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Chapter 22: Family Dinner
Last Updated:
2025-07-06 12:33:53
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Mafia Bride: From Pawn to Rebel Queen Chapter 23: Midnight Encounter
I can’t sleep. The dinner replays in my head on an endless loop. Marcella’s cruelty, Matteo’s smug satisfaction, the way the entire table turned against me like a coordinated attack. But mostly, I think about Luca standing up for me. Defending me against his own mother. It shouldn’t matter. One moment of decency doesn’t erase a month of cruelty, doesn’t undo the locked doors and broken promises. But it does matter. And that’s the problem. At midnight, I give up on sleep. Wrap myself in a robe and pad quietly to the door. The guard outside has changed shifts, this one looking half-asleep in his chair. “I need water,” I tell him. “From the kitchen.” He blinks, considers. “There’s water in your bathroom.” “I want cold water. From the refrigerator.” I cross my arms. “Unless you’d prefer to wake Luca and ask his permission?” The threat works. He stands reluctantly. “I’ll get it for you.” “I’m perfectly capable of walking to my own kitchen.” “Those aren’t my orders.” “Then come w
Mafia Bride: From Pawn to Rebel Queen Chapter 22: Family Dinner
The next morning, everything feels different and exactly the same. Luca doesn’t mention the kiss. Doesn’t acknowledge what happened in that bathroom beyond a curt nod at breakfast. But I notice things. The way his eyes linger on me a second too long. How he doesn’t flinch when I reach for the coffee pot and our hands accidentally brush. Small things. But in this house, small things matter. “My mother has requested your presence at Sunday dinner,” he says, cutting into his eggs with surgical precision. “It’s tradition. The whole family attends.” “Does that include me now? I thought I was just the Romano problem.” “You’re my wife. That makes you family, whether my mother likes it or not.” He sets down his fork. “It’s important you come. Show unity. Show that the alliance is strong.” “Even though we both know it’s built on lies?” His jaw tightens. “Especially because of that. We can’t show weakness. Not now.” “When then?” He doesn’t answer. Just returns to his breakfast like I ha
Mafia Bride: From Pawn to Rebel Queen Chapter 21: First Blood
That evening, everything changes. I’m in my room, trying to make sense of everything Dominic told me, when I hear shouting from downstairs. Not the usual business discussions, not controlled anger. This is different. Raw. Violent. Then a crash. Glass breaking. More shouting. I move to my door, crack it open. The guard who was stationed outside is gone, probably drawn toward the commotion. I should stay put. Should lock myself in and wait for it to pass. But I’ve never been good at doing what I should. I slip into the hallway, follow the sound of chaos to the main foyer. A crowd has gathered. Guards, staff, some of Luca’s capos. They’re all focused on something at the center of the room. Someone. I push through the crowd, and my blood runs cold. Luca stands in the center, shirt torn, blood dripping from a cut above his eye. In his hand is a broken mirror shard, glinting with red. And across from him, backed against the wall, is a man I don’t recognize. One of the capos, maybe.
Mafia Bride: From Pawn to Rebel Queen Chapter 20: Caught
Morning comes too soon. I’m exhausted, running on maybe two hours of sleep, when Maria arrives with breakfast. But today she does something different. As she sets down the tray, she presses a small note into my hand. “From Dominic,” she whispers, so quiet I almost miss it. Then she’s gone. I unfold the note carefully. “Library. Noon. We need to talk.” I look at the clock. Three hours. The morning drags. I shower, dress in something simple but put-together. If I’m going to meet Dominic, I need to look composed, not like someone who snuck out in the middle of the night to meet her fugitive brother. At eleven fifty-five, I test my door. Unlocked. Interesting. The guard outside doesn’t stop me when I step into the hallway. Just nods, like he’s been told to let me pass. I make my way to the library, heart pounding with each step. The library is empty when I arrive. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, leather chairs, the smell of old paper and expensive whiskey. It’s beautiful and cold,
Mafia Bride: From Pawn to Rebel Queen Chapter 19: Brother’s Warning
Two days. Two days locked in my room with only Maria’s silent visits to break the monotony. She brings food, takes away untouched plates, and won’t meet my eyes. I’ve become invisible again, a ghost in this marble prison. I spend the time thinking, planning, and trying to figure out how to salvage this disaster. Marcella outmaneuvered me completely, using Luca’s love for his mother like a weapon. And I walked right into it. Stupid. So stupid. On the third morning, something changes. A piece of paper slides under my door while the guard is distracted. Small, folded tight. I wait until I hear footsteps retreating before snatching it up. The handwriting is Alessandro’s. “Tonight. 2 AM. Garden entrance, east side. Come alone. Destroy this.” My heart hammers. Alessandro. Here. Risking everything to reach me. I burn the note in the bathroom sink and wash the ashes down the drain. Then I wait. The hours crawl by with agonizing slowness. Dinner comes and goes. Maria collects the tray
Mafia Bride: From Pawn to Rebel Queen Chapter 18: Confused
I want to protest, want to defend myself, but the words stick in my throat. Because Marcella is good at this. So good. She’s rewriting reality right in front of us, turning truth into lies and lies into truth, and Luca is believing her. “Luca,” I finally found my voice. “Please. Listen to me…” “No.” Marcella’s voice sharpens. “My son has listened to you enough. He’s listened to your lies, your manipulations, your convenient revelations. Now he needs to hear the truth from people who actually love him.” “I never lied to him.” “Didn’t you?” Marcella’s smile is poisonous. “You married him knowing your family had blood on their hands. You came into this house carrying your father’s schemes. Every tear, every moment of seeming vulnerability, all of it calculated to make him soft. To make him weak.” “That’s not true.” “Isn’t it? Then tell me, Elena Romano, why did your father’s letter appear now? Why not immediately after the wedding? Why wait until you’d had time to observe Luca, to l
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