Lahat ng Kabanata ng Reborn as the Mafia Don’s Contract Wife : Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

I should have known the moment Luca’s men stopped answering my calls.The house was too quiet that night. No footsteps in the hallway. No low voices outside the study. Just the heavy silence that always came before something bad. I stood in the guest room they had moved me into after the third year, the one farthest from the master suite, and stared at the small bag I had packed under the bed.I was leaving.Not because I was brave. Because I was tired of being invisible. Tired of smiling when his mistress walked past me in the hallway. Tired of hearing the staff whisper that the Don’s wife was only useful for the paperwork.My hands shook as I pulled the bag out. Three years of keeping my head down had taught me how to move without making noise. I told myself if I just reached the service entrance, if I just made it to the street, I could disappear.I never made it past the second floor.Luca was waiting at the bottom of the stairs.He looked the same as always. Perfect suit. Calm fa

My fingers land on his chest.The second they do, the system floods me with a sharp rush of heat that has nothing to do with courage. Points flash across my vision. The ache that had been building under my skin eases at once, replaced by something warmer and far more dangerous.[Contact registered.]
[Reward issued: 200 points.]
[Charm enhancement increased.]
[New suggestion: Maintain contact. Escalate.]I hate how fast my body reacts. The heat spreads too easily. My hand stays where it is even though every part of me that still remembers the gun wants to pull away.Luca goes completely still.He looks down at my hand on his chest like it is the first real thing I have ever done in front of him. When his eyes lift to mine again, the cold distance I expected is gone. What replaces it is sharper. Focused. Almost hungry.“That,” he says quietly, “is new.”I try to take my hand back.His fingers close around my wrist before I can move more than an inch. The grip is not painful. It is firm.

Sophia does not step back.She moves closer instead, stopping only when she is close enough to reach for Luca’s arm the way she used to. Like she still has the right. Like I am still the quiet wife who would look at the floor and wait for the moment to pass.My body wants to shrink. The old instinct is so strong it makes my hands go cold. I can already hear the version of myself that used to stay silent. The one who died for it.The system does not care about old instincts.[Rival is challenging host’s position.]
[Objective updated: Do not allow the rival to reclaim physical contact.]
[Failure will result in immediate punishment.]A deep ache begins to build at the base of my spine. Warning. Promise. I have maybe seconds before it turns into something worse.Sophia’s fingers brush Luca’s sleeve.I move before the fear can stop me.My hand closes around her wrist. Not hard enough to hurt. Hard enough to stop her. The contact sends a sharp jolt of system heat through my arm, rewarding t

Chapter 7I do not push him.I press my palm flat against his chest and hold it there until he feels the pressure."Not like this," I say.Luca's fingers stay at my throat. "Explain.""You want to find out which version of me is real. Fine. But you don't get to decide how it happens." My voice shakes at the edges, but the words come out. "You said fear makes people honest. Then you shouldn't be surprised when I'm honest about this. I won't be tested like a lock you're trying to pick."The system screams across my vision.[Host is refusing the mission.][Punishment imminent.][Warning: Retreat will cost points.]The ache in my spine spikes. I breathe through it and keep my eyes on his.Luca does not move for a long moment. Then his hand drops from my neck. Not because I pushed it away. Because he chose to.That bothers me more than if he had held on."You are telling me no," he says. He says it slowly, like the word is in a language he has never needed to learn."I'm telling you not ye

Chapter 9I could lie. The skill would catch it, and Luca would catch me catching it.So I do the one thing I have never done in front of this man. I tell him a piece of the truth and let it stand on its own."I had a nightmare," I say. "I told you that already.""You told me a version of it.""Then here's the rest." My hands are cold, so I fold them in front of me. "In the nightmare, I left this house. You were waiting at the bottom of the stairs. You didn't shout. You didn't even look angry. You just let it happen."The ache in my spine stops climbing.[Truthfulness of Host's statement: 100%.][Punishment suspended.]Luca does not move. The balcony door is still open behind him, and the night air moves the curtain against his shoulder."Let what happen?""The end of me."I watch the words land. I have spent three years studying this man's face, and I know the small tells. A muscle near his jaw. A slow blink, like he is putting something away to look at later. Right now both of them