Pustaka
Cari
Beranda / The Amnesiac Principessa Who Gave Up the Donna’s Signet Ring / Chapter 1

Share

The Amnesiac Principessa Who Gave Up the Donna’s Signet Ring
The Amnesiac Principessa Who Gave Up the Donna’s Signet Ring
Penulis: Bagel

Chapter 1

Penulis: Bagel
In the Corvona underworld, there is one unspoken rule.

When a Don keeps a new woman by his side for three consecutive months, the Donna must personally remove the signet ring symbolizing her power and place it on the new woman's finger before the entire family.

When my husband, Luca, the Don of the Bellini family, announced he would take Mia alone on a three-month business trip, the entire Corvona underworld waited for me to have a meltdown.

I had been with Luca Bellini for seven years.

I followed him everywhere, refusing to leave his side. I would even wake up in the middle of the night to touch him, needing to know he was there to feel secure.

They were all aware of my clinginess and were betting I would never let go.

But when Mia extended her hand to me, her voice dripping with saccharine, I didn't shed a single tear.

I calmly removed the signet ring engraved with the family crest and slid it onto her ring finger.

Luca, lounging in the leather chair at the head of the table, swirled the whiskey in his glass, satisfaction gleaming in his cold blue eyes. "Elara, you've finally learned your place."

I lowered my gaze to my bare finger, saying nothing in return.

What Luca didn't know was that a month ago, I had recovered all seven years of my lost memories.

I wasn't some street orphan at all, but the long-lost Principessa of the Rossi family, the most powerful of the Old World families.

In three days, my brother's armed convoy would roll into Corvona to take me home.

...

The air in the Bellini estate's annual banquet was thick with the scent of cigars and expensive perfume.

Mia held up the hand now bearing the signet ring, twirling for the small circle of family members gathered around her.

A chorus of forced gasps rose around her, followed by countless mocking glances cast my way from the corner.

Luca sat at the head of the long table, his gaze drifting over my profile from across the crowd, casual and detached.

After basking in their compliments, Mia sauntered over to me, clutching a wine glass.

Her eyes landed on the ruby bracelet on my wrist. It was called "Cuore Eterno," the Eternal Heart.

Three years ago, on our anniversary, Luca had paid a fortune for it at an underground auction to please me.

Mia let out a delicate laugh and leaned in close to my ear. "Elara, you've already handed over the ring. Don't you think it's a little graceless to keep clinging to things that belong to the Donna?"

She reached out, intending to touch the bracelet. I took half a step back.

The main event of the evening was about to begin. According to family tradition, it was now time for the Donna to light the sacred candle.

But Mia reached for it first, her voice soft and cloying. "Luca said I should do it tonight."

Before I could react, she took hold of the antique silver candlestick, a family heirloom passed down for four generations, and with a deliberate tilt of her wrist, let it slip from her grasp.

With a harsh CLANG, the candlestick hit the marble floor. Its heavy metal base rolled onto the carpet, and the glass chimney shattered instantly.

Hot wax splattered across the floor. She immediately clutched her wrist, her eyes turning red as tears welled.

"Elara, I was just trying to help. If you didn't want me to, you could have just said so. Why did you have to push me…"

The jazz music from the record player screeched to a halt.

Every eye in the grand hall snapped to us.

For the past seven years, any woman who dared get close to Luca or challenge me had been swept out of this estate.

I used to be so insecure that if another woman even looked at Luca, I would hide in his arms and cry until he promised to send her away.

But this time, it was different.

Luca strode over, pulling Mia behind him with a long arm.

His eyes fell upon a faint scratch on Mia's fair skin, and his handsome brow immediately furrowed.

"Are you playing the victim again, Elara? Mia just arrived at the estate. Did you have to embarrass her in front of the old guard?"

His favoritism was blatant, his tone heavy with accusation.

I looked at the face I had once loved with everything I had, and a sharp pain tore through my heart.

I took a deep breath, forcing back the tears welling in my eyes.

I didn't offer a single word of defense, nor did I grab his sleeve to explain myself like I used to.

