Reborn To Win Their Bloody Bet

Two of New York’s most powerful Cosa Nostra dons, Vincent Luciano and Nick Valentino, made a brutal wager over me.The terms were simple: whoever won my heart first would win the right to marry Seraphina Moretti, the sole heir to the Moretti crime syndicate.The ruthless Vincent swept me into his Fifth Avenue penthouse, lavishing me with luxuries all of New York would kill for. Cold, reserved Nick played the lovesick fool, kneeling beneath the moonlight over the Hudson to swear he’d give me a safe life, free from this world’s bloodshed and chaos.I said yes. But the second we stepped into Vincent’s oak-paneled study, Nick’s warmth turned frigid. “Vincent, we had a deal. I’ve won the Moretti marriage.”In my past life, I was discarded by both men, betrayed by my family, and left to die of a forced heroin overdose. Now I’ve been reborn.And this time, I still said yes to Nick’s proposal...But everything would be totally different....Nick knelt on one knee before me, a custom-made

I slowly lowered my hand, and for the first time since I’d woken up reborn, tears spilled down my cheeks.In my past life, the second my family found out I’d been cast aside by New York’s two most powerful Cosa Nostra dons, Vincent and Nick, they locked me out.Terrified of ruining their cushy life by crossing the two men, they shoved me on a Greyhound bound for a dead-end upstate town, left me there to die, and turned a blind eye when the hitmen came for me.I still remembered my father and grandmother clasping my hands before I’d left for Vincent’s penthouse, promising, “Leah, if they ever hurt you, come home.” Now I was home, and they wouldn’t even open the door. I stayed there to sear this betrayal into my soul, and swear to never trust anyone again.Maybe they heard me crying in the snow. The door finally swung open. My father stood there, face cold with rage. “Do you know what trouble you’ve brought us? The dons have turned on us because of you! Why can’t you just die, instea

The two men, seconds from lunging forward in a blind rage, froze dead in their tracks. Nick clamped a hand around his knife-pierced wrist, blood seeping through his fingers and dripping onto the linoleum. The gentle, lovesick mask he’d worn for five long years shattered to pieces, leaving only a murderous, seething rage burning in his eyes.Vincent’s hand locked white-knuckled around the grip of his Beretta 92 at his hip, his face thunderous as he stared the figure down, every word dripping with lethal venom. “Seraphina. You’ve been playing us for goddamn fools for five fucking years?”They’d blown half the wealth of New York City chasing this face, never once suspecting that the face they’d torn each other apart over masked a lie this devastating.The figure before them reached up, ripped off the long wig, and tossed it carelessly onto the cold kitchen tiles.“There never was a Seraphina Moretti, no daughter of the Moretti Family. Not once. There’s only ever been Ray Moretti. I was

For five years, Ray had built and commanded the most elite private army in North America’s underworld, the family name spoken with equal parts fear and respect across every coast. Even with all their rage and power, Nick and Vincent couldn’t afford to cross him, not without starting a war.At that, Nick’s face darkened further, but he forced down the volcanic rage boiling inside him. When he spoke to me again, his voice was soft, honeyed, the same tone he’d used to lure me in once before. “Leah, come back to New York with me. Anything you want, the Valentino Family will give it to you. The world is yours.”Vincent shot him a look of stunned disbelief, then stepped forward quickly, his voice holding a note of compromise no one had ever heard from the ruthless don before. “The bet is off. Marry me. Be the only donna of the Luciano Family. Every underground casino in Philadelphia is yours. I’ll give you the safety, the quiet life you’ve always wanted.”The woman they’d obsessed over f

Ray froze for a moment, his eyes glistening with unshed tears, and whispered so softly I almost didn’t hear it. “Thank God. This time, I wasn’t too late.”In that single sentence, I knew. I wasn’t the only one who’d been reborn. I wasn’t the only one who’d lived this once before.In his past life, he’d been too late. He’d stormed into that fleabag motel with his men, guns blazing, only to find me already gone. My arms were covered in needle marks, my body cold as ice. He’d lost his mind that day. He’d hunted Nick and Vincent to the ends of the earth, burned their casinos to the ground, blown up their warehouses, sunk their shipping fleets. In the end, he’d gone down with them, all three of them sinking to the bottom of the icy Chicago Harbor. His last thought, the only thing on his mind as he’d drowned, was that if he ever got a second chance, he’d find me sooner. He’d save me.The fear that had been eating at him, the terror that he’d lose me to those two men’s lies all over a