The Syndicate's Ghost: Don's Forgotten Queen

The Syndicate's Ghost: Don's Forgotten Queen

Xiao Ye

5.0
Comment(s)
3.3K
View
16
Chapters

For four years, I was the grieving wife of a mafia Don, drowning in the memory of our dead son. My husband, Eli, held me through it all. But a trip to the records office on the anniversary of our son's death revealed a devastating truth. He had another son. A secret family. Worse, I discovered he was with his mistress the day our son died, having dismissed the security that could have saved him. He let me believe it was my fault. When I tried to leave, he brought his mistress and their son into our home, framing me as a madwoman. His mother accused me of hurting the boy, and Eli punished me by locking me in a dark, flooding room-a cruel echo of our son's drowning. To "cure" his new heir of my son's "ghost," they had my baby's grave dug up. On a yacht, Eli held me down as his mistress emptied the ashes into the ocean. Then they left me to die in the water. When I washed ashore, his mistress was waiting to deliver the final, soul-crushing blow. She hadn't scattered the ashes. She'd flushed them down a toilet. I didn't want to escape him. I wanted to erase him. I found a neuroscientist with an experimental procedure and made my request: wipe the last ten years. I didn't want to leave my husband; I wanted to make it so he never existed at all.

The Syndicate's Ghost: Don's Forgotten Queen Chapter 1

For four years, I was the grieving wife of a mafia Don, drowning in the memory of our dead son. My husband, Eli, held me through it all. But a trip to the records office on the anniversary of our son's death revealed a devastating truth.

He had another son. A secret family. Worse, I discovered he was with his mistress the day our son died, having dismissed the security that could have saved him. He let me believe it was my fault.

When I tried to leave, he brought his mistress and their son into our home, framing me as a madwoman. His mother accused me of hurting the boy, and Eli punished me by locking me in a dark, flooding room-a cruel echo of our son's drowning.

To "cure" his new heir of my son's "ghost," they had my baby's grave dug up. On a yacht, Eli held me down as his mistress emptied the ashes into the ocean.

Then they left me to die in the water. When I washed ashore, his mistress was waiting to deliver the final, soul-crushing blow. She hadn't scattered the ashes. She'd flushed them down a toilet.

I didn't want to escape him. I wanted to erase him. I found a neuroscientist with an experimental procedure and made my request: wipe the last ten years. I didn't want to leave my husband; I wanted to make it so he never existed at all.

Chapter 1

Harper's POV:

The day I went to collect a copy of my dead son's death certificate was the day I discovered my husband had another child.

Four years. Four years I had spent drowning in a grief so deep I'd forgotten the very rhythm of my own breath. Four years since I had held my son, Leo.

The trip to the city records office was a ritual, a quiet flagellation I performed every year on the anniversary of his death. The fluorescent lights of the government building hummed-a flat, sterile sound that was the soundtrack to the emptiness inside me.

I slid the request form across the counter to the clerk, a woman with tired eyes and a name tag that simply read 'Brenda'.

She typed my name, then my husband's.

Eli Stark.

Just the name held weight. It silenced rooms. It was a name built on the bones of his enemies, the architect of a criminal empire that stretched across New York, hidden beneath a veneer of legitimate businesses. To the world, he was a titan of industry. To those who knew, he was the Don of the Stark Organization. To me, he was just... Eli. The man who had promised to shield me from his world, the grieving father who held me as I shattered.

Brenda's brow furrowed. "Stark... right. I see him here." She tapped a key. "Okay, so you need a copy of the certificate for Leo Stark. I can do that. But the system is asking if you want a copy for the other dependent as well. Save you another trip."

Ice water didn't just enter my veins; it sloshed, cold and sickening. "Other... dependent?"

She stared at her screen, oblivious. "Yeah. Says here Eli Stark has another child listed. A boy. Cody Sharpe."

Sharpe.

