Cerita Pendek Mafia Mafia & Novel Face Slapping

At the Colonetti family banquet in New York, I stood in the center of the grand hall with more than a dozen girls from different families, all of us waiting to be chosen. Victor, the heir of the Colonetti family, was supposed to announce his fiancée tonight. Along with that announcement, he would present her with the family heirloom, a lily brooch. As an illegitimate daughter of the family, I understood that if I didn’t receive that brooch tonight, it meant I would be sent to Chicago for an arranged marriage. Victor, who had once promised to marry me, changed his mind without warning. With a smile, he pinned the lily brooch onto the chest of the woman standing beside me instead. Then, he leaned close to my ear and whispered, “Let your sister Emily have her moment today. She’s also an illegitimate daughter like you, and she’s also never been valued growing up. Don’t worry. With me here, no one will force you into an arranged marriage.” Even as I looked at him with pleading eyes, he reached out and let Emily take his arm. “Emily is kind and gracious,” he said. “She deserves the lily brooch.” Those words—kind and gracious—turned me into the joke of the entire evening. The next day, I boarded a flight to Chicago alone, but Victor panicked. He used every connection he had and managed to ground every flight heading to Chicago.

After I moved into my new apartment, my neighbor, Bianca Ferraro, started showing up at my door every evening for a free meal. I lived alone and always cooked more than I needed. For the sake of keeping the peace, I did not mind sharing. That changed one workday at 3:00 am, when someone pounded on my door and yelled, "Open up! My boyfriend's waiting at the bar downstairs. Make me a cheese platter and open a bottle of red wine. I need to bring it down." I opened the door, still half-asleep, and stared at Bianca standing in the hallway. "You're serious?" She rolled her eyes. "Don't act like it's such a big deal. It won't even take you that long." My temples throbbed. "I'm not your personal chef. Why would I make you food at 3:00 am?" Instead of apologizing, she crossed her arms and scoffed. "No wonder you're still single. You can't even do someone a small favor. What guy would put up with someone like you? “My boyfriend's the most powerful mafia boss around here. One phone call from me and you won't be living on this street anymore." Well. She clearly had no idea that I was the Principessa of this city's most powerful mafia family. Never mind the apartment, the entire street belonged to me.

The day before we were scheduled to fly to Meridianna for our wedding, Harrison Tucker, my fiancé of five years, swapped my and my parents' first-class tickets for Mandy and her parents without saying a word. He said casually, "Mandy hasn't been to Meridianna and wanted to take her parents out for vacation, but there weren't that many seats left in first class on our flight... You guys take a ship over. I've already bought you the tickets." I looked toward my fiancé's family, and surprisingly, not a single person opposed Harrison's decision. It was then that I finally gave up all hope. After they boarded the plane and departed, I canceled the wedding venue, as well as the luxury hotel and high-end services I had booked. I want to see exactly how Harrison, a customs declaration clerk making only a few thousand dollars a month, was going to accompany his "dear friend's" family to go around Meridianna without my help.

For six years, I used countless offshore trusts and hidden laundering pipelines for Dominic. I turned him from an East Side underboss into the undisputed king of New York's underworld. Then came our wedding anniversary. He got attacked. He woke up remembering nothing about me. I searched frantically for the family doctor to find a cure. That same night, I walked in on him. He had his newly hooked-up art curator, Sienna, pinned against the floor-to-ceiling window, taking her from behind. She moaned breathlessly, begging for power. Dominic gripped her jaw, laughing in her face. "Relax. I put on this trauma amnesia act. I told them my brain got rattled and I only know you as my wife. It gives me an excuse to strip Camilla of her financial power and lend it to you for a few days. She won't even have a reason to throw a fit. Look at her. Didn't she fall for it today?" The next morning at the family round table, he put on his little show without blinking an eye. Right in front of the council, he slammed the table and swore he didn't know me. With his own hands, he ripped the black diamond signet ring of the matriarch off my finger and shoved it onto his new girl's hand. He ordered me out of the inner circle. A room full of armed outlaws waited to laugh at my breakdown. I didn't even twitch an eyebrow. I gave up all my authority on the spot, turned around, and walked downstairs. Dominic assumed I was blind to his game. He still thought I was the obedient tool on call, waiting for him to snap his fingers once his memory came back in a few days to coax me back home. He had no idea. The St. Petersburg godfather pushed a sixty-million-dollar high-purity diamond wash onto us. The drop deadline hits in three days. That lockbox and darknet routing recognize my voiceprint alone. Without me holding the line, those accounts are the death warrant for the entire Corvin family.

