Roses never fade

For seven years, I was his eyes. But the moment he regained his sight, he decided to marry someone else. Seven years of devotion couldn't buy his heart. I gave him back his dignity. Now that he was restored as the Godfather of the New York Mafia, he laughed with others, degrading me to the status of a mere "mistress." He thought I didn't understand Italian, but I heard him loud and clear: he was going to marry his first love. He arrogantly believed I would always love him, willing to stay in his penthouse like a caged bird. But he was wrong. I boarded a one-way flight to Australia. Dante, I don't want you anymore. By the time he returned home, he would have lost me forever. But a sore loser refuses to concede. Even if he had to burn the world to the ground, he would search for me and beg for my forgiveness.

Chapters

Chapter 2

Elena Rossi's POV:

Donna Isabella didn't pour me tea.

She sat across from me in a private room of a café, where an hour's rental cost more than my mother made in a year.

She slid a black folder across the marble tabletop with her manicured fingers.

"I always knew you were a smart girl, Elena," she said.

I didn't touch the folder yet.

"I want out," I said evenly. "Completely out. No tracking. No loose ends. If Dante comes looking for me, he'll only find a ghost."

Isabella smiled.

"Dante won't come looking for you," she said dismissively. "He's obsessed with you, true. But he's a Vitiello. He understands duty. He's marrying Sofia Moretti in three months. You're just a loose end."

"Then cut it," I said.

I opened the folder.

The number was staggering. Fifty million dollars.

Enough to buy a brand-new life.

But there were conditions.

The recipient must leave the United States within 14 days.

The recipient must never contact Dante Vitiello again.

Breach of contract will result in immediate termination.

In the Vitiello family, "termination" didn't mean a lawsuit. It meant a bullet.

I picked up the pen and signed my name. Elena Rossi.

"Smart choice," Isabella said, snatching the folder back before the ink was even dry. "The funds will be deposited into an offshore account by tomorrow morning. Australia has lovely weather this time of year. And no extradition treaties for us to worry about."

"Two weeks," I said.

"Two weeks," she confirmed. "Don't linger, child. The Don hates long goodbyes."

The ride back to the penthouse we shared was a blur.

The doorman smiled at me as I walked into the lobby. "Good afternoon, Miss Rossi."

He didn't know I had already become a ghost.

I took the elevator to the apartment that occupied the entire top floor.

It was filled with things Dante had given me. Jewelry I never wore. Dresses worth a fortune.

A gilded cage made of diamonds and silk. I finally saw the penthouse for what it truly was.

I sat on the edge of the bed where we had made love just this morning.

My phone pinged.

An Instagram notification.

I usually avoided social media, but curiosity is a poison.

I opened it.

Sofia Moretti had posted a photo ten minutes ago.

It was a close-up of a document on a desk. A marriage contract.

Her hand was resting on Dante's forearm.

It was Dante. I instantly recognized the watch on his wrist. It was my birthday gift to him.

The caption read: Fate always brings back what's yours. #VitielloMoretti #Forever.

I stared at the screen until my eyes burned.

Fate didn't bring him back.

I pulled him out of the darkness. I healed him.

Seven years. How many seven years does a person get in a lifetime?

And yet, she was reaping the rewards.

My phone vibrated again. A text from Dante.

Dante: Have to stay overnight in D.C. Business came up. Don't wait up. Love you.

He wasn't in D.C.

He was with her.

Probably celebrating the signing of their marriage contract.

I replied.

Me: Okay. Stay safe.

I pressed send.

Then I double-tapped Sofia's photo.

Like.

I put my phone down and walked into the walk-in closet.

I didn't take any clothes. I didn't take any jewelry.

I dragged a small, battered suitcase from beneath the racks of designer clothes.

I started packing the things that mattered.

My mother's rosary. The books I used to read to him when he was blind. A dried flower picked from the garden.

I was going to leave.

But first, I had to survive the next two weeks without screaming.

Continue to next part

I was guiding the blade through a slab of A5 Wagyu for our seven-year anniversary when a burner phone vibrated against my knee. It was a photo of a manicured hand resting on the tuxedo I had bought for Dante three weeks ago. On the finger sat a massive diamond ring. The caption read: Mrs. Isabella Gallo. Finally legal. For seven years, I wasn't just his lover. I was the architect of his legitimacy, the woman who wrote the code that cleaned his dirty money. Yet, while I was here cooking his favorite steak, he had married a mob princess to secure her father's territory. When Dante walked in smelling of expensive scotch and another woman's perfume, he didn't apologize. "It's just politics," he said, loosening his tie. "You keep your allowance, your position. You just stay in the shadows a little longer." He looked at me like I was a piece of high-end furniture. When I told him I was leaving, his face darkened. "You can't resign from the Mafia, Seraphina," he sneered, blocking the door. "If you leave, I will burn everything you have." He truly believed he was the King on the chessboard. He forgot that I was the one who built the board. I didn't scream. I didn't cry. I simply walked out, opened my encrypted laptop, and dialed the number of the one man Dante feared most. "I'm cashing out," I said. "And I'm bringing the entire Gallo empire with me."

