The Underboss's Barren Crown

I tossed and turned all night, the wound on my arm throbbing, denying me sleep.

First thing in the morning, I called a real estate agent and listed the safe house.

When I returned to pack, Gabe’s private jet was still parked on the lawn.

I pushed open the door and froze. The wall was covered in photographs.

The woman in them wasn’t me. It was Serena.

The glaciers of the Arctic, the Eiffel Tower, the fire-scarred Notre Dame.

Every place we had ever gone together, he had taken her.

He always said he hated having his picture taken.

As the family’s Underboss, he couldn’t risk a photo falling into the hands of a rival family or the FBI.

No matter how much I begged, we never took a single picture together.

But for Serena, he’d made an exception.

And there they were, standing right beneath the photo wall. Serena was caressing her barely visible baby bump, a saccharine smile on her face.

“Gabe, when the baby is born, can we bring him here too?”

“He’ll love these places. Oh, feel! He’s kicking me!”

The sound of the door startled them.

They turned and saw me.

Serena dropped to her knees with a thud, clutching my legs and pleading.

“Sophia, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have broken my promise to stay away. Please don’t be mad at me, okay?”

“I just love Gabe so much… I swear, I’ll leave as soon as the baby is born. I won’t get in your way…”

Before I could utter a word, Gabe let out a cold laugh.

“You don’t have to apologize to her. You were drugged when you met me. If anything, I owe you.”

He looked up, his gaze fixing on me.

“Sophia, I found the people who drugged us. That little family will be gone from New York within a month.”

“Serena is an innocent victim in this. She was forced. You shouldn’t blame her. I’m willing to let this go, but you need to apologize. Then we can put this behind us.”

I stared back at him, my gaze pure ice.

The absurdity of it all was suffocating.

“Me? Apologize? Gabe, have you lost your mind?”

The next second, the hand on my leg tightened, her nails digging into the wound from last night.

I gasped, and a cold sweat broke out across my back.

On instinct, I pushed her away.

I hadn’t used much force, but Serena shrieked and threw herself backward, crashing into a nearby cabinet.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Gabe shoved me, hard. My forehead slammed into the doorframe.

Blood trickled down my face.

“I think you’re the one who’s lost her mind!”

“Serena has already humbled herself before you, and I’ve explained everything. What more do you want?”

“Apologize. Or else.”

I gritted my teeth, swallowing the bitter humiliation, and enunciated each word.

“Not. A. Chance.”

“Apologize to your mistress? In your dreams, Gabe.”

“You asked for this!”

Gabe’s eyes were wild with fury. He swept Serena into his arms and carried her into the master bedroom.

When he re-emerged, he summoned every Soldato in the villa.

“Where are the chains? Get them.”

“The Principessa is hysterical. Take her to the courtyard and make her kneel. Let her cool off.”

“She doesn’t get up until I say so!”