I simply raised my head and coolly unfastened the clasp of the "Cuore Eterno" on my wrist.

Under everyone's stunned gaze, I held the bracelet out to Mia.

"If you like it, take it. I'm sorry, I lost my footing and startled you."
Lanjutkan membaca buku ini secara gratis
Pindai kode untuk mengunduh Aplikasi
Bab sebelumnya Bab selanjutnya

Bab terbaru

  • The Amnesiac Principessa Who Gave Up the Donna’s Signet Ring   Chapter 11

    After tying up the remaining loose ends in Serafino, I prepared to move back to the castle for good.With the Bellini family liquidated, Luca was now saddled with an astronomical debt to the Rossis.My brother's intelligence network reported that when Luca hit rock bottom, Mia had stolen the last of his emergency cash from his safe and tried to flee by boat. Our men intercepted her at the docks and sank her into the harbor.As for Luca, he had collapsed in a dark alley from a combination of wound infection and a massive stomach hemorrhage. He was found by patrolmen, who called an ambulance that dumped him in a slum emergency room.The doctors barely saved his wretched life, but his broken body would now forever rely on IV drips to survive, while facing the endless pursuit of his enemies and debt collectors.On the way to the private airstrip, the days-long downpour finally stopped.The sun came out over Serafino, a rare sight. Through the bulletproof glass, a sliver of long-forgotten w

  • The Amnesiac Principessa Who Gave Up the Donna’s Signet Ring   Chapter 10

    The day after the banquet, the Rossi family launched its final assault on the Bellinis.Every smuggling route in the Mediterranean was cut off simultaneously.All three of the Bellini family's offshore bank accounts were frozen within twenty-four hours.The family Dons who had once flocked around Luca, having now witnessed the true power of the Rossi family, stopped taking his calls.In less than a month, a foreclosure notice was slapped on the gates of the Bellini estate.Don Luca's iron grip on Corvona was broken.Winter settled over Serafino. The sea breeze, laced with ice, blew through the city.For seven straight days, Luca had been standing outside the Palazzo D'Oro hotel where I was staying.He wore a shabby coat, his greasy hair plastered to his forehead, his face a deathly gray.His old chest wound and the ulcers from years of drinking had worsened to the point that he was coughing up blood, yet he fanatically refused any doctor who approached him.He stood from dawn until dee

  • The Amnesiac Principessa Who Gave Up the Donna’s Signet Ring   Chapter 9

    A collective gasp echoed through the grand hall. After a half-second of dead silence, the room erupted in a deafening roar of gossip.Everyone in the Corvona underworld knew the Don of the Bellini family kept his "little cat" of seven years locked away in his estate. They had also heard that, for a new flame, he had cast that same cat out into a blizzard.But no one could have imagined that the woman he had trampled on for seven years was the long-lost heiress to the powerful Rossi family of Serafino.Luca was deaf to the jeers and shocked whispers around him.Clutching his chest where the old wound had been struck, he pushed himself up from the marble floor, inch by inch.He didn't look at Lorenzo. His eyes were fixed on me, like a drowning man clinging to his last piece of driftwood."Elara, what they're saying isn't true, is it?" His voice was trembling. "You're just mad at me. You hired people to put on this show to scare me, right?""What about all the things you used to say? Tha

  • The Amnesiac Principessa Who Gave Up the Donna’s Signet Ring   Chapter 8

    One month later.At the Palazzo D'Oro, the Rossi family's six-star hotel on the shores of Serafino Bay, the top-floor ballroom was ablaze with lights.The Rossi family had booked three entire floors for a homecoming banquet for their princess, an event that sent shockwaves through the Serafino underworld.Only the most powerful Mafia bosses and the political and business titans who controlled the nation's economy were granted entry.Luca attended the banquet with Mia.In just thirty days, the Bellini family's overseas arms routes had been ruthlessly dismantled by an unknown force. Their territory had shrunk drastically, and their losses were so catastrophic they were on the brink of bankruptcy.He hadn't slept for nights on end. His eyes were sunken, his sharp jaw covered in a scruffy, defeated beard, and he had lost a shocking amount of weight.The old wound in his chest flared up more and more frequently, and even the maximum dose of painkillers couldn't suppress the agony.He had u

