Feel-Good Story Mafia の短編小説 & Bias 小説

My ex, Luca Romano, had a rival family on his tail, so he begged me to hide him at my family's private estate for five days. For old times' sake, I agreed and gave him a temporary passcode that would work for five days. Five days later, I finished my work out of town and returned to the estate. When I entered the passcode, the door wouldn't open. Someone had changed it. I rang the doorbell. A woman I had never seen before came out wearing my nightgown. She yawned as if she owned the place. The moment she saw me, she looked at me with disgust. "So you're the ex-girlfriend who won't leave Luca alone? "You two already broke up, and now you're showing up at his place in the middle of the night? Don't you have any shame?"

The day a rat sold out our East Coast safe houses, the FBI got its hands on the addresses of every old base belonging to the Five Families. The Commission gave the order: every associate had to report to the neutral church and register within seventy-two hours. Only those who completed registration would make the evacuation list and be picked up by the convoys. Once the list was sealed, no one could be added. But Viola Romano claimed she was the daughter of the Commission's Chairman. She said her father had already saved a spot for everyone. They didn't need to register, and they could still leave on the priority convoy. My friends believed her and canceled their registrations, one after another. I begged them not to gamble with their lives and told them to register just in case. Viola immediately accused me of being jealous and trying to ruin things for everyone. My boyfriend, Matteo Russo, said I didn't understand power and that I belonged in line with the ordinary members. In my last life, I reported the whole thing to the Commission. Viola was exposed. Everyone managed to register before the deadline and secure a spot on the evacuation list. She was cast out of the Family for impersonating the Chairman's daughter and obstructing an emergency evacuation. In the end, she died in an FBI raid. Everyone said she got what she deserved. They thanked me for saving them. But after we moved into the new safe house, Matteo shot me from behind. The bullet went straight through my heart. The people I'd saved just stood there, watching coldly. "The worst that could've happened to us was getting arrested by the FBI. Viola lost her life!" When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day Viola promised to get everyone onto the evacuation list.

I once believed I was the most loved daughter in New York. I was the Romano family’s only heiress, my grandfather’s chosen successor, and the fiancée of Matteo Bellini. Everyone said our marriage would unite two empires and make us the most powerful couple in the city. Then my parents adopted Giulia Ricci. At a family banquet, Giulia stumbled into a towering champagne tower. She pointed at me, sobbing that I had shoved her. In a single night, the family who claimed to love me decided I was a monster. My parents condemned me. My brother disowned me. My best friend turned away. Matteo locked me in an underground wine cellar. He said I would stay until I learned to treat Giulia with respect. They knew I was claustrophobic and listened while I screamed for help. The next morning, I ended our engagement and disappeared into Paris. Three years later, I returned for my grandfather’s birthday. They expected an apology. Matteo expected his bride back. Instead, I returned with control of their European shipping routes, a daughter they knew nothing about, and a husband whose name could silence every Don in the room. As Giulia's identity gradually came to light, a conspiracy against the Romano family emerged. I had not been replaced by accident. Someone had orchestrated everything to let Giulia steal my position, my inheritance, and the port resources I controlled. They finally regretted losing me. But this time, I would never look back.

For three years, I used my family's mob ties and my own money to pave the way for Declan's crew. He was the boy I survived the streets with as a kid. But at this month's sit-down, his newly hired secretary, Roxy, tossed my casino ledgers and club records onto the table in front of all the guys. She accused me of skimming profits and slacking off. "These underground banks, these smuggling docks," she read the numbers out loud, her voice full of fake outrage. "Every time she bribes someone, she skims thousands of dollars! She's lining her own pockets." "I say the Boss strips her of her club manager title right now to save our cash flow." I glanced at Declan, the boss of the crew. He knew better than anyone what that missing money actually paid for. He knew how much dock security it covered. He knew how many nods of approval it bought from politicians and cops. He also knew what I was doing when I wasn't at the club. I was making deals with dangerous gun runners. I was drinking hard liquor to secure guns and ammo for his boys. But he just stared at me coldly. "Katerina, do you have anything to say about these ledgers and the proof Roxy just showed us?" I smiled. "I have nothing to explain." Very soon, all of them would find out exactly what happens when you pull a stunt like this on a Principessa's turf.

