My Fiancé Betrayed Me, I Became Mafia Queen

Two powerful Mafia families controlled Sicily: the Moretti family and the Vincenti family. To survive here, you had to swear loyalty to one side. Three years ago, Luca Romano of the Moretti family was being hunted by his enemies. I hid him, badly wounded, in my wine cellar. That was the only reason he survived. Later, he proposed to me. But on the eve of our wedding, just as the two families were preparing for peace talks, the police set up an ambush at the meeting place. Only a handful of insiders knew the new address, and all the evidence pointed to Sofia Greco, Luca's childhood friend. But Luca burned the evidence and named me as the suspect instead. "You want me to die in her place?" He wouldn't meet my eyes. "Sofia's father controls the Moretti family's weapons and money. Nothing can happen to her right now. "You've spent your whole life on the farm. You've never been involved in family business. They won't find anything. In a few days, I'll bring you home." Everyone around him acted as if it were perfectly reasonable. "Without Luca, you're just a woman who runs a farm. "If anything happens to Sofia, his whole crew goes down with her. If you're going to marry him, you can take the fall for him this once." In the end, Luca shackled me himself and delivered me to the two families for trial. Everyone was waiting for me to confess. But at the far end of the long table, Don Lorenzo Moretti and Donna Isabella Vincenti—the heads of the two families—rose the moment they saw my face. No one in Sicily knew that the two of them, bitter enemies for more than 20 years, had once been in love. And I was the daughter they'd kept hidden for years. 1 When they kicked in the gate, my fiancé, Luca, was standing right behind the Moretti men. When the meeting location leaked, he'd given them my name. For days, Luca kept insisting it was only a routine investigation. At most, he said, they'd check my phone and my books. Once they found nothing, they'd leave. "Just hang in there for a few days. It'll be over soon. You're tougher than Sofia. She couldn't handle this." I'd always believed him. Until then, he'd never broken a promise to me. Luca had only recently taken charge of his crew, and everyone was watching him. I knew he needed to give the two families an answer quickly, so I didn't object all week as they went through my phone and my books. I told myself that if I could help him get through this, a few days of mistreatment were no big deal. But when the search team arrived, they kicked in the gate and started smashing things as soon as they entered. They yanked drawers out and dumped their contents on the floor. They kicked over the wooden crates I'd packed for delivery. It didn't feel like a search. It felt like they'd already decided I had leaked the address and were using the search as an excuse to punish me. Several of them headed straight for the wine cellar. One man searched the back of the cellar and reached for a cabinet. I stopped him at once. "There's nothing but wine in there. You won't find anything you're looking for!" He ignored me. The man beside him dragged me away. The cabinet door swung open. Inside was an old wooden crate. The color drained from my face. "Don't touch that crate!" Inside were the last bottles of wine my adoptive father had sealed for me before he died. He had already been very sick. Just walking down to the cellar forced him to stop and rest several times, but he still dragged himself there and sealed each bottle himself. I'd just gotten engaged to Luca. My adoptive father sat on a wooden stool, labeling the bottles. He smiled and told me, "On your wedding day, you have to open the best bottle." But he didn't live to see my wedding. That wine was the last thing he'd left me. All these years, I'd never been able to bring myself to touch it. When the searchers reached for the crate, I planted myself in front of it and looked at Luca. I'd endured everything else they'd done, but this crate was different. "You know how much this wine means to me." If Luca said one word, these men might back off rather than risk crossing him—or at least handle the crate more carefully. Luca stared at me for a few seconds. Finally, he said, "They've already searched this far. Let them finish. Once they see there's nothing in it, they'll leave." I stared at him. He hadn't said a single word in my defense. When the searchers realized Luca wouldn't stop them, they shoved me aside and dragged out the crate. They handled it carelessly. The crate slammed into the wine rack, sending the bottles flying. They shattered one after another. I lunged for it on instinct. Wine ran across the stone floor, soaking the labels my adoptive father had attached to the bottles himself. I reached for them, but my palm landed on broken glass. Blood streamed down my fingers and mingled with the wine. A sharp pain tore through my hand, but I didn't care. I dropped to my knees and