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Chapter 5

Anna Smith
When I returned to the Romano estate, I didn’t have time to sit with my grief.

Only five days remained until our anniversary.

Before then, I had to erase every trace of where I was going.

As I passed the sitting room, I saw Dante’s mother looking through a catalog of formal children’s clothing.

One page showed the white ceremonial suit worn by a Romano heir when he was formally recognized by the family. A silver wolf, the Romano crest, was embroidered on the collar.

The moment she saw me, she closed the catalog.

“Elena, are you going somewhere?”

“I need to deal with the estate my mother left me.”

“Let the driver take you.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

I offered no further explanation and left alone.

My uncle’s men were waiting for me at a law office.

On the table lay a new passport and the documents I would need to leave the country.

I opened the passport.

The photograph was mine, but the name beneath it read:

Elise Laurent.

“This identity only needs to get you out of New York,” one of my uncle’s men explained. “Once you reach France, the Moretti family will keep you hidden.”

From that moment on, I was no longer the wife of the head of the Romano family.

I was Elise Laurent.

“The accident has to look real,” I said. “Dante won’t easily believe I’m dead.”

“We’ll leave your blood and personal belongings at the scene.”

I placed the passport inside my bag.

Dante controlled New York’s ports, airports, and most of the routes operating outside the law. If he realized I intended to leave, I would never make it out of the city.

Until our anniversary, I had to keep playing the wife who still trusted him.

By the time I returned to the estate that evening, Dante’s fury had engulfed the entire house.

Several teams of armed guards were preparing to leave.

“Expand the search,” Dante ordered coldly. “Check the airports, train stations, and every road out of New York.”

The moment he saw me standing in the doorway, he froze.

Then he crossed the room and pulled me tightly against him.

“Elena, where were you?”

His grip was so tight I could barely breathe.

“Why didn’t you take a guard? Why did you turn off your location?”

“I’m your wife, not your prisoner.”

Every guard in the room lowered his eyes.

Dante fell silent before speaking in a quieter voice.

“I’m not trying to control you. I just can’t bear the thought of losing you.”

He sounded so sincere.

If I hadn’t seen him holding his other children, I might have believed him.

“I went to see my mother’s former attorney.”

“Why?”

“There were some of her documents I wanted to collect.”

Dante clearly disliked the answer, but he didn’t press further.

“Tell me next time. I can go with you.”

“Aren’t you leaving for Sicily?”

His expression stiffened.

“The trip was delayed until tomorrow. Some family documents weren’t ready.”

His gaze shifted away from mine.

“But I promise I’ll come back as soon as everything is handled. I won’t miss our anniversary.”

I nodded.

“All right.”

He had no idea I had already heard the truth.

And he had no idea I wouldn’t be in New York when he returned.

Just then, my phone rang.

It was one of my uncle’s men.

I answered, and he said only one sentence.

“The boat is ready.”

Dante’s gaze snapped toward me.

“What boat?”

I ended the call and met his eyes calmly.
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  • The Don’s Wife Died with His Secret Heir   Chapter 13

    The surgery lasted two hours.My daughter weighed barely three pounds when she was born. The nurses took her straight to the neonatal intensive care unit.When I woke up, my first question was about the baby.Gabriel sat beside my bed.“She’s very small, but the doctors say she’s stable.”I closed my eyes and finally let myself breathe.I saw my daughter for the first time through the glass of the NICU.She lay inside an incubator, surrounded by tiny tubes and wires. But her fingers were curled into a tight fist, as though she had already decided she would not surrender to this world.Dante stood at the other end of the hallway.He didn’t come inside. He simply watched her through the glass for a long time.“What’s her name?” he asked.“Sofia Moretti.”At the sound of her last name, something dimmed in his eyes.“She’s my daughter too.”“I never said she wasn’t.”“Then could she carry the Romano name?”I turned to face him.“She almost never had the chance to be born because of you.”D

