The Capo's Regret: The Curse Was A Lie

The Capo's Regret: The Curse Was A Lie

Qing Cheng

5.0
Comment(s)
16.8K
View
24
Chapters

For fifteen years, my husband Bennett refused to let me get pregnant. "My blood is a curse, Kelsey," he would say, gripping my hand with terrified intensity. "It kills the women who carry it. I won't risk you." I believed him. I mourned the children we never had just to stay alive for him. Then he brought Aria home. He claimed she was a distant cousin in trouble. But from the shadows of the ballroom, I watched him caress her swollen belly with a tenderness he never showed me. When I confronted him, the mask fell. "You provide the image, Kelsey," he said coldly. "She provides the bloodline. Do not make a scene." To teach me a lesson in obedience, my horse's reins were sabotaged. I woke up in the hospital with a fractured leg, only to learn he had ignored my emergency calls to hold Aria's hand during a routine ultrasound. Lying in that sterile bed, the truth hit me harder than the fall. There was no curse. He had medically gaslighted me for a decade, stealing my fertility with a lie, just to replace me with a mistress he called "cousin." He thought he had broken me. He thought I would fade quietly into the east wing. Instead, I wiped my tears and planted listening devices in his office. He wanted a legacy? I boarded a train to Paris, leaving behind a bomb that would burn his entire world to ash.

Chapter 1

For fifteen years, my husband Bennett refused to let me get pregnant.

"My blood is a curse, Kelsey," he would say, gripping my hand with terrified intensity. "It kills the women who carry it. I won't risk you."

I believed him. I mourned the children we never had just to stay alive for him.

Then he brought Aria home.

He claimed she was a distant cousin in trouble. But from the shadows of the ballroom, I watched him caress her swollen belly with a tenderness he never showed me.

When I confronted him, the mask fell.

"You provide the image, Kelsey," he said coldly. "She provides the bloodline. Do not make a scene."

To teach me a lesson in obedience, my horse's reins were sabotaged.

I woke up in the hospital with a fractured leg, only to learn he had ignored my emergency calls to hold Aria's hand during a routine ultrasound.

Lying in that sterile bed, the truth hit me harder than the fall.

There was no curse.

He had medically gaslighted me for a decade, stealing my fertility with a lie, just to replace me with a mistress he called "cousin."

He thought he had broken me. He thought I would fade quietly into the east wing.

Instead, I wiped my tears and planted listening devices in his office.

He wanted a legacy?

I boarded a train to Paris, leaving behind a bomb that would burn his entire world to ash.

Chapter 1

(Kelsey POV)

I stood in the shadows of a massive marble pillar, weighed down by diamonds that cost more than most people earn in a lifetime, and watched my husband caress another woman's swollen belly.

He didn't see me.

He saw only her, and the child that was supposed to be impossible-a miracle denied to us by the curse that had kept my own womb empty for fifteen desolate years.

It felt like a lifetime ago, but it was only this morning that I had woken up in our penthouse overlooking Central Park.

The sheets were cold on his side.

They were always cold.

I had spent the morning meticulously constructing the mask I presented to the world.

Foundation to conceal the violet shadows under my eyes.

Silk to drape over the hollowness in my chest.

I was Mrs. Kelsey Randolph.

The wife of Bennett Randolph, the most feared Capo in the New York syndicate.

Downstairs, the house manager and the wives of three senior soldiers had been waiting for me.

They perched on the edge of the velvet sofas, clutching their china cups as if they were lifelines.

"Mrs. Randolph, the charity gala is set for next week," one of them ventured.

Her eyes flickered to my flat stomach.

They always did.

I ignored the slight, taking a slow sip of my black coffee.

"Excellent," I said.

My voice was steady.

It was the voice of a woman who had everything.

But I had nothing.

Later, at breakfast, Bennett had sat across from me at the long mahogany table.

He didn't look up from his tablet.

"Bennett," I had started, my voice small. "I was reading about that agency in California again. The surrogacy one."

He stopped scrolling.

The temperature in the room seemed to plummet ten degrees.

"Kelsey," he said.

His voice was a low rumble-a sound that used to make my toes curl but now only made me flinch.

"We have discussed this."

"But if we use a donor egg," I tried, desperate.

"No." He cut me off.

He looked at me then, his eyes dark and unreadable.

"You know the history, Kelsey. My mother died screaming while giving birth to me. My blood is a curse. It kills the women who carry it."

He reached across the table and took my hand.

His grip was firm. Possessive.

"I will not risk you," he said. "I will not let you die for a child."

I believed him.

I let his lie wrap around me like a warm blanket because the alternative was too cold to bear.

I was such a fool.

The hours bled into evening.

I found myself at the family gallery, overseeing the installation of the new exhibit before the guests arrived.

Two new associates were maneuvering a crate near the back.