pulled the soggy labels from the wine. The writing had already begun to blur. I'd guarded that wine for years, only to watch every bottle shatter in front of me. I couldn't save a single one. The searchers barely glanced at the mess before turning toward the stairs. My adoptive mother's things were up there. Luca only stopped the men when he saw the blood on my hand. "You can search upstairs, but stop smashing things. Leave anything unrelated to the investigation alone." But by the end of the search, they had torn open the trunk holding my adoptive mother's clothes anyway. Her favorite light blue cardigan lay by the stairs, one sleeve caked in mud. My adoptive mother had always been so particular about cleanliness. After she died, I washed her clothes, packed them into that trunk, and never touched them again. When the searchers found nothing, they left me alone in the wreckage. Luca glanced at the broken glass covering the floor. "I'll send someone over to clean up tomorrow. I'll pay you back for everything they broke." Then he sighed with relief. "Thank God they searched your place today. If they'd done this to Sofia's house, she would have been terrified." My hand paused over the labels. This was what I'd been reduced to, yet all Luca cared about was that Sofia hadn't had to go through it. Is he really the man I love? Is everything I've endured today really worth it? For days, I'd kept telling myself I was only helping him get through this. But as I walked out of the cellar, I wondered for the first time whether we could ever go back to how things had been once the investigation ended. 2 Even after they destroyed my wine cellar, it wasn't over. The night of the police raid, Luca's most trusted right-hand man, Matteo Bianchi, was killed. Because Luca had named me as the suspect, his crew naturally blamed me. I stayed home, waiting for them to clear my name. But even by the day of Matteo's funeral, Luca hadn't contacted me once. I went to the church anyway, because Matteo had helped me so much. Whenever Luca was busy, Matteo ran errands to the winery for me and went with me to the church to finalize the wedding arrangements. Not long ago, he'd stood in front of me laughing. He'd said that on my wedding day, he would sit as far from the wine as possible so Luca couldn't make him drink for him again. Now he lay cold in a coffin. I'd barely reached the top of the steps when Matteo's mother recognized me. She had been so unsteady that others were holding her up. The moment she saw me, she tore free, rushed over, snatched the flowers from my arms, and threw them to the ground. "How dare you show up here! Yesterday I dressed him for burial, and his chest was covered in blood... Just the other day, he was still telling me about your wedding. He was so young..." Before I could react, she slapped me across the face. She sobbed so hard she could barely breathe, her grip tightening around my hand. "They all say you're the one who leaked it! He's dead because of you! Why weren't you the one who died?!" Matteo's younger brother, Dino Bianchi, blocked the church doors. His eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep, and he made no attempt to hide his hatred. "You're not welcome here!" People inside the church turned to stare, and muttered curses rippled through the church. I didn't pull away from Matteo's mother. She had just lost her son. I couldn't blame her. But Luca was inside. He knew I hadn't leaked the address. All he had to do was come out and say they hadn't identified the person responsible yet and that the search of my farm had turned up nothing. At least then, everyone would know there was no proof that I'd gotten Matteo killed. But Sofia came out first. "Showing up here today is only going to make her feel worse." I faced all those familiar faces in the church and defended myself. "They've already searched my farm, and they've checked my phone and my books. If you don't want me to come in today, I'll leave, but I had nothing to do with the leak." Sofia frowned. "Do you really need to bring this up today?" Then Luca came out of the church and stepped between us. He gently told someone to help Matteo's mother back inside. Then he turned to me and ordered me home. "Matteo just died. Seeing you will only upset them more. I'll keep investigating, but don't confront them today." I looked at him for a few seconds. While everyone called me a murderer, I'd waited for him to come out. But when he finally stood before me, his first words were still an order to leave. I finally understood that waiting for him to defend me was pointless. I had to clear my own name. I bent down, picked up the flowers, and placed them on the stone wall outside the church. "These are for Matteo." Then I walked down the steps without looking back at Luca. The phone rang soon after I got home. It was Luca. "I've called off the wedding for now." He tried to sound soothing, but his voice grated on me. "Everyone's watching