Mga Maiikling Kuwento at Nobelang Tragic Love Mafia

Gianna Rossi struggled in the slums for over a decade before she accidentally discovered she was the biological daughter of the don of the Ricci famiglia, also known as the Gray Wolf famiglia, Domenico Ricci. She tried to reunite with her family, only to be ruthlessly driven away by the Soldati outside the estate. They left her battered and bruised. Her lover, Matteo Santoro, wiped the blood from her wounds and swore he would infiltrate the famiglia himself to seek revenge against the Ricci family's fake Principessa on her behalf. Once he successfully seized power and took control of the Riccis' arms operation, he would restore Gianna to her rightful place as the cherished daughter of the Ricci family. She believed in his sacrifice and endurance. She hid in the shadows as his secret lover, convinced that his public displays with the fake Principessa were nothing but an act. Yet one night, Matteo got engaged to the fake Principessa. Gianna stood in the corner wearing a server's uniform, watching their happiness unfold. She was a fool who had been played for.

My memory only lasts 24 hours. Every morning, I have to rewatch the encrypted video I made for myself on my phone. In my own voice, I tell myself, "Your name is Vera Bellini. You're deeply in love with a man called Luca Valentini." This is the 365th time I've fallen in love with him all over again on an unfamiliar morning. That night, the Valentini family is hosting its annual gala when my phone is stolen from me. Moments later, it's connected to the large projector screen and playing a video. "Luca, you're so cool when you clean your gun. I'm scared I'm going to wake up and forget it again, so I'm taking this video for myself." In the video, I'm smiling at the camera, completely unguarded. Laughter erupts in the hall. "Quick, look at Luca's little tail. She's embarrassing herself again." One year ago, I took the bullet meant for Luca Valentini that would've killed him. Because of that, I received a head injury that caused me to forget everything about him. Feeling immensely guilty over this, Luca promised that he would marry me as soon as possible. Now, however, he takes a step back. As the guests murmur and gossip among themselves, he walks toward the stage and presses the "delete" button with a blank expression. Then, he throws the phone on the ground, smashing it to pieces. "I've been plagued by guilt over this matter for a year now, and I've also agreed to marry you already. What else do you want?" The deep attachment I've clung to for so long vanishes in an instant. Before the screen goes dark, I clearly hear Luca saying in the video, "Vera, I'll love you forever and ever. Remember that." From where I stand, frozen to the spot, I suddenly laugh. Without that phone and the videos it contains, I will forget everything to do with Luca, and he won't have to feel guilty over me either. In that case, he's going to get his wish very soon.

On our third Valentine's Day since marrying the Don Arthur, he set the three places at the dining table. With the same hands he used to wield a gun, he carefully peeled shrimp. Shrimp was Lora's favorite, the first love he'd never gotten over. I was allergic to shellfish. He dismissed every hurt he'd caused me and sided with Lora every time. He was certain I loved him so deeply that I would swallow every insult and step aside forever. Everything changed when I discovered Lora's role in my father's murder and learned how completely Arthur's blind trust in her had buried the truth. That was when I finally saw him clearly. I was done with Arthur and the love he claimed to have for me.

Raffaele Moretti, the Mafia Don, once made me a promise. If I proposed to him fifty-one times on livestream for the whole world to see, he would show up for the fifty-second and finally make our relationship public. But when the night of my fifty-second proposal came, Raffaele was in the Maldives with his childhood sweetheart, Gianna. He bought her an entire yacht just to put a smile back on her face. I became the laughingstock of the internet. Later, he sent me an apologetic message. “Gianna was upset. I only went with her because she needed a change of scenery. That's why I missed it. Don't read too much into this.” “I'll say yes when you propose for the fifty-third time. Then you'll be my Donna.” Sure enough, he arrived at my fifty-third livestream in a perfectly tailored suit. And as he watched, I set fire to all fifty-two letters I had written asking him to marry me. Hidden among them was my liver cancer diagnosis. "There won't be a fifty-third chance, Raffaele." Because in a matter of days, I would be dead.

