The Principessa's Cruel Choice

Nico Gallo and I grew up together. He was our family's top enforcer, and for ten years, we were secretly in love.

The very day we decided to go public, Nico was sent on a suicide mission to Chicago to eliminate a rival family.

The night before he left, he held me and promised, "If I make it back alive, I'll give you the grandest wedding and stay by your side forever."

I foolishly defied my father and waited for him, becoming the laughingstock of the New York underworld.

Three years later, Nico returned in disgrace, a woman from a rival family by his side—and pregnant with his child.

He knelt before my father, choking out the words like a coward, "Don, I promised Sierra I'd take care of her for the rest of her life!"

The woman, Sierra, hid timidly behind Nico, her hands protectively clutching her swollen belly.

My father’s eyes flicked to me. Everyone was waiting for the explosion, for me to make a scene.

Instead, I just smiled and accepted the engagement ring from the city's most infamous playboy Don—Caspian Thorne.

At my engagement party, Nico, wild-eyed and desperate, crashed his car into the venue. He aimed a gun at my fiancé and roared, "Aurora Valachi! You marry him, and I'll put him in the ground!"

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1

The sharp crack of a slap echoed through the grand hall of the estate. I had just struck Nico Gallo, the man I grew up with, the lover I had kept hidden for a decade. As I drew my hand back, my palm still stung.

Nico clutched his reddening cheek, staring at me, stunned. The very eyes that had once been my undoing now held nothing but disbelief.

He tried to explain, but I cut him off, my voice like ice. "Nico, do you think I'll forgive you? That I'll just pretend this never happened because you're on your knees begging?"

"Aurora, I know you're angry, but please, just hear me out," Nico pleaded.

He shuffled forward on his knees, reaching for my hand. "I promised you, if I made it back alive, I'd marry you. We'd be together, out in the open. But that was three years ago. Everything's changed. Sierra is pregnant with my child—"

Nico paused, his expression a mask of what he probably thought was profound love and helplessness.

He pressed on, "But we had ten years. How can I just abandon you? I'll make Sierra my wife in name only. My heart will always be yours."

"You'll always be the most important person in my life. We can be together, just like before. I'll even tell everyone the child is your godchild. I can remain the Don's loyal soldier, serve the family—"

I let out a derisive laugh, cutting him off. "Don? Nico, don't forget your place. My father treated you like a son and gave you everything—all because of me."

"Who do you think you are? You're nothing but an ungrateful dog our family took in!"

Another slap cracked through the hall, piercing the silence. Nico's other cheek swelled instantly.

I didn't spare him another glance. My cold gaze slid past him, locking onto the trembling woman cowering behind him. Sierra.

I strolled toward her, a cold smile playing on my lips as I looked down at her.

My voice was a soft, cruel whisper. "So eager to pick up the trash I, Aurora Valachi, threw away. And you even managed to make a little souvenir out of it."

Sierra trembled violently, her body instinctively trying to shrink behind Nico as she clutched her swollen belly.

I leaned close to her ear. "But some things are just rotten to the core. Did you really think you won?"

"You slept your way into his bed, used a baby to steal another woman's fiancé. Do you think the Valachi family will ever accept a snake like you? Or are you content to live in my shadow for the rest of your life, forever my cheap substitute?"

Nico's face went chalk-white. He stared at me, his lips trembling, but no words came out.