Mafia Modern Romance

9.0

After Escaping The Family, I Chose to Scatter My Ashes into the Sea

9.0

After her ninety-ninth rejected call to her fiancé, Draven Frost, a terminally ill woman seeks to sever ties with the Rocci crime family. Despite her end-stage renal disease, her father, the family Consigliere, reacts with violence while her mother dismisses her diagnosis as a plea for attention. Even as her sister Bianca plays the martyr, the protagonist remains resolute. With only three days left to live, she demands an end to her engagement and her status as a Rocci daughter.

Action Billionaire Mafia Modern Mystery Romance

8.0

He Betrayed the Wrong Wife

8.0

When Christian Conti dotes on her stepsister’s pregnancy, his wife realizes her marriage is a sham designed to secure a family heir. The Conti family expects her to accept the betrayal and raise the child as her own, but they underestimate her true power. By launching a massive financial divestment, she freezes Christian’s assets and cripples his empire. As his world collapses, he learns she wasn't just a spouse, but his entire lifeline. Now, she is ready to bury his legacy for good.

Action Billionaire Mafia Modern Mystery Romance

9.6

He Chose A Fake Heiress Over His True Queen

9.6

I waited seven years for Jax Vetti, the youngest Capo in New York, to finally claim me. Instead, five minutes before our scheduled engagement, he called me a burden behind a velvet curtain. Standing on the center stage of the Gala, he didn't reach for my hand. He took the hand of Chloe Davenport, his rival’s daughter, and announced to the underworld that she was carrying his heir. When the explosion tore through the ballroom moments later, Jax didn't hesitate. He threw his body over Chloe, shielding her completely, and dragged her to the safe room. I was left behind, exposed and helpless, until a massive crystal chandelier crashed down, crushing my legs and slicing my throat. While I lay bleeding out on the cold floor, Jax returned. He looked at my shattered body not with horror, but with disgust. "You're a liability, Savvy," he sneered, ordering his guards to dump me in the courtyard like trash so I wouldn't upset his pregnant fiancée. I clutched the bullet casing he gave me years ago—a blood oath he swore would bind us forever. He had promised to protect me, but tonight, he stepped over my broken body to comfort the woman who was secretly plotting his demise. His second-in-command found me before the cold took me. "He's lost his mind," Ben whispered, scooping me up and driving me to a private jet bound for Sicily. I didn't die that night. But the girl who loved Jax Vetti did. Six months later, I returned from the dead. Not as his victim, but as the woman who would turn his wedding into a funeral.

Billionaire Mafia Romance

8.3

He Never Saw Me

8.3

For a decade, she worked in the shadows, building a vast underworld empire for Cassius, the mafia Underboss she secretly loved. He promised marriage and control of the smuggling network she built with her own blood. Yet at the syndicate banquet, he awarded her throne to Serena, a sheltered mafia princess who had never held a gun. Demoted to a mere soldier under Serena's command, she is warned not to make a scene. Cassius offers a hidden payoff and a secret wedding, expecting her to clean up Serena's messes in the dark. Remembering the three bullets she took for him, she refuses to beg. She drops her family crest onto the marble floor and accepts absolute autonomy from the rival Sicilian syndicate. This time, she will build an empire that belongs solely to her.

Action Adventure Mafia Romance

7.6

The Mafia's Forgotten Daughter is Back

7.6

I served seven years in a black-site prison for a crime my sister committed. Today, my betrothed—the man who chose her over me—finally came to collect his property. But he didn't come to save me. He came to collect me like a debt, watching with cold eyes as I was shoved into a filthy shed, a disgrace to be kept out of sight. Minutes later, his phone rang. It was my sister. Without a word, he left me standing in the dirt to rush to her side. Abandoned. Again. Through the thin walls of my new prison, I heard my own mother's voice. She was arranging to have me sent to a remote convent, to be buried for good this time. They hadn't just locked me away to protect their perfect, adopted daughter. They planned to erase me completely. But as I sat in the dark, a cheap burner phone buzzed in my pocket. A single message glowed on the screen. "Northern Syndicate. We can get you out. You have ten days."

Action Mafia Modern

Roses never fade

Chapter 2

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