After our son died only three days after his birth, I abandoned every habit that made Adrian frown.
I stopped asking where he went.
Even when he returned near dawn, I slept soundly.
I stopped checking his phone.
I stopped asking which woman had left perfume on his clothes.
Then a stray bullet grazed my wrist during a street shootout.
At the hospital, the doctor asked me to contact my next of kin.
“I don’t have any family,” I replied.
One of the nurses recognized me.
“You’re Mrs. Romano, aren’t you?”
“Capo Adrian’s motorcade is parked downstairs. Should I let him know you’re here?”
I lowered my eyes.
“Don’t bother him.”
Half an hour later, Adrian pushed open the door anyway.
He wore an immaculate three-piece suit.
His voice dropped when he noticed the bandage around my wrist.
“You’re hurt.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
I looked down at the white gauze.
“It’s only a scratch.”
“The Capo has more important matters to handle.”
My indifference seemed to anger him more than any accusation ever had.
He opened his mouth to speak.
Then the muted voices of his men drifted in from the hallway.
“Did you hear about Sofia?”
“The Capo has it bad for her.”
“She twisted her ankle at the casino, and he sent three armored SUVs to shut down the entire block.”
“He carried her out himself.”
“Her heels never even touched the pavement.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
He glanced at me cautiously.
He was waiting for me to lose control.
To demand an explanation.
To scream the way I used to whenever another woman appeared between us.
But I remained silent.
I simply leaned against the hospital bed without moving.
Adrian thought I had finally learned to stop causing trouble.
He had no idea my divorce was already underway.
In ten days, I would leave Ravenport and disappear from his life forever.
He Chose My Copy I Became The Law Chapter 16 Three years vanished almost without notice. I rose to become the Family Commission’s youngest member and the first and only woman to serve as Chief Consigliere in the history of the Six Houses. During the formal annual summit, Cesare lowered his head to me before
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He Chose My Copy I Became The Law Chapter 15 The next time I opened my eyes, I found myself in a luxurious velvet bed at the Porto Aurelia estate. Beyond the window stood the familiar olive grove, while morning sunlight slowly climbed the walls. Cesare occupied the worn leather chair beside my bed. He
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He Chose My Copy I Became The Law Chapter 14 The negotiations in Cinder Bay proved much more dangerous than anyone had expected. Inside an abandoned warehouse at the port, I endured a brutal six-day standoff with Ortega and the twelve gunmen under his command. More than once, the muzzle of a gun was pressed
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He Chose My Copy I Became The Law Chapter 13 Three more months went by before Cesare summoned me to his personal study. “I have an assignment. It is filthy work and exceptionally perilous.” The old man slid a locked folder of black leather across the desk, placing its key alongside it. “Yet nothing the
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He Chose My Copy I Became The Law Chapter 12 I finally turned, allowing my eyes to rest on his face. “I believed blood and survival had forged an unbreakable bond between us.” “We slipped beneath the orphanage’s iron gates side by side, slept under roofs that leaked, and shared one helping of pasta between
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He Chose My Copy I Became The Law Chapter 11 “Ravenport law permits either spouse to seek a unilateral dissolution after six months of living apart.” My expression remained tranquil. “As of today, exactly six months have elapsed.” “I was at fault.” He seized the hand I had laid on the sofa arm, his fingertips
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He Chose My Copy I Became The Law Chapter 10 Adrian needed six months to trace me to Porto Aurelia. On the day he arrived, I was beneath the estate in the negotiation chamber, going over a laundering venture with three elderly vineyard proprietors from Genoa. My deputy slipped through the door and spoke in
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He Chose My Copy I Became The Law Chapter 09 Porto Aurelia offered me the chance to begin again. I interred my former life and stepped into the Family’s innermost ranks. My first responsibilities were examining laundering accounts and settling commercial conflicts among the gangs. No one there knew what my existence in Ravenport had
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He Chose My Copy I Became The Law Chapter 08 “The old fisherman eventually fell ill and died, and every lead disappeared with him. We reopened the case last year. Only then did we discover that your blood type and birthmark matched records from an old Ravenport orphanage.” Standing before the portrait, I raised my
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He Chose My Copy I Became The Law Chapter 07 The night train rolled into Porto Aurelia sometime after two in the morning. I descended onto the platform with my small suitcase trailing behind me. Damp, salt-laced night air swept over me, carrying the unmistakable scent of a little Mediterranean city by the sea. “Valentina.”
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