They didn't see me standing behind the partition.

"The Boss is dropping a fortune on that new girl," one whispered.

"Yeah, Aria. She looks just like the wife did ten years ago," the other laughed.

"Only fertile."

The word struck me like a physical blow.

I froze.

Aria.

I knew that name.

Bennett had introduced her months ago.

"A distant cousin," he had claimed. "She is in trouble. She needs family."

I had welcomed her.

I had bought her clothes.

I had found her an apartment.

A wave of nausea rose in my throat, violent and acidic.

I moved through the rest of the evening on autopilot, smiling at people I despised, shaking hands with men who had blood under their fingernails.

Finally, I needed air.

I walked toward the terrace but stopped dead when I heard a low laugh emanating from the alcove near the restrooms.

It was Bennett.

I stepped closer, concealed by the heavy velvet curtains.

He was standing there with Aria.

She was wearing a dress I had paid for.

Her hands were resting on the small, undeniable bump of her lower abdomen.

Bennett's hand covered hers.

He was smiling.

It wasn't the cold, practiced smile he gave me.

It was real.

I made a noise-a sharp intake of breath that I couldn't suppress.

Bennett looked up.

His eyes met mine.

For a second, there was panic.

But then the mask slammed down.

He didn't pull away from her.

He didn't apologize.

"Kelsey," he said.

His tone was flat. Business-like.

I stared at his hand on her stomach.

"The curse," I whispered. "You said it would kill her."

"It was necessary," he said.

He stepped in front of Aria, shielding her from my gaze.

"The family needs an heir, Kelsey. You know this."

"But you said..."

"I said what I needed to say to keep you safe," he interrupted. "You are my wife. My responsibility."

He looked back at Aria, and his expression softened in a way that shattered my heart into a million jagged pieces.

"But she gives me a future."

He looked back at me, cold and unyielding.

"You provide the image, Kelsey. She provides the bloodline. Do not make a scene."

He turned his back on me.

He turned his back on fifteen years.

I felt the bile rise in my throat.

I grabbed the wall to keep from sliding to the floor.

My hands were shaking so hard I could hear my bracelets rattling against each other.

He didn't care.

He had what he wanted.

And I realized, with a clarity that was more painful than any physical wound, that my marriage wasn't just dying.

It had been a corpse for a long time.

I was just the last one to notice the smell.

Continue Reading

Other books by Qing Cheng

More
His Perfect Crime, Her Perfect Comeback

His Perfect Crime, Her Perfect Comeback

Billionaires

5.0

The ghost of my right hand ached, a constant reminder of the car crash that stole my career as a concert pianist five years ago. My husband, tech mogul David Miller, had lovingly built me a gilded cage-a penthouse palace where I was his celebrated, wounded wife, a testament to my sacrifice. "It's a masterpiece, David. The whole thing," I overheard his best friend, Mark, say. "The comeback story, the adoring husband. You've played it perfectly." My fingers hovered over the piano keys in my studio. My breath caught. "Still," Mark pressed, his voice dropping, "that car crash... it was perfectly staged. How could you know Olivia would sacrifice her hand to save you?" My world crumbled. Staged? I crept to the library door, peeking through the crack. David, swirling amber liquid, smirked. "Because she loves me," he purred, "just as I love Sarah." Sarah Jenkins. His protégé. The brilliant pianist who had risen in my place. "Ollie was always in the way," he continued. "Her talent... it was too loud. Sarah needed a clear path. I gave her one." My hand flew to my mouth, stifling a scream. The charity galas, the custom gowns, the public adoration-it wasn't love. It was a cover-up. My agonizing years of practice, my belief that my music was a testament to our shared survival-all a grotesque joke. He hadn't honored my sacrifice; he'd celebrated his crime. My life, my love, my loss-all a meticulously crafted lie. My world didn't just crumble; it was obliterated. In the rubble, cold, hard revenge began to sprout. He thought he had silenced me, turned me into a beautiful, broken symbol. He was wrong. I would not be a guest performer at the Golden Rose. I would be a competitor. I would take back everything he had stolen. I would burn his entire empire to the ground.

