All Chapters of Woke Up Married to My Mafia Nemesis: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

"Mama, wake up..."Something sickly sweet dripped into my mouth.My eyes shot open.A little boy, who couldn't have been more than five, was holding a crushed apple juice box, the straw aimed right at my face."What the hell?" I shoved the juice away and struggled to sit up.This wasn't my soft bed in the Valence mansion. It was a dark alley behind a restaurant."Mama!" The little boy's gray eyes lit up, and he threw his short arms out to hug me.I sidestepped him, stunned. "Kid, who the hell are you calling Mama?"I'm Daisy Valence. Eighteen. The most spoiled daughter of the Valence family.I've never even held a guy's hand. How could I have a son?"Is this some new street scam?" I pinched his cheek. "Who sent you? Where are your parents?"The boy's eyes instantly welled up.He bit his lip, trying not to cry, but his little hand gripped my sleeve like his life depended on it.He looked so pathetic, I sighed. I had no choice but to drag him to the nearest police station.Ten minutes la

"If you've forgotten," he said, "I can remind you.""We don't sleep in separate rooms. This is my bed, too."With that, Lorenzo shrugged off his shirt, revealing a solid chest covered in scars, and slipped under the covers on the other side of the bed.I’d never seen him like that. My face flushed, and I buried my head under the covers in embarrassment.We’d been sleeping in the same bed for eight years?Thankfully, a sleeping Leo was between us, a tiny barrier.I thought I'd be up all night, sharing a bed with my lifelong rival.But a funny thing happened. Breathing in the faint scent of cedar and tobacco that clung to him, I felt a strange sense of security. I fell asleep faster than I had in years.The next morning, sunlight stung my eyes.I sat up with a jolt.The space beside me was empty. Lorenzo was gone.Leo was gone, too."Madam, you're awake."The bedroom door opened, and a stern-faced, middle-aged woman in a uniform walked in carrying a tray."I am Sofia, the housekeeper. He

After a few precious hours of warmth and comfort with my parents, I finally started to feel human again.My mother made my favorite pasta from scratch.After dinner, I curled up on the sofa to watch the news with my father.Suddenly, an entertainment news flash crossed the screen."World-renowned violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman will hold his final farewell concert tomorrow night at the Vienna Musikverein…"I sat bolt upright, my eyes lighting up.Perlman! The god of the violin I'd worshipped since I was a child.My eighteen-year-old self had dreamed of seeing him perform live just once."I have to go!" I immediately pulled out my phone and booked a first-class ticket to Vienna without a second thought. "Mom, I have to go home and pack!""So suddenly?" my mother asked, surprised."It's his farewell concert! I'll regret it for the rest of my life if I miss it!" I gave my mother an excited hug and rushed out of the mansion.By the time I got back to Lorenzo's penthouse, it was completely d

The second my phone buzzed, Lorenzo walked out of the study with a glass of water, passing through the living room.On pure reflex, I slapped the phone facedown on the couch, my heart hammered with a guilt I couldn't place."What's wrong?" Lorenzo leaned down, his face close to mine."N-nothing." I forced a laugh, unable to meet his eyes. "Just spam. A department store sale."Lorenzo stood over me, his eyes boring into me for five solid seconds.Finally, he just straightened up."I see," he said, his voice flat. "I have a meeting this afternoon. If you need to go out, have the driver take you. Don't go wandering off."I didn't breathe a real sigh of relief until the front door clicked shut.I picked up my phone again, my gaze hardening as I stared at Julian's message.For eight years, what was it that made me hate Lorenzo so viscerally? And what tricks had Julian used to make me willingly drain my family's funds to support a man from the slums?I had to know the truth."Three o'clock.

The lit cigar in Lorenzo's hand burned down to his fingers, but he didn't seem to notice.He looked like a cornered animal, stripped of his disguise, and stalked toward me.Before I could speak, he had me trapped in his arms.The raw, possessive madness in his gray eyes was no longer hidden."Since you saw, there's no point in hiding it!" he snarled, his voice raw. "I am a stalker! I am a despicable coward! But let me tell you something, Daisy, don't even think about using this to divorce me!""Even if you think I'm disgusting, even if you think I'm a freak, you will stay my wife! I will never let you go, and I sure as hell won't let you run off with that piece of trash from the Bronx! You'll go to your grave an Astor!"Seeing him like this—furious, ready to tear the world apart, yet so tragically fragile—the knot of acid in my stomach dissolved into an urge to laugh.My arrogant nemesis, the feared Don of the Astor family, was acting like a junkyard dog guarding a bone—terrified I fou