  • The Don’s Wife Died with His Secret Heir   Chapter 12

    After the exhibition ended, I left the gallery alone.A black sedan was parked across the street.The moment its door opened, I stopped walking.Dante stepped out.He had come without armed men or bodyguards. In the months since I had last seen him, he had lost weight. The exhaustion in his eyes looked as though he hadn’t slept in weeks.He stood there staring at me, almost afraid to come closer.“Elena.”At the sound of his voice, my hand moved instinctively over my stomach.Dante’s gaze followed the movement.Even my loose dress could no longer conceal that I was more than seven months pregnant.He stared at my swollen belly, unable to speak.When he finally found his voice, the words came out strained.“Is that…our baby?”“That has nothing to do with you.”Dante swayed slightly.“The hospital record was real.”At last, he understood what I had been about to tell him before the yacht went down.“You survived. And you’re carrying our child.”“This child is a Moretti.”I walked around

  • The Don’s Wife Died with His Secret Heir   Chapter 11

    Dawn was breaking when the freighter reached the south of France.A customs officer examined my passport.“Elise Laurent?”“That’s me.”He stamped it and handed it back.From that moment on, Elena Romano was dead at the bottom of the Atlantic.The Moretti family’s men drove me to an estate in Provence. It was registered to an offshore company, and even Dante had never known it belonged to my mother.Vineyards surrounded the property. In the cellar beneath the main house, I found artwork the Moretti family had collected over several decades.My mother’s attorney had managed the estate and its assets since her death.Now they were mine again.Gabriel Laurent oversaw the family’s affairs in France.He laid the financial records and property documents across the desk.“Ma’am, these are all the Moretti family’s legitimate assets in France.”“Don’t call me ma’am.”I opened the first file.“Call me Elena.”Gabriel didn’t ask why I had left New York or question me about the yacht explosion. He

  • The Don’s Wife Died with His Secret Heir   Chapter 10

    When Dante returned to the estate, Bianca had already moved in with the twins.Luggage filled the living room, and the staff were preparing to carry her clothes upstairs.“Stop.”Dante stood in the doorway, his voice cold enough to freeze everyone in place.“Who gave her permission to move in?”Bianca walked toward him.“Your mother did. Leo and Mia are officially listed in the family records now. You can’t expect us to keep living in hiding.”Her gaze drifted toward the primary bedroom upstairs.“That room is large enough for all of us. Once we redecorate—”“That is Elena’s room,” Dante cut in.“No one enters it. No one touches anything inside.”Bianca’s smile vanished.“Elena is dead.”Dante’s head snapped toward her.The bloodshot fury in his eyes made Bianca take an involuntary step back.“She is not dead.”“The search teams have already stopped looking.” Bianca softened her voice. “Dante, I know this is difficult to accept, but you still have two children. Leo is the Romano heir,

  • The Don’s Wife Died with His Secret Heir   Chapter 9

    Dante read the letter over and over.There was no explanation. No goodbye.Only that single sentence.But it was enough.Elena had known about Bianca and the twins all along.Dante summoned the Romano family’s head of security.“Find out everywhere Elena went before the accident.”“Everyone she met, every call she made, every transaction from her accounts.”The man hesitated.“Mrs. Romano disabled the location tracking on her phone. This may take some time.”Dante swept everything from his desk.“Then check the traffic cameras! She couldn’t have vanished into thin air!”The entire Romano organization was put to work.Hours later, the head of security returned to the study with a report.The day after leaving the jewelry salon, Elena had visited the law firm her mother once used.There, she collected her birth certificate, passport records, and several sealed files her mother had left behind.She had also asked the attorney to remove her name from every document connected to the Romano

  • The Don’s Wife Died with His Secret Heir   Chapter 8

    The moment Dante heard the explosion through the phone, his blood ran cold.“Elena!”He roared her name, but all he could hear was the wind, the flames, and the piercing wail of an alarm.Seconds later, the call went dead.Dante immediately called the Romano family’s head of security.“Lock down every marina in New York. Deploy every boat we have. I want helicopters and dive teams heading offshore now.”“Sir, the storm—”“Then pay them double!”He raced out of the airport and climbed into the car waiting for him.His phone rang again.Thinking it was Elena, Dante answered immediately.But Bianca’s voice came through the line.“Dante, are you back in New York? Leo and Mia have been waiting for you. You promised—”He hung up.All he could think about was what Elena had told him.She had said she would be home soon.She had asked him to wait so they could open his anniversary gift together.Nothing could have happened to her.Before the car had fully stopped, Dante threw open the door and

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