Expired Vows: The Don Won't Let Go

To earn a place in the Nostra family, I forge a new identity. The night my lie unravels, Don Nostra looks at me as if I'm dirt at the bottom of his shoe.

I press a razor blade to my wrist. "Kick me out of the family, and I'll die right here."

"Fine. Since you want to be my wife that badly, I'll give you what you want," Lorenzo Nostra snickered.

After that, he brings home woman after woman. He forces me to kneel outside his bedroom door, saying, "Watch and learn. This is how you please your Don."

The stinging pain in my knees is nothing compared to the chill in my heart.

When he is done, he towers above me.

"All this for a title," he says with a sneer. "You really put up with anything."

Enduring him becomes the only way I can survive this world.

Then, one day, he walks in with a civilian girl named Maria Romano.

"Go. Bring her the heirloom Madre left behind," he commanded.

This time, I refuse. I turn and walk away, never once looking back.

When Lorenzo uncovers the truth, he loses his mind and begs me to come back.

To climb my way into the upper ranks of the Nostra family, I had built a past out of lies. It was all just to stay inside a world obsessed with bloodlines and loyalty.

The day everything came crashing down, the study reeked of expensive cigars.

Don Lorenzo Nostra eyed me like I was a defective product.

I pressed a razor to my wrist. The veins pulsed faintly under my skin. "Throw me out, and I'll die right here."

He took a slow drag of his cigar and blew a ring of smoke across the room.

"Bene. If you're that desperate to be my wife, I'll give you what you want," he said. "Just don't regret it."

I had earned my title with blood, and it became the running joke of the Nostra family.

After that, his humiliation continued to escalate. He brought different women back to the house. The worst was when he forced me to kneel on the cold marble floor outside his bedroom.

"You'll do anything for status, won't you?" he mocked from behind the door. "Then watch. This is how you please your Don."

That night, the pain in my knees was nothing compared to the chill in my chest. Every sound from that room cut me like a knife.

When he was done, he stepped out and tossed a used rubber at my face. It was sticky and revolting. "You'll endure anything for a title."

He looked at me like I was trash. "Go buy more. Adesso."

I didn't cry or argue. I just left obediently. I even thoughtfully picked out different types for them.

Enduring him was the only way I could survive in his world.

A month later, Lorenzo walked in with a civilian woman named Maria Romano, announcing that she was his