All Chapters of MARRIED TO THE MAFIA: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

The Other WomanVanessaThere was always something about waiting for Luca that made me feel like a ghost.I stood barefoot in the center of my penthouse suite, wearing nothing but a black silk robe that still smelled faintly of him. My hair was loose, lips painted a deep red that matched the wine swirling in my glass, and the city lights glittered behind me like the promise of everything I once believed he could give me.But hours had passed.And he still hadn’t come.I glanced at my phone again. No new messages. No missed calls.Just silence. Typical Luca behavior. I told myself I didn’t care. That I wasn’t the woman who waited by the window or checked her phone every ten minutes.But I was doing both. Again.I drained the wine and walked to the mirror, adjusting the delicate straps of the robe. The woman who stared back at me was polished, perfect, poised. The kind of woman Luca Deluca didn’t say no to.Except now, he did. All the time.My phone buzzed and I pounced on it like a sta

The RuinLilaI don’t remember much of the dinner after Vanessa arrived. Her presence sucked the air out of the room.Every time she laughed, I felt it like a splinter beneath my skin.Every time Luca looked anywhere but at me, I tasted something sour at the back of my throat.He didn’t introduce her to me.Didn’t offer an explanation or a courtesy.And maybe he didn’t owe me either.But it felt like he did. It felt like he owed me something and I hated that she had been invited to this dinner tonight. It should have been my coming out party, it should have been about us, yet she was here. I forced myself to smile through the endless courses. To nod politely when Charles recounted some dull story about their yacht in Capri. To pretend I was exactly who Luca needed me to be, poised, silent, unshakable.But inside, I was unraveling.I excused myself twice to the restroom. Both times, I splashed cold water on my face and told myself I was imagining it.That I was imagining the way Vaness

The ArgumentLilaI spent the entire night in the chair beside my mother’s bed.I couldn’t sleep.Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Luca in that hallway, his hands gripping Vanessa, his mouth against her throat like she belonged to him.Like I never would.The memory burned behind my ribs.But it wasn’t just betrayal that kept me awake.It was the look in his eyes when he found me here. Not rage.Not even guilt.Just that cold, terrifying conviction that I belonged to him, no matter what he did.That he could wound me over and over, and I would always come back.And God help me, a part of me was afraid he was right.I pressed my palm to my mother’s frail hand, feeling the heat of her skin.Her breathing had steadied overnight, the lines on her face smoothing out as the sedatives worked.I studied the shape of her fingers, the faded gold band on her left hand she still wore even after Dad died.Once, when I was little, she told me that love was sacrifice. That it was never about perfec

The Boy He Tried Not to BeLucaI was eight the first time I understood that love came with conditions. Atleast to my father, it was never free, it had to be earned. It was the night of my father’s annual fundraiser, back when he still pretended to be legitimate, back when his suits were darker than his sins and he still smiled for the newspapers.The ballroom had been carved from marble and money, glittering with chandeliers, golden plates, and people who laughed without warmth.I had spent the whole day tucked in a chair too high for my legs to touch the floor, reading a worn out copy of The Count of Monte Cristo for the sixth time, waiting for him to remember I existed.My mother had dressed me herself.Pressed my collar, combed my hair, told me to keep my shoulders back and my voice low.“You look just like him,” she whispered, smoothing a hand over my jacket. “Maybe tonight he’ll see it.” she had said, and I believe her. She was nothing like my father, she was kind, always smilin

The Stranger in the ShadowsLilaThe tequila burned all the way down.I sat on the cool marble tiles of the pool deck long after Luca slammed the door, the bottle warm against my thigh. My legs were numb, my throat raw, and my heart?Fractured. Again.I shouldn’t have gone out there. Shouldn’t have tried to comfort him. I knew better. I knew how men like Luca worked brilliant, broken men who tore through affection like a storm and left ruin behind.And yet, I went anyway. Like a fool. Like someone hoping the wall might crack just enough to let a little light in.But his wall? It wasn’t just brick and mortar. It was steel and razor wire and childhood scars.He didn't want me. Not really.He wanted solitude. Silence. Control.And I… I wanted someone who could see me. Not just when it was convenient, not just when they needed comfort in the dark. I wanted to be chosen in the daylight.So why the hell was I still here?I stared at the quiet ripple of the water and knew I couldn’t stay anot