weak. He thought I would accept the fake ring and the disrespect because I was just a political pawn. He was wrong. I didn't cry. Tears are for women who have options. I had a strategy. I walked into the bathroom and dialed a number I hadn't dared to call in a decade. "Speak," a voice like gravel growled on the other end. Lorenzo Moretti. The Capo of the rival family. The man my father called the Devil. "The wedding is off," I whispered, staring at my reflection. "I want an alliance with you, Enzo. And I want the Fazio family burned to the ground."

"You're leaving," Lorenzo said softly. Ivy straightened her spine and raised her chin. "I am. I'm getting out of this place even if it means climbing over the front gates. I can't stay here anymore. I'm leaving!" "You can't," Lorenzo said flatly. "Not now." "Watch me," Ivy hissed, brushing past him. Lorenzo stepped in her way and grabbed her by the arms-not roughly, but firmly. "I mean it, Ivy. You can't leave," he said tightly. She struggled against his grip, her bag falling to the floor with a thud. "Let me go, Lorenzo! I don't belong here. This place is insane. Your family is insane!" "You belong to me," he said sharply, eyes burning into hers. "And it's my job to protect what's mine." "I don't want to be yours," Ivy cried. "I want to be free! I want to live!" Something shifted in Lorenzo's face. He looked at her then, not as an obligation, not as a pawn, but as a person. A frightened, strong, beautiful woman who had been caught in a storm she never asked for. And something in him cracked. Lorenzo reached down and cupped her face with both hands. Ivy flinched at first but didn't pull away. His thumbs wiped away the tears rolling down her cheeks. "I never wanted to hurt you," he said quietly. Her lower lip trembled. "Then let me go..." "I can't," he whispered. And then, without thinking, he leaned in and kissed her. *************** Ivy Wesley believed that marrying a wealthy stranger would be her golden escape from a life of struggle. Lorenzo Martinelli was supposed to be her way out: her fresh start, her answer to every prayer whispered in the dark. But the moment the mansion doors shut behind her, Ivy understood the truth. She hadn't stepped into a fairy tale. She had walked straight into the lion's den. The whispers about the Martinelli family's ties to the Mafia aren't just rumors; they're real, and now Ivy is bound to them by a ring on her finger and secrets she can never unlearn. There is no undoing this choice. No clean exit. Not after what she's seen. Not after what she knows. Surrounded by dangerous alliances, ruthless power plays, and truths sharp enough to draw blood, Ivy finds herself caught in a world where trust is a luxury and loyalty can be lethal. Yet in the middle of the chaos, something even more unexpected takes root: a love she never planned for, never prepared for, and may not survive. Now Ivy faces an impossible choice: run while she still can, or stand her ground beside the man who could destroy her as easily as he protects her. In a world where betrayal lurks behind every polished smile and devotion can cost a life, can their love endure... or will it be the very thing that brings everything crashing down?

On my wedding day, my father sold me to the Chicago Outfit to pay his debts. I was supposed to marry Alex Moreno, the heir to the city's most powerful crime family. But he couldn't even be bothered to show up. As I stood alone at the altar, humiliated, my best friend delivered the final blow. Alex hadn't just stood me up; he had run off to California with his mistress. The whispers in the cathedral turned me into a joke. I was damaged goods, the rejected bride. His family knew the whole time and let me take the public fall, offering me his cousins as pathetic replacements-a brute who hated me or a coward who couldn't protect me. The humiliation burned away my fear, leaving only cold rage. My life was already over, so I decided to set the whole game on fire myself. The marriage pact only said a Carlson had to marry a Moreno; it never said which one. With nothing left to lose, I looked past the pathetic boys they offered. I chose the one man they never expected. I chose his father, the Don himself.

What would you do if you walked in on your husband cheating? I'll tell you what I did: Ran out the door with nothing but the clothes on my back. A month later, I'm broke, jobless, almost homeless. But then, while filling in as a waitress at a fancy restaurant, I trip and land in the lap of a gorgeous stranger. One thing leads to another and we end up hooking up. Afterwards, he leaves. That's the end of that... right? WRONG. Because the next day, my temp agency sets me up for a job t hat seems too good to be true. But when I arrive for the interview, my jaw drops. It's the stranger. Turns out he's rich. Like, very rich. And powerful. Like, very powerful. And here's his offer: "Live in my house.Be my wife.Have my baby." Needless to say, I start to freak out. I stand up and stammer, "Um, I'll have to get back to you..." And he replies: "You're misunderstanding.It wasn't a question. You're not going anywhere."

On my birthday, my husband Dante asked for a divorce over a plate of cold lasagna. He held my hand, tears in his eyes, and told me his mistress was pregnant. "It’s a miracle, Elena," he wept. "God has finally given me a son." He looked at me with pity, calling me "broken" because I hadn't given him an heir in eight years. He moved his pregnant mistress into the penthouse I paid for, and his mother mocked me as a "dry vine" while cooking tonic soups for the new woman. They didn't know the truth I had buried three years ago. I remembered the day the doctor slid the file across the desk: *Azoospermia. Zero sperm count.* Dante was the sterile one. I had burned the results to protect his fragile ego as a Mafia Don. I took the blame. I drank his mother's vile herbal poisons every morning until I vomited, just to keep his secret. Now, he was discarding me for a "miracle" that was biologically impossible. I signed the divorce papers without a tear. Then I bought the debt of his company, put on a blood-red dress, and walked into his heir's Christening. I didn't come to object. I came to plug a USB drive into the projector and show the entire underworld exactly whose "miracle" that baby really was.

