Chapter 2

As if that wasn't enough, he grabbed a long toy gun from the table and aimed it at my head. "Bad lady, bad lady, you're being mean to Mommy Lena. I'm gonna shoot you dead!"

It fired with several sharp pops, steel pellets flying out. One of them hit me right in the eye.

Not lethal, but the pain went straight to the bone.

He stood in front of Lena with the gun raised, as if I were the enemy. "You ugly witch. If you bully Mommy Lena again, when I grow up I'll shoot you full of holes with a real gun!"

I clutched my eye, dizzy and seeing stars.

My own son, the child I loved more than anything, was spitting the cruelest words at me.

Those fake bullets had already torn through my heart.

"Carl, who is your mommy?"

Charles didn't care how I felt. He scooped Carl into his arms and held him tight. "Layla, fighting with me is one thing, but taking it out on a child?"

His face went completely dark, a vicious edge flashing in his eyes. "Lena is sensitive and her health isn't good. Have you really sunk so low that you can only pick on the weak?"

I pressed my temples, feeling them throb. "Mr. Moretti, I wasn't joking about the divorce. My lawyer will deliver the papers, and I expect you to sign."

I turned and walked out without another word.

"Layla!" My brother Mark and my best friend Vivian called after me. "You've gone too far! Lena's had a hard enough life as it is, and she still has to cater to your feelings. Look at what you've done! Where's the dignity of a mafia princess?"

I shook off Mark's grip and looked at him the way I'd look at a stranger.

"Does being pitiful give her the right to be a shameless homewrecker? Mark, I'm your sister!"

Vivian suddenly laughed. "Layla, I am so sick of this. You think just because you're the Don's princess you can look down on everyone? Let me tell you something. The woman Charles wanted to marry from the very beginning wasn't you. It was Lena!"

My heart clenched so hard I forgot to breathe.

Mark nudged Vivian and shot her a warning look.

But Vivian squeezed her eyes shut and shouted, "Let me finish! If I don't say this now, I'll explode! Layla needs to know she's been deluding herself this entire time!"

She turned to me with a sneer. "He never fell for you. But because of your father and your status, marrying you was the only way to get your father's backing and take down that illegitimate heir to become the new Don.

"That's why your brother, the one who inherited your father's position, was the one who coached him to go after you. Behind your back, he introduced Charles to all the right politicians to clear his path.

"The only thing Lena doesn't have that you do is the bloodline. In every other way, you can't even compare to her!" With that, Vivian spat out the so-called truth.

It shattered the last wall inside me.

I used to believe my marriage was a happy one. That Charles was just busy, not the type to fuss over romance.

Now I realized how laughable that had been.

I was nothing but a thief who'd stolen someone else's love by flaunting a name I was born into.

My marriage was nothing but a lie!

My best friend Vivian. She'd been the illegitimate daughter that every Family looked down on, shunned by everyone.

I was the one who'd reached out to her, given her friendship, given her a job. She'd told me she would be grateful for the rest of her life.

I looked at Mark's evasive eyes and felt the world go dark. My knees were about to buckle.

He was my own brother, yet he'd conspired with Charles to deceive me. He'd locked me in a cage of a marriage while playing the part of my loving family. Behind closed doors, he'd betrayed me right alongside Charles.

Everything Charles had said when he proposed—that he'd fallen for me at first sight, that he'd marry no one else—had become the cruelest joke of all.

Just then, a panicked shout came from inside the private room.

"Come quick, Lena's going to jump!" Charles's frantic voice sent everyone rushing back to the room.

Inside, Lena was sobbing, her body already halfway out the window.

Everyone scrambled in a panic, grabbing at her, pulling her back.

As they rushed past, Mark shoved me aside. My head cracked against the wall, and the pain was blinding.

Then Lena fainted, and Charles swept her into his arms and rushed out of the room, a trail of panicked faces behind him.

As for me, no one even glanced my way.

My phone rang. An unfamiliar woman's voice came through. "Is this Ms. Lena? Mr. Moretti reserved a private room at our restaurant to celebrate the seventh anniversary of when you first met, but we can't reach him by phone. We'd like to confirm the menu with you."

My head went blank. "I'm not Lena," I croaked. "You have the wrong number."

"Really? But Mr. Moretti left your number, listed the name as Lena, and specifically noted that you love rum-flavored chocolates..."

I froze, not quite processing it. "I'm sorry, I like what?"