Six years into our marriage, Matteo Moretti slid a marriage pact across the table to me. My sister's name was at the top. Lucia Belardi, sixteen, unable to speak since birth. The lower-right corner of the document bore the Moretti Family's black seal, and beside it, Matteo's own signature. "The Volkov family has agreed to a ceasefire," Matteo said from behind the wide walnut desk in his study. "Ivan Volkov will marry Lucia. Once the wedding is done, the guns on the northern route will go silent, and our shipments held at the docks will be released." Cold crept into my fingers. "You agreed to hand my sister over to a sadist, just to save Viola?" Three days ago, Viola Conti had publicly humiliated one of the Volkov women at a cocktail party. The Volkovs seized her and threatened that unless the Moretti Family surrendered a girl of equal standing, Viola would disappear for good. "Viola's father took a bullet for me, and she treated over thirty of our men during the dock shootout six years ago." He looked up at me, his black shirt sleeves rolled to the elbows, exposing old scars on his wrists. "The Moretti Family owes her. Lucia will be the wife of the Volkov heir, not a hostage." I slapped him across the face. I picked up the letter opener from his desk, cut through the gold chain, and threw the severed chain onto the marriage pact. On our wedding day six years ago, he had fastened the chain around my neck himself. The pendant bore the Moretti and Belardi names on either side. He had told me that as long as the chain held, we would never be apart. He glanced at the broken chain, a brief crease forming between his brows. "Once this crisis is over, you'll understand. This is the choice that costs us the least." "Matteo, Lucia may be the one you're sending away today, but from this moment on, you're sending me away too."

In the ten years I spent helping Dante Moretti secure his position as Don, he never once gave me the title I deserved. The night before our anniversary, I sent him a design for a sapphire brooch, the kind reserved for the Don's own family. Dante's call came through immediately. "Have you forgotten how we clawed our way out of that bloodbath? Stop bringing up frivolous things like this." I quietly agreed and unsent the design, only to catch a glimpse of Dante in the private dining hall, personally pinning a brooch that symbolized the Family's authority onto a girl's gown. "Dante, this is too extravagant... Sapphires are so rare. People will object if you use one to make me a brooch." "You deserve the best. As long as it makes you happy, none of the Family's treasures are a waste." He paused. "Send whatever scraps are left over to Valentina. She's used to roughing it with me. She won't care what she gets." Colette Marino gave a soft laugh. "So Valentina stuck with you through all the suffering, and I get to enjoy the power and glory. Is that it?" Dante didn't deny it. A single low hum crushed every sacrifice I'd made in the past ten years. My nails dug through the design sheet and into my palm, but I felt no pain at all. The butler from the private hall approached with a deferential nod. "Ms. Russo, would you like me to cancel the design order? There's only one sapphire left." "Don't cancel it. If the remaining sapphire isn't enough, use a ruby instead, the Family's one and only."

After my mother died, my father, a Mafia Capo, turned our family home into my personal hell. So I put on my sexiest, deep-V red dress. I crashed the private casino of the Don of all Dons. I faked an assassination. That night, the Don’s enforcers painted the casino red. I was the “assassin” who started it all. And I walked away from the wreckage without a scratch. I left a black rose by my bastard father’s corpse. “Enjoy hell, Dad.” Later, I changed my name and started a new life. But my fiancé, a powerful politician, was screwing another woman on his yacht. He even tried to steal my inheritance. So I paid the cold Don another visit. This time, I made sure my ex-fiancé's money laundering network was nothing but ash by morning. And once again, I slipped away unharmed under the Don’s predatory gaze. Finally, I returned to the underground assassin organization that raised me. Only to be framed as a traitor by the top brass. I was strapping a dagger to my thigh. Ready to use the Don's power a third time. Before I could even step outside, the Don’s private army blew my organization’s base to kingdom come. That night, the powerful, dangerous man pinned me to a wall. His calloused fingers traced my lips. “Next time you want someone to disappear from New York,” he growled, “just say their name in my bed. Stop staging fake assassinations on me.”

For five years, Julian and I had been a secret. We had our own hidden apartment where, night after night, he could not get enough of me, leaving his insanely possessive marks all over my body. Tonight was no different. But the difference today was that before I could even catch my breath, he suddenly asked for the number of Essa, my family's gorgeous maid. "Darling, don't you think it is too boring to stick to just one woman for the rest of your life?" "She has a killer body. I do not want to give up all the thrills out there just for you." I stared into his eyes for a few seconds, then pushed his hand off my chest. I gave a calm nod. Later, when someone asked me who I was into, I casually dropped the name of my sworn enemy: Kian, the heir to the Santoro family. Julian's face instantly darkened, but I could not care less. However, I ended up bringing unexpected trouble to my doorstep. Kian blocked my doorway, a smirk playing on his lips as he asked, "Didn't you say you were into me?" "What a coincidence. I am into you, too."

