Why Does Portia Leave In The Death Of The Heart?

Victoria Bathram has been fighting kidney failure for five long years. Through endless hospital visits, painful treatments, and nights filled with fear, she survives on one thing alone—the love of her husband, Gabriel. He is attentive, gentle, and seemingly devoted, standing by her side as she waits for the transplant that could save her life. When a matching kidney is finally found, Victoria believes her suffering is about to end. Instead, it is just beginning. By accident, Victoria overhears a conversation she was never meant to hear. Gabriel has made a choice—one that does not include her. The kidney meant to save her will be given to another patient: a young girl named Sandra. A child he calls his daughter. A child from the secret family he has been hiding all along. As Victoria’s health rapidly declines, the truth unravels. Gabriel has not only betrayed her trust but has been living a second life inside her parents’ villas—homes he kept her away from under the excuse of protecting her fragile heart. Through hidden security footage, Victoria watches her husband give his affection, loyalty, and gifts to another woman and her children, using the life she thought was hers. With only months left to live and everything she believed in stripped away, Victoria faces a devastating choice of her own: remain a silent victim of love and betrayal, or reclaim what little time she has left on her own terms.

When I took a bullet for Theo Moretti, the bullet grazed my temple, compressing the optic nerve and causing blindness in both my eyes. He kneeled by my hospital bed, pressed the family crest to his chest, and swore: “Sophie, I will be your eyes for life. If I break this oath, may I die a horrendous death.” I believed him. However, the day my sight returned, I saw Theo through the bedroom door, naked on our marital bed with the maid, Isabella. He gripped her waist and thrust violently, his voice hoarse in a way I had never heard, growling, “Bella… you really are the most seductive woman in all of Sicily…” “Theo, who else besides me could satisfy you like this in bed? Divorce that blind woman already!” Isabella nibbled his earlobe. “After all, I’m the one who truly understands you.” “Wait a little longer,” Theo panted. “I need time… Don Lucas just handed me control of the docks. If I divorce now, I’ll be left with nothing.” Rare snowflakes rained down outside. I walked barefoot out of the estate in a thin nightgown and sent an encrypted message to my father. “Father, send someone to pick me up in three days. I’m coming home.” Don Lucas, my father, never expected that the boss he had personally promoted would dare betray his daughter. He replied with a single sentence: “For daring to betray you, Theo’s dead.” What I did not know was that this message would ignite a storm that would sweep across all of Sicily. In three days, Theo Moretti, the man I had risked my life for and I had personally helped rise to power, would lose everything he held dear, including me.

With a sharp gunshot, my husband of twenty years, Marcus De Luca, rushed in front of me and took the bullet for me. As he lay dying, he spoke gently. “Nerina, live well.” I held him in my arms. My tears kept falling as I pressed hard against the wound in his chest. But he only touched my hair. His eyes fell on Vivian’s body. “She’s dead. I have no reason to live either.” It felt like a bullet had gone through my head. All the blood in my body froze. “She suffered in Sicily for twenty years.” “She finally came back, and now she died in front of me.” “Please stay alive. Bury me with her.” “If there is another life, don’t let her go to Sicily in your place again.” “Please make us whole.” His hand fell. My world collapsed. When I opened my eyes again, I was standing in front of Marcus’s father. The old Don looked at me. “Your wedding with Marcus is set for three days from now.” I lifted my head and spoke calmly. “Marcus’s bride should not be me. It should be Vivian.” “As for Sicily, I’ll go.”

Synopsis: Contract of Hearts She sold a year of her life to him. He stole eternity from her. No more wishful thinking for Mira Delacroix, who finds herself drowning in medical debt and her father's mysterious demise. She has no space for a fairytale, just a primal need for survival. And with that thought, the frigid and impossibly attractive billionaire, Kieran Locke, proposes a contract marriage. The stipulations: one year, zero feelings, not one question, and zero commitment. But the iciest hearts incinerate the hottest. Now cohabiting with Kieran means navigating his space, his hidden past, and ultimately his bedroom. The walls of pretense come tumbling down. The stipulations are obliterated. As Mira begins to consider whether the frost in his gaze is actually starting to thaw, the truth comes to light. Kieran actually knew her father before his passing. He has uncovered the perilous legacy that her father has left behind, and he has been concealing a secret that is capable of their annihilation. A notorious crime lord who used to work for her father resurfaces, hell-bent on taking what is rightfully his. Mira turns into a pawn in a perilous game. Her only source of support is the husband that has lied to her, and her only tool is her truth. Her sole path to a new dawn is to believe in the man that has already proven himself a traitor. Contract of Hearts is a full-length dark romance story filled with steamy passages, controlling heroes, and a hard-earned HEA. No cliffhanger is presented.

That year, during the Sicilian arms trafficking conflict, my lover of three years, Silvio, deliberately betrayed my transport routes at a critical moment in a deal with the rival "DiMarco" family, causing me to lose all my territory. He immediately defected to the DiMarco family's leader Marina, becoming her lover. As he left, he didn't even bother to disguise his betrayal, coldly tossing out, "What we had was just business, nothing personal." While I was burdened with my family's blood debts and pushed to the edge of a cliff, Lorenzo, who had secretly harbored feelings for me since childhood, found me and offered his family's entire fortune. "Isabella, don't be afraid. In my eyes, you'll always be Sicily's most formidable Queen of the Arms Trade," he said. He took the Colt pistol from my hand, and his voice was gentle yet resolute. Five years later, my power resurged. I was about to completely crush Marina's smuggling network and reclaim everything I had lost. My caporegimes, the captains of my organization, were ready and waiting for my command. But on the night before the operation, my weapons warehouse suddenly exploded, turning priceless arms into worthless scrap metal. I barely escaped through the thick smoke, my body covered in burns. In a secluded monastery, I overheard Lorenzo and Silvio whispering outside my door. "You really had the guts to blow up the arsenal. Weren't you afraid of blasting her to pieces too?" Silvio's voice carried a mocking tone. "If she died, just died. I've always loved Marina. If it weren't for that unlucky family marriage lottery five years ago, I wouldn't have had to endure this ugly bitch for all this time." Lorenzo's voice was ice-cold and unfamiliar. I closed my eyes, feeling like a dagger had pierced my chest. Explosion. Arranged marriage. Ugly bitch. So those five years of shared hardship were just his unwilling choice after losing a high-stakes gamble. "I married her to keep watch. If it weren't for me paving

I loved Clara deeply. When she was in danger, I didn't hesitate to save her, even at the cost of my own life. The incident left both my legs broken and confined me to a wheelchair, but she promised we'd marry once she passed her medical boards. To help her focus on her studies, I worked tirelessly, wheeling myself around day and night to make ends meet. But behind my back, she rekindled her relationship with Caleb Carter, her childhood sweetheart. One day, I found her in his arms, laughing and happy. I confronted her, demanding to know why she'd betrayed me. She responded by shoving me to the ground, treating me like I was worthless. Then she pulled a scalpel from her medical bag, her hands steady as she held it over my chest. "Caleb needs a heart transplant to live," she said. "Please, help me one last time."