His gun-roughened hands burned against my waist, every breath laced with the cold, unyielding possession that had made him the most feared Cosa Nostra Don in all of Sicily. A shrill ring sliced through the haze. He answered in guttural Sicilian. It was the dialect I’d learned years ago to fit into his world, so I caught every word. His consigliere was screaming down the line at him for filing a valid, legally binding marriage license with Sofia Lombardi, the woman who’d abandoned him when a bomb left him mute for seven years. Luca’s order was cold as a trigger pull. “Secure the original license in the family vault. Draw up a forged, null-and-void marriage license for Isa to keep her compliant.” In the eyes of the law, of his entire crew, I was nothing but his mistress. After seven years of laying down my life for him, I’d been reduced to nothing but his mistress. Another call flashed. Luca turned to me, the lie already shaping his mouth. “Family matters. The guards will see you home.” Without a word, I stepped out into the Palermo night, my hands shaking as I dialed his mother, Anna Vitali. “I’ll take your fifty million euros. I’ll leave Luca. For good.” Anna once said Luca and I were worlds apart. I had to admit she was right. This time, I want to leave with dignity.

I'm going to die. In the eyes of the underworld, I was a sinner. My death would be a final, cursed dishonor. But even with the Ricci family in ruins, I was still the noble Principessa. The Ricci pride in my blood would not allow my body to fall into the hands of a rival Family. Humiliation. Desecration. Photographs flaunted for all to see. I didn't much care if my body became a trophy to celebrate their victory. But if the world knew the last of the Ricci bloodline had become a plaything for our enemies, it would be a disgrace to the entire Family. After weighing my options, I dragged my broken body to the turf of my ex-boyfriend, the man I'd left seven years ago, now the Don of the Falcone family. "After I die, I need you to handle my body." He was silent for a long moment, then let out a cold laugh. "Of course. I'll sink you in the Hudson River with a tombstone tied to your feet, engraved with the name of your filthy family."

Ten days after giving birth, I told my husband, Ethan Reed, that something was wrong with me. He turned his phone face-down on the coffee table and looked at me for a full three seconds. "Sophia, you just had a baby. It's normal to feel tired." Then he flipped the phone back over and went on texting his office nurse, Serena Blake. That was the last time I brought it up. Everything that happened after that, I assumed was my own fault. That changed when I reached into his coat pocket and felt a collar I'd never seen before. Real leather, brand new, with a round metal tag hanging from it. It wasn't my size.

In the tenth year of being held captive by Kevin Hemsworth, he lost his memory in a car accident. When he woke up and saw my bloated figure, he frowned in disgust. "Who are you?" Recalling his past threats, I was terrified this was just another test. So I told him the truth that I had been by his side all these years. He laughed sarcastically. "Don't joke around. You're not my type." Laura Powell, my friend who had secretly loved him for ten years, pointed at me and cursed, "Just because you look a little like me, you barged into Kevin's life and became his maid. Fine. But how dare you pretend to be his lover?" As punishment for lying, Laura had me dragged away from Kevin. She broke my hands and slashed my face. Lying on the ground and barely alive, I smiled at Kevin. For the past ten years, he never allowed me to escape, but he wouldn't let me die either. Now, I leaped off a cliff under his cold gaze. He wouldn't have my body even after I died.

The entire New York mafia world knows that Don Alessandro of the Rossi family takes a brutal punishment from the Council every year just to marry me. Because the Rossi family has a strict rule: all marriages must be approved by the Council. Yet, for three years in a row, Alessandro submitted our marriage application, and every time, it was rejected! The first year, he was locked in solitary confinement for three days and nights. The second year, his back was whipped raw. The third year, he even knelt in a torrential downpour to beg for their mercy. I always thought it was my fault, that I just wasn’t good enough to meet the Council's standards. It wasn't until the fourth year that I found out all those rejection letters from the Council were forged by Alessandro himself. And the reason was Mia—his secretary who had been secretly obsessed with him for years. "Mia has been by my side for eight years. She took a bullet for me. She held me and cried, saying the day I get married would be the darkest day of her life." "I love Jane, but I just can't bear to hurt Mia." "It just means marrying Jane a little later. She loves me so much, she won't mind." But he was wrong. Even though my heart was breaking, I didn't want this kind of love anymore. I called my father: "Dad, I'm ready to come back to Italy and marry the Don of the Caruso family."

