You Were My Goodbye

At a mutual friend's birthday celebration, a woman is forced into an awkward encounter with her former lover, Nico. He has since risen to power as the formidable Godfather of the Barzan family, appearing polished alongside his stunning fiancée. While his future bride taunts her about the life she walked away from, Nico remains icy, dismissing their history entirely. Hiding a significant scar on her wrist, she struggles to maintain her composure under the heavy gaze of high society.

Chapters

Chapter 7

The private hospital was in the suburbs, surrounded by endless woods.

I couldn't leave. I couldn't reach anyone.

The doctors and nurses said they were sorry, but their hands were tied.

Nico came every day. Mostly at dusk, rushing in straight from work, and we'd talk.

I kept my distance. He didn't push.

Lately, I'd been dreaming of the past a lot.

Back when I used to say his name all the time.

"Nico, you're going to be the greatest don ever."

He sighed. "What flavor milk today?"

"Banana."

He skipped class for the first time just to buy me banana milk. Got caught.

Later, in college, rumors spread about him and the campus beauty.

I took the subway for over a dozen stops and sat crying under his building.

Nico got out of bed, came downstairs in the dark, and gently wiped my tears. "Stop crying. If you want me, I'm yours."

"Only you from now on."

"That's not how you confess."

He hugged me tight. "I love you."

We never imagined that a decade later, it would come to this.

"Tomorrow, I'm getting married."

The sunset still lingered, warmth fading.

Nico's voice pulled me back. "Is there anything you want to say to me?"

I held my half-drunk milk and looked at his face.

Suddenly I understood why I'd been dreaming so much.

I was saying goodbye to the old Valentina and the old Nico.

On TV, his and Mira's wedding was all over the news.

Golden couple. Perfect match.

That was the future we once dreamed of.

But now? I was sick, broken. Who was I to deserve it?

"Congratulations," I said. "I hope you have many children."

Nico's knife slipped. It cut his finger. Blood welled up.

He blinked, grabbed a tissue, pressed it to the cut, and smiled bitterly.

"It's fine. She and I are just going through the motions. Do you want kids? Boys, girls? How many? I'm good with anything."

"Nico, can't we just let it go?" I felt so tired. "Let's keep some dignity."

He stopped pretending. Threw the apple back into the basket. Stared at me with a mocking smile.

"Let it go?"

"Why?"

"You started this. Then you got bored and walked away clean. What does that make me? A dog?"

I closed my eyes against the sunlight. "Then I'll pay you back."

He went rigid. "What?"

I watched the dying sun. "You want me to suffer? I can die."

He grabbed my chin, forced my face toward him, eyes blazing.

"Valentina, are you sick?"

"If you wanted to die so badly, why didn't you do it back then?"

Continue to next part

Elara Sinclair believed her marriage to Lucian Hawke solidified the power of the Northeast's top mafia families. However, a terminal cancer diagnosis coincides with the return of Lucian’s former flame. Indifferent to her health, Lucian demands an immediate divorce. Following her quiet passing, Lucian is left devastated at her grave on the very day of his new wedding. His regrets come too late, as Elara is gone forever, leaving him to mourn a love he discarded in this tragic modern romance.

Mafia Modern Mystery Romance

8.2

Forced to Divorce, I Wed the Man He Fears Most

8.2

Nina has spent years living as a submissive shadow within the Vitale family, enduring Erico’s whims after losing her own family's protection. Treated more like a pet than a wife, she finally reaches her breaking point when he demands a divorce. Instead of begging, Nina contacts Gian Lucenti, a man Erico deeply fears. When Gian promises to marry her in ten days, the power balance shifts. Nina is ready to abandon her life of servitude and leave Erico forever.

Billionaire Mafia Modern Romance

8.4

From Discarded Wife To The Don's Successor

8.4

I was tightening my husband’s tie for the photographers at the gala when my phone buzzed against my thigh. A single notification stopped my heart dead. Julius had just wired five million dollars—capital I had secretly stolen from my father to build his company—to an account named 'K. Drake'. When I confronted him later that night, he didn't apologize. Instead, he lured me to an empty warehouse and detonated a rigged gas line. I woke up in a hospital bed, my body broken and my mind racing. Julius stood over me, checking his watch, looking terrifyingly calm. "The baby is gone," he said dismissively, referring to the pregnancy I hadn't even told him about yet. "But Kenzie needs a bone marrow transplant. You're a match." He was holding our daughter, Ava, hostage. He told me if I didn't give his mistress my marrow, I’d never see my child again. He looked at me with total contempt. To him, I was just a boring, civilian housewife. A prop he had used and was now ready to discard. He had no idea who I really was. He didn't know that the "bank loans" I secured for him were actually laundered syndicate money. He didn't know that the father I "didn't talk to" was Horacio Horton, the most feared Don on the East Coast. I let them take the marrow. I let them believe they had broken me. Then, as soon as Julius left the room, I reached for the phone and dialed a number I hadn't used in ten years. "Papa," I whispered into the receiver. "Send the army." The civilian Florence died in that bed. The Mob Princess had just returned to take her throne.

Mafia Modern Romance

7.4

Jilted By The Heir, Married The Don

7.4

I was sitting in the Presidential Suite in my heavy silk wedding dress, waiting to marry the heir of the Moretti syndicate to save my family from insurmountable debt. Then, my assistant handed me the morning tabloid. My fiancé, Marco, had fled to Paris with a half-dressed chorus girl, declaring to the world that he was breaking his chains. My father burst into the room, terrified that rival families would slaughter us by midnight, and demanded I go beg the Morettis for mercy. But the Moretti family's ruthless matriarch and their 'Fixer' had a different plan. To cover up Marco's cowardice and protect their syndicate's reputation, they decided to tell the press that my bloodline was "impure" and cancel the wedding. Even Marco's slimy cousin tried to grope me, offering to take me off their hands as his leftover prize. They were going to nail me and my entire family to a cross of public shame just to save their own pride. I was nothing but collateral, surrounded by cowards, pawns, and opportunists who were ready to devour me to save their own necks. But I refused to be the scapegoat for a spineless boy. If I was going to be a piece on the board, I would be played by the hand of the King. I gathered my heavy skirt, walked straight into the private parlor of the apex predator himself—Don Dante Moretti—and slammed the tabloid on his mahogany desk. "Don't cancel the wedding." I looked the most dangerous man in New York dead in the eye. "Marry me."

Mafia Modern Romance

7.9

Leaving After Learning My Lesson

7.9

On her birthday, Matteo Giovanni and her parents force her into a Behavioral Correction Center under a strict reform contract. After a year of being drugged and humiliated to break her spirit, she transforms into a quiet, elegant woman who appears to be the perfect mafia wife. While her fiancé celebrates her newfound obedience and prepares for their wedding, she is secretly planning her permanent departure. As she vanishes from their lives, those who broke her begin to unravel in her absence.

Action Mafia Modern Mystery Romance

8.5

My Ninety-Nine Dads

8.5

After being abandoned as an infant, a young girl is adopted by the Bloods, a lethal syndicate of ninety-nine men. She grows up as their protected princess but maintains a low profile for a decade to ensure their safety. Everything changes in high school when a group of wealthy bullies targets her. Following a violent confrontation that leaves her facing expulsion, a teacher demands to meet her parents. Now, her secret family of outlaws is about to make a public appearance.

Action Mafia Modern Young Adult

You Were My Goodbye

Chapter 7

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