Leaving The Underworld For True Love

Mafia Queen, the only exception to

locked out of my husb

ociate answered his mo

my birthdate. He lets

lently tore them to shreds, coldly reprimandin

emanding I turn a blind eye to his mistress

g the custom clothes Dante bought her and br

out, Dante protectively

unatic. Be magnanimous

ld so easily replace me, treating m

ess that he never knew I was alrea

almly booked a one-way

eaving the blood-stained receipt and the ultrasound photo as

pte

lin

ate tablet. The sentence was passed, however, when his young associate answe

York his divorce papers this very night, I would

reflecting the dim lamplight with a placid indifference, yet wit

on-a man who commanded an em

f fear, capable of making rival

o operated on strict

that no one was to tou

hands methodically broken by his soldiers for

d to be his o

ted passage to his safehouses a

r a form of devotion, a delus

on the screen, its cold light illumin

ss De

onto my retinas. In that instant, the low hum of the central air conditioning

ts plastic casing made a small, sharp clatter against my wedding b

o be at a sit-dow

e click

m am I speaking?" a sugared,

, ambitious associa

asped, a sharp, theat

sorry. I did not reg

th from where my teeth had bro

ne," I said, the word

. There was a faint, wet pop as she chewed on her gum. "But if you need t

scent of old leather and my husband's cigar sm

con, the small click of the disconne

dark world had been a meticu

vy front doors of th

isplacing the very air, carrying with it the chill of t

rk eyes sweeping the room before sett

picked up the divorce papers I had

attered across the

the papers, his gaze lingering on the stark black

t loud, but a low resonance that

y hands clenched into fists at

agged a hand through his dark hair,

ompletely unreas

hed up t

s tore them to shreds in

ttered pieces in

young girl," he reprimanded me, his

ordinate, then," I retorted, the wor

ser until his shadow fell over me-a p

remarkably steady. "There is no foundation of

oor beneath my feet had lost its solidity. I remained u

ce between sips of espresso, lightly decide on the ending of a

dding night flicke

tep aside if he ever fou

ld me, claiming we

ld together as the underworl

birthday, I had confessed that

stained face as I hooked

, vulnerable ligh

before falling asleep, a single te

pered, "Eve

t me like I was a disagre

g a rigid finger at the tablet. "Once a b

my life as a hum

clenched, as the silence in the room con