The name wasn't just a name. It was a ghost that had haunted the edges of my life for a decade. Kasey Sharpe. The woman who had tried to crash my wedding, her eyes burning with a desperate hunger as she watched Eli. The woman who always seemed to be there, a shadow in the background of galas and parties, her smile too bright, too sharp.

My phone buzzed in my purse. A text from Eli.

Thinking of you, my love. I know today is hard.

The hypocrisy was so profound a strangled, broken laugh caught in my throat. I snatched the printout from Brenda's hand without another word and moved toward the exit, my legs stiff as stone, my heart a block of ice in my chest.

The address for Kasey Sharpe was on the record. A brownstone in a nice neighborhood. A neighborhood Eli's money had undoubtedly bought.

I parked across the street, my hands shaking on the steering wheel. And then I saw him.

Eli. My Eli. The Don. He was on the front stoop, laughing. He swung a little boy into the air, the child's giggles echoing in the quiet street. Kasey stood in the doorway, her hand resting on Eli's arm, looking at him with an adoration I once thought was mine alone. A perfect little family.

My family was a tomb.

I sank lower in my seat, a spy in my own life. The windows were open to the mild afternoon air. Their voices drifted.

"You have to be more careful, Eli," Kasey was saying, her voice a low purr. "She's more fragile than ever today."

"I know," he said, his voice the same deep timbre that used to soothe me to sleep.

"I still can't believe it worked," Kasey whispered, moving closer to him. "That business trip excuse. You, dismissing your best soldiers, my god. All to spend the afternoon with me."

Time stopped.

That business trip excuse. The day Leo died. Eli was supposed to be in a meeting. He'd told me he was closing a deal, that he needed his top men with him. He had dismissed the security detail at our lake house. He said it was for privacy. A quiet family weekend.

But he wasn't on a business call. He was with her.

Our son, the heir to the Stark empire, had wandered off while I was inside for five minutes. He had slipped into the water. If the guards had been there... if Eli had been there...

He let me believe it was my fault. For four years, he let me wear that guilt like a shroud, holding me while I cried, telling me we would get through it together. He watched me die inside, day after day, all while he was building a new life with her.

My grief wasn't a shared burden. It was my prison. And he was the warden.

I drove to the cemetery, the world a blur of green and gray. I knelt at Leo's grave, the small headstone cold beneath my trembling fingers.

Leo Stark. Beloved Son.

The love I had for Eli, the all-consuming devotion that had defined my adult life, didn't just fade. It curdled. It twisted into something cold, solid, and sharp-a diamond of pure, perfect hatred.

My phone rang again. Not Eli this time. The screen read: Dr. Casey Long.

My old mentor. A man from another life, a life of science and labs and quantifiable facts. A life before the Starks.

I answered, my voice a raw, broken thing.

"Casey?"

"Harper? I... I was just calling to see how you were. I know what day it is."

Tears I didn't know I had left began to fall. Tears not of grief, but of pure rage.

"I need it," I choked out, the words tearing from my soul. "The procedure. The experimental one you told me about."

A pause on the other end of the line. "Harper, we're not there yet. It's not ready."

"I don't care," I whispered, my eyes fixed on my son's name carved in stone. "I want to forget. I want to forget everything."