Our company was having a team building event in the Huka Islands, where every employee would get their own room. As I prepared to check in, my colleague from the same department, Yvonne Caruso, suddenly snatched my ID from my hand. "The rooms are full. The rest of you should find another hotel." I did not say anything much but took my ID back to hand it to the employee working behind the front desk. "One room, please. Thank you." However, Yvonne pushed me away viciously and berated me, "I told you to get lost. Are you deaf?!" I was not prepared for it, and I hit the corner of the front desk hard. I felt a sharp pain in my waist and immediately lost my temper. Yvonne was infuriated when I pushed her back, and she roared at me, "How dare you push me! My dad is the real boss behind this company. He's the Don of the Carusos. Cross me and you won't even see it coming when you die!" I was taken aback and broke out with laughter a second later. The Don of the Carusos, Ian Caruso, was my father. Why did I have no idea that he had another daughter apart from me?

I've always been lucky. I grew up in foster care, but every family I was placed with was either rich or powerful. Later, two of the wealthiest families around even took me in, both convinced I was their biological daughter. The first was the Kennedy family, an old aristocratic house. Their fake daughter, Sophia Kennedy, was an expert at framing people. Whenever she accused me of something, I'd happily take the blame, but my new parents never believed I'd done it. In the end, I got all the designer goods and even a share of the family profits. The second was the Percival family, a financial dynasty. Their fake daughter, Scarlett Percival, was a master at playing the victim. She played the victim, and I gave it right back. Somehow, every new piece of evidence ended up proving me right. My new parents felt so guilty that they gave me a trust fund and property after property. Two families claimed me as their long-lost daughter, and both times, I walked away unscathed. The two fake heiresses, however, ended up disgraced and ruined. The third time, a DNA test finally revealed the truth: I was the long-lost daughter of Don Bertoni. On my first night at the estate, Jennifer Bertoni—the girl who'd been living in my place for eighteen years—clutched her chest and collapsed at my feet, her face deathly pale. "Sis, I was born with an irregular heartbeat. I could drop dead at any moment." "I've been living your life, and that's on me. If you blame me for it, I'll go and die right now." My birth mother wrapped her arms protectively around Jennifer and glared at me. My brother, Adrian Bertoni, slammed his fist down on the coffee table, his eyes cold and vicious. "Jennifer's been sick her whole life. Can't you cut her some slack?" Even Bryce Sedgwick, the arms dealer I was engaged to, turned cold. "Upset Jennifer again, and the Bertonis can forget about this month's weapons deal. Consider it canceled." I crouched beside her and gently wiped the tears from her cheeks. "Don't be sill

The night Victor Ferrante, heir to the Ferrante family, brought the management agreement to our house, he didn't speak to my father first. Instead, he smiled at me, over in the corner. "Don Romano, how nice of you to let your idiot daughter stay and witness this." I was the youngest daughter of the Romano family, and the most famous good-for-nothing in the mafia world. I'd been slow ever since I was a kid. You had to call my name three times before I'd look up. My brother, Adrian Romano, took over the casino at 18. My sister, Valeria Romano, was running our family's foundation by 20. I couldn't even remember what the different-colored poker chips were worth. My father tried every doctor and priest he could find. After more than a decade, the whole family finally accepted that I would never get better. But it wasn't that I couldn't speak. I didn't want to. In my last life, I reviewed contracts for crime families. Trusts, inheritance, management agreements. I'd seen plenty of takeovers dressed up to look respectable. In this life, I just wanted to stay quiet. Until tonight. Our seat on the Committee had been frozen, our casino license suspended. All our banks had pulled their support at once. My brother couldn't find a way out, and Lorenzo Bassi, the advisor we'd trusted for ten years, had already been bought off. He urged my father to sign, playing the loyal advisor. "Don, sign it. At least the Romano family will still have a seat on the Committee tomorrow." My father picked up the pen with a shaking hand. I couldn't stand listening anymore. I was done pretending. As my family stared in shock, I walked over and turned to page three. "The main agreement says this is temporary. But the attachment gives the Ferrante family a way to take our seat for good. Sign this, and we'll never get it back." I looked at Lorenzo. "How much did the Ferrante family pay you to put a takeover agreement in front of my father?"

