Maiikling Kwento tungkol sa Plot Twists at Mafia, at mga Nobela ng Bias na may Regret

The day I learned I was pregnant, I walked out of a private clinic holding the test results, ready to tell my husband that we were finally going to have a child. I never got the chance to make the call. A sports car driven by Damian's foster sister, Serena, struck me outside the clinic. When Damian arrived, he rushed past the paramedics and lifted Serena into his arms, even though she had suffered only minor injuries. He never recognized his wife being loaded into the ambulance. After surgery, he called to tell me that Serena had been in an accident and needed him beside her. "I am sorry, but I have to cancel our anniversary dinner." I did not tell him that I was the other person involved in the crash. I did not tell him that the child we had wanted for five years was gone. He gave me the title of Donna while reserving his forbidden devotion for her. Since he could not bear to lose either of us, I would make the choice for him. In seven days, I would leave New York and return to my parents in Sicily. Damian would receive the two gifts I left behind. The first would be a divorce that restored his freedom. The second would be the wedding he and Serena had always wanted. This time, I would not ask why he betrayed me. I would quietly give them my blessing, and then I would disappear forever.

At the annual mafia charity gala, my fiancé Vincent dropped three million dollars on the most coveted antique necklace in the room. Everyone looked at me with smiles and congratulations. My friend grabbed my arm, whispering, "Your patience finally paid off! All those years of kissing his feet weren't for nothing!" Then he turned around and handed the necklace straight to Bianca, the daughter of our rival family. I opened my mouth, ready to remind him that I was his fiancée. But Vincent just threw me a look of pure disgust. In front of everyone, he sneered that I was trash with zero class and couldn't handle a real crowd. Humiliated and crushed, I went onto the dark web and posted a fifty-dollar bounty for help. That was how I matched with Gabe—the feared, ruthless enforcer everyone talked about. A man infamous for his cold blood turned out to be shockingly gentle with me. He never told me I wasn't enough. Instead, he just held my grip and whispered, "Keep your hand steady, Princess." For the first time in my life, I realized I could actually be happy. So when Vincent came crawling back to fix things, he was stunned to find out the truth: this time, I was the one walking away.

To be with Luca, I left New York and moved to Montreal. Three years of slaving over the stove, teaching myself the books, studying every detail of how to dress—all to fit into his world. To become his Donna. I actually believed I was on my way. But tonight, at the family banquet, the woman beside him wasn't me. It was Liliana—his childhood friend. His understudy leaned in and muttered in Italian. "Don, if you're settling things with Liliana, what happens to Catherine?" Luca took a slow drag of his cigar. "I love Catherine. But for the family, my Donna can't be some nobody." "And if she finds out?" "She loves me too much to walk away. I'll give her everything but the title." My chest tightened. A tremor ran through me that I couldn't stop. What they didn't know—I'd learned Italian in secret. I caught every single word. Liliana swept in wearing a long red dress. She shot me a look from above and gestured for me to move. Luca patted my hand. "Liliana's here to hold the room tonight. Go watch the kitchen. Don't let the staff screw up." I looked into his eyes. Three years of this—and it was all a joke I'd played on myself. I turned and walked out, pulling off his necklace and letting it drop to the carpet. My phone buzzed. My father asked how much longer I'd stay away. I stopped and typed. "Three days. I'm coming back to New York." Luca, when you find out your family doesn't even hold a candle to mine... what then?

As the only daughter and sole heir of the Romano family, I was born into a world of blood and gunfire. To protect me, my father handpicked nine boys from our allied families and raised them to take a bullet for me When I came of age, he told me to choose one of them as my fiancé. The man I chose would be groomed to become the future Don and rule beside me. I chose Luca De Santis, the man I had loved for years. But on our wedding day, his childhood sweetheart, Bianca Ricci, threw herself into the sea. In the suicide note she left behind, she accused me of tormenting her for years. Luca believed every word. After he became Don, he used the power my family had placed in his hands to imprison me while I was pregnant. I told him that every accusation in Bianca's letter was a lie. He refused to listen. "She's already dead, and you still can't leave her alone?" Then he locked me in the estate basement for four days and four nights. On the fourth night, I lost our baby on the basement floor. I screamed for help until I had no strength left. No one came. I bled to death alone. When I opened my eyes again, I was back in my father's study on the day he asked me to choose my future husband. This time, Luca De Santis was the first name I crossed off the list.

