The Villainess Wants a Divorce

Three days before I woke up to all of this, Renato stopped eating my breakfasts.His excuse: running late.I didn't think much of it. I kept making them anyway. Three years of marriage had made it reflex.Now I knew why he was in such a hurry. He was saving time to have breakfast with Noemi.Noemi Vessi, the heroine of Sunshine Donna.She was the kind of woman who lit up a room: vivid, warm, bursting with life at every seam.The morning I first understood, I walked Renato to the door and watched his car pull out of the drive. I took a step forward, cupped my hands around my mouth, and called out:"Renato, I love you!"He waved without looking back and hit the gas.Nothing.The wind from his tires scattered dead leaves across the pavement, as if echoing an unspoken thought.He'd changed.I stood there in the sunlight, hollowed out.I was three years old when I first saw him. It felt like lightning. I followed him home that day and made a scene, and the family laughed about it for years.

I left the club and checked into a suite at the Four Seasons nearby. Then I called Luca.He arrived thirty minutes later, gray-faced.He stepped inside, clocked the bed, and stammered, "Donna, I swear on everything—I'd never—"I laughed despite myself and smacked the back of his head. "Idiot. Don't be dramatic."In the story, Luca was a minor villainess. He ran the club's warehouse, but he also managed the dock shipments, and he'd been skimming from both for years. When Noemi got transferred to the warehouse, she uncovered his operation, handed the evidence to Renato, and earned herself a second act in the love story.Not if I got there first.I laid out everything I knew about his operation, line by line. His color drained with each detail. By the end, he'd slid halfway off his chair."Did Don Milano send you? Am I getting the last rites?"Last rites. The family's way of saying a bullet."No. Don Milano doesn't know I'm here, and I have no intention of telling him. As long as you foll

By morning, the lawyer had already sent the papers over.I stood at the floor-to-ceiling window, pulled back the curtains to a strip of bright sky, and thought: a perfect morning.Well. A perfect noon.I scanned the divorce papers and sent them to Renato's phone with a message to come sign them.He didn't reply.I called him. He ended the call.I called again. He ended it again.I called a third time. He turned his phone off.What kind of Don could Renato be, with such a petty streak?I drove to the club.I walked through the front entrance like I owned the place, because technically I still did, went straight down the hall, and threw open Renato's office door.Empty.I sat down in his chair. He'd have to come back eventually.After a while, the door opened. Noemi's head appeared around the edge. She came in slowly, carrying a cup of coffee."Donna. He's not here right now. Please, have some coffee."I looked at that genuinely pretty, genuinely guileless face of hers and smiled. "You d

I came home to find the courtyard full of men.Black suits, every one of them, like a flock of crows had settled on my lawn.I'd called them myself. They were Milano soldiers.There was a lot in that story I could accept. But not the part where the Milano family got torn apart. If it came to that, I'd bleed to keep the family name clean.I led them inside and gave my instructions."Every custom gown in the closet. Every piece of jewelry. Every handbag. Box it all up.""The wine cellar. Take all of it.""Every painting in the living room, the study, the hallway. Take them down carefully."They answered each instruction with a quiet "Yes, ma'am."I kept thinking, trying to remember everything I'd brought into this marriage."There's a ginkgo tree in the back garden. That comes too."One of the men shifted uncomfortably. "Ma'am... it won't fit in any of the vehicles."I took a sip of tea. "Then find one that fits."They dispersed like a black storm through the house.The head housekeeper

Renato sat in the chair beside my hospital bed.His gaze kept wandering to my stomach, and he was doing absolutely nothing to hide the smile that kept threatening his face.Losing his mind over becoming a father. Now. In a hospital room. While I was trying to divorce him.I was about to say something when the nurse came in."You're lucky this time. We'll give you something to help maintain the pregnancy."She moved to put in the IV.Renato shot to his feet, eyes fixed on the needle in her hand. "Be careful. Slow down."The nurse tensed and missed the vein.He looked at her like she'd personally offended him. "I said be careful."Her hands started shaking."Renato."He turned instantly. "Yeah."He'd crossed the room before I finished saying his name."Get out."A pause. He gripped the sides of his trousers. Then: "Okay."He turned and left.The nurse let out a breath and smiled. "Your husband really cares about you.""He's not my husband."She startled and missed the vein again.Apparen