My wife, Monica, hated the smell of alcohol, so I had never once seen her drink. Not even at the celebration for my succession as Don did she touch a single drop. That changed at a Family banquet, when a party game broke out halfway through. Monica lost. The penalty: sit on the lap of your one true love and share a lovers' toast. Without a second of hesitation, she picked up her glass, settled onto Dillon's lap, and drank it down. The room erupted in cheers, and every pair of eyes turned to me with the same expectation. They were waiting for me to flip the table and storm out. But I just watched Monica in silence, slid the ring off my finger, and placed a set of divorce papers in front of her. "Divorce." My voice was flat. Monica froze for a beat, then let out a scornful laugh. "All because I didn't drink with you?" "Exactly. That's why." I pushed the papers a little closer.

After three years together, my boyfriend, Walker Ashford, proposed. But right after that, he got cold feet. At our wedding photo shoot, Walker buried his face against my best friend Anna Benedict's shoulder. "The way Valentina looks at me freaks me out," he said. At the jewelry shop, he grabbed Anna's hand and refused to let go. None of it made sense. But my future mother-in-law, Judith Ashford, pulled me aside. "Valentina, why not let Anna take your place in the photos? We can put you in later." Walker's sister, Emma Ashford, pushed Anna forward. "She has better taste. Let her pick the ring for you." I swallowed my hurt and watched in silence as they took my wedding photos and picked out my ring for me. Under the lights, the diamonds glittered so brightly they hurt my eyes. I was about to postpone the wedding when I overheard Judith say to my best friend, "Anna, having Walker pretend to get cold feet was a smart move. Otherwise, how could you two have a wedding of your own without Valentina finding out?" Emma curled her lip. "Valentina is an idiot. She believes everything we tell her." Walker sighed and stroked Anna's hair. "Anna is sick. It's her wish to marry me. If Valentina weren't so controlling, I wouldn't have to keep this wedding a secret from her. Anna gets the wedding. Valentina gets the legal marriage. Sounds fair to me." So that was it. Walker had never gotten cold feet. They had made up the whole thing to fool me. I was done with their lies. I decided to return to Florence and take back my life as a mafia princess. "Dad, I'll marry whoever you choose."

For three years running, Matteo always had a reason to push the engagement date back, all because he was certain I could never want anyone but him. The first year, his parents refused to let him marry a poor girl like me, and the engagement was shelved. The second year, he lost the engagement rings I had made myself. No rings, no ceremony. The third year, he "forgot" to tell his parents the date and only told them at the last minute. There was too little time, they could not get there, and the engagement was shelved again. This year, though, none of those earlier "accidents" happened. There was only one exception. On the day of our engagement, the gown my mother had sewn for me stitch by stitch before she died somehow ended up on my stepsister, Capucine. She let her cat climb up the skirt and bite and claw at it until the lace was full of holes. Matteo did not scold her. He soothed her in a gentle voice instead. "It's fine. If it's ruined we'll just have another one made. It's an old dress, it's not like it's anything special." He ignored my red, swollen eyes. "The gown is gone now, so it looks like the engagement will have to wait until next year." I let out a cold laugh and stepped forward to strip the gown off Capucine. "Three times is enough. There won't be an engagement next year either." What he did not know was that before she died, my mother told me a secret she had kept for twenty years. I was never some poor girl. I was the only daughter of a Sicilian mafia family. My real father had found out where I had ended up, and he was already on his way to bring me home himself. Since this engagement was not going to happen, I had decided to go home with him.

One second before the ceremony was set to begin, my groom, Alvin Mercer, suddenly turned and walked out. "Lillian, Hannah's exhibition is falling apart. She's home alone right now and I have to be with her. We'll reschedule the wedding." Hannah Deneuve was the maid's daughter he'd grown up with. I caught him by the cuff. My voice came out flat and cold. "Alvin, this is the sixth time you have called off our wedding for her. If you walk out that door today, you and I are finished." But Alvin flung my hand off. "Enough! We can get married any time. Hannah needs me right now!" He left without looking back, and my heart slowly went cold. The priest clutched his Bible, visibly uncomfortable, and quietly asked me whether the ceremony should continue. I looked past a room full of stunned guests, straight at the man sitting in the corner of the very last row. "Of course. "Just with a different groom."

