His Mafia World
His Unwanted Wife, The Hidden Genius
I flew back to New York on my twenty-fifth birthday, carrying vintage gold cufflinks I spent weeks finding for my billionaire husband, Declan. But when I walked into our townhouse, I found him throwing a massive victory party with Sloane, a glamorous socialite, standing by his side as the proud hostess. "Don't cause a scene. Go upstairs." Declan coldly dismissed me in front of his guests. Even Poppy, the rookie player whose shattered ankle I had painstakingly rebuilt, rolled her eyes and ignored me to suck up to Sloane. Hiding in the shadows, I heard the maids gossiping that everyone thought Sloane was the future Mrs. Hartford. To make matters worse, I discovered Sloane had stolen my anonymous, groundbreaking medical algorithm and was planning to present it as her own. First my husband, then the girl I mentored like family, and now the scientific foundation I had built with my own hands. Declan even texted me to cancel our birthday breakfast without a single apology, treating me like an annoying afterthought. My tears vanished, replaced by a freezing clarity. I signed the divorce papers, leaving them on his desk with zero demands for his money. Then I packed my bags, booked a one-way ticket to Boston, and prepared to destroy them on the global stage.
Chapter 1
Aurelia Vance POV:
I had been married to Declan Hartford for three years.
Today was my twenty-fifth birthday, and I had flown back from Boston in secret, hoping for one quiet evening with my husband.
I'd spent a week carefully picking out a pair of gold cufflinks as a gift for my husband.
But the laughter spilling from the front door told me I was already too late: the woman who had taken my place at his side was already inside.
The heavy oak door swung open before I reached the porch. Three young players from the New York Titans, Declan's NHL franchise, stumbled out with crystal tumblers of scotch, laughing loudly. They barely glanced at me as they passed.
I stepped into the grand foyer. The heat hit me instantly,expensive champagne, roasted tenderloin, cigar smoke.
Dozens of people filled the double parlor: executives, scouts, wives in designer dresses.
In the center stood Declan, tall and broad in a bespoke charcoal suit. Beside him, laughing into his ear, was Sloane Whitfield, her backless silver dress catching the chandelier light. Her hand rested on his forearm like she belonged there.
Before I could take another breath, a blur of blonde hair darted past my elbow.
"Sloane!" Poppy Delacroix cried, throwing her arms around Sloane's slender waist. "You were completely right about the catering! This is literally the best victory party the team has ever had!"
Poppy is fourteen, a junior elite forward prospect.
I scouted her two years ago from a crumbling youth league, back when she was at her lowest.
Her parents had once shown me great kindness, and I knew they had already passed away, leaving her all alone in the world.
Declan and I adopted her together.
I rebuilt her shattered ankle with a custom rehabilitation plan.
I had always loved and cared for her as both a mother and a sister.
Now, she did not even glance in my direction.
Declan turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the crowd until his eyes locked onto mine. The easy grin on his sharp jaw vanished instantly. His brows drew together in a hard, irritated line.
He excused himself from Sloane, cutting through the throng of players with long, impatient strides.
"Aurelia," Declan said, stopping two feet in front of me. His voice carried zero warmth. "What are you doing here?"
My throat felt like sandpaper.
"I took the four o'clock flight from Boston," I whispered, clutching the strap of my bag until my knuckles turned white. "It is my birthday, Declan. I thought we could—"
"We are celebrating the division win," he cut in, his tone sharp enough to draw blood. "The board is here. The sponsors are here. Sloane spent four consecutive days coordinating this event so the organization could project stability."
He did not look at me. His gaze slid past my shoulder to the bar, like I was a waitress who had wandered into the wrong room.
"Don't cause a scene," he added quietly. "Go upstairs."
A soft, mocking murmur rippled through a cluster of players' wives standing near the grand staircase. Two women with platinum blowouts exchanged knowing glances over their flutes of Dom Pérignon.
"I didn't know," I said, my voice barely audible over the swelling music. "I am sorry."
I turned toward the staircase, my legs trembling beneath my wool trousers.
Near the landing, Poppy was adjusting her designer jacket in the hallway mirror.
