Pregnant And Running From The Mafia Don

Pregnant And Running From The Mafia Don

Rum Runner

5.0
Comment(s)
19
View
23
Chapters

For five years, my husband kept me in a dog cage because he believed I murdered his fiancée, my stepsister Kinsley. He stripped me of my dignity, my name, and my humanity, all to avenge a woman who wasn't even dead. When Kinsley finally returned, alive and smiling, I thought my nightmare was over. Instead, she framed me again. Right in front of Courtland, she pushed my little brother down the stone steps of the estate. I held my brother's broken body in the rain, screaming for help. But Courtland just stood there, shielding Kinsley under his umbrella, looking at me with cold indifference. He chose the monster over his wife. That night, I realized love wasn't enough to save me. So, I stood on the edge of the hospital roof and let gravity take me. I wanted him to mourn. I wanted him to suffer. I wanted him to burn. Three years later, at a gala in New York, the Ice King dropped his champagne glass. He stared at me-the woman in the red dress, the fiancée of his rival. I looked him dead in the eye and smiled like a stranger. He cornered me later, his voice trembling with rage and obsession. "Death is the only divorce in my world, Anastasia. And you are still very much alive."

Chapter 1

For five years, my husband kept me in a dog cage because he believed I murdered his fiancée, my stepsister Kinsley.

He stripped me of my dignity, my name, and my humanity, all to avenge a woman who wasn't even dead.

When Kinsley finally returned, alive and smiling, I thought my nightmare was over.

Instead, she framed me again.

Right in front of Courtland, she pushed my little brother down the stone steps of the estate.

I held my brother's broken body in the rain, screaming for help.

But Courtland just stood there, shielding Kinsley under his umbrella, looking at me with cold indifference.

He chose the monster over his wife.

That night, I realized love wasn't enough to save me.

So, I stood on the edge of the hospital roof and let gravity take me.

I wanted him to mourn. I wanted him to suffer. I wanted him to burn.

Three years later, at a gala in New York, the Ice King dropped his champagne glass.

He stared at me-the woman in the red dress, the fiancée of his rival.

I looked him dead in the eye and smiled like a stranger.

He cornered me later, his voice trembling with rage and obsession.

"Death is the only divorce in my world, Anastasia. And you are still very much alive."

Chapter 1

Anastasia POV

I was on my knees, my forehead pressed against the cold linoleum, when the Warden threw a black velvet box at my head.

It skittered across the floor, stopping inches from my nose.

"Happy Anniversary, Mrs. Johnson," the Warden sneered, checking his watch. "Your husband is outside, and he says if you aren't in the car in three minutes, he burns the orphanage where we keep your brother."

I didn't pack.

I didn't even breathe.

I just ran.

Five years inside the "Serenity Rehabilitation Center" had stripped the meat from my bones, but it hadn't touched the panic that lived in my marrow. If anything, fear was the only thing keeping me upright.

To the world, I was Anastasia Johnson, the tragic, drug-addicted wife of New York's most powerful Don. A woman so broken by the "accidental" death of her saintly stepsister, Kinsley, that she needed institutionalizing.

To the staff here, I was a murderer. A rat. A woman who bit the hand that fed her.

I scrambled off the floor, my knees cracking in protest. I grabbed the velvet box as I sprinted past. I didn't need to open it to know what was inside, but my trembling fingers pried the lid open anyway as I navigated the corridors.

A locket.

I clicked it open. Kinsley's face smiled back at me. Blonde, perfect, and rot-in-the-ground dead.

The note tucked behind it was written in Courtland's sharp, slashing handwriting.

*For your daily prayers.*

He didn't just want me to remember; he wanted me to wear the face of the woman he believed I killed. He wanted it burning against my skin like a brand.

I clasped the cold metal around my neck. It felt like a noose.

I moved through the sterile white hallways like a ghost. The other patients-real addicts, real broken souls-didn't look at me. They knew better. I was the Don's punching bag, stored away until he felt like hitting something again.

I pushed through the double doors, and the humid New York air hit me like a physical blow, heavy with exhaust and freedom.

I scanned the curb.

I expected a lineup of black SUVs. I expected soldiers. I expected the usual pageantry of the Mafia.

There was nothing. Just the gray pavement and the distant, indifferent sound of traffic.

My heart hammered against my ribs. Was this a test? Was I supposed to run so his men could hunt me down for sport?