I came home from a business trip. My daughter Anna threw herself into my arms and held up a hand-strung necklace she had clearly worked hard on. "Mommy, this is the birthday present I made for Mommy Lena. She's going to love it, right?" My heart dropped. Lena was my husband Preston's secretary. My daughter remembered her birthday. She had forgotten that today was mine. It wasn't the first time. She was always attached to Lena, hanging off her arm and asking, "Mommy Lena, when are you and Daddy taking me back to the amusement park?" Even when she ran a fever, the name she called out over and over was Mommy Lena. I corrected her, disappointed. "Anna, I'm your mommy, not Lena." But Anna pushed me away and shouted, "You're the bad mommy! I don't want you! I want Mommy Lena to be my mommy forever!" In that moment I could almost hear my own heart cracking. A second later, Preston shoved the door open. He scooped up the wailing Anna and turned on me. "Winnie, what kind of mother are you? Your child is crying like this and you can't even be bothered! "Anna's right. As a mother you're not half of what Lena is. I honestly don't know what I was thinking when I married you!" I watched their backs disappear down the hall and felt something go out in me. So this was what it had bought me. Six years ago I gave up my name and my claim as heir to the Family, all for love, and what I got in return was the contempt of my husband and my daughter. If that was how it was, then it was time for me to go home to the Family.

My husband, Lucien Moretti, had some last-minute trouble at the docks to deal with, so I had to attend the underground auction alone. I didn't expect to run into my ex, Damon Vesper—the man I was supposed to marry five years ago. The man who chose the woman who put my mother in a coma over me. The moment I raised my paddle for my mother's emerald brooch, he raised his against mine. The room laughed, whispered, sneered. They thought I was the same desperate fool chasing a man who'd never loved me. But I wasn't there for him. I was there for the truth—the truth hidden inside that brooch. The truth that would expose the accident that destroyed my family as the murder it always was. And when his fiancée Serena had me dragged to the basement, Damon let it happen. He stood there and watched as they beat me, humiliated me, and threatened to carve up my face. Silent. The way he always had. But he had no idea who he was really messing with. They thought they could break me again, just like before. Too bad. I'm not that girl anymore.

I went to an engagement party on my father's behalf. It was the engagement party for the daughter of one of his subordinates. As the Don, he couldn't attend himself. But when I arrived, I saw my fiancé, James Morris, proposing to another woman with my engagement ring. James spotted me and quickly pulled me aside, using the crowd to hide us. "So this is your business trip?" Tears burned my eyes. He looked annoyed. "Mina and I are just putting on a show. I'm doing this so I can give you a better life." If it were only a show, why had he left me burning with fever the moment she called? Why had he kissed her at a party while I was losing our baby, then let the photo spread across social media? Worst of all, why had he stolen the diamond made from Grandpa's ashes—my most precious possession—and used it to propose to her? Six years ago, I gave up half my inheritance so the Family would stay out of James's life. I stayed away for so long that many newer members had never even seen me. That was how Mina got away with pretending to be me. I also gave up wealthy suitors and chose to build a life with James from nothing. But the moment he saw a chance at money and power, he threw away our six years together without a second thought. "Oh, it's Eleanor." Mina walked over in a couture gown and slipped her arm through James's. I recognized the dress immediately. I'd thrown it out two years ago. "Don't worry. I'm only with James because my father likes him. He even wants James to be his successor." She looked me up and down. "I remember you don't have much going for you. You'll probably never find another man as kind as he is. If you ever need him, I'm happy to lend him to you." She smiled at me like I was beneath her. My fiancé. And somehow, I was the one who needed permission to borrow him. "Get out of here, do you hear me? I'll get you another ring." James wanted me gone before anyone started asking questions. Too bad he was sucking up to the wrong person. I smiled. "No need.

We were holding my father's wake when the church caught fire. The black drapes caught fire fast. I was standing nearby. Within seconds, the flames were all around me. I covered my nose and mouth and rolled across the floor until I finally escaped the flames. But my fiancé, Vincent Winston, was already shielding Bianca Hayes as he rushed toward the exit. When the firefighters arrived, they started evacuating everyone. They told us to cover our noses and mouths with scarves or towels and make our way to the exits without pushing. I had just pulled a scarf from my bag when Vincent snatched it away. He covered Bianca's nose and mouth with it and explained to me, "Bianca already has a cold. I can't let it get worse." I covered my mouth with my hand and fought back a cough as smoke burned my throat. I could barely breathe. I didn't argue. I didn't make a scene. The moment I made it outside, I followed the firefighters to safety. Then I pulled out my phone and blocked Vincent's number and every other way he could reach me.

