Luca Ferraro is a revered Italian mafia boss with a cold heart that is thawed by Elena Rossetti, a kleptomaniac woman who agrees to marry him when caught stealing from him to avoid a death sentence. Elena Rossetti grew up fending for herself by stealing, she lives an average life until she steals from the dangerous Luca Ferraro, her only way out is marriage to a man she should be scared of. When love suddenly visits them, will it be enough to help them weather the storm?
view more~~Julie~~
My husband, Ryan, is standing on the karaoke stage, making a fool of himself. His shirt is unbuttoned halfway, his tie long abandoned, and his cheeks are flushed from too much whiskey. “And I………will always love you…..” he sings, closing his eyes. His voice is terrible. Standing next to him, practically glued to his side, is his secretary, Emily. Her left arm is around Ryan's waist, her fingers lightly grazing his back as she sings along. She’s younger than me, at least by half a decade, all wide eyes and perfect curves, dressed in a tight, low-cut dress that makes it impossible to ignore her presence. She leans into Ryan, whispering something in his ear, and he throws his head back, laughing. He looks at her like she’s the funniest person in the world. I’ve never seen him this happy. The last time I saw him this happy was on our wedding day, seven years ago. Back then, his eyes sparkled when he looked at me. Now, the light in them has grown dimmer; they're shining for someone else. Around me, everyone is laughing. It’s the company’s quarterly review party, and the employees are loose after a few too many drinks, finding Ryan and Emily’s performance hilarious. But I know what they’re really laughing at. They’re laughing at me. The CEO’s wife, sitting here while her husband practically gropes his secretary in front of everyone. The whispers, the side glances, they don’t even try to hide it. “Do you think they’re going to kiss?” someone whispers behind me. “Definitely. Bet they’ll be doing more than kissing after this,” someone else replies, and they both chuckle. I turn around to look at the people talking. Young, drunk, probably high on weed too. They must be interns. Only people with zero knowledge of the company’s hierarchy would make such a statement close to their employer’s wife. Or maybe they just don’t care. The girl, with messy blonde hair and red cheeks, locks eyes with me. “Hi!” she says, a little too loud. “Do you work here?” Do I work here? My eyes narrow. She's definitely an intern. She’s pretty, the kind of pretty that comes with youth and arrogance. The boy next to her drapes his arm lazily over her shoulders. I don’t respond. I just stare at them, cold and unblinking. Before I can say something that would make them regret their existence, I hear my name called. “Julie!” the voice says, drawing my attention. Even before I turn, I know who it is. Samantha, the vice president of marketing. We both work for Paragon Jewels, Ryan’s company, the leading manufacturer of luxury jewelry in North America. Her position is just below mine, so she’s one of the few who calls out my name like we’re friends, even though we’re not. “Samantha,” I reply, forcing a polite smile. “I didn’t know you were here, Julie. I was just telling the marketing team we have to get you involved more!” “Oh?” I say. “Why’s that?” “Well, you’re the head of marketing, and everyone wants to meet you! You’re so hard to catch these days. And besides, we never get a chance to chat at work,” she says, with an overplayed wink. Her gaze drifts to the stage where Ryan and Emily are swaying together, sharing the mic, laughing like they’re on some private date instead of a work event. “So, Mrs. O’Brien,” she says, smirking, “how are you enjoying the show so far?” She's mocking me. The fucking bitch. I force a bright smile. “Oh, it’s… fantastic,” I say, struggling to keep a straight face. “I’m thrilled to see my husband’s hard work is being rewarded with such… dedication from his staff.” The crowd is clapping now, giving Ryan and his secretary a standing ovation. I guess they're done with their nonsense. But then Ryan speaks into the microphone. “Before we get down, we’ve got one more song for you!” More applause. More laughter. And I just want the ground to open up and swallow me. Samantha looks at me with pity in her eyes. “Well… umm,” she says. “I’ll catch up with you later.” She quickly excuses herself. Behind me, I hear those interns whispering again. “Oh, my God. Did you hear what she said? That's Mrs. O’Brien.” I turn to glare at them one last time, and the boy shifts uncomfortably, pulling the girl to her feet. “Let’s go,” he mutters under his breath, and they stumble away, sneaking a look at me before disappearing into the crowd. Good. Let them run. I turn back to the stage, my heart pounding in my chest. Ryan is singing “Everything I Do”—if you can call that singing. Emily is now pressed against him, her hand running up his arm in a way that makes my stomach twist. She’s completely shameless, and he’s too drunk to even notice—or worse, he doesn’t care. I can’t take it anymore. Without thinking, I push my chair back and stand. My heels click against the floor as I march toward the stage. I can feel the weight of everyone’s eyes on me, the whispers dying down as they realize what’s happening. They’ve been waiting for this—waiting to see if I’ll crack. But I don’t care. I’m done playing the perfect wife. I climb the steps to the stage, each footstep feeling heavier than the last. Ryan doesn’t notice me at first, too lost in his drunken performance, but Emily spots me and her smile falters. Good. “Ryan,” I say. “We’re leaving now.” Ryan looks at