“I need your help to fake a private jet crash,” I said quietly. “It’s the only way I can ever leave Luca Moretti.” People said he’d given up the Mafia throne for me. They called him the man who traded power for love— the heir who walked away from blood and gold just to marry a waitress from the slums. For years, he made the world believe in us. He built empires under my name. He sent me roses every Monday. He told the press I was his salvation. But love doesn’t always mean loyalty. While I was busy believing in forever, he was building a second home behind my back— one filled with laughter, toys, and twin sons who had his eyes. The night I disappeared, his empire burned. He tore apart cities, bribed governments, and buried men alive just to find me. But by the time he did— I was already gone. And the woman he’d once died for no longer loved him enough to stay alive.

The night before we are supposed to make our marriage official at the town hall, I decide to leave my fiance, Don Luca Camorra. For five years, Luca's friends have believed I'm nothing more than a gold digger. No one believes it more than Giulia Sereni, the girl who grew up alongside him. She claims that a woman like me—a girl who claws her way out of the slums—can never hide the greed in her eyes. So, to prove that I love Luca for who he is, not for his money, I don't spend a single cent of his money throughout all those years. Even the engagement rings we exchanged five years ago are carved from wood. But when Giulia finds out, she only sneers. "Someone who asks for nothing usually wants the most. I've seen plenty of gold diggers like her." Then, the night before we are supposed to make our marriage official, I spend an entire year's worth of savings on a wedding ring for Luca. I arrive at the pre-wedding party, excited to surprise him. Instead, I hear Giulia laughing as she leans against his shoulder. "I bet your sweetheart is going to give you an expensive gift tonight," she teases. "She has to secure her place as the future Donna, after all." The room erupts in laughter. His friends eagerly pile on. Matteo Acri teases, "Spend a little money to secure the Donna's position and gain access to the Camorra famiglia fortune? That's a pretty smart investment." More laughter follows. And Luca—the man who once promised he would always trust me—says nothing. Then Chiara Ricci notices me standing in the doorway, and she gives Matteo a subtle signal. The laughter dies instantly, and one by one, every pair of eyes turns toward me. Giulia's gaze lands on my pale face, then slowly drops to the ring box clutched in my hand. Understanding flashes across her face. She lets out a soft laugh. "See? I'm right again! Luca, you owe me now." Luca ignores her. He stares at me in silence for a long moment before finally speaking. "So this is how you plan to win me over?" His eyes drop to the ring box in my hand. "You're dying to become the Donna, aren't you? Is that why you're doing all this?" I freeze, and I can feel a dull ache spread through my chest. I can ignore the things everyone else says about me, but I never imagined that Luca believes them, too. He is the man I have loved for five years, the man who once promised he would always trust me. I say nothing. I simply turn around and walk away. It is time for Cinderella to wake up from her dream. The prince has never believed she loves him. And if he can never see the truth, there is no reason for her to keep waiting for him to believe it. Luca, I'm done with you.

Before the Visconti family's truce banquet began, only two seats remained empty at the long table. One was at the far end. The other was to the left of Lucas Visconti, the man I'd married under contract. Three months earlier, to settle a blood debt hanging over my father, I'd signed a marriage contract and become the secret wife of the youngest Mafia boss in New York. According to the seating chart approved and sealed by both families' consiglieri, Sophia Vitali, their negotiator, was supposed to sit at the far end. The list hadn't been changed, but the place cards on the table had been swapped. I had just started toward Lucas when he looked up. "Sophia, take this seat." The banquet hall fell silent. Enzo, the Vitali family's consigliere, stiffened. "Is this a gesture of goodwill, or are we to understand that Sophia is now under your personal protection?" Adrian, Lucas's consigliere, spoke under his breath. "Boss, the official seating chart hasn't been amended. We can still fix this." Roman Hayes, the underboss, also stopped the estate manager from setting out any more silverware. But Lucas overruled the objections. Sophia's brother Dominic had taken a bullet for Lucas six years ago and died of his wounds three days later. "She's here for the negotiations. I take full responsibility." Enzo demanded that the incident be entered into the truce minutes and reserved the right to suspend the talks. Lucas didn't back down. Throughout dinner, he fielded every toast meant for Sophia, using the negotiations as his excuse. When a waiter knocked over a champagne flute and broken glass sliced my wrist, he didn't even turn around. I slipped off the obsidian ring reserved for the Visconti inner circle and set it on the table. Adrian and Roman's expressions changed in unison. Lucas had forgotten the one thing that mattered: the secret wife he'd kept in the shadows was the only person who could unlock every dark secret of both families.