Five years married to Marcello, and I find out he's no street punk. He's the Don. The head of New York's McCarthy family. While I was pinching every penny, he was dropping millions at auction, buying a fortune in diamonds for Camilla, his dead best friend's widow. He even took the baby I nearly died giving birth to. Gave him to Camilla. He stroked my hair, his voice soft and cruel. "Camilla and I, we grew up together. She was carrying Ethan's kid. If she knew her baby died... she couldn't take it." "We'll have other kids," he said. I said no. So he threatened my family. I gave in. But I made a promise to myself: I was leaving this man. I secretly signed the papers to be a combat medic. I ship out in seven days.

Five years ago, at that engagement party, I punched out a front tooth belonging to Jace, the personal bodyguard of my fiancée Elle. To get revenge for her bodyguard lover, Elle planted fake evidence claiming I sold family secrets to a rival. She framed me and personally threw me into the family's underground dungeon. The day I made it out of those cells alive, I ran right into Elle and Jace's wedding. Everyone thought I would shoot the place up like a mad dog. But I didn't. I just took an old suitcase, boarded a flight across the Atlantic, and vanished from this land. Three years after my release, I accompanied my wife Quinn back to my hometown, just in time for my birthday. We agreed to celebrate at the most exclusive club in the city, and she said she had a surprise for me. I arrived early. Who knew that the moment I pushed open the doors of that high-end club, I would run right into Jace, surrounded by a bunch of goons. "Oh? Look who we have here." "Isn't this our once-glorious big shot?" "Well, well. I haven't seen you in a few years. How did Mr. Cole end up looking so pathetic? You can't even afford a decent suit anymore?"

The day I found out I was pregnant, my husband Dario Vitale's adopted sister Sofia pushed me down the stairs. I lost the baby. And I ended up in a coma. For five years while I slept, he punished her, tormented her, and made her pray for me every single day for five years. But the moment I woke up, everything had changed. Everything that was mine now had Sofia written all over it. My spot. My space. My place in his life. She'd taken over every last bit of it. When I confronted Dario, he didn't even realize how completely he'd already taken her side. "Camila, you're awake now. Sofia's spent five years paying for what she did—isn't that enough? Can we... let this go?" Five years. And in the end, he decided I'd forgiven her for him. The pain in my chest hurt worse than anything my body had been through. The man who used to look at me like I was his whole world—he wasn't there anymore. I called my sister Ayana. "Three days. I'm going back to the Manhattan firm. And I'm never seeing Dario again."

At our seventh anniversary gala, my husband, Alexander Rossetti, had gifted me the city's one of a kind Rose Manor. I was kissing Alexander. That's when his Capo, Romeo, stepped up with his wine glass, lowering his voice in pure Sicilian dialect with a teasing grin: "Don, the Jasmine Manor for Elena's all settled, identical to the one you gave to Donna." Alexander let out a chuckle. He shot back in Sicilian, casual as ever: "What can I say? She begged me in bed, said she wanted the same thing as her sister. " He kissed my cheek as he spoke, gazing at me with all the warmth in the world, while telling his men: "Don't say her name. If my Donna finds out, we're all in deep shit." His men exchanged knowing smirks, raised their glasses to him, and swore up and down they'd keep their mouths shut. He kissed my cheek, and didn't notice my smile had frozen solid. Maybe Alexander was too smug. He forgot one thing. My grandmother came from one of the oldest families in Sicily. I understood every single word they said. Fireworks burst overhead. Alexander said: "I love you, Olivia. We'll be together forever." I hugged him back, but behind his back, I pulled out my phone, opened the weapons research invitation that Santoro Institute had sent me days ago, and hit "Accept." Three days from now, I would vanish from his world completely.

