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 7

I came back for one reason only: my passport.

It was locked in a safe at the estate, hidden in my old, tiny room.

I thought the house would be empty at this hour.

I was wrong.

I slipped in through a side door, shaking the rain off my coat.

Laughter drifted down the hallway, light and carefree.

The sound came from the music room.

I should have turned around right then.

But my feet carried me forward, pulled by an invisible force.

I stopped dead in my tracks at the open double doors.

Dante sat at the grand piano, his posture straight and elegant.

He was playing Liebestraum (Love Dream).

It was a song he had composed while blind, born in the darkness that had once consumed him.

He used to play it for me at 3:00 AM, in the quiet hours when the pain in his eyes was unbearable.

He had told me the melody was the sound of my voice.

Now, he was playing it for her.

Sofia sat on the bench beside him, far too close.

She rested her head on his shoulder, her fingers dancing lightly over the keys, pretending to play along with him.

She looked up, her gaze landing on me standing in the doorway.

A glint of malice flashed in her eyes.

"Oh, look, Dante," she cooed. "The help is back."

Dante's hands faltered on the keys.

The music stopped abruptly.

He turned around.

His eyes met mine across the room.

"Elena," he said softly, a defensive edge to his voice. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm packing," I replied.

"Don't be rude, Dante," Sofia chided gently, placing a possessive hand on his chest. "Finish the piece. I love this song. You wrote it for me, right?"

Dante looked at me.

He knew.

He knew that I knew.

But he didn't correct her.

"Yeah," he said, his deep gaze never leaving my eyes, cold and unwavering. "I wrote it for you, Sofia."

Something deep inside me snapped.

The last, vital lifeline was severed.

Sofia smiled triumphantly.

She leaned in closer.

She kissed his lips.

It wasn't a light peck; it was a declaration of ownership.

Dante didn't push her away.

He didn't flinch.

He just closed his eyes and let her kiss him.

I stood there and watched them.

I watched the man I had pulled back from the brink of despair kiss the woman who had abandoned him.

I didn't scream.

I just turned and walked away.

The rain was coming down harder now, turning into a thunderstorm.

I didn't seek shelter.

I walked straight into the deluge.

The water mixed with the tears on my face, making them indistinguishable.

I was free.

I had nothing left to lose, because he had taken the last thing I truly owned.

My memories.

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 7

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