A Throne Without a Memory

My Don husband, just to indulge his little mistress's fantasy of playing Don's wife, pretended to have lost his memory at sea and tried to push me out of the family.

By chance, I overheard his mistress teasing him:

"Can I borrow Don's wife for a few days? And… Can I borrow the Don too?"

My husband, all smiles and indulgence, replied,

"Of course. Both are yours for a few days."

I froze for a moment, then turned away, pretending it did not bother me.

The next day, at the family meeting, he announced that his mistress was then his wife, ordered me out of the family business, and demanded I hand over every ounce of authority I held.

The elders all turned to me, silently hoping I would defy his ridiculous decree.

I said nothing. I handed over the keys and authority without a word.

However, he did not know that our next arms deal was just nine days away, and the other party was Amestia's most powerful mafia, the Romano family. They dealt with no one but me.

"You're free to go, but first, you need to erase every contact related to our business partners and family members from your phone. Those are the family's assets, and you've got no right to take them with you."

No sooner had I walked out of the office than Rosa Lombardi, my husband's darling, blocked my path.

Years of running the family business taught me there was no such policy. She was gunning for me.

I spun around to face my husband, the formidable Don Sebastian Ricci. "Is this what you want as well?"

Sebastian's eyes were ice as he looked at me, his voice just as frigid. "Yes."

Deleting those contacts would devastate the family business, possibly knocking us off our pedestal among the elite Italor families.

He thought he had me pegged, sure I would never leave for real, not when it meant letting the family take a hit.

We were five years into our marriage, a union that weathered enough storms to delay any thoughts of children.

He knew how I felt about the family; it was like my child, and I could not stand to see it hurt.

Day in, day out, I was in the trenches with arms dealers and drug lords, risking my neck to build a fortress for our empire.

Just days ago, at the family council, he had the gall to suggest bumping Rosa up to family Consigliere.

The family hung on Don Ricci's every word, and the elders were all too quick to sing Rosa's praises, ready to rubber-stamp her promotion.

However, I knew better. Rosa was all show and no substance, nowhere near ready to become the family Consigliere.

For the first time, I did not care about saving face for Sebastian. I stood my ground and used my veto.

He knew full well I would not stand for his shenanigans in the family.

That was why he cooked up that