I am the only daughter of the Sivillian Mafia Don, Gino Casati. Papa has groomed four outstanding men to be my suitors so that I may choose one of them to be my fiance in the future. They have protected me since childhood. However, the day before the suitor selection banquet, an enemy Famiglia tries their third assassination attempt on me. All four of them—Enzo Mazzola, Otto Giunta, Marcela Sechi, and Raphael Rosetti—once again turn their backs on me to shield Lia Pagano instead, hiding her safely behind their backs. Lia trembles with fear, looking like a frightened kitten. Enzo hurriedly closes her eyes with his hands so that the bloody scene doesn't scare her. Yet the look he shoots at me is filled with impatience. "Don't just stand there and do nothing, Miria! Lia's already terrified! Hurry up and lure these people away!" I instinctively turn to Otto, but I see him tightly holding Lia's hand while speaking to her in a voice so gentle it's foreign to my ears. "Don't worry, Lia. I won't ever let anyone hurt you." Marcela and Raphael move in perfect coordination, pulling the car up right in front of Lia. Then, they turn to me and say, "You can take a beating better than Lia can. We're getting her out of here first." The Soldati next to me are angered and try to intervene, but I hold up a hand to stop them. As I watch the car speed off, I feel a chill settling deep into my heart. I turn around and get into another car. The moment I return home, I head directly to Papa's study. "Papa, change tomorrow's suitor selection banquet to an engagement banquet instead. I agree to the marriage alliance with the Vaccaro Famiglia."

I used to be that girl in the mafia—envied, untouchable. Orlando Leone, the big bad Don everyone feared, had eyes only for me. I took a bullet for him. After that? People whispered I couldn't have kids. He tried to shut them up by knocking me up—ninety-nine tries. Try number ten? His shiny new secretary texted, all confused over a decimal. He bailed on me. By thirty, she crashed his sports car while shopping. Claimed she couldn't park. I was left freezing in a bathtub. He said he loved me, but when it counted, he always picked the girl who played dumb and helpless. That's when it hit me—his love was never really mine. And by the time I disappeared for real, he lost his mind looking. Too bad. Me and that promise? Already buried at sea.

Ten rounds of IVF. That’s what it took to have a baby with my boyfriend, Cormac Brown, the Godfather. On the tenth try, I finally got pregnant. Triplets. I was crying with joy, about to tell him, when I got a call from a woman claiming to be me from the future. Her voice was hoarse, exhausted. “Don’t have those kids!” “Cormac doesn’t love you. He’ll dump you the second they’re born, and your career will be over!” I thought it was a sick joke. How could Cormac not love me? Until I heard him talking to one of his men. “Godfather, aren’t you worried Miss Victoria will find out you secretly swapped her eggs for Bianca’s?” “And the doctor said her body can’t handle triplets. It could kill her.” Through the crack in the door, I saw Cormac’s face, cold and emotionless. “Her being weak after having triplets is the only way Bianca gets the lead in that Hollywood movie.” “The day Victoria gives birth, I’m proposing to Bianca.” “And Victoria? She’s just the incubator.” Standing outside, I clamped a hand over my mouth, choking back a sob. Once I calmed down, I called my agent. “I’ll take the role. I’ll be at the movie’s press conference in a week.”

I was the belle of the school, good grades and all. But I wasn't the nerd they thought I was. I had been secretly dating my adopted brother's sworn enemy for three years. Lucian Palma had a strong desire for intimacy, so I went along with him in unlocking countless places to make love. He promised that he would marry me after graduation. Once he took over the family business from his wealthy father, he would make me the happiest woman alive. I believed him, even indulging him in his kink of recording us sleeping together. Lucian assured me that those videos were for his eyes only, and that no one else would ever see them. But then, I accidentally overheard a conversation between Lucian and his friends. "Lucian, you had deliberately staged a hero saving the damsel in distress situation to make Nina Etienne fall for you, all just to get it back at your archnemesis, Aaron North. If he found out his little sister had been sleeping with you, wouldn't it kill him with rage? "You've filmed hundreds of intimate videos, haven't you? When do you plan to release them? We'd love to see the nerd stripped bare under you." I didn't confront him about this. Instead, I quietly walked away and agreed to meet the fiance my father had arranged for me.