Fifteen years ago, Vincenzo Marchetti pushed me down a stairwell at Saint Catherine's Academy and shattered my skull. I spent four months in the hospital with a fractured head, broken ribs, and bleeding in my brain. The doctors said I would have chronic migraines for the rest of my life and that the scar would never fade.  Vincenzo Marchetti never faced a single consequence because his family owned the school, the hospital, and the police. Two years ago, his mother approached my father at a community event and said her son wanted to meet me. I should have run. But in our world, refusing a Marchetti wasn't really an option for a family like mine. When Vincenzo sat across from me at that first dinner, I watched his face carefully for any sign of recognition. But there was nothing—just polite interest and charm. Maybe he had forgotten or maybe I had been so insignificant that breaking my body was just another Tuesday for him. So I said yes when he proposed. I smiled at our wedding and I played the role of the perfect mafia wife. For one year, I lived in his penthouse cage. He cooked me breakfast, remembered my coffee order, and whispered that he loved me every night before I slept. Then I found the note on his phone, created ten days before we ever met. Six words that destroyed everything. Isabella Russo, the game has begun. Our entire marriage was a revenge and I was the pawn he married to humiliate his rival family.  But Vincenzo Marchetti made one critical mistake —he thought I would stay broken. I planted bugs in his office, stole his financial records and made an alliance with his most dangerous enemy—the boy I tried to save all those years ago, who's now a Don with his own empire. In the mafia, they say you don't forgive and you don't forget. Vincenzo taught me that lesson when he shattered my skull. Now I'm about to teach him what happens when the broken girl learns to fight back.

I spent eight years raising Dante's children. Three of them, and every single one belonged to him and his arranged wife Bianca. Not one was mine. I fought against it. I really did. But the Costello family needed heirs, and my background was too ordinary. The family would never accept me. Dante always had something to say about it. "Nora, once Bianca has the baby, I'll take you to the States. You can go to art school, open your own gallery. It's what your mother always wanted, isn't it?" Then Bianca had a son, and suddenly the family needed a daughter too, someone they could marry off to another faction. When the daughter came, the elders stepped in and said the mob was a bloody business and you needed enough children to guarantee the line would continue. Eight years. I went from Dante's lover to something worse than a servant. Then I got pregnant. I was so happy I could barely breathe when I told him. I thought this baby would finally be our way out. But there was no smile on his face. Just a look that was pained and apologetic, like he already knew what he was going to say. "Nora, you don't have a place in this family. Neither does your child. He'd disrupt the line of succession. We can't let him be born." I pressed my hand to my stomach, just barely starting to show. Hot tears hit the floor. Fine. If we couldn't leave together, I would leave alone.

Five years into my marriage, my private investigator sent me photos while I was at a foundation gala. Adrian was supposed to be in Paris closing an acquisition. But the photos showed his private jet parked in Aspen. He was walking down the stairs with his arm around a young dancer everyone had been talking about. I looked through them all and forwarded them to my lawyer without making a fuss. [He's broken Clause Seven again.] Adrian had added that clause himself before the wedding, back when we were still in love. For each act of infidelity during our marriage, I could choose one of his personal assets. The first time, I took the penthouse in Tribeca. After that came a winery in Napa, a private island in the Caribbean, and his thoroughbred farm in Kentucky, among other things. It stopped being interesting. He had enough assets to cheat his way through the rest of his life. He sat across from me and asked, without a care in the world, what I wanted this time. I took my time before answering, "Adrian, I want a baby. "Yours."

