The Jilted Mafia Queen's Ultimate Revenge

I knew my husband, a ruthless Mafia Capo, was cheating on me.

But no matter how hard I dug, I couldn't find out who the mistress was.

For an entire year, I tracked his armored SUVs, checked his burner phones, and interrogated every woman who came near him.

At my most desperate and unhinged, I swallowed a handful of lethal pills right in front of him, just to force him to confess her name.

But when I woke up, Enzo was sitting by my hospital bed, looking utterly exhausted.

He stared at me for a long time before pulling me into a tight embrace.

"Serena, there is no one else," he swore, his voice trembling. "What do I have to do to make you believe me?"

Everyone in the Syndicate said I was clinically insane.

Even I began to doubt myself, wondering if this elusive mistress was just a phantom of my fractured mind.

Only Tessa, my childhood best friend of eighteen years, held me time and time again.

"You're not crazy, I believe you," she said, wiping away my tears. "If you want a divorce, I'll take care of you. If you stay, I'll help you keep looking. One day, we will drag that bitch out of the shadows."

But every time I thought I was close to catching her, all the clues would vanish into thin air.

Until the day Tessa was admitted to the underground clinic for severe stomach ulcers, and I went to bring her my homemade restorative broth. Standing outside her VIP ward, I heard my husband's agonizing voice through the crack in the door.

"Tessa, I can't pretend anymore. I need to tell Serena that you are the one I truly love."

"No! You can't tell her!" Tessa panicked instantly, sobbing hysterically. "After my parents died, she was the one who kept me alive! If she finds out that her husband and her best friend have been playing her for a fool for three years, it will kill her!"

Outside the heavy oak door, I covered my mouth with trembling hands, suffocating my own sobs.

The third person I had spent three years hunting down... had been standing right between my husband and me the entire time.

I was absolutely disgusted by the realization that I had been played for a fool by the two people I protected with my life.

I calmly took off my diamond wedding band, invoked the ancient blood oath to legally seize eighty percent of his empire, and booked a one-way ticket to Chicago.

Chapter 1

Serena's POV

I slipped into an empty trauma room next door and splashed freezing water over my face.

Gripping the edges of the sink, I stared at my pale reflection in the mirror under the harsh, blinding fluorescent lights.

I waited until no trace of my breakdown remained on my face. Then, I picked up the thermos of traditional Italian restorative broth and walked back out into the hallway.

The moment I pushed open the door to the VIP ward, the heavy atmosphere in the room vanished. Tessa sat up against the pillows, a flawless, bright smile blooming on her face.

"Serena, you're finally here!"

She eagerly took the thermos, taking a deep breath of the aroma before her eyes curved into happy crescents. "Wow, it smells amazing. No one makes my favorite flavor except you. You're the only one who treats me the best!"

Everything looked exactly as it always had.

Ever since we were kids and Tessa first brought me to her home, she had loved this soup.

Later, when her parents were killed in a gang crossfire and she was so devastated she refused to eat, I was the one who sat by her bed, feeding her spoon by spoon.

I stared at her slightly red eyes and forced the corners of my mouth up. "Eat as much as you like, then."

Enzo stepped forward, his posture stiff, and reached out to take my designer bag.

I shifted my weight slightly, letting his hand grab empty air.

His hand froze mid-air, a slight frown creasing his forehead. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I replied flatly, placing my bag on a chair and looking up at him. "What are you doing here?"

Enzo's gaze shifted toward the window. "I just finished a meeting with a supplier. Heard Tessa was sick, so I dropped by since it was on the way."

His territory was on the South Side. This clinic was on the extreme North Side.

That was one hell of a detour.

Tessa nervously tightened her grip on her spoon and immediately covered for him. "My pain was so severe, and I couldn't reach you on your phone, so I contacted Enzo. Please don't be mad at him, I was the one who bothered him."

I didn't expose the lie.

I simply picked up a crisp apple and a small paring knife, slowly peeling the skin. "It really is inconvenient for you to live alone."

The sharp blade glided smoothly through the fruit as I looked up and smiled at her. "When you get married, I'll teach your husband all your favorite recipes. Especially this soup-it requires precise heat, not a degree more or less."

The smile on Tessa's face faltered for a fraction of a second before she quickly stirred the soup in her bowl. "I don't even have a boyfriend. Why would I get married?"

"Then let's find you one."

I put down the apple, unlocked my phone, and swiped through photos of a few eligible men, showing them to her.

"This one is a highly capable Soldier from the Romano family, very loyal. This one is a legitimate financial proxy, very stable. And this one..."

Enzo suddenly reached out and slammed his hand heavily over my screen.

"Since when did you become a Mafia matchmaker?" he demanded. His grip was so forceful that the base of his palm ground painfully against my knuckles.

"I'm just introducing some men to Tessa. Why are you so nervous?" I asked, staring dead into his eyes.

His jaw had been clenched tight. Hearing my words, his fingers immediately loosened, and he softened his tone. "I'm just worried you don't know these men well enough. You can't just hand Tessa off to some ruthless thugs and ruin her life."

"Exactly," Tessa chimed in. She put down her bowl and reached out, wrapping her arms tightly around my waist.

"I don't want to date right now. Having you is enough," she cooed, pressing her face against me. "If nobody wants me, I'll just buy a small safehouse and grow old alone. If Enzo ever dares to bully you, you come live with me. I'll take care of you for the rest of your life."

Her posture was exactly the same as when we were kids.

These were the same hands that had dragged me out of my abusive foster home.

The same hands that had held me crying through the night yesterday after I swallowed those pills.

The only difference was that now, there was Enzo standing between us.

I froze for half a minute.

Then, slowly, I peeled her hands off me and placed the perfectly sliced apple onto a plate.

"If you don't like them, forget it," I said, my voice dead calm. "But if you ever find someone you truly love, you must tell me."

Both of them looked at me simultaneously. Enzo's broad shoulders visibly tensed. Tessa picked up her bowl, her eyelashes trembling uncontrollably.

Enzo walked over and tried to press the back of his hand against my forehead. "You look exhausted. Let's go home and let Tessa rest."

I took a step back, dodging his touch, grabbed my bag, and walked out of the room first without looking back.

In the shadows where they couldn't see, my hands were trembling violently.