All Chapters of MARRIED TO THE MAFIA: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The ScandalLucaMy phone started vibrating, waking me up in a haze. I blink against the morning light, groaning as I reach blindly for the device on my nightstand. The screen is flooded with missed calls, fifteen from my father, three from Tony, and one from a number I don’t recognize. That alone is enough to set my teeth on edge. My father never calls unless the world is on fire, and even then, he would expect me to put it out.My thumb taps the first message on my phone and the headline explodes across the screen in all caps, bold and damning.“MAFIA HEIR LUCA DELUCA SPOTTED LEAVING HOTEL WITH POLITICIAN’S WIFE, INTIMATE PHOTOS SURFACE”I sit up straight, the silk sheets pooling around my waist as I scan the article. Photo after photo, grainy yet unmistakable. My jaw clenches. The woman is barely visible, wrapped in a coat and sunglasses, but I’m not as lucky. My face is crystal clear. My name dragged through every gossip blog and major tabloid within a matter of hours.The door to

The ContractLilaThe car ride to Luca Deluca’s penthouse felt like the slow march to my execution.The world beyond the tinted glass was still waking up, streetlights blinking off one by one, the city exhaling the last of its midnight secrets but inside the back seat, everything felt suspended. My hands were folded tightly in my lap, trying to keep from shaking. I could feel the driver’s eyes flick up in the mirror now and then, assessing me the way people look at a stray dog on the verge of collapse.When we finally pulled into the underground garage, I felt the last sliver of air leave my lungs. I had no idea what waited upstairs. What kind of man waited upstairs. I had served him a few times and seen him on blogs, but you can't really tell anything about a man until you have lived with them.The elevator was cold and silent as it carried me higher and higher, past the glittering floors of glass and steel. My reflection in the mirrored walls looked pale, hollow eyed. A ghost of the

The GossipLila“I’m going to freshen up,” I murmured, already needing to escape. The tension between Luca and Vanessa was too much. Luca glanced at me, something unreadable in his eyes, but he didn’t stop me. Maybe he knew I was seconds away from breaking. Maybe he didn’t care.The ladies’ room was tucked down a marble hallway lined with gilded mirrors. My heels clicked across the polished floor as I pushed the door open. Inside, everything was white and gold, as pristine as a museum. Scented candles flickered along the countertop, casting dancing shadows across the sinks.I stepped into one of the stalls and locked the door behind me.For a moment, I just stood there, my forehead resting against the cold metal, breathing in shallow little gulps like I was trying to swallow my own panic.I had survived the cameras. The endless smiles. Vanessa’s cutting little barbs. But the worst part was how effortlessly I’d pretended I belonged there, draped on Luca’s arm like an accessory. A troph

The VisitLilaIt had been at least twelve hours since the gala. I had not seen or spoken to Luca at all until this morning when he abruptly told me we were taking a trip to the hospital to see my mom. The car ride to the hospital was silent as expected. Not the thick, simmering silence of our nights in the penthouse, or the brittle, poisonous one after the gala. This was different.This was the quiet of two people who didn’t have the strength left to pretend.I kept my gaze trained on the tinted window as we drove, counting the streetlights sliding past in neat, indifferent intervals. A part of me wondered if Luca would even bother coming inside. Maybe he’d drop me off like a parcel, then vanish back to the penthouse and whatever business, or woman he would rather see.But when we pulled up to the private entrance of the clinic, he didn’t move to dismiss the driver. He stepped out first, coming around to open my door.His hand extended toward me, palm up. I stared at it for a moment

The KissLilaI didn’t speak to him when we stepped out of the elevator into the penthouse.I didn’t look at him, either.If I looked at Luca, I knew I’d start to feel things I wasn’t ready to feel, things I didn’t have the luxury of feeling.I kept my eyes fixed on the polished marble floor as I walked past the silent living room, past the wall of windows glittering with the city lights, and down the hall to the guest suite I’d started thinking of as mine.But when my hand touched the doorknob, I heard his footsteps behind me.He hadn’t turned away this time.I swallowed hard, trying to keep my voice steady. “You don’t have to follow me.”“I know.”His tone was low and almost careful, as if he was afraid one wrong word would send me running.I didn’t turn. I couldn’t. Not with my heart still raw from the hospital, from watching my mother struggle to smile, from the hollow echo of the words she’d asked me: Are you happy?I pressed my palm to the cool wood of the door, willing my hands