Continue Reading

Other books by Xiao Ye

More
Reborn To Ruin: The Jilted Heiress's Revenge

Reborn To Ruin: The Jilted Heiress's Revenge

Modern

5.0

I lay on a mildewed mattress in a run-down motel, my body trembling from withdrawal. Once the most feared "Gossip Queen" in Hollywood, I was now a forty-three-year-old ghost staring at a cracked mirror, waiting for the end. The door clicked open, and Brittany Potts stepped in, looking immaculate in a beige trench coat that cost more than my life. She didn't come to help; she tossed a waiver of marital assets onto my bed and handed me a cup of coffee laced with something that smelled like bitter almonds. She laughed, telling me my husband, Bennet, was already in the Bahamas celebrating my death. I froze when I saw the sapphire pendant around her neck—my mother’s necklace, which had vanished the day she died. As the poison began to burn through my chest, Brittany leaned in and whispered her final secret: she was the one who cut the brake lines on the car that killed my father when we were teenagers. My entire life had been a lie. The pills, the scandal, the bankruptcy—it was all a masterpiece of betrayal orchestrated by the two people I trusted most. I died on that filthy floor, suffocating on my own rage and the taste of chemicals, praying for a single chance to make them pay. But when I opened my eyes, the pain was gone. I was sitting in my old bedroom, the morning sun shining on a calendar that read September 15, 2024. My mother’s voice, warm and alive, called me for breakfast from downstairs. I was eighteen again, back in my senior year at Crestview Academy, and the monsters who destroyed me were still pretending to be my friends. This time, I’m the one who holds the shears.

The Prank That Shattered Love

The Prank That Shattered Love

Romance

5.0

The world came back in a rush of white. White ceiling, white sheets, the sterile smell of antiseptic. My head throbbed. I was in a hospital. My fiancé, Cameron, rushed to my bedside, his face creased with worry. I decided to play a prank, pretending I had amnesia. "Who... who are you?" I whispered. His relief evaporated, replaced by a calculating look. He showed me a picture of another woman, Hannah Nichols, an intern at his family's company. "She's the woman I love," he said, his voice flat. "But you and I are getting married. Our families have an agreement. A business merger. It's too important to fail." My mind reeled. The man I loved was telling me our entire relationship was a lie. I felt a surge of fury. "Then call it off," I snapped. He grabbed my wrist, panic in his eyes. "If this merger falls through, my family is ruined. Hannah... she's very fragile. The stress would destroy her." My life, my love, my future-it was all just collateral damage in his pathetic, selfish drama. I was nothing more than a business deal. The witty, proud Alicia England, heiress to a tech empire, reduced to a bargaining chip. Later, I heard him on the phone, his voice soft and tender. "Don't worry, Hannah. It's all under control. She has amnesia. She doesn't remember a thing. Love me? Of course, she loves me. She's been obsessed with me since we were kids. It' s almost pathetic." My heart shattered. He thought I was a broken, forgetful fool he could manipulate. He was about to find out how wrong he was.

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 Syndicate's Ghost: Don's Forgotten Queen The Syndicate's Ghost: Don's Forgotten Queen Xiao Ye Mafia
“For four years, I was the grieving wife of a mafia Don, drowning in the memory of our dead son. My husband, Eli, held me through it all. But a trip to the records office on the anniversary of our son's death revealed a devastating truth. He had another son. A secret family. Worse, I discovered he was with his mistress the day our son died, having dismissed the security that could have saved him. He let me believe it was my fault. When I tried to leave, he brought his mistress and their son into our home, framing me as a madwoman. His mother accused me of hurting the boy, and Eli punished me by locking me in a dark, flooding room-a cruel echo of our son's drowning. To "cure" his new heir of my son's "ghost," they had my baby's grave dug up. On a yacht, Eli held me down as his mistress emptied the ashes into the ocean. Then they left me to die in the water. When I washed ashore, his mistress was waiting to deliver the final, soul-crushing blow. She hadn't scattered the ashes. She'd flushed them down a toilet. I didn't want to escape him. I wanted to erase him. I found a neuroscientist with an experimental procedure and made my request: wipe the last ten years. I didn't want to leave my husband; I wanted to make it so he never existed at all.”
1

Chapter 1

22/10/2025

2

Chapter 2

22/10/2025

3

Chapter 3

22/10/2025

4

Chapter 4

22/10/2025

5

Chapter 5

22/10/2025

6

Chapter 6

22/10/2025

7

Chapter 7

22/10/2025

8

Chapter 8

22/10/2025

9

Chapter 9

22/10/2025

10

Chapter 10

22/10/2025

11

Chapter 11

22/10/2025

12

Chapter 12

22/10/2025

13

Chapter 13

22/10/2025

14

Chapter 14

22/10/2025

15

Chapter 15

22/10/2025

16

Chapter 16

22/10/2025