You Want a Mistress I’m Already a Queen

Two years into my marriage with Don Dante, my ex came back. Julian, the man who shattered my heart five years ago.

He announced he was getting engaged. And he wanted me as his mistress.

"I know I hurt you," he said. "My family looks down on mob ties. It was never going to work. But now? I'm marrying Tiffany. I'm taking over the family empire. I can finally afford to keep you."

I just sneered at him.

"Did it ever occur to you that I might be married?"

He scoffed.

"What decent family would have you? The daughter of a mob underboss? Don't be ridiculous."

His arrogance made me sick.

When I refused, he slapped a black card on the table. Told me to buy whatever I wanted.

He said he'd pick me up next week. That we could spend every weekend tangled up in his bed.

I spat on the floor at his feet. "Get him out," I told my guard. "And take his trash with him."

He didn't get it. Not then. But he would. The moment he found out who I married.

I didn't just marry anyone. I married the king of the Chicago underworld.

A man he could never touch.

And when he finally figured it out, he lost his goddamn mind.

Two years into my marriage with Don Dante, my ex reappeared. Julian heir to an East Coast dynasty, he was finally coming into his fortune.

Now he thought he could finally afford me.

What he didn't know? I belonged to someone he could never afford to cross.

That voice. Julian's. It cut through the quiet of the garden.

"Sera, I know you're in there."

I was pruning roses. The sound of his voice almost made me snip my own finger.

How did he get in?

Through the glass, I saw him standing before the black rose bushes. Perfect suit. Not a hair out of place. Exactly like the night he broke me.

We dated in secret.

I didn't know he was an Astor, heir to an East Coast fortune.

He didn't know my father was the Moretti underboss. He swore he loved me.

Over and over. Until his family found out who I was. Old money doesn't mix with the mob.

A week later, pictures of him kissing some princess splashed across the society pages.

When I confronted him, he told me she was worthy of his name. I wasn't.

I was dead inside.

Then Dante came for me. The Don who’d always watched over me. He pursued me. Relentlessly.

And he won.

Now, seeing the man who betrayed me...

All I felt was disgust.

"We need to talk." He turned. His blue eyes filled with a sickening confidence.

I pushed open the greenhouse door. "Talk about what? How did you get in?"

"I bribed a guard." He shrugged. Like it was nothing. "That's not important. What's important is, I need to tell you—"

"Get out."

"Just listen." Julian took a step closer. "I'm getting engaged to Tiffany. Next month."

I laughed. "Congratulations."

"It's just duty, Sera. A family arrangement." His voice dropped to that familiar, velvet purr. The one he always used when he wanted something from me. "My feelings for you haven't changed. You know that, right?"

"What do I know?"

"I love you." He reached for my face, but I pulled back. "Tiffany is just a marriage. You—you're my true love."

True love?

I almost laughed out loud.

"Did it ever occur to you that I might be married?"

Julian scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous. Who would have you?"

His words turned my blood to ice.

"Think about it," Julian started pacing, like he was giving a business pitch. "You're impulsive, stubborn, and you don't know the rules of high society. Worse, you come from the mob. Besides me, who else would possibly want you?"

I watched him, letting him perform.

"And your family's situation now—" He shook his head, a mask of fake sympathy on his face. "I heard your father's operation has been struggling since he stepped down as underboss. You need me, Sera. Just like old times."

"Used to?"

Julian walked over to the black roses, stroking a petal.

"I planted these for you, remember? Black roses. For your black hair."

He turned back, a strange glint in his eye.

"You kept them. For two years, you kept them. What does that tell you?"

I didn't answer.

"It means you still love me," he announced. "It means you were waiting for me to come back."

"Julian—"

"I know I was wrong to break up with you," he cut me off. "But that was my father's decision, not mine. It's different now. I have my own business, my own fortune. I can give you everything you want."

He pulled a key from his pocket.

"The key to a penthouse in Manhattan. Your new home."

"I don't need it."

"Of course you do." Julian walked toward me. "You can't keep living in this rundown estate. The penthouse has a rooftop terrace, a private elevator, and—"

"I said I don't need it."

Julian stopped, a wounded look on his face. "Sera, don't be like this. I know you're still angry, but I'll make it right. We can all be happy."

All happy?

Who the hell did this arrogant bastard think he was?

"You think you can have us both?"

"It's not about having us both," Julian corrected. "It's reality. I need Tiffany's family to secure my position. But I need you to fill my heart. It's the best arrangement for everyone."

I stared at him, at the absolute entitlement in his eyes.

Two years, and he hadn't changed a bit.

Still selfish. Still arrogant. Still thought the world revolved around him.

"I'll have my lawyers draw up a contract," he continued. "You'll be set for life."

"You'll need to be discreet, of course. We can't have any trouble. But you're good at that. You always were good at knowing your place."

Knowing my place?

I grabbed the pruning shears next to me and hurled them at him.

"Get the hell out of my sight!"