Too Late To Beg: The Don's Regret

al gave me when the photos hit the internet: my husband

very mistress had s

st my uterus. I was l

nally called, it wasn't

e barked through the phone. "Send a

at the foot of my bed, holding the hand of

st," my daughter said,

ffection died. I realized I wasn't a wi

red that I was use

ve from under my pillow

lete security blueprints of the Moretti Fortre

go, or I sell this drive to

ut the clothes on my back, vanish

I was fi

kicked down my door, lookin

a box of diamonds onto my draf

ho had destroyed me a

ved you," I whispered, throwing the

u kille

pte

na

had given me when the tabloid photos hit the internet: m

d in bold font: "Th

er bed in the Moretti estate's guest wing, the light of my

e they had cut me open only three days ago to re

owed-out husk, left

inct crash of shatte

awake. And sh

the freezing Atlantic on New Year's Eve. Not because the heir to th

sloppy enough to get caught kissing Sof

om didn't just op

ow up and then watched me wither-stood in the fram

ed to the Inner

belly pulled tight, a searing reminder

nts to speak to me, she can dra

no sound came out. In the Moretti family, you d

come to me. Or I pres

He saw the dead look in

ack of sensible heels and the heavy thud of a cane. Nonna Rosa

e brou

Mia wore a velvet dress that cost more than my father made in a lifetime. S

r cane at me like a weapon. "Look at the weak thin

ooked

er voice devoid of affection. "S

alling so easily from my own daughter's lips, sh

on the nightstan

up, putting

to handle Nonna. The press is eating us alive. Send a basket to Sofia's penthouse. S

as a mask of disgust, not at him,

ll, Dante?

me. You fell. You were c

ne wen

u are the Don's wife. Your job is to eat shit

too

hot needles stabbing my core,

N

space, the scent of lavender and rot surrounding her.

lence. My head snapped to

t cry. I di

out, snatch

der my grip. I squeezed, watchin

id, my voice barely a whisper, "I

my pillow, pulling out a manila

them on

curity blueprints of the Moretti Fortress. Eve

t the drive, then a

n't sign those papers and give me safe passage out of Italy ton

flat stomach. She knew what the doctors had done

ciated stoc

e word like a curse. "You are

let

will leave with nothing. No money. No jewelry. No cloth

," I

ever see M

urtain, ignoring us completely. She didn't know me. She had been

said, the words tearing my

ered. "Get out