Can a marriage survive manipulation and lies?
She was hellbent on making her father disown her. Her rebellious attitude and the color that marred her snowflake skin was proof of that, so I used that knowledge to my benefit.
I promised her hate and blood. Instead, she got my heart and a weak man on his knees in front of her.
She was never supposed to be my bride. She was the daughter of a rival family, not even of Italian descent. She was from a different culture.
Sasha Nikolayev was my vice. I was an addict for her. I would have said and done anything to chain her to me—so that’s what I did.
Do you ever really get over your school crush when he never once glanced your way?
I was the only daughter of the Italian American Mafia Boss on the east coast. After my mother was murdered, he made sure the world forgot he had a daughter. I had to pretend to be the girl I’ve never been: meek. There is not one submissive bone in my body, but I had to look and act the part.
Matteo De Salvo is the only person that has ever made me nervous. My skin itched around him and my throat closed up. I watched him from a distance, the defiant part of me hoping he’d catch me.
He did.
But to him I was a creep. To the girl he knocked up our senior year of high school, I was a nuisance who threatened her claim on him. Spoiler alert: she didn’t get him either.
Six years later, Matteo is a single dad and boxing champion. And me? I’m a full-fledged member of the family. I no longer hide, despite my father wishing I did. I run multi-million dollar businesses. I couldn’t care less about what Matteo is up to these days. I’m over him.
So, when I walked into a dive bar to save my friend’s life, why did I save Matteo’s instead?
We were high school sweethearts. One day she disappeared after class and didn’t come back. She left me high and dry. I was angry. I took it out on her by sleeping with her best friend. Then she showed back up with a story I didn’t believe. I was done.
I married her best friend after she got pregnant, and now I have a seventeen-year-old son who’s stuck in the middle of our divorce.
But then I saw my ex again. Feelings arose I thought I buried all those years ago. She’s still mine. I proved it against a wall after a heated argument. I found out there’s been no one else since me, and now that I’ve had her again, I’ll make sure there is no one else.
Then I met her son, and he looks just like me.
He’s also seventeen and best friends with my son.