On my wedding day to Julian Moretti, the future Mafia Don, I was deliberately sent to the wrong penthouse. My half-sister Sofia had crawled into my fiancé's bed, leaving me to be discovered by the family's exiled, alcoholic cousin. In my past life, I was shattered by this orchestrated betrayal. I cried and begged when Julian publicly humiliated me, choosing his illegitimate mistress over his rightful bride. I played the perfect, dignified Mafia wife for years. I swallowed his insults, ignored his infidelities, and accepted my ruined reputation to keep the peace. But my blind obedience only paved the way for my murder. Julian discarded me, and I was poisoned to death so Sofia could steal my crown as the Mafia Queen. Until my agonizing last breath, I didn't understand. I had honored our families' blood alliance flawlessly. Why was I the sacrificial lamb while they were rewarded for their treason? Opening my eyes again, I was back on the dark leather sofa, suffocating in my heavy silk wedding dress. This time, I didn't shed a single tear. I grabbed a heavy brass letter opener, marched straight into the Don's main study, and slapped the Underboss across the face in front of the entire family. "A Valdez woman does not share her husband," I declared coldly. "To honor the alliance, I will marry Dante." If they wanted to make my humiliation a fact, I was going to make it a funeral.

I was the brilliant money launderer for the most feared syndicate on the East Coast, and the fiercely loyal wife of its Underboss, Dante. While I worked sleepless nights to build his underworld dominion, he secretly diverted my operations to fund a luxury club for his naive barista mistress. When I confronted them and publicly exposed her, Dante didn't show a shred of guilt. Instead, he slapped me across the face in front of the entire syndicate. He draped his tailored jacket over his crying mistress to shield her, then turned his cold eyes on me. "Apologize to her right now, or I will send every single soldier in your crew to the slaughterhouse." He then weaponized the mafia's whisper network to destroy my reputation, painting me as a hysterical, paranoid woman just to legitimize his affair. For years, I had blindly endured his psychological torture, believing my devotion would eventually earn his respect. But looking at the brutal purple handprint on my cheek, and the ninety-nine dried bouquets of white roses he kept in the attic to carelessly patch over his toxic abuse, my heart finally turned to ice. I didn't throw a tantrum, nor did I beg for his love anymore. I left his apology blood diamonds on the table, drafted my mafia severance papers, and walked out of his territory for good. This time, I would build my own empire, and let him drown in the ruins of his.

I spent the night with a stranger... Who got me pregnant... And turned out to be my boss... Whoops, sorry, did I say "boss"? I meant a MOB boss. To be fair, I didn't know he was my boss when I slept with him. I thought he was just the kind stranger offering me a place to stay. But one night in Misha Orlov's hotel room got me way more than I bargained for. It got me champagne that tasted like starlight. Satin sheets as soft as a dream. And a man with silver eyes who showed me how it felt to come undone. And then, in the morning... He was gone. That's I needed to get my life together anyway. After all, my ex-not-quite-husband (it's a long story) just emptied all our bank accounts and disappeared, taking my home and my money and my job with him. So I'm starting from a blank slate. I find myself a new apartment. A new job. And I put both Misha and my husband behind me. At least, I thought I did. Until Day 1 of orientation. When I learn that Misha Orlov is my new boss. That's bad enough. What's worse is what came next. A car crash. A doctor's appointment. And two pieces of unsettling news. Congratulations, the doctor says. You're pregnant. Congratulations, Misha says. You and I are getting married.

My mother is marrying a monster tomorrow. I'm the only one who remembers. My widowed mother was arranged to marry Lorenzo, a powerful Mafia Capo. I thought his status would finally bring us protection. But on the third day of their marriage, Lorenzo moved his pregnant mistress, Camilla, into the estate's master suite. She loudly claimed the child in her womb was the orphaned blood of a fallen soldier. "A Capo of Lorenzo's stature is doing your mother a service," the Syndicate wives mocked me, demanding we accept our place. Camilla systematically seized my mother's territory cuts and subjected her to endless psychological torture, while Lorenzo simply turned a blind eye. When the baby was born, it bore the exact same distinct birthmark on its neck as Lorenzo. Only then did we realize Lorenzo had used my mother as a convenient shield for his illicit affair, stealing my dead father's legacy and slowly draining our lives away. I didn't understand why the Family's brutal justice allowed a thief to siphon funds under the guise of caring for a martyr's widow, leaving us to die in absolute disgrace. Opening my eyes again, I was back to the day before the mob wedding. Looking at my six-year-old hands, I grabbed the torn marriage petition and stole the secret trust documents. This time, I ran straight to the heavily guarded gates of Don Salvatore, the most ruthless executioner in the city.