Every Mafia family in Sicily knew the story. Susie Campbell, the pampered princess of the Campbell family, had an older sister, Selina Campbell, who loved her more than life itself. If anyone looked at Susie too long at a party, Selina threw a glass of red wine in his face without a second thought. When someone at the boxing club tried to sign the same fighter Susie wanted, Selina spent a fortune to outbid them. On the day Susie's arranged marriage was settled, Selina simply signed her own businesses over to her. But in less than a year, Susie's husband cheated on her. Selina and her husband, Charles Romano, surrounded the estate with guns drawn that same day and threatened to kill him if he refused to sign the divorce papers. All of Sicily envied the bond between the two sisters. Until Charles died in an accident. Then came the day Selina went to claim the inheritance. The estate administrator told her, "I'm sorry, but only a legal spouse can inherit." Selina explained at once. "I'm his wife. Here are my documents." The administrator shook his head. "The records show that you aren't his spouse. You divorced twenty-eight years ago. His current legal spouse is Susie Campbell." The blood drained from Selina's face. She rushed straight back to the estate. The moment she walked in, the attorney handling the estate was already there. He was reading the will aloud. "Charles Romano left the estate and bank accounts to Susie Campbell. The remaining businesses and shares go to your daughter, Emma Romano. "Selina Campbell is to receive the country house." Selina almost fell where she stood. The tears came and would not stop. Susie said, her voice trembling, "Selina, I'm so sorry. Don't worry, I'll move out of the estate." Emma turned on her. "Mom, don't take this out on Aunt Susie just because you're hurt. You already have the country house. Why isn't that enough for you?" Selina tried to speak, but her throat had closed up completely. She had never imagined that the sister s

On my way to a wedding meant to seal an alliance between our families, our enemies kidnapped me. The maid who had look after me since childhood never told my father. Instead, she stole my identity and married William Voss, heir to the Voss family. It took everything I had to escape. When I saw their wedding photo, rage surged through me. I was ready to storm in and expose her when a stream of floating comments appeared before my eyes. [The heroine can't seriously think William knows nothing, can she? He planned everything. He and her maid staged the whole thing so the maid could take her place.] [If she exposes the truth on the wedding day, she'll be an idiot. Even if William has the maid executed on the spot, he'll hate her for it. Once he becomes Don, he'll throw her overboard on their honeymoon and feed her to the sharks.] I stared at the comments, unable to believe what I was reading. Only when I saw the Voss convoy pulling farther away did I run after it. I held up my family crest and called out, "I'm the eldest daughter of the Hathaway family. My maid was kidnapped. For the sake of our families' alliance, will you help me find her?" Sure enough, one of the Voss council members stepped out of the car. A bitter laugh escaped me. William wanted my family's support so he could become Don, but he also wanted my maid. I wasn't about to let him have both. I wanted to see how he would clean up the mess once his plan fell apart.

The night before our engagement party. My fiancé's childhood sweetheart, Isabella, said she had a "family welcome" for me. A little tradition, she said. For a "nobody." She tricked me. Lured me to the family's private boathouse on the lake. Then she opened the floodgates. Let the freezing lake water pour in. Icy water seeped over my ankles. On the shore, guests from the five Chicago families. They held their drinks. They watched me struggle. Watched me fight for my life. She smiled like an angel. Her words were pure poison. "Doesn't Alessia know all about rules? Let's see how low she'll go for Nico." My fiancé, Nico Falconetti, heir to the family, stood by the warm bonfire. Watching me across the dark water. He gave Isabella an indulgent look. Then his eyes met mine. His voice was calm. Arrogant. "Just don't let her die," he told his men. Careless. "A nobody like her needs a lesson. To learn our rules. When she learns her place, I'll pull her out myself." Later, I smashed the window. I crawled ashore. He offered me his warm jacket. I shoved it away. I wiped the water and blood from my face. Then I called my grandfather's Consigliere. "Tell our people. Freeze all credit to the Falconetti family. Cut off their south-side shipping routes. And send the video from tonight to every family on 'The Commission.' I want the Falconetti family wiped from Chicago's map."

As the only daughter of the Rossi family, I had three exceptional men handpicked and raised by my mother as potential husbands. Once, they had gone to extraordinary lengths to win my affection. One bought me a centuries-old watchtower on the Sicilian coast. Another presented me with a one-of-a-kind black diamond ring. Then Blair, the daughter of our longtime butler, returned from boarding school, and all three men became obsessed with her. They adored her kindness, her innocence, and her delicate nature. Meanwhile, they condemned me for the coldness and ruthlessness I had developed after growing up in a world of blood and violence. Once they had broken my heart beyond repair, I washed my hands of the three ungrateful bastards and agreed to marry Vito Capello, the Don of the Capello family, who had been left in a vegetative state. The news shattered their pride. What I couldn’t understand was why they still thought I was playing hard to get—even after I became Vito’s Donna.