Chapter 1 - INTRO — MAFIA BOSS STORY
THE MAFIA BOSS WAS CELEBRATING HIS ENGAGEMENT WITH THIRTY WEALTHY GUESTS WHEN HIS HOUSEMAID STUMBLED TOWARD HIM, A LONG, BLEEDING SLASH RUNNING VERTICALLY BESIDE HER LEFT EYE AND BOTH HANDS COVERED IN CUTS. BUT WHEN SHE PLACED HIS DEAD MOTHER'S SEALED LETTER BESIDE HIS CHAMPAGNE GLASS, HIS FIANCÉE TRIED TO SET IT ON FIRE.
“THAT LETTER WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO REACH YOU!”
Vanessa Bellini screamed across the enormous dining hall.
Thirty guests turned toward me.
A woman in an emerald evening gown dropped her silver fork.
Two businessmen stood beside the champagne table.
The violinists near the grand staircase stopped playing.
And I was standing in the middle of Luca Moretti's engagement celebration, clutching a bloodstained envelope.
My name is Julia Bennett.
My LEFT EYE was almost swollen shut.
A LONG VERTICAL BLEEDING SLASH ran from the outer edge of my left eyebrow down past my cheekbone.
Fresh blood streaked the left side of my face.
Both hands were covered in multiple bleeding cuts.
My fingers trembled so violently that I could barely hold the envelope.
But I couldn't leave.
Not until Luca had seen it.
At the head of the magnificent banquet table stood Luca Moretti.
An extraordinarily handsome Italian-American Mafia Boss, approximately thirty-three.
Extremely tall.
Heavily muscular, with a powerful chest and exceptionally broad shoulders.
His jet-black hair was thick, dense, and flawlessly swept backward, with luxurious volume and a perfectly full hairline.
His face was strikingly handsome, smooth, and youthful, with sharply masculine cheekbones, an impressive sculpted jaw, intense dark eyes, and perfectly groomed dark stubble.
Bold black-and-gray Mafia tattoos covered his neck, hands, fingers, wrists, and muscular forearms.
His luxurious black Italian suit emphasized his intimidating physique.
He was standing beside his fiancée, Vanessa.
She wore a magnificent red satin gown.
And she looked terrified when she recognized the envelope.
Three hours earlier, I'd been cleaning the glass conservatory.
A woman I had never seen before was waiting beside the lemon trees.
Her name was Rosa Alvarez.
She had worked for Luca's late mother for almost thirty years.
She was holding a small wooden box.
“Please,” she whispered, “I need to give this to Luca.”
Inside was a sealed letter.
Written in his mother's handwriting.
On the back were seven words:
GIVE THIS TO LUCA IF HE CHOOSES VANESSA.
I was still reading when Vanessa entered.
Her face changed instantly.
“Where did you get that?”
Rosa stepped backward.
Vanessa grabbed the box.
I tried to stop her.
She swung the heavy wooden lid toward my face.
Its sharp metal corner struck beside my LEFT EYE, leaving a long vertical gash.
I cried out.
Then the box fell against a glass cabinet.
The glass shattered.
When I reached for the envelope, fragments sliced across BOTH MY HANDS and several fingers.
Blood covered the letter.
Vanessa grabbed Rosa by the arm.
“Get out of this house!”
But I had already hidden the envelope beneath my apron.
I waited until the engagement dinner began.
Then I entered the crowded ballroom.
Past the waiters.
Past the champagne tower.
Past a dozen wealthy guests who stared at my bleeding face.
A man near the staircase called for help.
I kept going.
When I reached Luca, my legs nearly gave out.
I placed the envelope beside his champagne glass.
“Your mother wanted you to read this before the wedding.”
Luca stared at the handwriting.
His expression changed.
Then he saw my injured eye.
The bleeding cuts across my hands.
“Julia. Who did this?”
Vanessa rushed forward.
“She broke a cabinet in the conservatory!”
But Luca wasn't looking at her.
He was opening the letter.
Inside was an old photograph.
His mother.
Rosa Alvarez.
And Vanessa Bellini.
The photograph was dated twelve years earlier.
Seven years before Luca believed he'd met Vanessa.
His eyes narrowed.
“Why were you with my mother?”
Vanessa said nothing.
Luca turned the photograph over.
There was another message.
SHE DIDN'T COME INTO YOUR LIFE BY ACCIDENT.
His tattooed fingers tightened around the picture.
Then he unfolded the letter.
The first sentence made him stop breathing.
MY SON, IF YOU ARE READING THIS, THEN THE WOMAN WHO ONCE TRIED TO STEAL FROM OUR FAMILY HAS RETURNED TO BECOME YOUR WIFE.
Luca slowly raised his eyes.
May you like
And asked Vanessa:
“What exactly happened between you and my mother before you met me?”