you right now. Going ahead with the wedding would only make things worse. Once we get to the bottom of the leak, we'll set a new date." His words sounded just like what he'd told me a few days earlier—that it was just a routine investigation. Whenever something went wrong, he made every decision for me, then promised it would all be over soon. The wedding was no different. He'd canceled the church booking and the reception without even asking me first. Luca kept making promises on the other end of the line. "Once this blows over, I'll give you the perfect wedding." The whole thing suddenly seemed ridiculous. He was still convinced that once this trouble passed and he chose a new date, I would marry him as if nothing had happened. I stopped listening. "Got it." After hanging up, I scrolled through my contacts and found a number I hadn't called or texted in years. The year I turned 18, when my adoptive father told me the truth about where I came from, he also gave me this number. He said my birth parents had always known where I was and had kept a way out of Sicily open for me. But their identities made it impossible to acknowledge our relationship publicly, and I'd never wanted anything from them anyway. I sent a text. "Can you arrange for me to leave Sicily?" The reply came almost immediately. "Anytime." I stared at that single word for a long time and began seriously imagining what my life might look like outside Sicily. 3 After what happened at the funeral, I worried Matteo's family might blame me for the leak and come after me. I asked Luca to station two men at the farm. Luca agreed immediately. But when I returned from the vineyard, no one was at the gate. When I called, I learned that Sofia had been followed by an unfamiliar car on her way back to town. Luca feared someone was after her, so even though she already had bodyguards, he'd pulled both men from the farm and sent them to protect her. Again, he hadn't told me. He'd chosen Sofia without a moment's hesitation. Headlights suddenly swept past the window. I thought the two guards had returned, but before I could look up, a burst of gunfire shattered the living room window. I dove aside on instinct, but the second bullet struck my right arm, sending searing pain into my shoulder. I slammed into the wall, and my right arm went limp. Blood quickly soaked through my sleeve and dripped from my fingertips. I tried to reach my phone, but Dino kicked in the front door and charged inside. He was still wearing the black clothes from the funeral. His eyes were bloodshot, and I could smell alcohol on him from several steps away. He aimed his gun at me. "My brother is dead because of you!" I clutched my wounded arm and backed away. "I had nothing to do with the leak. The families already searched my winery!" He acted as if he hadn't heard me. He rushed forward and grabbed my collar. "Luca said it himself. You're the one who leaked it!" He slammed me into the wine cabinet. My back struck the wooden shelves, making the glasses rattle. He kicked my phone away, then pressed the gun's muzzle to my forehead. Any hope of calling for help vanished. "If you want revenge for your brother, at least find out who really leaked it first!" "Find out what? My brother's already dead!" His fury only grew, and the gun remained pressed to my forehead. Then tires screeched outside the gate. The two men assigned to guard the farm had returned. After a chaotic exchange of gunfire, I was finally safe. By the time the doctor finished bandaging my wound, I was close to passing out from the pain. When Luca arrived, no one had cleaned the living room. Broken glass covered the floor, blood streaked the wall, and the bullet removed from my arm sat on the doctor's tray. He rushed to my bedside. "I'm sorry. Sofia was still trembling when she got back this afternoon. We couldn't figure out who owned the car that had followed her, and I was afraid they might come after her again. That's why I pulled the guards from the farm. I never thought anyone would come after you here." "You promised me you'd leave them here. Luca, you lied to me again." Luca opened his mouth, but no words came out. I didn't let him explain. Maybe he truly hadn't expected Dino to show up with a gun. But Sofia would always come first. Before leaving, the doctor told Luca that someone needed to stay with me that night. A bullet had just been removed from my arm, and the wound could start bleeding again. Luca immediately said he would. I didn't object. What had happened had shaken me. Angry as I was, I still needed someone with me that night. But he let me down again. It wasn't long before Luca was called away. Sofia had woken up from a nightmare and couldn't stop crying. Nothing anyone said could calm her down. She only wanted to see Luca. Before leaving, Luca stationed the two guards at the farm again and told the doctor to call him immediately if anything happened. I lay in bed and listened to his car fade into the distance. This time, even disappointment felt pointless. A man who kept breaking his promises wasn't worth my heartbreak. 