Then I heard it.

The predatory roar of an engine.

A silver sports car tore around the corner. It wasn't slowing down. It was accelerating.

The grill was aimed directly at my legs.

I froze. My brain screamed *move*, but my body was locked in the muscle memory of submission.

The tires screeched, burning rubber and smoke filling my lungs as the machine drifted sideways.

The bumper stopped an inch from my shins. The heat from the engine radiated through my thin, rehab-issue slacks, a warning of the fire to come.

The driver's door opened.

A polished black shoe hit the pavement. Then a leg clad in charcoal wool.

Courtland Johnson rose from the car.

He was taller than I remembered. Broader. The boy I had saved in the garden all those years ago was gone. The man standing before me was made of ice and violence.

He wore his ruthlessness like a second skin. His jaw was set in a line of granite, and his eyes-those dark, intelligent eyes that once looked at me with gratitude-were now void of anything human.

He didn't look at my face. He looked at the locket resting on my chest.

"Get in," he said.

His voice was a low rumble, devoid of affection. It was a command given to a dog.

I opened the passenger door, my hands shaking so hard I could barely work the handle. I slid into the leather seat. It smelled like him. Sandalwood, expensive tobacco, and rain.

It smelled like the safety I used to dream of.

Now, it smelled like a cage.

He got in beside me. He didn't check if I was buckled or if I was even fully inside. He slammed the car into gear and peeled out of the driveway, merging onto the highway with reckless speed.

"Where is Aspen?" I asked, my voice raspy from disuse.

Courtland stared straight ahead. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel.

"You speak when spoken to, Anastasia."

"Is he safe?" I pushed, desperation lending me courage. "You said-"

"I said what was necessary to get you out of that hole without a scene," he cut me off, his tone sharp enough to draw blood. "Aspen is at the Estate. For now."

*For now.* The threat hung in the air between us, heavy and suffocating.

"Why bring me back?" I whispered, shrinking against the door. "Why now? After five years?"

He glanced at me then. A quick, dissecting look that took in my gaunt cheeks, the dark circles under my eyes, and the cheap clothes hanging off my frame.

He didn't see a wife. He saw a stain on his legacy.

"Because," Courtland said, his eyes shifting back to the road, cold and dead. "I'm dying. And before I go, I'm going to make sure you pay for every single sin."

Continue Reading

Other books by Rum Runner

More
The Billionaire's Regret: My Tortured Ex-Wife

The Billionaire's Regret: My Tortured Ex-Wife

Romance

5.0

My husband stood by the window of his Manhattan office, his silhouette cutting through the storm like a blade. He didn't even look at me as he tossed the divorce papers onto the desk, his voice a cold baritone. "Sign it," Isaiah commanded, "or your brother’s dialysis treatment ends today." He believed the lie that I had pushed his pregnant mistress down a flight of stairs in a jealous rage. To save my dying brother, I signed the confession and accepted the role of a murderer, trading my freedom for a life of disgrace. At the funeral, Isaiah forced me to crawl on my knees through the freezing mud to the grave while a mob of mourners spat on me and cursed my name. When I went to prison, his influence followed me into the showers, where inmates told me the King wanted me to "remember my crime" before they used rusty shears to hack off my finger. Five years later, I was a ghost living in a damp basement with the son Isaiah never knew I had, hiding my mangled hand under a leather glove. When he eventually tracked us down, he didn't show mercy; he tore my son from my arms, calling me an unfit monster and swearing I would rot in a cage. I couldn't understand how the man I once loved could look at my broken body and see only a criminal, never realizing that every scar I carried was a gift from his own hatred. As he walked away with my child, I swallowed a bottle of pills to end the nightmare, leaving Isaiah to rip the glove from my hand and discover the mangled truth just as my eyes finally closed.

