My Dead Husband’s Very Much Alive

My husband, Don Axel Thorne, died protecting me in a mob war. I was his widow for six years, until I turned thirty.

The old guard of the Family told me it was time to move on. My friends told me to let him go.

Even in my dreams, his bloody hands would cup my face, begging me to live again.

So I agreed to an arranged marriage.

But first, I went to his grave for one last goodbye.

I’d just left the cemetery when a post appeared in my feed.

[Thanks, hubby, for the six-year anniversary gift! A fifty-million-dollar penthouse in Miami!]

My blood ran cold. My hands shook. The phone nearly slipped from my grip.

In the photo, the man I buried six years ago was slipping a massive diamond onto another woman's finger.

The background was a lavish penthouse. His style.

I put my people on it. We had the location in minutes. Drove straight there. I knocked, the door opened, and I froze.

The woman standing there was Seraphina. His adoptive sister. The one the Family exiled six years ago for her obsession with him.

Six years after my husband died for me, I learned it was all a lie. He faked his own death to run off with his exiled adoptive sister.

The second she saw me at her door, the color drained from Seraphina's face.

"Aria..."

She tried to slam the door in my face.

I jammed my hand in the door. "See a ghost?"

She stumbled back, lips trembling, speechless.

Just then, I heard familiar voices from the hallway. Marco, Axel's right-hand man.

"...her engagement to the Hayes heir. It's about time. Six years is a long time to be a widow..."

"...heard the Boss can finally stop obsessing. Ever since the news broke, he’s been stalking her socials all night..."

"...can’t believe he pulled it off. The yacht explosion, the deal with the Valkovs... all so he could disappear. And he let her think he died for her..."

"...she had a breakdown, man. More than one..."

"...shut up, you want him to hear you?"

They turned the corner and saw me. Their voices died.

Marco couldn't meet my eyes.

"Donna," Marco breathed, his eyes wide. "What are you doing here?"

Then, a voice I knew in my bones came from inside the apartment.

"Honey, are Marco and the guys here?"

The air left my lungs. My heart stopped.

I shoved past Seraphina and stormed into the living room.

Axel. The husband I'd mourned for six years was standing behind the bar.

The moment he saw me, pure shock hit his face. His lips parted, but no sound came out.

My eyes went past him, to the huge wedding photo on the living room wall.

I gestured to the wedding photo. "Happy anniversary. You've done well for yourself these six years, Axel."

Axel moved instantly, pulling a trembling Seraphina behind him. A protective shield. His face was a grim mask.

Everyone else was