Cerita Pendek & Novel Mafia Reborn

Ten years of marriage, and my husband slid the divorce papers across his mahogany desk. "You contributed nothing to this family. Under the prenup, you walk away with nothing." "Consider this a courtesy. Ten thousand a year. A hundred grand for a decade of your youth." "Don't even think about touching a cent of family money." I smiled and signed. I'm the kind of woman who's already died once. The next day, I took that hundred-thousand-dollar check and walked straight into the territory of his most dangerous enemy—Dominic Salucci. The man who controls half the East Coast underworld looked at me like I was inventory he hadn't ordered. "Why should I help you?" I leaned in close. "Because I know every decision Vincent Moretti is going to make for the next ten years. Every property. Every shipping route. And I know about the son he's hiding in Zurich." He studied me for a long moment. Then he smiled. "Interesting." What he doesn't know—what Vincent doesn't know—is that in my last life, men like them buried me without a second thought. This time, I'm going to watch every last one of them kneel.

I fell in love with my Cognato, the man who had adopted me. To outsiders, I was merely his adopted principessa from the Moretti family. No one knew about this forbidden relationship. Right on the eve of making our relationship public and announcing our engagement, I took three bullets for him and fell into a coma. But when I finally opened my eyes, Marco announced that his new bride would be Liliana. "Serana, Her parents gave their lives for me. Marrying her now is simply to help her gain a firm foothold." I loved him with my life. He thought I would cause a massive scene at the engagement party, threatening him into marrying me, or else I'd blow the bride's head off with my little BodyGuard. Instead, I elegantly attended his engagement party, called her Cognata, and affectionately kissed her cheek. Because only I knew that in my previous life, I had actually done just that. He was forced to marry me. But on the night of our wedding, Liliana jumped into the sea. After that, he became a hollow shell, never speaking a single word to me again. I finally suffered a complete mental breakdown. In a moment of delirium, I fell down the stairs. When Marco heard the news, he closed his eyes in sheer agony, two silent tears tracing down his jawline: "If it weren't for you, Liliana wouldn't have died. In the next life... stay away from me." When I opened my eyes again, I had actually been reborn. In this life, I let him go. I didn't want that ending anymore. But Cognato... why are you regretting it now?

Once again, Rossi stayed out all night with Bianca Moretti. When I confronted him, he had me confined to my room. That was when I learned to be good. When I caught him on a date with Bianca, I no longer demanded answers like a madwoman. When Bianca stole the spotlight at a banquet, I willingly poured her wine and faded into the background. I would even hand over the Donna position I had dreamed of to her. All because I had been reborn. In my previous life, once his first love returned, the Don I loved had eyes for no one but Bianca. I fought with him again and again, wearing down what little affection he had left, and all it earned me was his disgust. In the end, to secure the Family's interests, he personally handed me over to Luca Bellini, the boss of a rival organization. Luca was twisted and vicious, and he tortured me until I was barely human. I endured every torment and died hating them. When I opened my eyes again, it was exactly one month after Bianca's return. In this life, I would swallow all my hatred and wait for my moment. Rossi. Bianca. I would make them repay every cruelty from my previous life, one debt at a time.

On a flight, my boyfriend Cassio tried to steal a seat for his pregnant childhood sweetheart. Last time, I stopped him. I forced him to return the seat to its rightful owner. Out of spite, his sweetheart Ella refused to take the seat. She stood through the entire flight. By the time we landed, she miscarried. She bled out and died. Cassio never blamed me. He arranged her funeral quietly… Then married me. He gave me the best prenatal care, the finest doctors, and a seemingly perfect life. Until the day I went into labor. He put me on a long-haul flight with multiple layovers. And when I collapsed in a filthy airport restroom, bleeding and barely conscious— He looked down at me with pure hatred. “Serena, this is what you owe her.” “If you hadn’t interfered back then, Ella would still be alive.” “Today, you and your bastard child will pay for her and her baby.” When I opened my eyes again, I was back on that flight. Watching him berate the plainly dressed woman, I quietly put on my noise-canceling headphones. He didn’t know that woman was the beloved wife of the most dangerous mafia Don in the city. And the kick he was about to deliver— Would be their death sentence. This time, I just watched.