At our wedding rehearsal, Dante Corleone brings Lucia Ferrante, the fiancee of his late brother, Davide. "Davide died protecting me in that shootout on Thanksgiving. Without him, I never would've become Don to the Corleone Famiglia," Dante says. "We have the rest of our lives together, Camilla, but this is Lucia's only chance." So I stand below the stage, watching my fiance drop to one knee before another woman in a wedding dress and reverently kiss the back of her hand. Then the priest turns to Dante and asks awkwardly, "Do you wish to stand before God and recite your vows to Ms. Ferrante?" Lucia bursts into tears and throws herself into Dante's arms. "Camilla, I'm not trying to steal anything from you," she sobs. "I just want to exchange the vows Davide never got a chance to give me before he died. If Dante is willing to stand in for his Fratello and marry me just this once, I'm sure Davide wouldn't mind." Without a second thought, Dante steps up to the altar. I stand below, watching him slip the very wedding ring I designed onto Lucia's finger. I look down at my own empty ring finger. And suddenly, it all feels so pointless. The vows could be borrowed. The ring could be borrowed. Even my man could be loaned out to comfort another woman. In that case, I'm done with this wedding.

• My mom died saving me during a kidnapping. At least, that’s what everyone believed. My dad—once the man who spoiled me like his little princess—turned his grief into hatred. He adopted a girl who looked just like Mom and gave her all the love that used to be mine. For five years, I lived in that shadow, broken and unwanted. Until the day I was beaten and left for dead… and my mom came back. Alive. He used to call me his treasure. Now he calls me a curse. But the night my mom returned, everything shattered—his lies, his obsession, and the truth I was never meant to know.

Before my grandfather, the Don of the Rinaldi family, dies, he leaves behind a will. The five Principessas of the Rinaldi family are forbidden from using our family name. We must live like ordinary people until one of us gives birth to the first heir. Whoever does so will inherit everything. For three years, I keep my identity hidden. My husband, Oliver Wright, and I live in a cramped apartment to the south of Windmere. Every morning, we squeeze onto the subway to get to work. When we're short on money, we stay up late making plans and racking our brains trying to keep his small company afloat. I never think life is hard because I love him. One day, the doctor hands me my medical test results—I am the first one to become pregnant. Upon learning this, my whole body trembles with excitement. The life that Oliver and I have struggled toward for years suddenly feels within reach. I drive home with a happy smile on my face as I imagine how he will react. But when I push the door open, I see a woman wearing my favorite nightgown. She is sitting with Oliver, sharing the apple I left in the refrigerator with him. He takes a bite from her hand and glances at me casually. "My first love, Maeve Young, is back. Let's get a divorce." My fingers tighten around the pregnancy test report. Then, I smile and say, "Sure." What he doesn't know is that his penniless, patient, obedient, and endlessly forgiving wife has a last name powerful enough to open every door in Windmere. I will keep this child, and the family fortune will still pass to me. As for my husband, Oliver? I'm ready to let him go.

One week before our wedding, my fiancé, my father’s own consigliere, sold him out.He set him up for a FBI raid. My father died in a pool of blood, his eyes wide open, and the once-great Moretti family collapsed overnight. In my darkest hour, Dominic, the Don of the New York Luciani family, showed up with a crew of mercenaries. He didn't just take care of the rat; he gave me total protection. He obsessed over me for three years, even tattooing my name over his heart. I fell for it. I believed he loved me. I let my guard down and stayed by his side, serving as the lead perfumer for the coldest man in the city. Until today. Outside the wine cellar, I overheard him talking to his rival. "Old man Moretti died never knowing who had leaked his location," Dominic said. "But imagine if that stupid woman, Elena, found out," the rival mocked. "If she knew the man who killed her father was the same husband kissing her forehead every night... would she lose her mind?" My hand froze on the cellar door. The rival’s laughter came through the cracks: "You’re cold-blooded, Dominic! Elena thinks you’re her savior. She even wants to give you an heir. She’d never dream the raid that destroyed her life was actually your offering to Sienna."