No Longer His Donna Chapter 01

No Longer His Donna Chapter 01

When I arrived home with the gift I had carefully chosen for Xander, the house was empty except for a table laden with fresh flowers.

Cheers and laughter drifted from row house garden, and a cold dread settled in my stomach with each step.

“Don Xander, you are truly blessed, such a fine son and such a lovely Donna,” came the teasing voices of Capo from nearby.

My whole body stiffened, refusing to believe what I had just heard.

A few more steps, and I saw him.

Xander was cradling an infant. A voluptuous woman stood beside him, her arm linked through his.

“Yes, I am. But above all, Stephanie deserves the credit,” he said, his voice dripping with a tenderness I had never known. He squeezed her shoulder, and she looked up at him, her face radiant with happiness.

They looked the perfect family of three, a picture so enviable it made my heart ache.

I stood frozen, a wretched creature peering in on their celebration.

Behind them, a banner hung on the wall,

[Aaron’s Baby Shower]

Aaron…

Once, I had clung to Xander, playfully whining, “Xander, I want to give you a son someday. Let’s name him Aaron.”

He’d asked me why. I’d grinned, bright and hopeful. “Doesn’t ‘Aaron’ sound like a born leader? I want our child to be just like his father, exceptional, reliable, a true leader.”

And now, the child he had with another woman… was named Aaron.

“By the way, Xander,” one of his Capos asked, “Tina should be back soon, shouldn’t she? Aren’t you worried she’ll make a scene when she finds out you’re a father?”

Xander gently stroked the baby’s cheek. “I’d nearly forgotten, thanks for the reminder.”

He immediately took out his phone and called. “Keep Tina abroad a while longer,” he instructed, his voice casual. “She’d better not come back now. She’d make a scene if she finds out I have a son.”

My breath hitched, and I stumbled back one step.

I became a Doctors Without Borders doctor because Xander demanded it three years ago.

Three years ago, on my birthday, he summoned me to his penthouse. He rarely invited me there, and I was full of anticipation, thinking he had a surprise for me.

Once I was seated, he set a ring box on the table between us and slid a plane ticket toward me.

“You don’t belong in a mafia family,” he’d declared. “Go. Work with Doctors Without Borders for three years. Harden your spirit, steady your heart. Then come back ready to be my Donna.”

He thought me too flighty, prone to crying over every little thing, as an outsider to this world, I lacked the cold composure a Donna needed. He said I even make a scene whenever I saw him with other women.

“I’ll wait for you,” he had promised. “I’ll welcome you back with the grandest wedding, let all of New York know you are my wife, my Donna.”

I believed him. So, I studied hard, applied, and poured myself entirely into it.

The day my application was accepted, I was overjoyed.

I thought if I could just survive those three years, I could become Xander’s Donna.

But now I was back, and he was a father.

Coming to my senses, I found my face was wet with tears. The more I wiped them away, the more they fell.

“I really don’t want her to come back.”