The Mafia Don Fooled Me for 8 Years, I Became a Major’s Wife 8 Days Later Chapter 02

The Mafia Don Fooled Me for 8 Years, I Became a Major’s Wife 8 Days Later Chapter 02

Zara flagged down a cab.

“I’ve got a shift, so you’re on your own getting home.”

“Have some self-respect, Lily. I’m not going to be best friends with someone’s side piece.”

It hit me all at once. She hadn’t dragged me here to watch a wedding. She’d brought me here to make sure I saw it with my own eyes.

The betrayal tasted like ash in my mouth.

The driver glanced at me in the rearview mirror. I could feel him judging me. I made myself smaller in the seat.

I went back to the apartment. If you could even call it that. The whole place was barely bigger than a shoebox.

A twin bed shoved against a desk. A half-ironed Louis Vuitton shirt draped across the bed.

He’d told me he was up for a promotion and needed something nice to wear. Could I help him out? I’d blown half a month’s pay on that shirt without thinking twice.

When I’d flinched at the price, he’d doubled over laughing.

A hundred and twenty million dollars on a necklace for Aurora. And I’d agonized over a shirt.

He wasn’t laughing because he was grateful.

He was laughing at me.

My eyes burned. I grabbed the scissors off the desk and shredded that shirt until there was nothing left to cut. Then I stuffed the pieces in the trash.

I tore through the room, pulling out everything that was his: every sock, every charger, every pathetic excuse he’d left behind. I crammed it all into garbage bags and kicked them out into the hallway.

[We’re done. Your stuff is outside the door.]

I hit send. Then I blocked his number and deleted his contact.

The fight drained out of me all at once. I fell back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling.

Sophomore year. I was working at the campus coffee shop when I overheard him telling someone he could barely afford to eat. I’d walked right over and given him my lunch.

He’d looked at me in a way I couldn’t read, but I was mid-shift and didn’t think about it.

Now I got it. He must have thought I was pathetic.

Some broke girl scraping by on coffee-shop tips had felt sorry for a De Luca heir.

He started pursuing me after that.

When we graduated, I moved to Havenport with him. We were going to start our life together.

Havenport bled you dry just for existing. Five thousand a month for a room you could cross in four steps.

Damon said he was saving for a ring, for the wedding, for a down payment on a house. So I covered the rent. Every month, no questions asked.

The first time he managed to save a hundred thousand dollars, he clicked a phishing link and lost it all. Gone overnight.

The second time, he donated it all to a sick kid’s GoFundMe.

The third time, he rear-ended someone on one of his driving gigs…

Five years. Not once did he manage to hold onto eighty-eight thousand dollars.

It was never about the money. He just didn’t want to marry me.

The door flew open.

Damon stood in the doorway, soaked through, with rain dripping off him. He crossed the room in one step and pulled me against his chest.

He buried his face in my neck, and when he spoke, his voice shook.

“We’re not breaking up.”

“Just give me a little more time. I’m going to marry you.”

The rain on his skin seeped through my shirt, cold against my chest. For one second, I almost believed him.

Then I saw the shredded shirt in the trash. I shoved him back.

“Damon, you’re married.”

He went rigid. Then his arms tightened around me.

“My brother was killed, Lily. And my dad… he had a stroke. He hasn’t woken up.”

“You didn’t grow up the way I did. You don’t know how this works. Aurora’s family is the only alliance that can save what’s left of our syndicate.”

“But you… you’re the one I love. You’re the only one I want. Just give me six months to sort this out…”

His voice faded until I couldn’t make out the words anymore.

A month ago, we’d been planning our eighth anniversary. Then a phone call came, and the color drained from his face. He’d said something had happened back home. He needed to go.

I’d pressed my debit card into his hand. Five hundred thousand dollars. Five years of saving. Everything I had set aside for our house.

He’d promised me over and over that once he saved enough, we’d go back to Meadowridge and get married. He said he’d leave Havenport behind without looking back, for me. So I’d saved every dollar I could for our future.

“I don’t understand your family’s world, Damon.”

“But I’ve already given you eight years. I want kids. I want a home. I can’t keep waiting.”

“My mom was right. It’s time for me to go home and start over. To meet someone who actually wants a future with me.”