My husband, Matteo Bellini, runs New York's underworld. Everyone said I hit the jackpot when he married me. On our wedding night, right after we made love, he brought in Aria. She was a custom-made AI maid worth millions. Matteo said she had the most advanced lie-detector system in the world. One lie, and I would pay. He kissed me. "My mother betrayed my father. He told me women are all liars. I want to believe you're different, but you have to prove it." From that day on, Aria became my living nightmare. Every time she said I was lying, I got punished. Even when I told the absolute truth. It was always hard slaps and the cold water cell. I cried and begged him. I swore I would never betray him. Matteo just looked at me with cold eyes. He said his expensive AI never made mistakes. To him, I was just a liar. Then came the family yacht party in international waters. For once, Matteo brought me and Aria along. I've had severe phobia of water since I was a kid. I stared into the pitch-black ocean. I clutched my aching chest and shook my head in pure terror. Aria pulled up her cold data screen. "The madam is in perfect health. She is only throwing a tantrum." Matteo's face went cold. He grabbed my arm and dragged me to the edge. "Still lying! You're jumping today!" The moment I hit the water, my heart felt like it exploded. The pain tore through me. I couldn't breathe. My vision faded to black, but his voice cut through the wind: "This will teach you the price of lying to me!" Tears of blood rolled down my face. Matteo, I'm dead now. I'll never make you mad again.

I've always been frail by nature. Taking two consecutive steps can make me gasp for air. If I cough, there's a chance there's blood accompanying it. When I'm seven years old, a homeless man in Bronzeton tries to snatch a half-eaten piece of bread from me. I lie on the ground as I convulse like a dying fish with foam gathering at my mouth. My eyes have rolled to the back of my head as well, as though my seizure is acting up. Thinking that I've gotten infected with some sort of disease, the homeless man is so frightened that he flees from Novarra overnight. When I'm ten years old, a delinquent tries to demand protection money from me. I react by spitting dark blood at his face. The poor guy screams at the top of his lungs as he runs down the street, only to get mistaken as a murderer by a police officer who happens to pass by the area. Since then, everyone avoids me like plague on the street. They aren't scared of me—they are terrified that they might get into trouble because of me. No one knows who my parents are. I've grown up in a rundown motel, and my adoptive mother is a stripper who used to be famous. Whenever she gets drunk, she often tells me, "Your father is a mafia Don." I've always thought that she's just running her mouth purely out of drunkenness. That is, until a black limo stops in front of me on the year I turn 18 years old. Three men clad in black suits get out of the limo. The leader sinks down on one knee right in front of me, his voice quivering as he speaks. "We finally found you, Ms. Salvatore. Your father is Vittorio Salvatore, the Don of one of the biggest mafia families in Novarra." At first, I think this is just a scamming scheme. That is, until I'm taken to the estate located on Lacreth Isle that's six acres wide and sports iron gates with the Salvatore insignia carved into them. On my first day home, the fake heiress, Serena Salvatore, purposefully releases the fearsome family dog in the estate just to intimidate me. That dog keeps barking at me, frightening me to the point that I spit out blood on the spot before collapsing to the ground. My mother, Rosalina Vitelli, almost loses her mind over my collapse. But my older brother, Marco Salvatore, shouts at me angrily instead. "Why are you playing dead? You made Serena cry because of your antics!" His voice is so loud that I feel as though my eardrums are going to burst anytime soon. Even my heart feels as though an invisible hand is gripping it tightly. My eyes roll to the back of my head instantly as my body crashes on the spot. Mamma flies into a rampage and almost beats Marco to death for scaring me. Having witnessed everything, Serena kicks up a fuss by attempting to commit suicide at the estate's clock tower just so she can apologize to me. In order to prove his love to Serena, my fiance, Luca Moretti, drags me forcibly to the top of the clock tower so that Serena can do whatever she wants to me. The thing is, the winds are strong on the top of the clock tower. That's when I accidentally slip and topple over the railing. My parents, who are looking everywhere for me, happen to be around the clock tower when I crash onto the spot near them. This time, my bruised and broken body is completely drenched in blood. Shell-shocked, they remain rooted to the spot as they stare at me in bewilderment. Then, they let out blood-curdling screams.

