Feel-Good Story Mafia Short Stories & Novels

After Lucas's first love Mara returned from abroad, he became obsessed with rolling a die and set a rule: odd numbers meant he'd stay with me, even numbers meant he'd go to her. But over three long years, every single roll came up the same: a glaring six. The day I had a miscarriage and nearly bled to death, he tossed out the words "Six is even, I should go be with Mara" and left without looking back. Eventually he moved out altogether and stopped caring whether I lived or died. It wasn't until Mara latched onto a billionaire and publicly cut ties with him that Lucas came crawling home, broken and lost. He burned everything that belonged to Mara, tried every trick in the book to win me over, and got on his knees begging for my forgiveness. On New Year's Eve, eyes red and brimming with tears, he pulled me into his arms. "Brenna, let's start over. From now on, my life is yours." I pushed him away, pulled out that brass die, and hurled it at his feet. It landed on six. I listened to the sound of Elliot honking outside and smiled. "Lucas, I've got a rule of my own." "Odd numbers, I stay with you. Even numbers, I go with Elliot. "See? Even God isn't on your side. Don't make a scene."

As the Donna of the Moretti Family, I paid out of my own pocket to build a high-security school for the children of our fallen members. But the widows repaid me by dragging my name through the media. Worse, they leaked the locations of three safe houses, dealing the Family a devastating blow. They claimed the school was never a benefit at all, but a “hostage camp” where I kept their children to force them to remain loyal to the Family. While Don Lorenzo Moretti was away, they even filed an impeachment motion with the Family Council, demanding that I shut down the school and hand its operating funds directly to them. Fine. I signed the closure order that very day. But the moment the notice went out, the widows swarmed the estate gates, crying and begging me to reopen the school. Only then did they understand— What waited for their children beyond the school gates was never freedom. It was a rival Family’s hit list.

Right before the syndicate's power handover, I flew back to New York after a year of studying jewelry design in Europe. But the night before the ceremony, my secret boyfriend of three years—the Rossi family's new second-in-command—sent me a text: [Sorry, Chloe. I lost a card game, and you were my chip. You're his problem now.] Before I could even breathe, I got tagged in the family's encrypted dark-web channel. The top thread was blowing up: [The Mafia Boss Just Won a Fat Pig for a Girlfriend!] Pinned right at the top was an old photo of me from a few years ago. Back when I was 180 pounds. The comment section was ruthless: [If the Boss knew what he actually won, he'd regret making that bet.] [I bet a thousand bucks she stays hidden at home. Who's in?] They were all dead sure I wouldn't show up. After all, everyone knew me as the ugly fat girl. The old me would have locked myself in my room and cried, letting my boyfriend walk all over me. But after a year away, he had no idea what kind of surprise I had for him. I had dropped from 180 pounds to a flawless, curve-hugging 105. Model scouts even stopped me on the street to ask if I wanted to walk in Fashion Week. So I checked the betting board, dropped fifty grand on myself showing up on time, and sent my reply: [Fine. I'll play your little game.]

My world fell apart over an encrypted link from the dark web. My husband, Don Marcello, was there on our marriage bed, pounding into another woman. All the top bosses in North America were watching. He held her in his arms, laughing about me. His fragile, naive little trophy wife who could never leave him. Even the live chat was a stream of insults. Calling me the useless wife who couldn't even get her husband into bed. But the worst part? The way he acted when I found out. He grabbed my chin. Told me the whole disgusting betrayal was just "an act to keep our allies happy." He even let his mistress brag about it to every socialite in the city. My humiliation became their afternoon entertainment. And me—the good wife who washed the blood from his shirts, the woman he decided was too weak to survive without him—I had to smile at family dinners. He didn't know. When he crushed my loyalty like trash under his heel, I had already started making my move. He thought this was his game to win. His hostile takeover. But when the hammer clicks back, Marcello will understand. His "sweet little wife who only knows how to paint" is the one holding the blade to the entire North American underworld.

The year my daughter was born, I buried my identity as the queen of the Italian Mafia, stepped into the legitimate business world, and gave Emily the safe, ordinary childhood I had never been able to have. Along the way, I took in four boys who had nowhere else to go. I raised Jack, Alex, Daniel, and Ryan as my own sons. I gave them my home, my name, my connections, and eventually enough authority to become the four most powerful men inside Carter Group. Senior executives praised them constantly, calling them the future of the company. Even I thought their growing confidence was a good thing. After all, I had planned to give them far more than Carter Group someday. Then my daughter called me from a locked school bathroom. The four sons I had raised were standing outside, defending another girl while Emily cried for help. They told me Emily was spoiled. That she had grown too used to getting everything simply because she was my daughter. That sometimes, she needed to learn that not everything bearing the Carter name automatically belonged to her. At first, I thought they were only trying to teach their sister a lesson. Then I realized they had started making those decisions everywhere. Who deserved the house. Who deserved the opportunities. Who controlled the company. Even the security guards wearing my family name told me they took orders from my sons now. That was when I understood. They thought they had finally outgrown the woman who raised them. I smiled. Because Carter Group was only the life I had built after I gave up my real throne.