"Poppy," I said softly, pausing beside her. "How is your ankle feeling after Thursday's third period? Did you complete the isometric sequence I sent?"
Poppy rolled her eyes, sighing loudly as she pulled out her phone.
"Aurelia, please, not right now," she muttered without looking at me. "Sloane is introducing me to a marketing director from one of our partners. I don't have time for your spreadsheets."
The dismissive edge in her voice hit me harder than Declan's coldness. I had stayed up until three in the morning reviewing her biomechanical scans while she was recovering from surgery, and now I was just an annoyance in the way of her social ascent.
I walked up the rest of the stairs and entered the primary suite—the massive, sterile bedroom allocated to me under our prenuptial agreement.
I sat on the edge of the mattress and pulled out the velvet box. The gold cufflinks gleamed under the bedside lamp, cold and useless.
Downstairs, cheers erupted. The sound vibrated through the floorboards.
I walked to the French doors overlooking the rear garden. Down on the illuminated patio, Sloane was directing two servers by an ice sculpture. Declan stood beside her, his head bent down as he listened to her speak, his hand casually brushing the small of her back.
They looked like the couple the city expected them to be.
My phone buzzed in my coat pocket. I pulled it out, hoping against hope.
It was an email notification.
"Happy Birthday, Aurelia. Remember that true science requires patience and solitude. You are meant for greater arenas than New York boardrooms. -Dr. Edmund Sterling."
My mentor at Harvard was the only person in the world who had remembered.
I typed a brief "Thank you, Professor" and shut off the screen.
Hours passed. The bass eventually quieted, replaced by the occasional clatter of glassware and slamming car doors. My throat burned with thirst.
At two in the morning, I padded downstairs in my stocking feet to fetch a glass of water from the butler's pantry.
As I rounded the corner near the service hallway, the voices of two newly hired catering maids stopped me dead in my tracks.
"Miss Whitfield is stunning," the first girl whispered, scraping dessert plates into a bin. "Mr. Hartford's girlfriend carries herself like royalty."
"A girlfriend?" the other asked, pausing. "But isn't Mr. Hartford rumored to be married? Is it inappropriate to be this close with Whitfield?"
"Married?Where did that come from? Even if there was one, they must have split long ago. I've worked three events here this month, and Miss Whitfield is the only woman hosting by his side. Everyone knows she's the future Mrs. Hartford."
I shrank back into the cold shadow of the archway, my blood turning to ice.
In the home where I held a legal marriage certificate, my presence had already been wiped clean.
Revenge for Mom: Destroying His Mafia World
My fiancé, the Underboss of the DeLuca Crime Family, promised he would burn the world down for me. But when my mother was dying in the hospital, he chose a ski trip with another woman. It was that woman's dog that attacked my mother, but when I called him, shaking, he was annoyed. He was in Aspen
In His World
When Elena's parents die, leaving her drowning in debt, a contract marriage to billionaire Adrian Blackwell seems like salvation. But Adrian's world holds dark secrets. His first wife, Sophia, looked exactly like Elena. So did his father's first love, Grace. But both women died under mysterious circ
Two Worlds Apart - Mafia World
Revenge was her only reason for living. Alice wanted them to feel the same pain she endured. Her heart died along with him the day he died. She would never love another. She was trained to have no compassion and to show no mercy, but what will happen when Alice finds out everything she was told was
His Secret, My Shattered World
For three years, I believed him. Ethan, the "bankrupt entrepreneur," the man I worked three jobs for, pouring every penny into his supposed debt. He promised me the world, a future. Then, at a high-end charity auction, I saw him. Not in worn-out jeans, but a tailored suit, buying a million-dollar n
His Promise, My Shattered World
My world revolved around Jax Harding, my older brother's captivating rockstar friend. From sixteen, I adored him; at eighteen, I clung to his casual promise: "When you're 22, maybe I'll settle down." That offhand comment became my life's beacon, guiding every choice, meticulously planning my t
His Confession, My Shattered World
My boyfriend, Finn, and my best friend, Carly, were my entire world. After a childhood drifting through foster homes, they were the family I' d always craved, my anchors in a stormy sea. I thought I was the luckiest girl alive. Then, on the morning of my 23rd birthday, I stumbled upon a private vid
His World Crumbling To Dust
My husband thought I was just a docile wife, easily controlled. He didn't know I'd spent five years meticulously dismantling his life. Tonight, his world would finally crumble into dust. For five years, I endured Jackson's entitled demands and his family's greed, silently funding their lavish life
He Drowned Me, I Burned His World.