My sister Seraphina and I were inseparable growing up. She played the fierce protector. She called herself my guardian angel. Deep down, she was a snake. She wanted everything I had. She stole my man—Rocco, a Capo in the Philly mafia's Cianci family. Her excuse? She wanted to "test" his loyalty to me. She claimed she was shielding me from his dark world of shootouts, blood, and FBI wiretaps. She maxed out the black card he gave me. Then she told him I bought a Rolex for a boy toy. She skimmed money from the family's money-laundering business. She pinned it on me. She said I was a gambling addict with massive debts. She got pregnant. Yet she still messed around with Rocco's uncle at a lavish yacht party. She got high and partied until she started bleeding. But in the end, I took the fall for everything. She spun a lie. She said I locked her in the bathroom out of jealousy. She panicked. She fell. The baby died. To avenge her, my man threw me into a rundown underground casino in Atlantic City. There, his uncle's mistress sold me to a pimp. I got hooked on drugs. Then they tossed me out on the streets. I was passed around from one man to another in pure humiliation. Until my body completely broke down. I died a slow, dirty, and lonely death. When I opened my eyes again, I was back. Back to the very night my sister miscarried after that crazy yacht party.

In my last life, my brother Leo—the heir to the Moretti crime family—stripped our estate bare of every last soldier, all for a Vegas jaunt. All because his new flame, Scarlett, had a jones for the high-roller tables. The Volkovs—our rivals, the very ones Leo had just pissed off—saw their opening and stormed our gates. My mother, Sofia, took a bullet meant for me. Died protecting me. I blew up Leo’s phone, my pleas turning to screams. He didn't answer. He waltzed back in after the shooting stopped, bringing our men home, but far too late for it to matter. Then, the news from Vegas. Scarlett was gone. A suicide note left behind. In it, she painted me as the monster. The one who’d leaked our weaknesses to the Volkovs. The one who'd orchestrated a fake kidnapping and torture plot, all to drive her to despair and lure Leo home. A perfect, tragic lie. Leo read the letter calmly. Then he burned the letter and told me, "Forget it. It's handled." Father tore into Leo for abandoning his post, for leaving his family to die. And me? I was named the new Consigliere. But after the celebration, Leo cornered me in the wine cellar. His face was a mask of cold fury as he pressed the barrel of his gun to my forehead. "This is for family traitors," he hissed, his voice pure venom. "The throne is my birthright, not some backstabbing bitch's prize!" When I opened my eyes again, I was back. Right in the middle of the fire and the blood. This time, I shoved my mother behind me, dragging her toward the panic room. And the bastards who were too blind to believe me? They’ll regret it.

My husband—the mafia boss—loses his first love to suicide. Celeste Reyes couldn't accept that he was marrying me. Since then, Darius Sterling mourns her publicly every day, and we become the kind of couple that despises each other more than anyone else. However, when the Moretti family of Eastbourne sends assassins after me, Darius takes the bullet meant for me. The bullet is poisoned. As he lies weakly in my arms, he whispers, "I saved your life. My debt to your mother is repaid. In our next life, let's not meet again. "I don't want to hate you anymore. I just hope you'll always be the girl next door. Now, it's time for me to be with Celeste." And just like that, he dies in my arms. I cry my heart out, but Darius never looks at me again. Only then do I realize how foolish and childish our hatred has been all these years. Later, after I eliminate the Morettis, I take my own life for him. Yet, when I open my eyes again, I'm back at 20—the year of our engagement. I reject my father's plan for an arranged marriage and choose to go to New Verden to manage the family business. This time, I'll stay far away from Darius and give him and Celeste my blessings.