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.

Five years ago, I finally had my father’s killer at gunpoint—only for my husband, Don Salvatore Rizzo, to pull the killer’s daughter into his arms. "Julia, don't kill her. She had nothing to do with our fathers' feud." My grip tightened on the gun. "Do you know my parents were tied to stones and dumped into the sea because of one lie she told?" Salvatore sighed and pressed down on my wrist. "Darling, calm down. Caterina is just an innocent girl. She was forced into it." To keep me from killing Caterina, he insisted on bringing her into the Rizzo Family. From then on, there was nothing left between us but hatred. Whenever I held a knife to Caterina's throat, Salvatore aimed a gun at my back. When I tore up the gown Caterina's mother had left her, Salvatore made me stand outside all night in the freezing cold. Until today, when Caterina appeared behind Salvatore with a pregnancy report from the Family doctor in her hand. Salvatore shielded her with his body. "She's pregnant. I can't stand by and let you hurt her." Caterina said timidly, "Julia, please. For the sake of the Rizzo heir I'm carrying, put down the gun." I was the biggest joke in the world. I took half a step back and drew the gun at my waist. "Let's play a game. There's only one bullet in this gun." "If I die, no one will stand in the way of your happy little family." "If I survive, let me go."

My father, Wyatt Rossini, believed Rhett Raines had the best chance of becoming the next Don of the Raines Family. So he arranged our engagement. For three years, I helped Rhett manage his businesses and the Family. I spent countless hours networking with every major Family in the region and building connections on his behalf. I stayed by his side through enemy ambushes and hails of bullets. Surviving one close call after another made me believe we were deeply in love. He used to hold me tenderly in his arms. Whenever he looked at me, his gaze was warm and full of adoration. "Vera, I'll make you my Donna. We'll spend the rest of our lives happily together." Then, while protecting Rhett, I unknowingly drank poison and ended up in a hospital bed, fighting for my life. By then, Rhett had long since secured his position as Don, but he ended up marrying my best friend, Lina Moretti. In the video, Rhett cupped Lina's face and kissed her with such tenderness, as if she were a priceless treasure. My father stood nearby, wiping tears of joy from his eyes. The pain in my chest felt like a knife twisting through me. "Vera, do you see now? These people were never worth your love." A deep, husky voice came through the video call. I wiped my tears and took a deep breath before answering. "I accept your proposal. We'll have the wedding next week."

The night before Edward was officially crowned Don, we gathered together to drink and celebrate. Someone suggested playing a game of “Never Have I Ever.” That was when Bella, Edward’s female adviser, suddenly filled a glass to the brim and pushed it toward me. With a mocking smile, she said, “I didn’t risk everything to help a man become Don, only to end up as a mistress.” The entire room fell silent. Edward grabbed my hand and broke one of my fingers himself. “Losers have to pay up. Drink.” Then he looked at me calmly. “Actually, the marriage certificate I gave you was fake.” “I’ve been married to Bella for three years. She’s pregnant now, and I want to give her the title of Donna.” “You’ve done so much for the Family. I’ll make sure you still have a place here. Don’t make a big deal out of this.” His men immediately followed his lead. “Monica, everyone in the Family knows that Don Edward and Bella are together. We just kept it from you because we didn’t want to hurt you.” “Every major capo in the Family attended their wedding.” My hand trembled uncontrollably. For seven years, I had bled and fought beside Edward, risking my life to help him rise to the top. And what did I get in return? A fake marriage certificate. Everything else I had built had only become the perfect foundation for the love story between him and Bella. In everyone’s eyes, I was nothing but a joke. I went into the bathroom, wiped away my tears, and made a call to Edward’s rival Family. “I agree to the deal.” A cold voice answered from the other end. “What do you want?” I stared at my reflection in the mirror and spoke quietly. “Within one week, I want the Edward Family gone.”

On our seventh anniversary, Don Leonardo Luciano gave me an eight-carat pigeon's-blood ruby ring. He told me it was a family heirloom, passed from one Donna to the next. "Camilla, I can't give you a wedding yet, but in my heart, you're already my wife." My eyes filled with tears as I slipped it onto my finger. Then I asked my best friend, Nora Bennett, to examine it after her shift at the auction house. She held it under a lamp and slowly turned the stone. A ring of crimson light appeared inside it. "This isn't a natural ruby." "How is that possible? Leonardo gave it to me. It's a family heirloom." Nora frowned. "Really? I heard every piece of Luciano family jewelry bears a gold lion crest. Does yours have one?" I took off the ring and checked. Nothing. Just then, a new story from Victoria Moretti popped up on my feed. She was the daughter of another powerful mafia family. The photo showed her aboard Leonardo's private yacht. And on her finger was a ring identical to mine. A man stood beside her, his face hidden from view. But I recognized the watch on his wrist. I'd given it to Leonardo. Then I saw the caption. "After all this time, you finally put the family ring on my finger."