Donnie April Novels & Stories

She married him to save her father's life. He married her to settle a debt. Neither of them expected to fall in love. Isabella Romano never wanted this life. She grew up watching her father drown in debts he couldn't repay, surrounded by men who smiled while they threatened. She wanted freedom — a future she chose for herself. Instead, she got a wedding dress, a stranger's ring, and a debt paid in full through her own hand in marriage. Dante Moretti is the coldest don their world has ever feared. He took control of his family's empire at twenty-three and buried his heart alongside the woman he lost. To him, Isabella isn't a wife. She's a payment. A term in a contract he never wanted to

She will pay for making me feel this way. I start the engine. This isn't over, little angel. Not even close. --- My phone rings as I pull out of the estate. Marco. "Don, we found something." "What?" "Anne's been working late night shifts at a club. The Velvet Room. Dancing, maybe waitressing. She's there most nights until two or three in the morning." I grip the wheel tighter. A club. She's been dancing in some filthy club for money. "Why?" "She's struggling, Don. Living alone, working double shifts. No visible support."

Dante whispered voice rough. This time was raw emotional, almost broken. No dominance. No games. Just need desperate, healing. They held me between them Dante’s mouth on mine, soft at first, then deepening with shared pain. Rocco’s hands roamed my back lifting my shirt, palms warm against skin chilled by grief. We didn’t strip fully just opened fabric pushed aside in quiet urgency.

"Since you're back, sign this..." Before I could finish, the encrypted phone in his pocket began to vibrate wildly. The moment he answered, his second-in-command, Marco, was on the line, his voice panicked. "Don! There was an incident on the north side. Donna was frightened, the heir won't stop crying..." Enzo was on his feet in an instant, any trace of guilt he might have felt for me gone. "Tell her not to be scared. Lock down the scene. I'm on my way."

“I’m sorry for what happened. I’m sorry for putting your life in danger. I never meant for any of this to touch you.” My stomach twisted. “Oh my god, you do know her.” He nodded once, it was slow and miserable. “Who is she?” “Her name is Donna Sofia.” He spoke the name like it tasted bitter. “She’s married to one of the old bosses, Don Moretti. Back when Don Antonio adopted me, Don Moretti and Antonio were partners, they were thick as thieves.” He paused, rubbed his thumb across his knuckles like the motion could erase what came next.

I couldn't say when those feelings had gradually disappeared. I wasn't surprised he'd come today. I'd left without saying goodbye. He was never going to let go easily. "I've been in New York for six months, trying to learn where you were." Adrian spoke carefully as he took a marriage license application from his bag. "I divorced Julianne the day after you left. "This is a new application. If you're willing, you can sign your name and give me a chance to make everything up to you. Please, Maddie." Adrian sounded sincere, and the gaze he fixed on me was open and earnest.

But instead of Enzo, I received a call: there was an emergency at one of his underground casinos. He had to “handle it personally.” We would have to reschedule. That evening, his assistant arrived with an apology gift—an obscenely expensive set of gemstone jewelry I didn’t need, wrapped in the Marchello family’s signature black box. And yet, the very next morning, the headline on the news made my hands go cold: “Mafia Heir Marchello Enzo Seen Shopping for Wedding Rings With His Fiancée.”

I thought I would be calm. But when the truth finally came out, my body trembled all the same, and I couldn't stop it. "Heads of the families, I know you all want Louis dead right now, but before he's judged, there's a personal debt I mean to settle with him." I took a deep breath. "I wonder if any of you remember the former Donna of the Vitale family. My mother, Selena Pavano." "Twenty years ago, my brother was barely a month old when Louis's wife Jessica threw him from an upper floor to his death. And my father, Louis, never bothered to learn the truth. He took Jessica at her word and had my mother beaten to death..."

"I've eaten some, just not a lot. I have been getting little dizzy spells but my emotions are all haywire. I'm fine though. I'll be sure to eat some more fruits and protein." He scratched his chin thinking. "Do you think maybe, you could be pregnant?" My mouth dropped open. "Absolutely not! You gave me pills the other week, remember." "I do. I also recall Don stating he hasn't been wearing a condom at his last checkup. Birth control isn't 100% effective." "Ew! Why would he tell you that? And no, I'm not pregnant. Life can't be that f*cking cruel." "I actually didn't need to know. He wrote it proudly on his form. I won't repeat what it said though. Don is a... complicated man. I know he shows

she says coming to a stop in front of me. I feel Luke go tense as he lifts himself up to his full height. “This is Donnie, a friend from way back. He’s visiting town for a bit and I thought to introduce you. God knows he needs to get to know a nice girl for ones instead of those two dimensional ones he’s always dating.” “Wow, way to sell it, Raina. Is there any other way of making me look like a creep.” Donnie says. “Oh come on, Cheryl isn’t like that. Maybe you could show him around sometime, he’s a pilot, you two should talk.”