me, surprised. “Why?” he slurs, still holding the microphone. “The party's just getting started.” I grit my teeth, my fists clenched. “Let’s go. Now.” “Julie, come on,” he says, sounding annoyed now, as if I’m the one ruining his night. I can’t help it. Something inside me snaps. Without another word, I turn and walk toward the back of the stage. The technical operators sitting in the booth look up as I approach, their faces going pale. “Who’s in charge here?” I ask. They all point to a man standing near the soundboard, holding a half-eaten donut. His eyes widen as he sees me. “Mrs. O’Brien,” he stammers, quickly setting the donut aside. “Is there something—uh—something I can do for you?” “Shut it down. All of it,” I say. “The party’s over.” He blinks, not sure if I’m serious, but one look at my face and he scrambles to obey. His hands fly across the controls, and within seconds, the speakers cut out with a harsh screech. The lights dim. The music dies. Silence falls over the room like a heavy curtain, and all that’s left is the sound of my heels as I walk back to center stage. Ryan is standing there, his microphone useless in his hand. “Julie, what the hell?” Ryan mutters. I meet his eyes, feeling the weight of everything I’ve been holding in for too long. “You’ve had your fun,” I say quietly, but with enough steel in my voice that it stops him from saying anything else. “Now it’s over.” I don’t wait for a reply. I grab his arm and start leading him down the stairs. Ryan stumbles slightly, caught off guard by my sudden forcefulness. His eyes flick to the crowd, scanning their faces for something, maybe support, validation, but all he finds are wide eyes and muted whispers. Everyone’s too shocked, too entertained by the unfolding drama, to come to his defense. The whispers start immediately. I hear snatches of conversation as we pass. Let them talk. Let them laugh. Ryan's too drunk to fight me, too embarrassed to protest. For once, he’s the one who’s quiet, and I’m the one in control. Justin, Ryan’s bodyguard/chauffeur, sees us coming and is already moving into action. He steps forward, opening the back door of the car without a word. Ryan mumbles something under his breath—maybe an apology, maybe an excuse—but I don’t stop. I don’t even look at him. I tighten my grip, forcing him into the backseat with a firm push, and he collapses into the car. “Take us home,” I say, climbing in behind Ryan. Then I slam the door shut.ELENA'S POV“Kill her…”“We should have killed her when we had the chance”“Kill her now”They all advanced towards me with their guns at the ready.No, no. Make it stop.I wanted to scream, to open my mouth but no sound came out, I was all alone.“He's not here to save you now”“You can't even live without him”“Weakling”One of the men with the dark eyes raised his gun, his face quite hazy as he squeezed the trigger.I screamed immediately, thrashing about when someone held me tightly.“Elena?!” The voice sounded distant yet so familiar and the person was holding meNo, they wanted to kill me.I tossed about in the strong person's hold until I was tired.“Calm down. It's just a dream” a voice that was unmistakably Luca's reached my mind that was clouded with fog.I opened my eyes and spent a few seconds trying to adjust to the bright sunlight that was filtering through the blinds before I could focus on Luca who was above me, his arms holding my hands tight.“Luca…” I whispered.He
AUTHOR'S POV“What do you mean you didn't get that done?!” Bianca screamed at the man who had come to give her the reports.The man bowed his head slightly and sighed. “Look, Miss Conti. We did do our best. Things went haywire at the last moment” he explained.“Things went haywire?! Paulo, I paid you three million just to do this one thing. Get rid of the bitch but you're telling me things went haywire?! Do you know how much that cost me?!” She yelled, her eyes wide.The man clothed in black clothes that seemed to buff out his muscular physique snapped back immediately. “And do you know how much it cost me?! 28 men! Dead! Those were the best in my ranks and they're 6 feet deep now! What do you think this is to me?!”Bianca almost flinched when he advanced towards her but he stopped himself in time and looked away, his body brimming with anger.“As I can see, things didn't just go haywire. What happened?” She managed to calm herself down to speak.He sighed. “The don came. Don Luca cam
LUCA'S POV My shoes clacked against the stoned floor as I walked into the small shelter where I had discovered years back and made mine.I probably looked like a murderer or an assassin with the way that my cloak seemed to blend in with the night. Good. I felt like a murderer anyway and I was entering this building with every intention to kill.After I drove Elena home, I helped her to bed, made sure she was fine, and left as soon as she dozed off.Exactly 12:07 am now.“Don Luca…” someone's voice came from the shadows matching my steps as I neared my destination.“Yes, Lorenzo?” I asked, twirling my keys around my index finger while my eyes were fixed straight ahead.“The men are clearing up the scene and they're almost done”“And who's my guest for tonight?” I asked, stopping at the door.“The driver. The last car to tumble over. Thankfully he had only sustained a few hits to the head so he's alive and in the perfect shape to talk. We've…treated him good already” Lorenzo's voice dr