Drugged by my fiancé and my best friend. Dragged into the penthouse of New York’s most ruthless Mafia Don. But instead of panicking, my tight nerves finally let go. I'm finally home. My fiancé thought the drugs fried my brain. He grabbed my jaw roughly. "Listen up, bitch. Our gang's port smuggling route depends entirely on tonight!" "Word is Cassian's been looking for a woman with a specific butterfly birthmark. The one on your collarbone should fool him." "Serve him like the slut you are. Make him happy. Once the deal is done, I'll even toss you a few stacks of cash." My best friend stroked her red lips and giggled. "Yeah! Getting into the Don's bed is a blessing. Don't act like a prude. Once we get the smuggling route, you'll be our hero. Maybe I'll even let you serve drinks at our wedding." The drugs boiled in my blood. They shoved me roughly through the heavy doors. No one noticed the mocking smirk on my face as I leaned against the sofa. I knew exactly whose territory this was. The unpredictable, violent Mafia tyrant they were talking about? The one who treated women like toys? He's my blood brother. Today, out of pure greed, they hand-delivered me straight into his territory. Tomorrow, they’ll learn that staying alive can be far worse than going to hell.

To prove she was fair, Valerie forced me into the family's live-fire drill. She knew I had a severe heart condition. She knew I couldn't stand the sight of blood. Three hours under the blistering sun. My hands shook wildly. I stared at the trembling rabbit tied to the target, terrified to pull the trigger. "You can't even kill a freaking rabbit? How are you supposed to lead this family?" Valerie's icy voice lashed at me from behind. Tears filled my eyes. I finally pulled the trigger. The bullet tore through the rabbit. Blood spattered everywhere. The smell and all that red triggered my blood phobia instantly. Everything went pitch black. Chloe, the intern medic, walked over and grabbed me roughly. Her eyes were full of pure malice. "Underboss, her vitals are totally fine. Is she faking it just to escape training?" Valerie looked down at my pale face. Disgust and disappointment covered her face. "Gemma, is this how I raised you? Everyone else finished. You don't get special treatment." "You finish this drill today—even if it kills you!" Then, my chest stopped moving. Dead silence. My soul floated into the air. I looked down at Mom, filled with guilt and despair. I'm sorry, Mom. This time, I really couldn't hold on.

Since I was a kid, my parents drilled it in—you're gonna be a Corleone girl, Giovanni Corleone's property. "This is just an alliance. Don't expect anything more." That's what he said on our wedding night. So I played the part—quiet, polished, dutiful. Then year three hit, and suddenly Giovanni couldn't keep his hands off me. Every night, something new. I thought maybe—finally—he felt the same way I had all along. Then I caught him kissing his stepmom. Funny. Just the night before, he told me kissing me made him sick. "I've been practicing with her—for your sake." So yeah. All that heat? Just rehearsal for her. So I ran. Took back my life—and our unborn daughter. The Don lost his mind looking for me. Begged me to come back—with the kid. But I would not stop for him anymore. I turned and walked straight toward the stage that was always mine.

On Christmas Eve, Adrian Moretti left my father and me on an icy lakeside road because Lucia Vale called and said she was sick. The defibrillator that could have saved my father was in his armored SUV, driven away by the man my father had trusted for seven years. I called Adrian until my fingers went numb. When he finally answered, Lucia was crying on the other end, and his voice held only impatience. “Elena, stop making this dramatic. Wait for the escort car. Lucia needs me right now.” By the time the Moretti men arrived, my father was already gone. An hour later, Lucia posted a photo from the Moretti estate. She stood beneath the Christmas tree in Adrian’s coat, pale and fragile, with his hand resting on her shoulder. The caption read: Christmas feels like home when he is here. I looked at that photo for a long time. Then I liked it and left a comment. Merry Christmas. I wish you both a lifetime together.

Ever since I was brought back to the Colonna Famiglia, my adopted younger sister, Ilaria Colonna, has kept trying to push me into the arms of Luca Balzano, Don of the Balzano Famiglia. 99 times, to be exact. Every single time, she chokes out the same words to him. "The true Principessa of the Colonna Famiglia is the one you're supposed to marry. I'm nothing but an adopted daughter." She dumps every piece of jewelry Luca gives her into my room and keeps arranging opportunities for the two of us to be alone. She even drugs us both and locks us in a room together. Yet every single time, Luca pushes me away, choosing to spend the entire night soaking in ice-cold water rather than lay a finger on me. The satisfaction of triumphing over me, along with Luca's obvious preference for her, feeds Ilaria's ego until she grows bolder and more reckless. Then comes the 100th time. At a high-society gala, Ilaria has Luca publicly announce their upcoming marriage. But as prominent guests offer their congratulations, she pushes me toward Luca once again and repeats the same speech about how she's only the adopted daughter. "Luca, I'm not worthy of you. Rosalia is the woman you should marry." That very night, she boards a flight and flees to Vestrand, certain that everything will play out exactly as it has the previous 99 times. But this time, when Luca takes in the gathered elites and the rival families waiting to watch him make a fool of himself, he looks down at me in his arms. "Rosalia, will you be my wife?"

