The Substitute Wife Escapes Her Gilded Cage

“Everyone thought I was the pampered queen of Marcus D'Angelo, New York's most feared Don. But I was just a placeholder for the woman he couldn't have: his cousin, Izzy. The truth shattered everything at a family dinner. A waiter tripped, sending a tureen of scalding soup flying toward the table. Without a second of hesitation, Marcus threw himself over Izzy to shield her. He left me exposed. The boiling liquid seared my legs, but the real agony was watching him cradle her face, checking for scratches, while I screamed on the floor. "In my hierarchy of pain," he later told her, ignoring my burns, "her death is an inconvenience. A scratch on you is a tragedy." He didn't know that while he was comforting her over a bruise, I was in emergency surgery losing our unborn child. When I woke up, he didn't ask about me. He didn't ask about the baby he didn't know existed. instead, he asked if I would donate blood to help Izzy recover. That was the moment the old Liv died. I signed the divorce papers with a steady hand. And inside the envelope with the legal documents, I tucked a single, devastating medical report. *Diagnosis: Spontaneous Abortion. Cause: Trauma.* I left it on his desk and disappeared into the night. By the time he realizes he sacrificed his own heir to save his mistress, I will be a ghost he can never touch again.”