Caged by the Capo, Broken by My First Love

“I was forced to marry the most ruthless Capo in New York to save my family from a blood execution. For two years, I endured his psychotic jealousy as he paraded a mistress around the city-not because he wanted her, but because he knew she was connected to my past. When I finally handed him the divorce papers, I discovered a sickening truth. The mistress was the half-sister of my mob lawyer-the same lawyer who happened to be my first love. "I stayed close to try to save you both!" Julian confessed, his hands shaking on the steering wheel. "I thought I could pull her out and break your marriage at the same time!" He claimed his twisted plan was to rescue me. Instead, it pushed his desperate sister to the brink of madness. She lunged at me in my own bedroom, driving a six-inch blade into my side. "You hold the crown and you don't even want it!" she screamed. "I would kill for someone to look at me the way he looks at you!" As I lay bleeding out on the mattress, my husband and my first love fought over me, both screaming my name. I had broken my own heart years ago to save Julian from this violent underworld. I didn't understand why my sacrifice only turned him into a manipulative monster, just like my husband. Why did their twisted versions of love only bring me scars and blood? Waking up in the hospital, I looked at the two men desperately offering me blood-soaked thrones. I calmly signed the dissolution papers, took ten percent of the clean assets, and walked away. This time, I was done being a queen on any man's board.”