My fiancé, Enzo Marchetti, had never gotten over his first love: Irene Salvi, the Marchetti family's personal psychic. On the day of our engagement, she doused me in black goat's blood and declared that she'd seen a sign of death surrounding me. "The spirits have spoken. You're cursed. If this marriage goes through, it will destroy our family." Every family member drew a gun and backed away. Even Enzo took two steps back. His aunt shrieked, "No wonder the Corsi family was so eager to marry you into our family. You're cursed. You planned to use this marriage to destroy us, didn't you?" I forced myself to stay calm, but my nails dug into my palms. "And whose fault is it that we only got engaged today? You people know damn well why." When I was 20, our families arranged our marriage. But Irene warned that getting engaged would attract the attention of the anti-mafia police, and Enzo ripped up the invitations that very night. When I was 24, Irene laid out a tarot spread and claimed I'd bring bad luck to the family business. Enzo believed her and kept me out of the inner circle for three years. And today, in front of all of southern Sicily, she'd announced that I was cursed. I wiped the goat's blood off my face and turned to Enzo. "Are you really going to let her keep pulling this crap?" Enzo was wiping the blood from the back of Irene's hand. He didn't even look up. "Irene's grandfather served my family long before her. Her readings keep our family out of danger." I pulled off the ring that marked me as the family's future Donna and turned away with a bitter laugh. "If you're going to let some psychic decide your family's fate, then forget about marrying me!"

Kevin, the elite bodyguard I'd spent ten years training, chose my adopted sister, Eva, over me when it came down to life and death. So I went straight to an underground fight club and picked out the craziest, most ruthless bastard I could find. A month later, Kevin got word and came rushing back, dragging his battered body past the guards at my door, fighting within an inch of his life. He knelt on the floor, eyes bloodshot, clutching the hem of my dress. "Principessa, what does that scarred stray have that I don't?"

I gave up on my inheritance right during the time my love for Matteo Rossini ran the deepest. When I was about to leave, Papa looked at me before saying lightly, "I bet that you'll come home in three years." Back then, I didn't take his words to heart. After spending three years overcoming life's hurdles with Matteo, he finally becomes the Don of his family. On the day the inheritance party is to be held, I decide to wear a dress that I've treasured for a very long time but never had the heart to wear. But the moment I walk into the banquet hall, I see Matteo holding hands with a radiant young woman. She's Isabella Ginevra, a popular socialite in the elite society. Isabella flits among the guests charismatically, as though she were the lady of the house. She's capable of engaging in any conversational topic, be it finance strategies or channels to obtain firearms. I try to participate in a conversation, only for Isabella to cut me off with a titter. "I thought you've been spending the past few years being cooped up indoors. It turns out that you know a thing or two about these topics, huh?" Everyone around us falls silent for a brief moment. My expression freezes on my face. Then, I turn to look at Matteo subconsciously. But he doesn't even bother looking my way. Instead, he merely says softly, "We're talking business here, Bianca. You should sit with the other ladies." I clench my fists instantly. But in the end, I opt to not say anything and just walk away. Through the throngs of the guests, I can see Matteo and Isabella chatting animatedly with each other in low tones. For once, Matteo looks relaxed and at ease—an expression that I haven't seen for a long time. Suddenly, I hear a guest remarking, "If someone like Ms. Ginevra were to become the Donna, she'd be of great help to the Don." A chorus of agreements ring out around him. Matteo just smiles in return, though he doesn't deny that remark. In fact, he even toasts to Isabella and drinks to her in front of everyone. That's when I draw to my feet and walk over to snatch the glass out of his hand. "I think so too. In that case, she can have the position as the Donna, then."