The Runaway Wife: Hiding The Don's Heir

The Runaway Wife: Hiding The Don's Heir

ANASTASIA GRAVES

5.0
Comment(s)
4K
View
10
Chapters

The combination to my husband's private safe was the date of his mistress's birth. Inside, arranged beside his gun and stacks of cash, I found a legal document that shattered my world. Clause 4: Upon the birth of the heir, my architecture firm is absorbed into the Moretti Trust. Clause 5: Primary guardianship is transferred to the father and his proxy, Kaleigh. Kaleigh is my step-sister. She is also the woman currently warming my husband's bed. When I confronted Jacob, the Don of the city, he didn't offer a shadow of shame. He simply gripped my chin, his eyes cold as ice, and whispered, "There is no divorce in this life. You leave in a coffin." My lawyer betrayed me. The police were on his payroll. I was trapped in a gilded cage, waiting to be discarded. Then came the final blow-an intercepted audio recording. "The moment the head crowns, she is done," Jacob's voice said on the tape. "If she fights, she dies on the table." They didn't just want my baby. They wanted to erase me completely. I realized I couldn't win in court, and I couldn't win in a street fight. To escape a man who owned the city, I had to cease to exist. I drove my car to a desolate ravine and doused the leather seats in gasoline. I took off my wedding ring, placed it on the dashboard, and lit a match. I wasn't going to kill my son. I was going to burn the world down for him.

The Runaway Wife: Hiding The Don's Heir Chapter 1

The combination to my husband's private safe was the date of his mistress's birth.

Inside, arranged beside his gun and stacks of cash, I found a legal document that shattered my world.

Clause 4: Upon the birth of the heir, my architecture firm is absorbed into the Moretti Trust.

Clause 5: Primary guardianship is transferred to the father and his proxy, Kaleigh.

Kaleigh is my step-sister. She is also the woman currently warming my husband's bed.

When I confronted Jacob, the Don of the city, he didn't offer a shadow of shame.

He simply gripped my chin, his eyes cold as ice, and whispered, "There is no divorce in this life. You leave in a coffin."

My lawyer betrayed me. The police were on his payroll. I was trapped in a gilded cage, waiting to be discarded.

Then came the final blow-an intercepted audio recording.

"The moment the head crowns, she is done," Jacob's voice said on the tape. "If she fights, she dies on the table."

They didn't just want my baby. They wanted to erase me completely.

I realized I couldn't win in court, and I couldn't win in a street fight.

To escape a man who owned the city, I had to cease to exist.

I drove my car to a desolate ravine and doused the leather seats in gasoline.

I took off my wedding ring, placed it on the dashboard, and lit a match.

I wasn't going to kill my son.

I was going to burn the world down for him.

Chapter 1

Aurelia POV

The combination to my husband's private safe was the date of his mistress's birth.

I stood in the dim amber light of the study, my fingers trembling against the cold steel dial. It was a pathetic cliché-the sort of plot twist that would make you roll your eyes in a low-budget film-but my life had devolved into a series of cheap humiliations wrapped in expensive silk.

Click.

The heavy door swung open.

Inside, arranged with military precision beside the towers of untraced cash and the Glock 19 he slept with, was a single manila envelope. It did not bear the wax seal of the Moretti crime family. It bore the embossed crest of our personal estate attorney.

I pulled out the document.

Post-Nuptial Decree of Asset Reallocation and Guardianship.

The legal jargon was dense, thick with Latin and malice, but I was an architect. I knew how to read blueprints. I knew how to identify the load-bearing walls of a structure, and I knew exactly what a controlled demolition looked like.

This was a demolition of my life.

Clause 4: Upon the birth of the heir, all legitimate holdings under the name of Aurelia Moretti, specifically the Flynn Architecture Group and its subsidiaries, shall be absorbed into the Moretti Trust.

Clause 5: Primary guardianship of the issue shall be transferred to the natural father, Jacob Moretti, and his designated proxy, Kaleigh Vanzetti.

