Left For Dead, I Returned A Queen

My husband, a ruthless mafia Capo, brought his pregnant mistress to our anniversary party. He then ordered me to give her a blood transfusion, knowing my heart condition could kill me. As my life drained away, I knew my nine-year marriage was finally over.

It was my ninth wedding anniversary, and I stood in an expensive gown, watching Dominick Reyes, a feared mafia Capo, celebrate with our guests. But the celebration wasn't for us; Dominick had brought Chastity, his pregnant mistress, and then publicly ordered me out of our master suite. Chastity, who had faked her pregnancy, then framed me for an attack. Dominick forced me to give a blood transfusion to Chastity, knowing my heart condition made it potentially fatal. As my blood drained from my veins, sustaining the woman who had stolen my life, I felt my consciousness fading, hoping I would not wake up.

When I woke, Dominick had already paraded Chastity to a gala. He had drained me, used me, and then abandoned me in a hospital bed, breaking his promise of a divorce. I was nothing more than a debt payment, a pawn in his brutal game. Knowing he would never truly let me go, I calmly called a trusted contact. I would disappear from his world, become someone new, and this time, Dominick Reyes would pay.

Chapter 1

Annis POV

I stood in the center of the ballroom wearing a forty-thousand-dollar gown, watching my husband rest his hand on another woman's pregnant belly while our guests toasted to nine years of our marriage.

The crystal flute in my hand didn't shatter. I didn't scream. I didn't throw my drink in his face.

I just took a sip of the vintage champagne -a bottle that cost more than my father's life -and I swallowed the bile rising in my throat.

Dominick Reyes was not just a husband. He was a Capo in the Olsen crime family, a man who had killed seven men before his twenty-fifth birthday and doubled the family's territory in the last three years. He was a predator in a tailored suit, and I was the debt payment his family had accepted nine years ago.

Tonight was supposed to be about us.

Instead, he had brought Chastity.

She wore red. A vibrant, blood-red silk that clung to the swell of her stomach, a stark contrast to my pale, icy blue. She looked like life. I looked like a ghost.

Dominick's hand lingered on the small of her back as he guided her through the crowd of made men and their silent wives. Every eye in the room darted between me and the mistress, hungry for the fallout.

I kept my chin high. Omerta wasn't just a code for the men. It was a cage for the women. Silence was my armor.

Dominick steered her toward me. His eyes, dark as oil and twice as slick, met mine. There was no apology in them. Only the cold, hard weight of ownership.

"Annis," he