The Donna Who Bought Out Family and Love for $100 Million Chapter 01

The Donna Who Bought Out Family and Love for $100 Million Chapter 01

I slapped my husband’s mistress, and he threw my entire family into a mental asylum.

When Nerina had his baby, I finally begged for their freedom.

Cassian Vescari just scoffed.

“Evelina, your father and brother pushed Nerina into my bed themselves. She’s your half-sister.”

He slid his phone over to me.

“There was no asylum. They’ve been by her side for three years.”

On screen, my father and Alaric were smiling over Nerina and her newborn. Pure bliss.

My heart tore apart, piece by piece.

He knew—he knew how deeply I hated the woman who killed my mother.

And now? He fell in love with her daughter.

Cassian carried on casually.

“You’ve been so good these three years, Evelina. What do you want as compensation?”

I wiped my tears, looked up, and smiled.

“A hundred million.”

Let $100 million buy out all my love and family ties.

Since none of them ever loved me anyway…

This time, I’m living only for myself.

…

“What did you say?”

Cassian looked stunned for a moment.

I held his gaze and forced my voice to stay steady.

“You said you wanted to compensate me, so give me the money.”

“Ten million dollars. Not a cent less.”

His expression hardened.

Then he scoffed and spoke into the phone on the desk.

“Nerina, looks like none of us called it.”

Only then did I realize the phone was on a FaceTime call.

Nerina smiled at me from the screen, mockery plain in her eyes.

“Evelina, we made a bet about what you’d demand from Cassian once you learned the truth.”

“I said you’d refuse any compensation. Cassian said you’d threaten him to keep him from ever divorcing you.”

“As for Papa and Alaric, one thought you’d make Cassian send me away, and the other thought you’d hurt yourself to force his hand.”

She angled the camera to one side.

Papa was cradling Nerina’s baby with a broad smile. The instant he saw me, every trace of it vanished.

“Evelina, you actually asked Cassian for money?”

“Has the Caradonna Family ever treated you unfairly? When did you become so obsessed with money? How do you expect the Vescari Family to respect you after this?”

Alaric stroked Nerina’s hair with open affection, then his expression went cold the moment he faced the camera.

“Evelina, are you just lashing out? Nerina and Cassian love each other. They don’t owe you anything.”

“Is that so?”

I cut him off, my eyes burning.

“Then money is all I need.”

“It’s pocket change. Surely the Vescari Family and the Caradonna Family can afford it.”

“That’s enough.”

Cassian cut me off and pulled a document from his desk drawer.

“Sign it, and the ten million will be wired to you immediately.”

I took it from him. It was a divorce agreement.

Without a second’s hesitation, I snatched up a pen and signed my name.

Cassian’s expression shifted, suddenly hard to read.

“Do you really care about money that much? You were never like this before.”

Even as pain tore through me, I forced myself to smile as though I did not care.

“If I don’t take the money, what exactly can you give me?”

“You could beg me not to go through with the divorce.” He held my gaze, his green eyes dark and unreadable. “Say the word, Evelina, and I’ll tear this agreement up right now.”

Beg him?

“Then what?” I met his eyes, my voice edged with contempt. “Then you’ll tell me this was another bet and the whole point was to watch me make a fool of myself?”

Something cool traced a path down my cheek. The tears I had held back for so long finally fell.

Cassian reached up without thinking and wiped them away. Something like guilt flickered in his eyes.

He sighed.

“Don’t worry. Your place as the Vescari Family’s Madre will remain yours. I’m only marrying Nerina so our child won’t be branded a bastard.”

After a pause, he added, “And I’ll still give you the ten million. Take it and travel for a while. Once I’ve handled everything, we’ll remarry. All right?”

I looked up and smiled.

“Then book me a flight to Switzerland. We promised we’d see the Alpine lakes together.”

“All right.” He exhaled in relief and pulled me tightly into his arms. “Evelina, wait for me.”

I rested against his shoulder and said nothing.

But I knew I would never wait for him again.

Only when Cassian thought I had given in did he finally speak.

“Would you move to Todt Hill Estate? Nerina will be moving into the Vescari estate.”

I remained silent, but my mind drifted back to when we had first moved into the townhouse.

We had planned every room together, chosen the curtains, and picked out the vase for the foyer. We had even set aside two nurseries, one pink and one blue.

But later, while he was sleeping with Nerina in his office until dawn, I lost my baby alone in that empty house.

I smiled and placed my keys in his hand.

“It’s fine. A new place will be just as good.”

From then on, everything in my life would be new—not just the house.

The next day, I went alone to the private psychiatric hospital.

For three years, I had pushed open the doors to their rooms again and again, seen Papa and Alaric lying in those beds, and cried until I passed out.

I should have realized sooner. The Caradonna Family controlled a private hospital network spanning the East Coast. How could they ever have been trapped here?

But I hadn’t come for them that day.

I opened the door to a secluded patient room on the top floor. A young man sat on the windowsill, staring into the distance.

Any reporter would have recognized him. He was the youngest son of the Marcelli Family, the Sicilian crime dynasty behind a vast shipping empire, and he had vanished years ago.

I held his blue gaze.

“I have the money now. I’m getting you out.”

I had never planned to go to Switzerland.

In ten days, met at JFK, Sicily.