FRAMED FOR MURDER WHILE PREGNANT: NOW I'M THE MAFIA'S WIFE

Marissa POVSix hours in a concrete room will break anyone.I sat slumped in the metal chair, handcuffs digging still in my hands, staring at space still in denial . No more tears left. My body had wrung itself dry sometime around hour three, after they'd shown me the "evidence" for the fifth time and asked the same questions in different ways.I was so exhausted , my limbs felt numb and my thoughts were in disarray. " Your body is in shock." the female detective had said earlier with something almost like sympathy.My body. My pregnant body.My hand twitched toward my stomach, then stopped. I couldn't keep drawing attention there. Couldn't let them know how vulnerable I was, how terrified I was for the tiny life growing inside me. Eight weeks. So early. So fragile. After everything I'd been through, after three miscarriages that had nearly destroyed me, I'd finally been pregnant again.And now Chris was dead.The thought should have brought fresh tears. Instead, I just felt empty lik

Von POV I'd learned to read violence before I could read books.Growing up as the hidden son of a mafia king meant understanding intent before action, seeing death in a man's eyes before his hand ever moved. My father had trained me for a world I'd rejected, but the instincts remained, carved into my bones like commandments.The man approaching us carried death in his smile."Move," I told Marissa again, positioning myself between her and the threat.She didn't argue this time. Smart woman.The attacker was mid thirties, muscular but sloppy in his approach. Prison tattoos crawled up his neck gang affiliations I recognized from my father's world. His eyes were glassy. Drugs, probably. Someone had paid him to do this, pumped him full of courage."Castellano," he said, still smiling. "You and the bitch gotta go. Nothing personal.""It never is." I kept my voice calm, measured. "Who paid you?"He laughed. "Like I'd tell you that." The shank caught the light. "Boss said make it look like

Von POV Marcus arrived at midnight.The guards moved aside without question money and fear opened every door. I sat in my cell, waiting, knowing he would come. My father's most trusted lieutenant, the man who'd been my shadow since birth."Figlio." Marcus's voice was grave. He was sixties now, silver haired, but his eyes still held the same sharp intelligence. "I received your message.""Tell me you found something."He pulled a tablet from his coat. "We found everything." The screen lit up with images. Photos of Chris with Becca. Bank transfers. Communications. A trail of bodies and broken lives. "Christopher Mason is a career criminal. Multiple identities, multiple wives, multiple murders. He's been running elaborate cons for fifteen years. This time, someone hired him specifically to target Marissa Hale.""Richard Hale.""Yes. But there's more." Marcus swiped to another photo. My stomach dropped. "Becca has been working with Richard Hale for two years. Since before she married yo

Von POV I heard about Marissa's poisoning attempt through the prison grapevine Marcus had eyes everywhere, guards he'd bought, inmates he'd placed. The news hit me like a physical blow.They'd gone after her again. After her and the child she carried.The child that was probably already dead, given the stress and violence she'd endured. But she didn't know that yet. She was still protecting a pregnancy that had likely ended days ago, still fighting for a baby that might already be gone.The thought made me want to break something."Castellano." The guard appeared at my cell. "You have a visitor."Not Marcus this time. A woman. Mid twenties, sharp business suit, carrying herself like she owned the world."Mr. Castellano. I'm Sophia Chen, attorney for Marissa Hale. Catherine Frost sent me. We need to talk."They brought us to a conference room the first time I'd seen Marissa since the yard attack. She looked thinner, paler, but her eyes burned with that same fierce intelligence."You'r