Lost Time, Found Love: Ava’s Return

Lost Time, Found Love: Ava’s Return

Sci-fi

5.0

The first thing I felt was the slow, steady beep of a machine. I opened my eyes to a sterile white ceiling, definitely not my bedroom. A nurse rushed in, dropping her clipboard, whispering, "She' s awake!" Then a doctor: "Mrs. Hayes? Ava? Can you tell me your name?" "Ava Reed... Ava Hayes." "And the year?" "2023. It' s October." Their pitying looks made my skin crawl. "Ava," the doctor said gently, "It' s not 2023." He pointed to a digital screen: July 12, 2038. Fifteen years. Gone. Just like that. The car crash that felt like yesterday had apparently happened a decade and a half ago. My Lily, my four-year-old daughter, would be nineteen. My husband, Ethan… I called him, desperate, finding his contact on a sleek, alien device. A voice answered, but it wasn' t his. It was cold, hollow. "Who is this?" "Ethan? It' s me. It' s Ava." Then, a harsh, bitter laugh. "My wife is dead. She died fifteen years ago. Don' t you dare use her name again." He was about to hang up. "The scar!" I screamed, "Under your left rib, from Miller' s Peak! And Lily… she called her bear 'Sir Reginald Fluffen-Bottom' !" Silence on the line. Then a whisper: "How… how do you know that?" Who was this stranger on the phone? What had happened to my life, my family? I was Ava Reed, a woman robbed of fifteen years. "Because I am your wife, you idiot. Oceanville General, Room 304. Ten minutes." I hung up, a cold, hard knot forming in my stomach. Ethan never showed. Instead, a slick lawyer offered me a hotel, a car, a credit card. I took the car. My daughter. Lily.

The Assistant Who Toppled the Socialite Queen

The Assistant Who Toppled the Socialite Queen

Modern

3.5

My brother Liam, always looking out for me, took a side gig at a Hamptons party to help with my college tuition. Now, he's just a footnote in some socialite's messy life. They called it an accidental drowning. Brittany, the hostess, shoved him. Her rich family swept it under the rug with their money. I stood in our crummy apartment, his work boots mocking me. It wasn't sadness I felt, but a cold, hard rage. He deserved justice. I researched Brittany: spoiled, cruel, and obsessed with Chad, a tech guru in Silicon Valley. He was her ultimate prize, her weakness. The news stories about Liam were sanitized garbage; Brittany's name barely mentioned. The injustice burned me. Then, Innovatech, Chad's company, was hiring. An executive assistant position. A long shot, but Brittany living her life consequence-free fueled me. I packed a bag, leaving Philly behind. I landed the job. Executive Assistant to Chad, CEO. Now, Brittany's constant presence, her manipulations, was clear. She found fault with everything I did. Criticized me through Chad, workplace bullying 101. I took it, silently, waiting. Then, the slap. "He's mine," she hissed. Everything suddenly escalated. When Brittany tried to humiliate me, Chad finally saw her for what she was. But Brittany was not one to go quietly. She wanted Chad so bad. When I decided to get my revenge, I knew that, in turn I am playing with fire. What I did not know was that getting revenge would have me find the real cause of my brother's death and some unexpected helpers on the revenge journey.

You'll also like

Rising From Wreckage: Starfall's Epic Comeback

Rising From Wreckage: Starfall's Epic Comeback

Huo Wuer
4.5

Rain hammered against the asphalt as my sedan spun violently into the guardrail on the I-95. Blood trickled down my temple, stinging my eyes, while the rhythmic slap of the windshield wipers mocked my panic. Trembling, I dialed my husband, Clive. His executive assistant answered instead, his voice professional and utterly cold. "Mr. Wilson says to stop the theatrics. He said, and I quote, 'Hang up. Tell her I don’t have time for her emotional blackmail tonight.'" The line went dead while I was still trapped in the wreckage. At the hospital, I watched the news footage of Clive wrapping his jacket around his "fragile" ex-girlfriend, Angelena, shielding her from the storm I was currently bleeding in. When I returned to our penthouse, I found a prenatal ultrasound in his suit pocket, dated the day he claimed to be on a business trip. Instead of an apology, Clive met me with a sneer. He told me I was nothing but an "expensive decoration" his father bought to make him look stable. He froze my bank accounts and cut off my cards, waiting for the hunger to drive me back to his feet. I stared at the man I had loved for four years, realizing he didn't just want a wife; he wanted a prop he could switch off. He thought he could starve me into submission while he played father to another woman's child. But Clive forgot one thing. Before I was his trophy wife, I was Starfall—the legendary voice actress who vanished at the height of her fame. "I'm not jealous, Clive. I'm done." I grabbed my old microphone and walked out. I’m not just leaving him; I’m taking the lead role in the biggest saga in Hollywood—the one Angelena is desperate for. This time, the "decoration" is going to burn his world down.

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book