Her Billion-Dollar Betrayal

Her Billion-Dollar Betrayal

Modern

5.0

My hands were calloused from years on construction sites, every ache a testament to the future Gabrielle and I were building. That future shattered when she burst into tears, claiming our life savings – eighty thousand dollars – had vanished in a crypto scam. "It' s okay, Gabby," I told her, holding her tight, even as my world crumbled. I promised we' d make it back, taking extra shifts, my mom Maria even offering to help clean at the Rittenhouse Grand. Then the hospital called. My mom, Maria, was in the ER, her hands brutally crushed by a hammer. The hotel claimed she' d "accidentally spilled a drink" on a guest. My blood ran cold, a rage I never knew I possessed simmering beneath the surface. I stormed to the Rittenhouse, my fury set on finding the monster who did this. But hidden in a private dining room, I found Gabrielle. My wife. She was laughing, adorned in silk, handing a man a "bouquet" of rolled-up hundred-dollar bills. "That old hag who bumped into you?" she cooed, "I had security take care of her. They broke her fingers and threw her out." My mother. Not an accident, but a cruel, calculated act. And the $80,000? "It was for that custom suit of yours," she told the man, "the one the old cleaner ruined." My world didn't just tilt; it imploded. Everything I believed, everything I loved, was a lie. My mother, now maimed, screamed for me to save her bone fragments from being fed to dogs. And just moments later, Gabrielle was demanding tequila for her Four Seasons suite. How could the woman I vowed to love be such a monster? How could my mother' s agonizing pain be the cost of a suit and a twisted game? I carried her secrets, her fears, as the doctor confirmed her hands were permanently destroyed. But when Gabrielle, in the same hospital, offered to buy my dying mother' s organs for Ethan' s family, claiming she was a "disgruntled ex," then hung up on me because Ethan' s mother was critical, a cold resolve settled deep in my gut. What kind of hell was this, and how could I make her pay?

The Viper's Nest Unraveled

The Viper's Nest Unraveled

Fantasy

5.0

My life was one of quiet harmony, raised off-grid with ancient wisdom, seeing the world's hidden currents. But Elias, my adoptive father, sent me back to my biological family, the opulent Whitmores, to untangle a spiritual unease he promised only they could resolve. What I found was not a home, but a viper's nest of sickening energies. My birth parents, my brothers, and especially Brenda – the "false heiress" – were dripping with greed, deception, and malice. Brenda, seeing me as a threat to her gilded cage, launched a ruthless campaign to destroy me. She publicly framed me for assault, faked a near-drowning, and even stabbed herself with a family heirloom, screaming I was a monster. Despite my calm observations, my warnings of their own destructive paths, they dismissed me as crazy, a witch, a dangerous fraud. They rallied together, not against the darkness within them, but against me. I was thrown out of their mansion, abandoned without a penny, and later faced thugs hired by Brenda, sent to "teach me a lesson." How could these people, my own blood, be so utterly blind to the truth of their actions, so willingly embrace their own decay? Why did they cling to their malicious lies about me, even as the carefully constructed facade of their perfect lives began to crack and crumble around them? But their malice only fueled my resolve. Armed with my unique spiritual sight, I would no longer simply observe. This wasn't just about untying ancient threads; it was about exposing the rot at the heart of their empire and letting the universe's ultimate justice take its devastating course.

You'll also like

Stripper's Love: I Married My Ex's Uncle

Stripper's Love: I Married My Ex's Uncle

G~Aden
4.2

I'm a moaning mess as Antonio slams into me from behind. His hips hit me hard, and each deep thrust sends shockwaves through my body. My breasts bounce with every movement, my eyes roll back, and I moan his name without control. The pleasure he gives me is overwhelming-I can't hold it in. I feel my walls tighten around his thick length. The pressure builds fast, and then- I explode around him, my orgasm tearing through me. He groans loud and deep as he releases inside me, his hot seed spilling into me in thick pulses. Just when I think he's done, his grip shifts. He turns me over and lays me flat on the bed. His dark eyes stare into mine for a moment, filled with raw hunger. I glance down- He's still hard. Before I can react, he grabs my wrists, pins me down, and pushes himself inside me again. He fills me completely. My hips rise on instinct, meeting his rhythm. Our bodies move together, locked in a wild, uncontrollable dance. "You're fucking sweet," he groans, his voice rough and breathless. "I can't get enough of you... not after that night, Sol," he growls, slamming into me harder. The force of his words and his thrusts make my body shake. "Come for me," he commands, his voice low and full of heat. And just like that, my body trembles. Waves of pleasure crash over me. I cry out, shaking with the force of my orgasm. "Mine," he growls again, louder this time. His voice is feral, wild, like a beast claiming what belongs to him. The sound sends a shiver down my spine. *** Solene was betrayed, humiliated, and erased by Rowan Brook, the man she once called husband, Solene is left with nothing but her name and a burning hunger for revenge. She turns to the one man powerful enough to destroy the Brooks family from within: Rowan's estranged and dangerous uncle, Antonio Rodriguez. He's ruthless. A playboy who never sleeps with the same woman twice. But when Solene walks into his world, he doesn't just break the rules, he creates new ones just for her. What begins as a calculated game quickly spirals into obsession, power plays, and secrets too deadly to stay buried. Because Solene isn't just anyone's ex... she's the woman they should've never underestimated. Can she survive the price of revenge? Or will her heart become the next casualty? And when the truth comes out, will Antonio still choose her... or destroy her?

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book