ELENA'S POV “Hold on!” Luca yelled from his car before he rolled his window up just as a bullet bounced on it.Fuck, that was close. I had always wondered why he had made all his cars bulletproof and now I was seeing why.Lorenzo who was still returning fire turned to me. “The boss?” He yelled over the sound of tires and guns.I gripped the steering tighter. “Yes!”Looking into the rearview mirror, I spied 5 enemy cars. 5. Okay, that was still a lot.Luca's car sped up, overtaking mine and speeding to the front of the road where the alley ended.What in the fuck was he doing.Lorenzo stopped shooting and looked at what was happening, a look of confusion on his face.“Wait, pull over!” He suddenly yelled at meI didn't turn to look at Lorenzo but my eyes widened. “Are you crazy, they're right behind us!”Luca's car reached the mouth of the alley and with a skilled drift of his car, he swerved his car to the side to block the entrance of the alley.How were we supposed to leave?! What
ELENA'S POV“Get me all the information you can on him, leave no stones unturned” I said to Lorenzo a few days later as I packed up my stuff in the bar where I now worked as a mixologist as planned.Lorenzo had been sent to drive me back home and he was walking me out of the bar already when Bianca came up to me.“Elena, can I talk to you for a second?”I nodded and told Lorenzo that I'd be out in a minute before going to meet her at the door.“What?” I asked, folding my hands across on my chest.It had been a week since Luca had a crash and he was discharged two days after so I had resumed work three days back and so far, I had no problems with Her, she even seemed nice.“Look about that day in the hospital. I'm sorry. I just lost it when I found out you had a connection with the person who tried to kill my boss. Don Luca has helped a lot of people so when I did my research and I found out that you knew him… I just assumed the worst. Was he your friend? I saw a photo of you both year
ELENA'S POVI had been here for about 20 minutes already and the atmosphere was silent as I had placed my head on the bed frame, letting his run his fingers through my hair.After he had told me that, we hadn't spoken about it. I was silent and so was he. We just stayed in the calm environment saying nothing.“You know… I want you to hate me he suddenly spoke up and that made me want to raise my head up but his strong arms pulled me down.Another testament to how weak I was. He was injured and still far stronger than I was.“What the fuck does that mean? Why would you want me to hate you?” I asked confused.“Because then I'd know that what my dad said was true. He used to tell me that I was unlovable and I did believe him so tell me how it's possible that you love me?” His grip on my head loosened.I used the opportunity to release myself from his grip. “You're not. You're the best thing that happened to me. We've both come out from homes that tried to restrict us from growing but th
ELENA'S POV “NO! LET GO OF ME!” I trashed in Gareth's strong arms, tears brimming in my eyes.What had happened?I was at the bar one moment then I saw the news going on about a car crash. Luca's car.I had called and called but he hadn't answered so I quickly left with Gareth only to receive a call from Doctor Giovanni who said that Luca was in an accident and he thought I should know about it.Thankfully Gareth had raced to the hospital but now he didn't want me to enter the room. I couldn't even see the insides of the goddamn room.“Gareth, let me go” I thrashed in his arms, kicking wildly.“Ma'am, I think you need to wait for the doctor to give his permission for you to go in” he said, trying to make me see reason.I heard the sound of rushing feet and I turned around to see Bianca rush in, her hair messy and her eyes wild.“Is it true?” She asked.I turned my face the other way and I heard her gasp. “Oh fuck, is he alright?” She didn't wait for me to answer, she started marching
LUCA'S POV “When you said you were coming over with your wife,I sure as hell wasn't expecting her” Bianca said, pouring me a glass of wine while she gave Elena who was looking around the club excitedly a glare.I took the glass from her and took a sip from it.“Don't say that again firstly and also she's the new mixologist. I'm here to tell you that you're in charge of her and no goddamn thing must happen to her”, I said, my eyes fixed on Elena who was sliding her hand across the counter.Bianca forced a smile and straightened up, the tiny shirt she wore hiking up to show her a bit of her bra.“When did you start dressing like that?”, I frowned at her.She looked down at her body like she hadn't realized what she was wearing. “Well it's a strip club after all”“Don't give me that shit, you're not one of the girls and you weren't wearing that before I came here” I frowned at her.Her smile faltered. “Oh, there's someone watching me?”“My club, remember?”“I also remember you entrusted
LUCA'S POV She was still staring at me with those large does eyes of hers and I was waiting for her response. “So why are you looking at me like I said something that was impossible” She blinked and relaxed her head on my shoulder. “It's a bit surprising that you want to employ me in your club or bar or whatever. Is it safe?” I nodded immediately, stroking her hair. “Completely. The woman in charge, she'll take care of you and you know I won't ever put you in a place where your safety isn't guaranteed” She was clearly thinking about something judging by the little creases on her lips. “I do wanna know though. How are you comfortable trusting me with this, In your space when you know what I am” she raised her eyes to me and I melted at the sight. When did I get this smitten over this woman? “You're not a what, Elena. I don't know what you think you are but I know who you are and do you wanna know who you are?” I kissed her forehead softly. She nodded, her eyes fluttering close f
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