The Don’s Secret Wife Chapter 03

The Don’s Secret Wife Chapter 03

The world tilted. “Mom, I didn’t…”

She didn’t let me finish.

“Get to the hospital right now! How could you do this to us?”

My phone wouldn’t stop buzzing. Text after text came in from numbers I didn’t recognize, every one of them vicious.

Ruby had gone nuclear. Her marriage certificate was splashed across the New York Post gossip pages, her PR machine spinning the whole story, along with a grainy dashcam clip from her Maybach captioned: [I felt sorry for her and even gave her money, but she turned around and stalked my husband!]

The internet piled on.

[Throw this trash into the Hudson!]

[That bum leg is karma. God doesn’t miss.]

I couldn’t stop crying, and everyone on that sidewalk looked right through me like I wasn’t even there.

I dragged myself back to the hospital. By the time I got there, the joint of my prosthetic had rubbed me raw, and the exposed metal wiring had torn into my skin.

Mom was already there in the hallway. She rushed at me and struck me across the face, her voice scraped raw. “Your father is in the ICU because of you! I have no daughter. No daughter of mine would ever be a homewrecker!”

When Joseph had a price on his head, I’d cut my parents off completely because I was too scared any contact would put them in danger. They were furious. Devastated. And they still wired money every month without being asked.

I pressed my hands over my face, voice barely there. “I’m not a mistress…”

Then Joseph came through the doors of the ICU ward, already furious. He shoved me hard. “I told you Ruby’s off-limits! What the hell did you do?”

I hit the floor. He grabbed my wrist and hauled me back up, dragging me toward the exit. “Ruby nearly lost the baby because of you. You’re going to apologize. Now.”

“She’s the other woman! Why the hell should I apologize?”

I sank my teeth into his hand, and he ripped it away with a hiss, flinging me loose.

He saw the defiance in my eyes, my refusal to break, and let out a cold, empty laugh. “Fine. I’m having the hospital cut your father’s life support. Every single machine.”

Mom grabbed my arm, frantic.

“Ina! Are you trying to put your father in the ground?”

I didn’t move. So my mother dropped to her knees in front of Joseph, clutching at his pant leg, begging.

“She’ll apologize… I’m begging you, please, just save him…”

This was my mother, gray-haired, on her knees, groveling to a man barely older than her own daughter. Something inside my chest ripped wide open.

I pulled her up, tears running down my face, and looked at Joseph through bloodshot eyes.

“Save my father, and I’ll do whatever you want.”

They brought me to Ruby’s private hospital room. The second she saw me, her hand came up and slapped me hard across the cheek. “You bitch! I never should’ve felt sorry for you!”

Joseph caught her wrist before it could strike again.

Ruby stared at him, incredulous. “We almost lost our baby, and you’re still protecting her?”

Joseph cupped her face. “Never. You know you’re all that matters to me.”

Then he turned to me, and his eyes were something I didn’t recognize, cold and dangerous. “Get on your knees, Ina. Apologize. And don’t stop until she says you can.”

I swallowed whatever I had left of myself, and I knelt.

“I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have gone near your husband…”

I was still kneeling there, head lowered, numb and mechanical, when a swarm of reporters on Ruby’s payroll pushed their way into the room.

Camera flashes went off, white-hot and blinding. Ruby’s voice cut through the noise. “If you’re going to apologize, we might as well make sure all of New York sees it.”

Joseph moved like he was about to step in. Then Ruby’s lip trembled, and he went still.

He didn’t say a word until my body finally gave out and I crumpled to the floor.

Something flickered across his face, just barely. “Your father’s stable. For now. Next time, an apology won’t cover it.”

I used the wall to drag myself upright and stumbled back through the hospital.

In the lobby, the TV was on. Me, on my knees, on a loop, playing for everyone to see.