My knees gave out. Gravity seemed to double in the room. I sank onto the plush Persian rug, the paper crinkling in my grip.

Kaleigh. My step-sister. The woman who had made a sport of tormenting me since childhood. The woman who was currently warming my husband's sheets while I carried his child.

I had bought Jacob this throne. When we married, he was a feral Underboss with too much blood on his hands and not enough clean money to wash it off. My inheritance, my legitimate firms, my sterling reputation-I poured it all into the foundation of his empire to stabilize him during the internal wars. I laundered his reputation so he could rise to become the Don.

He promised me protection. He swore a blood oath.

But looking at this paper, I realized he didn't see a wife. He saw a bank account and an incubator.

The heavy oak door creaked open behind me.

I didn't turn around. I couldn't. The air in the room shifted, becoming heavier, instantly charged with the scent of expensive cigars and the metallic tang of violence that clung to him like a second skin.

"You are trespassing, Aurelia."

Jacob's voice was low, a rumble that used to make my stomach flutter. Now, it just made me sick.

I stood up, forcing my spine straight as I turned to face him. He was leaning against the doorframe, wearing a tuxedo with the tie undone. He looked exactly like what he was-a king of the underworld, breathtakingly beautiful and rotting from the inside out.

I held up the paper, my hand shaking. "Designated proxy?"

Jacob didn't flinch. He walked over, his strides eating up the distance between us, snatched the paper from my hand, and tore it in half. Then he tore it again. He let the pieces flutter to the floor like dirty snow.

"It is a contingency," he said, his voice dangerously bored. "The Consigliere worries about worst-case scenarios. If you die in childbirth, the boy needs a mother."

"If I die?" I laughed, a brittle, jagged sound that scraped my throat. "Or when you decide I've served my purpose? You're giving my baby to Kaleigh. You're stealing my company."

"Everything you have is mine," Jacob said simply. He stepped closer, towering over me. He didn't touch me, but his shadow felt like a cage. "That is the vow you took. Omertà binds the family. And you are family."

"I want a divorce."

The silence that followed was absolute. It sucked the oxygen right out of the room.

Jacob stared at me. His eyes, usually a piercing cold blue, darkened into an abyss. He reached out and gripped my chin, his fingers digging in hard enough to bruise.

"There is no divorce in this life, little bird," he whispered, his breath hot against my face. "You leave when I say you leave. And right now, you are carrying my legacy. Go to your room."

He released me with a shove.

I stumbled back, catching myself on the desk. I looked at him one last time. He wasn't looking at me. He was looking at my stomach.

I walked out of the study. I walked out of the house. I got into my car and drove until the city lights blurred into streaks of red and gold.

I drove blindly, guided only by a desperate, frantic instinct to survive.

I ended up in the parking lot of a clinic on the edge of town. A clean place. A place that solved problems.

I sat in the car, my hand resting on my belly. I had an appointment. I had made it under a fake name an hour ago, in a blind panic.

If I terminated the pregnancy, I took away his heir. I took away his leverage. I took away Kaleigh's prize.

It was the only way to hurt him.

I watched a woman walk out of the clinic, looking relieved and hollow at the same time.

I looked down at my stomach.

Suddenly, a tiny flutter brushed against my palm.

A distinct, undeniable thud.

A kick.

My breath hitched. It was the first time.

Tears spilled over, hot and fast. This wasn't a pawn. This wasn't an asset. This was a person. This was mine.

I couldn't kill him just to spite Jacob. That would make me just like them. That would make me a monster.

I wiped my face, smearing mascara across my cheeks like war paint. I put the car in reverse.

I wasn't going to kill my son.

I was going to burn the world down for him.