My fiancé, Anthony, built an entire virtual world for me after a climbing accident left me in a wheelchair. He called it Aethelgard, my sanctuary. In his game, I wasn't broken; I was Valkyrie, the unrivaled champion. He was my savior, the man who patiently nursed me back from the brink. Then, I saw
Burning Down His World Of Lies
My husband, Dax, was cold and distant, obsessed with his ex-girlfriend, Frida. His neglect cost me our first child. Then, Frida' s schemes cost me my dream job. When I became pregnant again, Dax abandoned me while I was in agony to rush to Frida's side for a minor scratch. This time, I didn't just
His Mafia Princess's Revenge
My husband, Don Lorenzo Bianchi, the man who once took ninety-nine lashes for me, had just locked me in a guest room. I was four months pregnant with our child, the heir to his mafia empire. My crime was throwing a glass of wine on his mistress, a woman he had moved into our home. She cornered me
His Mafia Love
Damien Anderson is a 20 year old young guy who was living a wealthy and nice life, he had everything he needed at the palm of his hands. The lady's guys, he was considered the hottest guy on his school, he was every girls dream guy. But the young man's heart and mind was already captured by his ver
His Mafia Bride
His iron grip was fastened around my waist and he pinned me on to the wall. "Let go of me!" I gritted. "If I want to right now" he leaned in close, his lips grazing my earlobe. "I can forcefully have my way with you and watch you scream your beautiful melodious tone underneath me" he whispered grave
His Mafia Princess.
WARNING!( MATURE ) "Are you touching yourself?" he voices in a husky murmur startling the hell out of me. I hastily sit up and look at his amused face, "N..no" I stutter in embarrassment. "Let me see" Carl crouches in front of me and grabs my hand to inspect my wet fingers. Kayla is Santino's
His Mafia Possession
BLURB He saw the darkness in her beauty. She saw the beauty in his darkness. * * When a Mafia Lord, ruled by his demons and chain bounded by his trauma from his teenage years meets a girl who could be the answers to his prayers, an angel to his beast and a solace to his ever troubled heart. Zamian
IMPRISONING HIS MAFIA QUEEN
"How does it feel to submit Jade, how does it feel to kneel at the feet of your owner," he asked, in a low voice that rumbled like the storm. Raising my head, I stared at him defiantly, knowing deep down that I was consciously breaking his rule and that I would be punished for it. I smirked. "It fe
His Forbidden Mafia Princess
Aleena Caruso is a tech-savvy genius and the reluctant princess of the Caruso Mafia Empire. Her life has two simple goals: protect her younger sister, Eleanor, from the brutal world she herself endured, and one day build her own tech company far away from the blood-stained empire that raised her. Sh
His Perfect Lie, My Shattered World
I thought I had the perfect marriage to Emerson Gonzales, the most powerful man in the music industry. When the doctor confirmed our baby had a strong, healthy heartbeat, I felt like the luckiest woman alive. That was before I discovered the truth. I wasn't his wife; I was a substitute. A perfect i
Burn His World: A Wife's Fury
My marriage ended with a phone call while I was bleeding out on the bathroom floor, seven months pregnant. My husband chose to comfort his intern over a stray cat instead of saving me and our baby. He told me I was strong enough to handle it alone. He then stood by as his mistress tried to murder o
She Vanished: His World Froze Over
My husband, Christopher Kramer, was Manhattan's most notorious playboy, famous for his seasonal affairs with nineteen-year-old girls. For five years, I believed I was the exception who had finally tamed him. That illusion shattered when my father needed a bone marrow transplant. The perfect donor
Obsessive Love: Trapped in His World
Laura's life took an unexpected turn when she was forced to marry Daniel Edward, an arrogant, ruthless billionaire. Her goal was to save her family from financial ruin and also her father from going to jail. Laura's life became a misery with Daniel Edward as he was mean and care less about her. She