My mafia husband, Vincent Santoro, was born a monster, incapable of loving anyone. But one day, I discovered he was hiding a ‘forbidden fruit’. A girl from the slums, Claire Murphy. Scarred by life, yet as beautiful as a wildflower growing through concrete. For a man who'd waded through blood his whole life, she was a fatal attraction he never saw coming. He thought he'd covered his tracks. He was wrong. At the Santoro family's annual dinner, I confronted him about Claire, tears streaking down my face. He just lightly frowned, then had his consigliere slide the divorce papers across the table to me. "Isabella. Sign it. The three North Side docks and the shipping lines are yours." I tore the papers to shreds. He just kept raising the offer. He had me thrown into the freezing waters of Lake Michigan. He blew up my family's distillery—the Romano family's legacy. Finally, he took my parents. Tied them in an abandoned warehouse and made one watch as he set the other on fire. "Sign, or watch them burn. Your choice." I begged him on my knees, but a roar of flames consumed the world— The heat seared my skin, the ash of my parents clinging to my face. "No... NO!" When I opened my eyes, I was back. Back on the day I first learned about Claire. This time, no tears, no drama. That night, I called my family in Sicily and set my escape in motion. But the moment I vanished from his world… Vincent Santoro went insane.

On the day there was an assassination attempt on the Don, my husband, the head of security for the Russo family, was busy coaxing his mistress, who had lost her temper and left. I did not call him for help but used my body as a shield to protect the Don while I was eight months pregnant. In my past life, my husband left his mistress behind and came back with his team of bodyguards to save the Don after I called him for help on the phone. My husband ended up saving the Don and was rewarded by the family with a promotion, but his mistress was killed in the process. Although my husband said nothing about it, he threw me into the shark tank on the day I was in labor. I was covered in blood when I looked at him for an answer. However, all he did was stare coldly at me. "Why did you have to get me to save the Don when he had so many other bodyguards to protect him? You forced me to come back because you're a materialistic woman who only wants fame and fortune! If it weren't for your phone call, Aurora wouldn't have died! You must pay for everything she suffered!" I ended up being torn apart by sharks, and even the baby inside my belly was not spared. When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day of the assassination attempt on the Don.

My love story with my Don husband was once the model relationship for couples all across Edale. But after his sudden death, the notary informed me that I was not the first in line to inherit his estate. I froze. Christian Fuzio was an only child. His parents had long passed away. We had no children. If I wasn't the first in line, then who was? That was when the boy walked in. His face was a perfect copy of Zoe Sgotti, Christian's assistant. The boy crossed his arms and sneered. "Mrs. Fuzio, the person my father loved most in his life was my mother. Of course, most of the inheritance belongs to us." Rae… Ray… Only then did I realize that the name he had whispered on his deathbed was never mine. I lunged forward to question Ray, but he shoved me into the traffic. The moment my head slammed against the ground, darkness swallowed everything. When I opened my eyes once more… I stared at my young, strong hands. Feeling the life that I had once lost growing inside me, I finally understood that I had been given another chance. Christian, this time, I no longer wanted your fake love. I would grant the three of you all the happiness that you wanted.

On the first day of my rebirth, I turn straight into the bedroom of Don Raffaele Caruso and begin undoing my clothes. In my previous life, I was in a marriage of convenience with his son, Matteo Caruso, but there was no love between us. We were notorious in Liberty City's mafia circle. Matteo believed I was the reason he lost his first love. He thought I had deliberately gone into his room the night he was drugged with an aphrodisiac, trapping him in a marriage. Hence, for eight years after our wedding, he stayed out drunk every night and refused to come home. Even when I went into obstructed labor and was on the brink of death, he never asked about me even once. Then, the hurricane came. A storm surge swallowed Liberty City. The harbor collapsed under the waves, and there was only one seat left on the evacuation boat. Everyone thought Matteo would keep it for himself. Instead, he shoved me hard onto the boat. "Go! I'm giving you my chance to live, Chiara. If there's a next life, don't come saving me again. I just want to be with Lucia." The next second, his body was dragged into the pitch-black sea. I survived, only to be hacked to death by a rival family afterward. What Matteo never knew was that he wasn't the only one who was drugged that night. His father was too. This time around, I step into the room just as the effects of the aphrodisiac take hold. Raffaele is currently forcing himself to endure it, his control stretched to the limit. I walk over and say softly, "Let me be your antidote, Don Caruso."