My seventh year with Luca Bellini coincided with the launch of the Santa Lucia. The South Docks were packed with Bellini relatives, district bosses, and merchants who did business with the Family. Everyone knew I had been by Luca's side from the days when he was just a small-time enforcer collecting protection money at the fish market, all the way to his rise as head of the South Docks. Everyone assumed the launch of this new ship would finally make my place at his side official. Luca stood before the gleaming black hull and raised his glass with a smile. "I've had my eye on this ship for three months. Years ago, I made a girl a promise. Today, I'm giving her the ship and keeping that promise." I clutched the Family silver ring I had just taken from the safe, my heart pounding so hard I could barely hear the ceremonial cannon fire. He had never told me he was going to announce our engagement today, but I had been by his side since I was eighteen. I'd helped him check his first set of off-the-books ledgers, negotiate the deal for his first beachfront hotel, and survive more close calls than I could count over those seven years. Wasn't this the moment I'd been waiting for? Luca took the silver key from the host and looked at the crowd. I had barely stepped forward when Sophia Costa, dressed in white, rushed into his arms and took the key from him. She was the girl Luca had loved when he was young but could never have. She was the only daughter of one of the Family's longtime advisers. Two weeks ago, the heir of a wealthy East Coast businessman had dumped her, and she'd returned to Gray Harbor. Luca put an arm around her as the crowd toasted them. He glanced at me for a moment, then looked away as if I were just another bookkeeper. I stared at the ship's reflection on the water and laughed. Then I texted my mother, "You said Matteo from the Ricci shipyard wanted to meet me. Tell him I said yes."

After the miscarriage, I became exactly the kind of rational, understanding Mafia wife Cillian had always wanted. When I got into a car accident, I handled it myself instead of calling him. I stopped caring about the scent of other women's perfume on his clothes. Even when I saw him drunk, passionately kissing and tangling with his first love, Zelda, in bed, I simply closed the door for them and walked away. But Cillian wasn't used to it. He bought me expensive jewelry and designer bags, throwing grand birthday parties just to show the world how much in love we were... And I only gave him a polite, practiced smile. Cillian looked at me, confused. "Why have you changed? Are you still mad at me about what happened? What do I have to do for you to forgive me?" I didn't say a word. Because I wasn't mad. I didn't love him anymore, so getting angry felt completely pointless. Besides, I had already filed the divorce papers. In half a month, I’d be leaving Chicago for good.

The day of the gang shootout, while I was cleaning up the mess, I realized our marriage certificate was missing. My husband Victor Rosso tried to comfort me. Said the whole family only recognized me as their Donna. No need to bother replacing it. I mulled it over for a few days, then still brought my ID to city hall to get a duplicate. The clerk tapped at her keyboard for a minute, then looked up at me. "Ma'am, your marital status shows as single." I froze. Then I wrote down Victor's name and mine again and handed it back to her. She checked once more. Her expression turned strange. "The system says you're single, but your husband is listed as married..." She paused. "The spouse's name is Anna Martin. Do you know her?" My mind went blank. Victor and I were each other's first love. He'd always treated me like I was the moon, the stars, everything. And Anna—my sister, his savior, the woman he personally shipped off to Milan because she wouldn't stop chasing him. Turns out, while he was calling her reckless to my face, he'd already given her his legal name on paper. I pulled out my phone and called my mentor. "Mentor, I need to get back to my jewelry studio. What's the soonest you can get me in?" "Flora. Three days. Just give me three days."

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."

