Cerita Pendek & Novel Mafia Reborn

Celine woke in the past, nine days before her public bonding vow with Rafe. In her first life, everyone envied Celine—the overlooked second daughter who had somehow won the Blackwood pack's Alpha heir. Only after the vow was sealed did she learn the truth: it was no marriage contract, but a permanent license to harvest her wolf soul. From that day on, whenever her sister Cassandra "fell ill," her parents, her brother, and her fiancé could invoke mate rights and drain her wolf soul. Every bout of weakness, every cough, cost Celine part of her life. After each draining, Rafe would hold her, give her a silver chain or a box of paints, and say, "You're the one I love most." For four years, she let those scraps of affection convince her she was loved. In the end, she died in his arms. Reborn, Celine's first act was to surrender everything she owned for a one-way deed to the Packless Lands. Once the Tide Gate opened, Celine's pack mark would go dark, severing every blood tie and every pact. But after Celine left, they searched for her as if they had lost their minds.

In my last life, everyone in Leighton knew I was destined to marry Roman Falcone. Five allied families each sent an unmarried man, but everyone knew the other four were just there to make up the numbers. After all, I'd loved Roman and no one else since I was seventeen. Then my father died. Piece by piece, the Caruso empire fell into Roman's hands. Then I caught him with Marietta Conti in my father's study. I discovered my father hadn't died of natural causes. I fled with the evidence, but Roman's men hunted me down and killed me. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day I had to choose my husband. Roman still stood there, holding out his hand to me. Only this time, I walked right past him and stopped in front of the mute illegitimate son of the Vieri family. I placed the ring in Elio Vieri's palm. "I choose him."

When Lilith, the woman my fiancé Andrew had never gotten over, was kidnapped and used as leverage by a rival family during a critical transfer of power, I urged him to put the Family first and wait until our internal affairs were stable before rescuing her. By the time he became Don and went after her, Lilith's body had already been dumped in the wilderness. She had died horribly. Andrew never blamed me. If anything, he treated me better than ever and refused to let anyone defy me. Later, after seizing control of both families, he slaughtered my people. His first act was to deliver me to the rival family bound to mine by a blood feud. He stood by while they tortured me to death. He stood over my body, his gaze cold as unmelting ice. "This is how she died. Now you can suffer what she suffered." When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the moment Lilith was kidnapped. I didn't stop him from giving up his chance to be Don in order to save her. He disappointed the Family. Perfect. This time, both families would answer to me.

In my last life, I single-handedly wiped out a rival gang, winning great honor for the Family. My mother handed me control of her private arsenal, worth hundreds of millions. Before I could even take inventory, the convent orphan my family had adopted quietly changed the codes, and handed the entire shipment to homeless men in slums controlled by our enemies. Staring down my gun, she crossed herself, her face full of pity. "God tells us to love the world, Alessia. Sitting on all those instruments of murder is a sin. I am only atoning for you." I scoffed, but one second before I pulled the trigger, my childhood friend, the Family's top killer, shot the gun from my hand and denounced me as bloodthirsty, cruel, and incapable of empathy. My older brother, the new Don, only sneered and stripped me of my inheritance on the spot. He threw me into the lowest end of the red-light district to wash dishes until the violence had been ground out of me. That same night, addicts from the rival gang cornered me at the end of an alley, stabbed me more than twenty times, then dumped me into the Thames. I opened my eyes, and I was back on the day the orphan girl walked toward the arsenal with my key in her hand.

My younger sister, Arianna Valenti, is engaged to Dario Lancieri, heir of the Lancieri family. But after drinking a glass of spiked champagne, I end up sleeping with Dario. To preserve the alliance between our families, my Madre decides that I will marry Dario in Arianna's place. I marry the man Arianna loves, while she is sent away to marry the gravely ill elderly Don of the Bellini family as part of a political alliance. On her wedding day, Arianna is ambushed and killed by a rival faction. From that moment on, Dario hates me with all his heart. Our marriage lasts for more than 20 years, filled with nothing but indifference and humiliation. On the day I finally succumb to my illness, Dario doesn't even come to see me. He only sends someone to deliver a single message. "Vera, stay the hell away from me in your next life." … When I open my eyes again, I'm back at the exact moment I receive the spiked champagne. Before I can even react, Dario snatches the glass from my hand and smashes it against the floor. I look at the way he gazes at Arianna, and suddenly, I understand. He has been reborn as well. In front of both our parents, he takes Arianna's hand and announces, "Arianna and I are getting married this month. As for Vera… she can fulfill the arranged marriage instead." Memories of my death flash through my mind. This time, I'll give him exactly what he wants. "Fine. I agree."