The Bennett family’s freezer was located in the deepest part of the basement. When Quincy threw me inside, the moment my feet touched the floor, the skin on my soles froze and stuck to the ice. “If you hadn’t insisted on marrying me, Sophia would never have left.” “You took her place, so you should have known this day would come. Stay here and reflect on what you’ve done.” After saying that, Quincy ignored my pleas and closed the iron door. I desperately pounded on the door and screamed for help, but no one answered. Three days later, the cleaner opened the freezer. They found me curled up in the corner, my body pale and stiff, with dried blood covering my fingertips and the door. They secretly dumped me outside the harbor. That was how the daughter of the Ortiz family died. There was no funeral, and there was no gravestone. When I opened my eyes again, the Bennett family’s consigliere was standing in front of me with the agreement my father had signed years ago, asking me to fulfill the arrangement and marry into the Bennett family. I instinctively wrapped my arms around myself, my fingertips digging into my skin. It was only when I felt the pain that I realized I had been reborn. This time, I did not choose Quincy, the man who had been entangled with me for ten years. Instead, I chose his brother, Luca Bennett, the heir of the Mafia family. The consigliere exhaled a cloud of smoke and looked at me through the haze, asking if I was certain about my decision. I nodded firmly. “Yes. It’s him.”

The second I opened my eyes, I knew. I was twenty-seven again. Back when I was the Leone heiress. The golden girl of Arezzo. Engaged to the Don of the Grimaldis—Marco Grimaldi. Handsome. Loaded. Time magazine's "No.1 Most Desirable Husband in the World." Even the royal family of Inglane had tried to marry a princess off to him. Everyone called me the luckiest woman alive. Yeah. Right. The first thing I did after coming back? I grabbed the marriage contract and walked straight to my father's affair daughter— the fiancée Marco had actually wanted all along. Bella Leone. I slid the contract across the table. "It's yours. You're marrying Marco." She just stared at me. Six years. That's how long I'd chased him. And now I was handing over the contract like it meant nothing. "Everyone thinks you're the better match anyway," I said. "So go ahead. Convince Dad to get the Grimaldis to switch the contract. You can have the Grimaldi Donna title." Not this time. I'm not becoming that suffocated, invisible Don's wife ever again.

I loved Luca Bellandi for more than 20 years. It didn't matter that we came from two different worlds, or that he wavered between me and another woman. I loved him anyway. When I was ten, my father died taking a bullet for Salvatore Bellandi, Luca's father and the Don of the Bellandi family. Don Bellandi took me in to be Luca's bodyguard, and from that day on, the rest of my life was bound to Luca's. He was the mafia heir, born to stand above everyone else. I was just a lowly bodyguard. Everyone on the Bellandi estate laughed at me. They called me a nobody from the gutter who'd bought her way into the house with her father's death. Then, in front of all of them, Luca shoved the boy who'd picked on me into the fountain and announced that from now on, I was to be called Miss Quinn. Because of those words, I pushed myself with everything I had until I became the sharpest blade at his side. For 20 years, I walked with him through more gunfire than I could count. I took the bullets that were meant to kill him. But in the end, I underestimated the pull of power. It wasn't until Celeste Laurent, heiress to one of Europe's great families, showed up that I understood how naive I'd been. She was elegant and brilliant, and she had every resource and every skill Luca needed to secure the Don's seat. He couldn't give up the warmth and the safety I'd given him at our most desperate moments. But he couldn't let go of the power and the bright future Celeste could bring him either. He went back and forth between me and another woman as if he had every right to. He took everything I gave him and all the years I spent waiting for granted. He thought I'd always stay right where he left me, waiting for him. But he forgot one thing. Even a heart that burns hot will freeze over once it's been hurt badly enough. If life gave me the chance to choose again, I would still run through a storm of bullets to save him without a second thought. But I wouldn't love him again.

