All Chapters of I Stopped Being the Don's Secret Wife and He Fell Apart: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

8 Chapters

Chapter 1

Donatello took off his suit jacket and draped it around her shoulders. He shielded her all the way to the corner. Then they got into the black Lincoln and drove off.That car was supposed to pick me up when the job was done.The street was still in chaos, and reporters had already surrounded the bell tower.I had to escape through an underground passage.The stench of rot clung to me. I felt as wretched as I smelled.Then I remembered where I'd seen her before.Donatello kept a photo of the two of them in a red coral frame in his study.I'd wondered what a frame like that was doing in his austere study."It's nothing. Just a keepsake from a friend." He'd shrugged.By the time I made it back to the estate, Donatello had already run a warm bath. The steam carried a faint scent of rose oil.He handed me a towel. "Just the way you like it. Your cover was blown today. Once you're done, I'll take you to the safe house."As he finished, he absently touched his nose and looked out the window.

Chapter 2

Donatello appeared behind me. "Who are you texting?"He frowned and reached for my phone.I put it behind my back. "No one. I was just checking the news.""Really?" He eyed me suspiciously and kept closing in.My heart pounded. I thought he was about to find out what I was doing."Donatello! Don't let the food I made go to waste. Come on." Gia's voice came from behind him.Donatello's face relaxed at once. He called back to her with a smile, then pulled me over to the table.Gia looked me over."You really do look like one of those actresses in spy movies!"Donatello just told me you're the best killer he has."Donatello gently stroked my back and whispered in my ear, "She's still a Ferrini. It's better if she doesn't know who you really are."Of course. Letting someone from another mafia family into the Vicari family's safe house was dangerous.Yet none of that had occurred to him when he brought her here.Gia explained that she came from a distant branch of the Ferrini family and had

Chapter 3

The harp music stopped and started all night, and I barely slept.When I woke up, there was a blanket over me and breakfast on the nightstand. A sandwich and a glass of milk.Donatello.Whenever he got up before me, he left breakfast by my bed."Stop skipping breakfast," he'd once told me, his eyes wide and serious. "The doctor said you can't keep going without food."He'd tell me to take care of myself. He'd calm me down when a nightmare woke me in the middle of the night. He'd bring me a sprig of pink myrtle at dawn.So I'd truly believed we loved each other.But love shouldn't mean being kept in the shadows forever.I didn't want to be Donatello's secret wife anymore, or the assassin the Vicari family kept hidden.I looked out at the bright sunshine and the lush umbrella pines. For the first time, I felt a little envious of Gia: her life studying abroad, the way she went after what she wanted, her freedom to live openly...I was carrying the tray downstairs when I heard Gia laughing

Chapter 4

The next day, I called Antonio and told him to drive me back to the estate to pick up some cash and my things.He was quiet for a long time before he answered. "Ms. Ricci, the Don hasn't finished dealing with the press coverage of the bell tower shooting. You... you're better off staying at the safe house. You're already barred from leaving the country, and our enemies could come after you."I let out a short, cold laugh.Donatello had been with Gia every day. No wonder he'd forgotten about the shooting."I only want to pick up a few things. I'll come right back."I had no intention of telling him what I was actually doing.Antonio let out a long sigh of relief when he heard how calm I sounded."All right, I'll be there in half an hour!" Then he added, "The Don is having dinner tonight with Chief Marcello Bruni from the border agency. The travel ban will be lifted soon."I didn't say anything else.After I hung up, I sat looking at the harp that took up almost the entire living room. O

Chapter 5

Donatello had been at the hospital all night, checking his watch over and over.Gia reached for his wrist. "Worried about that killer?"He discreetly moved his wrist out of reach and said in a low voice, "She matters to me."Gia tilted her head, a smile spreading across her pale face."Are you secretly in love with her?" She turned back to him. "But statistically, relationships between a boss and an employee don't last."Donatello straightened in his chair and studied her a little more closely."She's my wife. Your statistics are wrong."He and Carla had been together for years. All that was missing was a wedding to make it complete.Gia's eyes widened. She stared at him in disbelief.She bit her lip until it turned white.She looked down and fell silent for a moment before speaking again. "Can you stay with me today? The doctor is changing my dressing."Donatello pinched the bridge of his nose. "I have to be at the docks.""Because of Carla?" Gia asked, feeling him out.He nodded firm

Chapter 6

On Carla's first assassination job, someone inside the family had deliberately leaked the plan.Several bullets tore through her body, and warm blood soaked her clothes.Donatello had nothing to his name, and his position as Don was still shaky. He held the dying Carla tight as he fought his way past their pursuers.Antonio and the rest of his people all told him to let her go, to leave a dying killer at a hospital and let God decide her fate.He didn't listen to any of them. He carried Carla, covered in blood, into a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere.By day, he took the risk of sneaking into the hospital to steal antibiotics and bandages, then carefully tended her infected gunshot wounds.At night, he stayed by her side without sleeping.He knelt beside the bed and gripped her cold hand. For the first time, he set aside his pride and prayed with red-rimmed eyes, begging God not to take Carla from him.On the fourth day, as sunlight streamed in, Carla opened her eyes. "I'm back."Aft

Chapter 7

Life in North Africa was easy.I rented a place downtown with a balcony. During the day, I lay on the couch out there with coffee and a book. At night, I went out to the bars and enjoyed myself.That night at the bar, I'd had three whiskeys, and everything was starting to blur.Through the haze, I thought I saw a familiar figure approaching."Carla. I'm here." He spoke softly, right by my ear.I shoved him away. "Get lost."People around us started looking over.Donatello gave them an apologetic smile. "My wife is drunk.""Wife? Were we ever legally married? Did we ever make it official? Let's be clear. We broke up." My voice grew louder.I stepped around him and headed for the door.But he followed me the whole way. As if that weren't enough, Antonio called when I reached the street."Donna, the Don plans to use all the family's available cash to get the charges against you dropped."The troublemakers in the family are getting ready to act."I rolled my eyes."Don't call me Donna. And

Chapter 8

Even though I'd turned Donatello down flat, he still showed up to bother me now and then.That day, I was in my apartment planning a job when the doorbell rang.Donatello again.His eyes were sunken, his hair was a mess, and he was painfully thin.He barged in with an armful of plans. "I brought the sniper rifle you always use. I know your shoulder is injured. You shouldn't be using anything too heavy."He smiled. "I have contacts here in North Africa too. I mapped out an escape route for you that avoids residential areas.""You haven't sorted out the Vicari family's problems, but you have time to help me? Aren't you a little busy?" I asked coldly.Donatello didn't seem to catch the sarcasm. Still smiling, he came over and hugged me. "Soon."But even in North Africa, I'd heard what was happening back home.A young man in the Vicari family named Piero Lanza was lobbying the senior members to replace Donatello.I looked at the fresh wound on Donatello's neck, dangerously close to an arte

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