Semua Bab A Substitute Bride For The Mafia Boss: Bab 41 - Bab 50

AlessandroValentina had that look again defiant, intoxicating, dangerous. She sat on the edge of our bed, robe loosely tied, hair wet from the rain like she’d walked straight through a warzone. Maybe she had."You disobeyed me," I said, low.She looked up, unbothered. "I’m not your soldier.""No, you’re supposed to be my wife."She smirked. "Supposed to be."That was it. I crossed the room in two strides, grabbed her chin between my fingers."I didn’t marry you to watch you light my empire on fire, Valentina. I married you to control it. With you. Not against you.""Then stop trying to tame me like I’m your dog."I didn’t raise my voice. I didn’t have to. My grip tightened slightly."You’re not a dog. You’re a lioness. But even lions answer to kings."She jerked her face away."Then you better start acting like one."Lorenzo"Unleash hell."My voice echoed like gunfire through the chamber. Rico looked at me, uncertain."You mean—""Every asset, every ghost, every whisper we’ve buried

Valentina!I didn’t sleep after the chapel.His hands were still on my skin. His mouth still on my neck. His venom still in my bloodstream. Lorenzo wasn’t love. He was a fucking infection.And I let him in.Not because I wanted to be his.But because I wanted him disarmed when I gutted his empire.The estate was quiet when I returned. Alessandro’s guards watched me like they knew I didn’t belong to him anymore. But the joke was on them. I never did.I stepped into the throne room barefoot. Blood from a soldier’s nose stained the marble—he’d tried to stop me at the gates. Wrong move. My hands still smelled like copper and regret.I stood before the throne and laughed. Quiet. Hollow.Men built this seat with blood and bones, and now two of them thought they could offer it to me like a gift. Like I hadn’t already taken it.I wasn’t their bride. I wasn’t their queen.I was the fucking empire.The doors opened without a knock. Alessandro walked in, face bruised, shirt undone, breathing lik

ValentinaI could still feel Alessandro's breath on my neck the next morning. It clung to me like a perfume I couldn’t wash off. Every inch of my skin hummed with memory, and yet, the war inside me was louder than ever.Lorenzo hadn’t called. Hadn’t texted. He was quiet which was more dangerous than any bullet. Men like Lorenzo didn’t sulk. They plotted. They recalibrated. And when they returned, they returned with ruin.I stood by the window, fingers resting lightly on my stomach, not because I knew anything but because something inside me had started to shift. A kind of stillness. A kind of... whisper. No pain. No sign. Just the idea of it. The threat of creation in a world that only knew destruction.Alessandro slept behind me. Peaceful. Naive. Like last night had rewritten everything.But this war wasn’t over. It had just found a heartbeat.I dressed in silence. No silks. No jewels. Just black. A blade in my boot. A message in my eyes.I slipped out the back gates. No one stopped

ValentinaI stayed in Alessandro's arms long after the stars vanished from the sky.Not because I trusted him. Not because I forgave him.But because it was warm there. And for the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel like a blade.I felt like skin. Like breath. Like maybe I still had pieces of myself that hadn't been scorched by war.But the morning came. And with it, my silence returned.I dressed quietly. Alessandro watched from the bed, his eyes shadowed but calm."You’re leaving?" he asked."I need air."He didn't stop me. And that scared me more than any threat ever could.Because it meant he knew.And he was waiting.The garden paths were wet with dew and betrayal. I walked barefoot, feeling every cold stone bite into my soles, reminding me I was still alive. Still standing.But my hand kept drifting.Lower. To my belly.Something was changing inside me. And it wasn’t just biology.It was loyalty.It was fear.It was... hope.God help me.I walked into the chapel, and the w

AlessandroThe estate was too quiet. The kind of quiet that came before a bomb not the kind that ticked, but the kind that waited.Rico stood by the window, arms crossed, jaw tight."Say it," I told him.He turned, but didn't look me in the eyes. "Lorenzo knows."I didn’t need clarification. My brother didn’t just find out. He knew. And Lorenzo knowing anything never ended in peace. It ended in smoke.I slammed the glass of whiskey down. It shattered. The bourbon bled into the cracks of my father’s desk like a final warning."Where is he now?""His estate. Locked down. He’s moved three units from Milan to Palermo. It looks like a prep for reinforcement. Not war. Not yet."I laughed, but it came out hollow. "Not yet. That’s the threat. That’s always the threat."I stared out the window. The chapel glowed like a ghost under moonlight. She had been praying again. Not to a god. Not for forgiveness.She was praying for control.Rico broke the silence. "Do you want her followed again?"I lo