Continue Reading

Other books by ANASTASIA GRAVES

More
The Ruby Shackle: Bound To The Billionaire

The Ruby Shackle: Bound To The Billionaire

Modern

5.0

I’m a CIA operative known as "The Auditor," and for months, I’ve played the role of a pathetic, abused ward in Basil Dean’s mansion. My mission was simple: gather intel on a paranoid billionaire while pretending to be a girl who flinches at her own shadow and knows nothing of the world. The balance shattered when Basil found a photo of me smiling at a local mechanic. He didn't just get angry; he dragged me into his soundproof vault, his leather-gloved thumb pressing into my carotid artery to feel the frantic, terrified thrum of my heart. He tagged me with a ruby bracelet—a high-tech tracking device that reported my GPS and biometrics to his phone every second. His stepsister, Corine, smelled blood in the water, accusing me of theft while Basil watched my heart rate spike on his screen like a lab rat in a cage. I was trapped in a gilded nightmare, forced to scrub floors and endure his predatory stares while a fifty-thousand-dollar shackle recorded my every breath. I couldn't tell if he was a grieving recluse or a shark playing with his food, but every time my signal dropped, he was there, looming in the shadows, waiting for me to slip up. I was drowning in a game where the rules changed every time I tried to fight back, and the agency was starting to think I’d turned. To end the charade, I handed the bracelet back to him in front of the entire kitchen staff, a public rejection of his twisted ownership. Basil didn't blink; he took a heavy meat mallet and smashed the ruby to dust right in front of me before making a phone call that turned my mission into a death trap. "Get the prenup ready," he hissed, his eyes burning with a terrifying, sane obsession. "I'm marrying her."

You'll also like

While I Was Bleeding Out, He Lit Lanterns For Her

While I Was Bleeding Out, He Lit Lanterns For Her

Katie Oettgen

As I lay on the floor of our manor, bleeding out from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, I used my last ounce of strength to call my husband, Cole. I begged him for help, my vision blurring. But the only thing I heard was the clinking of champagne glasses and his mistress's giggle in the background. "Stop the drama, June," Cole snapped, his voice cold. "We're about to go on stage. Don't call again." He hung up, leaving me to die alone on the Persian rug while he accepted an award with another woman on his arm. I woke up in the hospital days later. My baby was gone. They had removed my fallopian tube. Cole finally arrived, smelling of expensive scotch and his mistress's perfume. He didn't hug me. He didn't cry. Instead, he leaned over my hospital bed, pressing his knee into the mattress until my fresh stitches tore open and bled. "You embarrassed me by calling an ambulance," he hissed. "My mistress, Alycia, says you're faking it. Clean yourself up." He left me bleeding again to go announce a $10 million donation to Alycia's "groundbreaking" medical research. I stared at the TV screen, numb. The research Alycia was taking credit for? It was mine. I wrote that patent years ago under a pseudonym. They thought I was just a poor, orphan housewife who needed Cole's money to survive. They had no idea I was actually a billionaire scientist hiding my identity. I pulled the IV needle out of my arm. A drop of blood fell onto the divorce papers I had been hiding. I didn't wipe it off. I signed my name right over it. Then I walked into the bank, reactivated my dormant account with $128 million, and bought the penthouse directly overlooking Cole's house. The mourning widow is dead. The avenger is born.

