At the Moretti family’s annual portrait, my husband, Dominic, had his executive assistant sit in the wife’s seat.
She managed his tribute lists, and she could relay his orders using his private seal. Tonight, she was even wearing the pearl necklace reserved for the lady of the house. Her left arm was linked through Dominic’s, and her right hand rested on his grandmother’s arm.
And me—his wife of five years—Dominic had ordered out of the shot to straighten their hems.
“It’s her first winter dinner with the family,” he’d warned me. “Don’t embarrass her.”
Around the long table sat Moretti family captains and representatives from allied families. They were all waiting for me to lose control, just like I always did.
For the past five years, Dominic had picked a different woman to take my place at the family’s most private gatherings.
He said it was to teach me how to be a quiet, obedient wife. To the people at that table, it was also his annual public reminder of one thing: the wife from the Costa family was useful, but she would never share his power.
What he didn’t know was that the five-year agreement between my brother, Miles, and me had just expired.
If Dominic gave the wife’s seat to someone else a fifth time, I had to return to California—and never look back.
So I didn’t fight for the necklace.
I simply stepped out of the frame, set the twelve keys and two ledgers I had managed for the Moretti family for five years on the table, and sent my brother a message.
*You win.*
*Come take me home.*
He Replaced His Wife And Lost His Mafia Empire Chapter 04 As the dinner was winding down, Sloane came to my door carrying two glasses of wine. “Dominic told me to bring you downstairs.” I didn’t take the drink. Through the crack in the door, she saw the open suitcase, and a
He Replaced His Wife And Lost His Mafia Empire Chapter 04 Read Post »
He Replaced His Wife And Lost His Mafia Empire Chapter 03 The banquet was still going on downstairs. I opened the wardrobe and took out a single suitcase. The old house was filled with my things, but very little of it was truly mine. I had chosen the sheets, the flowers, the dinnerware.
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He Replaced His Wife And Lost His Mafia Empire Chapter 02 I met Dominic when we were both in college in New York. He came from Chicago’s Moretti family. Hotels and casinos were the face they showed the world; behind the scenes, their power came from cash lending and protection rackets. I came
He Replaced His Wife And Lost His Mafia Empire Chapter 02 Read Post »
He Replaced His Wife And Lost His Mafia Empire Chapter 01 At the Moretti family’s annual portrait, my husband, Dominic, had his executive assistant sit in the wife’s seat. She managed his tribute lists, and she could relay his orders using his private seal. Tonight, she was even wearing the pearl necklace reserved for
He Replaced His Wife And Lost His Mafia Empire Chapter 01 Read Post »
