The Godfather Who Never Lost Begged Me Not to Leave Him Chapter 03

The Godfather Who Never Lost Begged Me Not to Leave Him Chapter 03

He reached out and brushed the ends of my hair.

I pulled away the instant his fingers touched me.

His hand stalled awkwardly in midair.

After a moment, he said, “I’ll be home the next few days. I don’t have any family business at night either.”

I kept scrolling and gave a distracted nod.

I wasn’t really listening.

If anything, being around him was starting to wear me out.

I still remembered how, when Cressida first came back, I’d become painfully on edge, constantly asking where he was going and who he was with.

One day, fed up, he snapped, “If I really wanted something to happen with Cressida, what good would it do to know where I go and what I do every day?”

I froze as if he’d slapped me. Heat rushed into my face, and my mind went blank.

After that, I never asked again.

When I didn’t respond, Leander sat there watching me for a long time.

I finally glanced up at him, my expression silently asking, “What?”

Only then did he look away and switch off the light. “Go to sleep.”

The room went dark, but I could still feel his eyes on my back.

I burrowed deeper under the covers and squeezed my eyes shut.

I couldn’t even be bothered to tell him to leave.

I was exhausted. I didn’t want to talk anymore.

Early the next morning, I gathered my things and headed out.

Leander was waiting by the door.

“I’m heading to your family headquarters for a meeting today. Want to ride together?”

Our families were working together on a joint project.

I picked up my car keys. “My family doesn’t know about us. If someone sees us together, it could cause problems. We should go separately.”

Leander was quiet for a beat. “Okay.”

He’d never publicly named me as his wife.

Everyone in our circles knew he was married, but no one knew to whom.

During the meeting, I sat far from Leander. As soon as the caporegime launched into the usual formal remarks, the family group chat lit up.

“Oh my God, Don Rossetti is even hotter up close! I’m so jealous of his mystery wife!”

“Please. If you’re going to envy anyone, envy his first love. You’ve all heard their history, right? She comes back and immediately lands a job as his advisor. I heard she’s even living in one of Leander’s properties. Must be nice.”

“You can still scroll back years on Leander’s social media and find pictures of his first love. He couldn’t even bring himself to delete them after they broke up. But have you ever seen a single picture of his wife?”

“Wait, then why didn’t he marry his first love?”

“I heard she was the one who dumped him. According to some of his old men, Leander fell apart after the breakup. He couldn’t focus on family business, chased her all the way to Europe to beg her to take him back, and apparently even got into a fight over her.”

“Didn’t he lose a ton of weight back then? I heard he barely looked like himself.”

“Then he married someone else less than a year later. Maybe he was so wrecked he just settled. But come on, who forgets a love story like that? His ex shows up again and suddenly she’s his personal advisor. You do the math.”

“Exactly.”

I set my phone down and glanced at Leander, who was talking with the caporegime. For a moment, I drifted.

So he’d once loved someone like that.

Enough to forget appearances and get into a fight.

Enough to lose his head and chase her all the way to Europe.

Leander and I argued sometimes too.

But he was always calm. Calm while I got angry. Calm while he told me to settle down.

“Nerissa, getting worked up isn’t going to solve anything.”

“We’ll talk when you’ve calmed down.”

Once, I got so angry I told him maybe we should break up.

He only paused for a second before saying, “Okay.”

Then he turned and walked away.

No messages. No calls. Nothing. It was as if he’d disappeared from my life and it really was over.