After Prison Im Done Playing Second

My husband, Don Reginald, and my parents threw me in prison on the very night I gave him his heir. All because my sister, Felicia, set me up. She claimed I gave her a wild horse at the family races—a horse she knew she couldn't handle. It went crazy. It trampled a senator to death. With the FBI breathing down our necks, the whole family made me take the fall. Three years. Reginald didn't care that I'd just had our son. He pushed me. Over and over. "It was your horse. If you hadn't given it to her, the Feds wouldn't be after Felicia. Just do the time. When you get out, you'll still be my Donna." Three years later, I came back. Nothing had changed. They still chose her. Even the son I bled for now calls Felicia "Mama." He looks right through me, his own mother. I didn't fight. Not like the old me. I just walked away. But when I finally vanished for good, Reginald lost his mind. He tore the world apart, begging me to come back. To be his Donna again.

Ten years with Don Maximus. I went from the crazy girl who demanded his "undying loyalty" at gunpoint to Chicago's perfect Donna. When Maximus took the casino's hottest stripper to his private room, I didn't lose my mind. Instead, I tossed the woman the keys to a Manhattan penthouse. When Maximus's new flame threw a tantrum at a yacht party, I didn't bat an eye. Instead, after she slapped a waiter in a fit of pique, I made the police problem go away. When Maximus fought with one of his girls, I'd even send her a limited-edition Birkin to smooth things over. And today, Maximus is busy fucking his hot new toy in the study, while another pregnant mistress stands on the estate's rooftop, threatening to jump just to see him. And I'm still the one in my red-bottom heels, calmly going to clean up his mess. The mistress screamed, desperate. "I'm not having this baby! Get Maximus!" I took a sip of my wine, my voice bored. "He's busy today. You have the baby, and I'll make sure seven figures show up in your offshore account." My indifference set her off. She grabbed my wrist, her grip like iron. "You're pathetic, Angelina! There was a time he wouldn't even look at another woman because of you. He slaughtered an entire family for you. When you were shot, he knelt in the pouring rain outside a church, begging God to take his life for yours! But now? You can't even get into his bed. All you can do is stand here and play the gracious Donna!" Her nails left red marks on my skin, but the smile on my face didn't crack. Did she really think a little drama would change anything? I wasn't playing the gracious Donna. I was just done. And I was finally ready to let Maximus go.

My fiancée was infamous in Culberra for being a heartbreaker. She had countless ex-boyfriends, and only stopped fooling around once she started dating me. However, we had only just planned to get married when her first love returned from overseas. Everyone mocked me, saying that I was a fool for thinking that I'd be any special. Unbeknownst to them, however, I'd long since gotten sick of playing the part of a lovesick idiot.

Pia Bellucci descends from the slums in Hughlin. Orphans like her are supposed to spend their lives struggling in the bottom rung of society. They are meant to live in the darkness till they draw their last breaths. But the appearance of Vito Castaldo, the Don of the Castaldo family, has completely rewritten Pia's fate. Thanks to Pia's resilience and talent, she fights against all odds and becomes Vito's personal bodyguard. She takes it upon herself to block all harm coming his way and resolve deadly crises for him. Once, when Pia gets kidnapped by Vito's rivals in his stead and almost dies in that ordeal, Vito confesses his feelings to her after rescuing her. After that, he holds an engagement banquet and slides a diamond ring onto her finger before making his vow. "Once I become the Don of Nework, you shall become the Donna." Pia is grateful to Vito for saving her life while showering her with love and affection. It's only natural that she's willing to sacrifice everything for his sake. From then, she works even harder in striking more dangerous deals and wrapping up the most brutal negotiations on Vito's behalf. She practically puts herself at risk just to get rid of all obstacles in his way until his strongest foes are dead. But when Pia thinks her dream is about to come true, she stumbles upon the cruelest truth. It turns out that she's nothing but a tool for Vito to wield from the start till the end.

I've stood before a priest and sworn my vows to the same man seven times. And for the seventh time, I've signed divorce papers in front of the family lawyer. At our first wedding, the youngest Capo of the Throne family held my hand and promised, "From this day forward, my life is yours and yours alone." But whenever his childhood sweetheart stirred up trouble and needed his protection, Carter's vow to me would conveniently become a sanctuary for her. "Tessa's in trouble again, Maeve. For your own safety, we have to get a divorce for now." The first time I was forced to divorce, I threatened him with the honor of our families' alliance, even vowing to expose his betrayal at a family gathering. His men dragged me out of the manor. The third time I signed the papers, I humbled myself, sneaking into the family's private club just to catch a glimpse of him from afar. By the sixth time, I had learned to quietly pack my few belongings in this house of lies, without putting up a fight. My breakdowns and desperate, undignified attempts to save us were only ever met with Carter's reliable promise to remarry me, just before another round of the divorce game he played for Tessa's sake. Until this time. After hearing Tessa was returning to New York from Italy, I didn't wait for Carter to speak. I placed the signed divorce papers in his study myself. Just like always, he casually set a date for our remarriage. But he didn't know that day was the day I would disappear from his world forever.

Three years of marriage. Three miscarriages. The day Stella Rowan lost her baby for the third time, Evan Wright was at the hospital with his sister-in-law, waiting for her to give birth to twins. When Stella walked out of the hospital, she finally made her decision. She handed her soon-to-be ex-husband a divorce agreement. “Let’s divorce. It’s for your own good.” “Divorce?” Evan scoffed. “You really think you can let go? And if you’re trying to hold on to me, don’t dress it up as doing me a favor. That fake concern is pathetic.” Stella just smiled. She didn’t argue. She turned and walked away. She really was doing it for his sake. After all, she’d found a new backer. Even though Evan sits atop Harbor City’s financial empire, he’s about to meet someone he can’t afford to cross. Once she cut ties with the past, Stella stopped pretending. One by one, her new identities came to light, leaving the Wright family completely stunned. Wasn’t she supposed to be the girl with no family backing, the easy target everyone bullied? A multinational CEO said, “Stella, get divorced already. I’ve waited long enough.” A financial tycoon declared, “Divorce. If you don’t, I’ll take the Wright family down.” An international lawyer smiled and said, “The divorce itself is easy. Stella, if you’d just look at me once, I’d have everything I need.” Evan had always believed Stella would never leave him. Not until the day he realized she had become someone far beyond his reach. In that moment, every assumption he’d ever made about her collapsed.