My Ex Played Games, Not Knowing I Was the Don’s Wife

On the feast of San Valentino, when the man who had sworn himself to me finally flew back onto Valente soil, the woman I trusted most steered the three of us into a hotel suite on neutral ground to play what she called a little game. "Who cracks first."

The man I called mine lifted his glass and laid out his plans, easy as breathing. "The room's already booked. Your closest friend and I are rolling around in that bed until midnight."

He curled an arm around her shoulder and kissed the corner of her mouth. "And this isn't part of the game. This is me getting a taste the second I got off the plane."

She smiled at me, not a flicker of shame on her face. "Remember when your appointment to the crew fell through because someone put word in the wrong ear? I comforted you for three days. The truth is, I'm the one who whispered it."

She leaned into his arms. "Adriana Mancini, you've got the blood name and the good man both. You can't hog every fine thing in this world, can you?"

He patted my shoulder, his tone offhand. "Don't worry. She and I are just having our fun. When it comes to a real union, I'm still going to bind myself to you."

Gia picked up the thread. "Follow the rules of the game. Whoever cracks first pays for tonight's room."

I looked at the two of them and, out of nowhere, let out a small laugh.

"Who said I lost?"

I drew my phone from my pocket and lit up the screen.

The next second, both of them gasped at once.

...

Enzo Barone's brows knotted together as he stared, hard, at the screen.

"Adriana, I know you're throwing a fit because I neglected you while I was working the crew abroad. There's no need to drag some random man into it just to spite me."

I found it a little funny. In three years across the water, Enzo had always let my messages sit unanswered, blaming the distance between territories.

Even the parting words I'd sent him, he still hadn't opened, not once.

Gia stepped up and gave him a tug, smiling. "Enzo, you were sworn to her seven years. Don't you know her by now? This is just the kind of little trick young girls love to pull. She doctored a marriage pact on purpose so you'd get jealous and come running. You just spoil her too much." Her smile held a half-second too long before her eyes slid to the side.

Enzo let out a breath at that and looked at me, stern. "Adriana, fine. You like to fool around. But how can you joke about something like being bound for life?"

I looked at them, half-amused, and said each word clearly.

"I have no reason to joke about something like this. Believe it or not."

Enzo's eyes went cold in an instant. His tongue wet his lips.

"Which random guy is it? Cut him loose tomorrow and I'll still swear the pact with you. But don't count on a banquet, and you'll only see half the tribute."

Gia snatched my phone and flicked through the image of the marriage pact. "There isn't even a face to it. Why won't you show us a picture of you and this husband together? All you've got is the shell of a document. Who do you think you're frightening?"

"And you were the last-born of the Mancini blood. Wouldn't your union be a grand sit-down for all to see? How is it there's been no word at all, and not even I got the summons?"

Something in me stalled. My husband and I had bound ourselves in private, with only both bloodlines present to bear witness.

And I had no wish to let these two know my husband so much as existed. It would only bring trouble to his door.

Enzo scrolled back at once through the last six months of everyone's posts. Not one soul in our shared circle had breathed a word about my being wed.

He came up to me and stroked my hair, the way he used to when we still belonged to each other.

"All right, Adriana, stop acting up. I was joking too, before. The banquet's still on, and you'll have every last coin of the tribute. I just wanted you to get used to it ahead of time. There'll be sit-downs down the road, and I can't always avoid doing that kind of thing."

I slapped his hand away in disgust. He only took it for sulking and pressed on.

"I just want you to learn how to carry yourself as my woman. And don't be so hard on Gia."

Gia came over too, hooking her arm through mine to smooth things over.

"Adriana, Enzo closed a lot of good rackets abroad. Sit-downs over there are all like this. He's bringing his name back home now. If you can't stand behind him, at least don't make trouble for him."