No Longer Mrs. Cooley: The Architect's Return

No Longer Mrs. Cooley: The Architect's Return

Xiao Xiaosu

I went to the City Clerk’s office for a routine copy of my marriage license to finalize a trust fund audit. I expected a simple piece of paper, but the clerk’s pitying look told me my entire life was a lie. "The license was never finalized, Ms. Oliver. In the eyes of the state, you are single." The three-hundred-guest wedding at the Plaza and the Vogue features meant nothing. My husband, Gray Cooley, had intentionally filed the documents with a "procedural defect" so he could discard me without a legal divorce. Moments later, an iCloud invite titled "Our Little Secret" popped up on my screen. It was a photo of my best friend, Brylee, holding a positive pregnancy test at our Hamptons estate. Gray’s text to her was the final blow: "Happy anniversary, babe. This baby is the best gift. Once the trust unlocks today, we’re done with the charade." I soon discovered they were even stealing my career, reassigning my architectural masterpiece to Brylee while preparing my eviction notice. Gray's mother called me a "barren mule" in a leaked recording, mocking the infertility I suffered after saving Gray’s life in a construction accident. I wasn't a wife; I was a three-year placeholder used to secure his inheritance. How could the man I bled for treat me like a disposable prop? How could my best friend carry his child while pretending to comfort me through my darkest moments? The betrayal burned until it turned into a cold, hard stone of fury. I didn't cry. Instead, I walked into the penthouse of the Barretts, the Cooleys' most powerful rivals. I signed a marriage contract with Kane Barrett, the man the tabloids called the "Beast of Wall Street." "I want a wedding," I told his father, my voice steady and lethal. "Bigger than the one I had with Gray." If they wanted me gone, they would have to watch me become the woman who owns their world.

My Lover, His Father

My Lover, His Father

Kizz

"Eve," he called, placing wet inhumane kisses on my neck as his strong but warm hands held my tiny waist. I closed my eyes. "Yes...sir?" I moaned helplessly, feeling the harsh tingles in between my legs. "Eve," he called again, trailing wet kisses towards my ear. "Ad....Adrian," I breathed. "What am I doing?" he asked, nibbling my ear lobe. "Touching....touching me?" "I shouldn't be touching you," he said, exploring my neck like a thirsty vampire. "I....i want you to," I stuttered shamelessly. He wrapped my neck with his hand, choking me slightly. Oh, heavens. "My son is crazy about you," he said, gripping me tightly. "I don't want him," I whispered, taking in his wicked kisses on my neck. "You should. And.......I have a wife." ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥 Evelyn (Eve) Millers, a twenty-year-old college first-year student and the only child of her wealthy parents, is a lover of mafia romance stories. She dreams of a love life with a mafia boss, but a night of tragedy changed her reality in a way she never expected, tossing her life in danger until she fell into the safe hands of her college mate, Mario Morelli, a guy whom she rejected his pure advances but eventually found out he is from a mafia family. He took her to his home where she met his huge family, most especially his HOT but dangerous-looking father, Adrian Morelli, the mafia DON. Have her wishes come true? What will she do about a wish coming true but owned by another and backed with great obstacles?

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book
The Runaway Wife: Hiding The Don's Heir The Runaway Wife: Hiding The Don's Heir ANASTASIA GRAVES Mafia
“The combination to my husband's private safe was the date of his mistress's birth. Inside, arranged beside his gun and stacks of cash, I found a legal document that shattered my world. Clause 4: Upon the birth of the heir, my architecture firm is absorbed into the Moretti Trust. Clause 5: Primary guardianship is transferred to the father and his proxy, Kaleigh. Kaleigh is my step-sister. She is also the woman currently warming my husband's bed. When I confronted Jacob, the Don of the city, he didn't offer a shadow of shame. He simply gripped my chin, his eyes cold as ice, and whispered, "There is no divorce in this life. You leave in a coffin." My lawyer betrayed me. The police were on his payroll. I was trapped in a gilded cage, waiting to be discarded. Then came the final blow-an intercepted audio recording. "The moment the head crowns, she is done," Jacob's voice said on the tape. "If she fights, she dies on the table." They didn't just want my baby. They wanted to erase me completely. I realized I couldn't win in court, and I couldn't win in a street fight. To escape a man who owned the city, I had to cease to exist. I drove my car to a desolate ravine and doused the leather seats in gasoline. I took off my wedding ring, placed it on the dashboard, and lit a match. I wasn't going to kill my son. I was going to burn the world down for him.”
1

Chapter 1

16/12/2025

2

Chapter 2

16/12/2025

3

Chapter 3

16/12/2025

4

Chapter 4

16/12/2025

5

Chapter 5

16/12/2025

6

Chapter 6

16/12/2025

7

Chapter 7

16/12/2025

8

Chapter 8

16/12/2025

9

Chapter 9

16/12/2025

10

Chapter 10

16/12/2025