  • The Amnesiac Principessa Who Gave Up the Donna’s Signet Ring   Chapter 7

    "What is this swill! Where's Elara? Get her back here to make my soup!" Luca roared at the trembling servants.Giovanni stood beside him, his voice low."Don... Miss Elara has been gone for three days."Luca's back went rigid. Deep within the old gunshot wound in his chest, a pain so sharp it felt like it would tear him apart suddenly erupted.He let out a pained grunt, cold sweat instantly soaking his shirt.Over the past seven years, my cooking and the special herbal remedies I brewed had spoiled him, making his stomach and his old wound incredibly dependent.He felt nauseous eating anything not made by me.He gritted his teeth against the sharp pain, his eyes red-rimmed, and stubbornly pulled out his phone, dialing my number over and over.The only reply was the cold, mechanical voice: "The number you have dialed does not exist."Luca stared at the screen in disbelief.He immediately called Marco."Check her spending! Even if she's staying in the cheapest motel, even if she buys a p

  • The Amnesiac Principessa Who Gave Up the Donna’s Signet Ring   Chapter 6

    Giovanni scrambled out, leading a team of armed bodyguards into the blizzard.Ten minutes later, he stumbled back in, his head covered in ice, his face a mask of horror."Don... there's no one at the gate. We've searched the entire perimeter road. Even the footprints have been completely buried by the blizzard."Luca gripped the crystal glass so hard a thin crack spiderwebbed across the surface.He ground his teeth, his blue eyes churning with a murderous rage."So she's finally grown a spine! Go, check every surveillance feed on the border. Track her down! Notify the banks, freeze every account in her name. I'd like to see how long a penniless woman like her can last without the Bellinis."Giovanni immediately rushed out to make the calls.Just a few minutes later, the family consigliere, Marco, hurried in, holding an encrypted tablet and sweating profusely."Don... the surveillance shows Elara walked to the fork in the road and got into a convoy."He paused, swallowing hard."Twelve

  • The Amnesiac Principessa Who Gave Up the Donna’s Signet Ring   Chapter 5

    Luca stood in the shadows of the doorway, his eyes fixed on my back as I vanished into the blizzard. Then, with a surge of force, he slammed the heavy oak door shut.The muffled slam was swallowed by the Corvona blizzard.I stepped into the knee-deep snow, bent to retrieve the canvas bag he had thro

  • The Amnesiac Principessa Who Gave Up the Donna’s Signet Ring   Chapter 4

    Luca let out a derisive snort, his voice laced with absolute certainty."Give up? Elara's biggest gamble was tying her life to mine. Don't worry. She can't leave me.""She has nothing, and no one, but me."The tray tilted in my hand.A few drops of scalding liquid splashed onto the back of my hand.

  • The Amnesiac Principessa Who Gave Up the Donna’s Signet Ring   Chapter 3

    But now, he was casually telling me to give away this token of my loyalty to another woman.My nails dug so hard into the flesh of my palm that blood nearly welled.I met Luca's cold, entitled expression and finally, slowly, nodded."Fine. I'll have it sent over in the morning."Luca's eyes flickere

  • The Amnesiac Principessa Who Gave Up the Donna’s Signet Ring   Chapter 2

    Luca's tall frame went rigid.A flicker of shock crossed his deep-set eyes, his brow furrowing even deeper.Mia was completely stunned, even forgetting to squeeze out more tears.I took out a silk handkerchief, casually wiped the wax from my fingertips, and then knelt.I lowered my head, blinking ha

Bab Lainnya

Anda juga akan menyukai

Jelajahi dan baca novel bagus secara gratis
Akses gratis ke berbagai novel bagus di aplikasi GoodNovel. Unduh buku yang kamu suka dan baca di mana saja & kapan saja.
Baca buku gratis di Aplikasi
Pindai kode untuk membaca di Aplikasi
DMCA.com Protection Status