My husband of five years turned out to be the long-lost heir of the Rhys mafia family. On the day he was brought back into the family, he took our son by the hand and walked toward a million-dollar luxury car with Isla, his childhood sweetheart. Then, frowning slightly, he said to me, “Hazel, I’m only taking Isla and our son with me. You stay here for now. Once I’ve secured my footing in the Rhys family, I’ll come back for you.” I nodded calmly and accepted his arrangement without protest. I knew that even if I forced my way back with him, it wouldn’t end well. In my previous life, I cried and insisted on going with him. Left with no choice, Sam brought me back to the family. However, it wasn’t long before Isla framed me, accusing me of leaking the Rhys mafia family's secrets. According to family rules, I was sentenced to death. When the verdict was carried out, my son shouted at me with reddened eyes. “I hate you! If you hadn’t insisted on coming back, I wouldn’t have had a traitor for a mother! I would’ve had a better mom a long time ago!” In that instant, my heart gave out. Reborn to the moment before my husband reclaimed his identity, I chose to let go without hesitation this time, no longer standing in the way of the happiness he and our son wanted.

“The agreement won’t be valid unless your husband signs it, ma’am.” The lawyer shot me a dismissive glance as I signed my name. “I know you’d like to use this as a way to flirt with your husband. After all, you can’t possibly be foolish enough to walk away from billions with nothing.” I gave him a faint smile, tucked the papers away, and sent a message to my husband’s most trusted secretary, Jolene. Even now, no one has realized that I had been reborn. My hand drifted to my still-flat stomach. The warmth and anticipation in my eyes were gone, replaced by cold resolve. I had to make sure my child and I “die” together, in front of everyone. In my previous life, everyone envied me for marrying Leo, the head of the Kosa mafia family. I thought I was the happiest woman in the city. Anything my gaze lingered on for more than three seconds, he would have someone deliver to me immediately. It was just because he thought it would make me happy. In this life, all I wanted was to end my marriage to Leo as quickly as possible!

The day I went into labor with the twins, I bribed the family doctor to shoot me up with every heavy-duty suppressant he could get his hands on. Anything to stall the birth. Why? Because in my last life, Vincent—my husband, the Don—claimed to have a low sperm count. To guarantee an heir, he lined up ten mistresses and told the whole house: whoever popped out a son first, her kid would be the next Corleone Don. He promised if I delivered first, he'd ditch the others. Said our baby would inherit the throne. I bought every word. When I found out I was carrying twins, I couldn't stop shaking—I thought I'd won. But after I gave birth, he tossed me and the babies into the freezing wine cellar and locked the place down. "Lucy came from nothing. I just wanted to give her kid a name. You started rumors, pushed her into despair, and now she's dead—her and the baby. You're vile. Not fit to be the Don's wife. Think about what you've done. I'll open the door in three days." Then he had the butler seal it shut. What he didn't know? That night, the cellar caught fire. Me and my babies? Burned alive. When I opened my eyes again, I was back—right before labor. This time, I'm not staying. Soon as I deliver and get back on my feet, I'm taking my kids and disappearing for good.

In my last life, while my father lay on his deathbed, he asked me to choose—inherit his title and become the Don of Vale, or marry my boyfriend, Julian Moreau, and walk away from the family business for good. Becoming the Don meant a lifetime of danger, and likely a political marriage without love. Marrying Julian promised peace. I hesitated. Next morning after the party, I woke up in bed with Julian on my left and my best friend, Sebastian, on my right. I soon found out I was pregnant. With that, I thought the better choice would be marry either Julian or Sebastian—and to give up my right to inherit, handing it to my stepsister. After my father’s funeral, Julian, Vivienne, and Sebastian locked me away and tortured me for days—until my baby and I finally met a tragic end. When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the very day my father asked that question. This time, I didn’t hesitate. “I’ll break up with Julian and become the Don of Vale—on my own.”