4 While I was trying to find evidence and clear my name, Matteo's fiancée, Elena Ferri, came to the farm and set his phone in front of me. "We only got his things back yesterday. When I was going through his phone, I found a voice message he never sent." She opened Matteo's chat with Luca. The final message was a voice note marked "failed to send," timestamped the night before the address leaked. I played the voice note again. "Sofia came by for the new address. She said you told her to pick it up. But you told me yourself she wasn't involved in any of this. Something's not right. You should look into it when you get back." So Sofia had entered the records room and taken the new address the night before the leak, without Luca's knowledge. I had barely saved the recording when Joint Council officers arrived to take me in for more questioning. I played the recording for them immediately. Then Luca and Sofia arrived. The moment Sofia heard the voice message, her expression changed. The council members questioned Luca. He remained silent for a few seconds. If he admitted he hadn't known, my name would be cleared. "I'm the one who sent her. Matteo didn't know I'd arranged it." My head snapped up. I'd spent days making excuses for him. When he let them search the farm, I told myself it would end once they finished. When he pulled the guards, I excused him again, telling myself he'd never expected anyone to actually try to kill me. I was hurt that Luca had left me alone in the hospital to go see Sofia. But this was different. He knew better than anyone that Sofia had leaked the address, and he was sacrificing me to protect her. Sofia had power and influence behind her, so of course Luca would always put her first. I was just an orphan with no family to back me. Why would my feelings matter? Maybe he cared about me a little, but his feelings for me would never matter as much as power. I didn't look at him again. The Joint Council's men moved in to take us away. One of them grabbed my right arm. The freshly stitched wound tore open, and I doubled over in pain. "Stand up straight! Don't try anything!" The man beside him pinned me down by the shoulder. The handcuff clicked shut right over my wound. Blood seeped through the gauze. Luca's expression changed, and he stepped forward. The man holding me reached for his gun. "What? You want to stop the Joint Council from taking her?" Luca stopped. They shoved me into the car. By the time we reached the council hall, my right arm hurt so badly I could barely lift it. The hall was packed with people from both families. Matteo wasn't the only person killed in the police raid. The moment I was pushed inside, someone recognized me. "That's her!" Someone jerked the chain around my waist, sending me stumbling into the center of the hall. Before I could regain my footing, several people closed in around me. A middle-aged man lunged forward and grabbed my collar, his eyes bloodshot with rage. Someone tried to hold him back, but he kept his grip on my clothes like a madman and dragged me several steps. "My son died that night. Why are you still alive?!" Someone shoved me from behind while another spat in my face. "Kill her right here!" "Bury her alive or burn her to death! Don't let her die too easily!" "She should go straight to hell and pay for their deaths!" The shouting closed in from every direction. More people shoved back their chairs and surged forward. The few guards trying to maintain order couldn't hold them back. Several took the chance to punch and kick me. Within moments, I was covered in cuts and bruises. They dragged me across the floor. The pain made my vision swim, and blood kept spilling from my mouth. The people at the front ripped the chain from the men guarding me and looped it around my neck. They'd already decided how they wanted me to die. Then the man who'd been restrained broke free, raised his gun, and aimed it at my head. His finger moved toward the trigger. Looking at his twisted, hate-filled face, I was certain my life would end there. A loud crash suddenly rang out from the far end of the long table. Lorenzo, seated at the head of the table, shot to his feet so fast his chair toppled behind him. His gaze cut through the crowd and locked on my face. Across from him, Isabella recognized me at the same instant. The wineglass in her hand hit the edge of the table, spilling red wine all over it. She drew her gun and shouted, "Everyone, stop!" The hall fell silent. At that moment, the lead investigator rushed in and placed a newly recovered surveillance photo on the table. "New evidence. A Moretti transport truck appeared near the meeting site before the police ambush." The license plate was covered, and the driver's face was obscured. Only one thing was certain. Besides Sofia, another insider had known the address in advance.