For five years, I believed my husband was a mechanic—until the day that belief shattered. On a luxury yacht, I saw him standing there with our son and my best friend, the three of them together like a picture-perfect family. That was when I learned he was the heir to a mafia family. My best friend was his fiancée. And my son called her Mom. I thought that was the worst betrayal I'd ever know. I was wrong. My best friend faked my son's kidnapping, forced me to my knees in a warehouse, and sprayed chemicals on my right hand, trying to destroy the hand I used to design. I left, burning with hatred, and boarded a flight to Milan. When we crossed paths again, my ex-husband begged for forgiveness, drowning in regret. I turned and walked away. Some wounds cut too deep to ever heal. And I would never beg for anyone's love again.

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.

It took me three years to thaw the frozen heart of Theo, the Mafia's top surgeon, just to marry him. To be his wife, I shut down my documentary studio and locked my Best Director trophy from the independent film festival inside a drawer. I was willing to put away my camera and stay in the shadows as the woman behind the Family's chief surgeon. After he said having a kid in this business was a death sentence, I went to a clinic the very next day and got an IUD. Everyone in our circle was absolutely certain that we would be the perfect power couple. But today, on our fifth wedding anniversary, I decided to get a divorce. My lawyer was my best friend, Jade. She twirled her pen before stopping. "Are you out of your mind? You threw away the title of North America's best independent director for him back then, and now you are telling me you want a divorce?" I swallowed the bitter ache in my chest. "Just draft the divorce papers for me. As soon as possible." She frowned. "But why, Harper?" I looked at the black velvet gift box on the dining table. Inside lay a carefully preserved peony. After a long hesitation, I gave her my answer. "Because of a flower."

Five years into our secret marriage, Alex finally agreed to give me a wedding. But the day before the ceremony, I was the one who called it off. The Castellano Family butler asked me, stunned, "Ma'am, the ceremony is tomorrow. Are you sure you don't want to wait for Mr. Castellano to come home?" I picked up my packed suitcase. My voice came out light, almost relieved. "He isn't coming. Right now he's in a church in New York, saying his vows with his adopted sister."

My twin sister, Lea Conte, and I married two brothers from a powerful mafia family. When I'm seven months pregnant, I'm ambushed by a group of thugs. Desperate, I call my husband, Vincenzo Bellini, for help, but he hangs up on me five times. On the sixth try, he finally answers, but his voice is cold. "Ingrid's having a breakdown and trying to slit her wrists. Do you really have to pull a cheap stunt like this right now just to get my attention? Stop calling!" Ingrid Ferri is the Bellini family's adopted daughter and the childhood sweetheart of the Bellini brothers. I fight back with everything I have, but one of the thugs still drives a blade straight into my stomach. As I lie bleeding out, Lea bursts in and fights like hell to save me, only to end up gravely wounded herself. She calls her husband, Roberto Bellini, begging him to send doctors, but he just snaps back, "How long are you two sisters going to keep playing these games? Do you really need to steal medical care from Ingrid right now? Drop it!" Lea and I collapse side by side in a pool of blood with only one thought left in our minds—if we make it through this, we're leaving them.

It happened on the last shipment run I ever went on. My boyfriend and my best friend left me behind at the transfer station. I waited there for half an hour before they remembered they were one person short. Lawson called me, impatience all over his voice. "Why didn't you get in the truck?" "We're in a hurry for the celebration dinner tonight. We can't turn around." "Stop making a scene. Figure it out yourself." My mouth opened. No sound came out. Beth's voice carried through the line, clear and grating. "We're all adults here. Why does every little thing have to be handled for her?" "She has to grow up sometime." I listened to all of it and hung up without a word. The old me would have apologized on the spot, then done everything I could to catch up with them without causing a single problem. But this time, it all just felt pointless. I canceled every arrangement the family had made for me. I sent my mother a message: [I want to go to Northbay and take over the family business there.] They had always looked down on Northbay for being too small. But I had always wanted to go. I would never have to chase after them again. I would follow only myself.