Two Dollars Wife

Ten years ago, my parents were gunned down in a Brooklyn gang shootout, left bleeding out on the pavement.

Left orphaned as collateral for old family debts, I was taken in by Dante’s clan. Our families had been thick as thieves for generations.

Dante and I grew up side by side, childhood sweethearts—our engagement had been arranged by both sides since we were kids.

For ten years, I’ve buried every sharp edge I ever had. I learned to play the perfect fiancée: running his sprawling estate, schmoozing through hollow Mafia galas full of fake smiles, even taking a stray bullet to shield him once.

I’d thought our wedding next week would be the end of my rootless life.

However, everything shattered today, when he brought Chloe back to the manor.

She’s that Broadway girl famous for raunchy adult films, draped all over Dante’s arm like a boneless snake right now. Her eyes ringed with heavy smoky eye shadow, she stares me down, dripping with provocation.

“Dante, this is your boring little fiancée?” Chloe purrs, her red lips curling around cruel words. “Word on the street is she’s frigid as a nun, dead weight in bed. Baby, are you seriously gonna marry a block of wood?”

Dante chuckles. He pinches Chloe’s jaw hard and crashes a rough kiss on her mouth, then shifts his gaze to me.

“Lucia, Chloe’s pregnant. She needs the title of my official wife.” There’s not an ounce of remorse in his voice.

I stand atop the lavish Persian rug, hands trembling at my sides, but my spine stays rigid and straight.

I stare at him, and all ten years of my life with him feel like some ridiculous, wasted dream.

“You’re gonna marry her?” I hear my own voice shake. “You bring her into the Costello manor, and you’re handing the life that was mine straight to her?”

Dante finally pushes off the sofa and strides down the stairs, tilting his chin up to look down at me.

His gaze reeks of condescension and contempt, like he’s tossing me spare change. “Lucia, don’t look at me like you’re some poor victim. The Costellos took you in, fed you, gave you status for a decade. You ought to be grateful. Chloe’s carrying my kid, she deserves the wife’s name. As for you…”

He pauses, digs two coins out of his pocket, and drops them on the marble floor with a sharp clink.

“Alex, that lunatic mechanic out in Brooklyn’s auto shop, he’s been begging for a woman. I’m selling you to him for two bucks. You’ll be his woman from now on, and your whole debt to the Costello family’s wiped clean with those two dollars.” Dante sneers, like he’s talking about throwing away broken trash.

A murmur of snickers ripples through people in the grand hall the second the words leave his mouth.

“I heard that grease monkey lives in a rotting shack with walls full of holes, not even a proper bed. He sleeps on the floor with rats and roaches every night.”

Everyone knows Alex the mechanic—covered head to toe in motor oil, half out of his mind.

Dante put my ten years of youth and all my dignity on a price tag, and stamped it into the dirt for two lousy dollars.

“You’re selling me off to a lunatic mechanic?” I lock my eyes on those two coins glinting on the floor, nails digging deep enough into my palms to draw blood.

Chloe giggles, melting further into Dante’s chest as she taunts me. “Don’t be mad at Dante, Lucia honey. Men always crave something new.”

I drop my head, silent.

My seemingly compliant demeanor amuses Dante, and he lets out a low laugh.

“Alright, I’ll take pity on you—we did have ten years together, after all. Name whatever last request you’ve got, consider it a parting gift.”

“How about a house for you two? You’ll need somewhere to raise kids, won’t you?”

I think it over, then hold my palm open toward him.

“Take your money back. Can I not marry him?”

A flicker of delight crosses Dante’s face, but he wags a finger at me.

“Can’t do that. The Mafia lives by its word—we don’t go back on deals that easy.”

“Unless you can make me an offer I can’t refuse.”

I study him like he’s a total stranger.

Everyone in the underworld knows Dante’s head over heels for that adult film star, Chole.

He poured a staggering fortune to settle her massive contractual penalty and pull this adult-film star out of ruin.

He’d bought every part of her outright, yet he treated her like an innocent maiden, cherished her deeply and never dared take liberties with her—he even publicly vowed to make her his wife.

He must’ve forgotten he once swore the same vow to me—said he’d never love another, never leave me.

Ten years ago, when my parents got gunned down in the street, Dante laced his fingers through mine and promised he’d protect me forever. Now he’s ripped every single promise to shreds in the cruellest way imaginable.

If his heart’s already hers, I am willing to leave .

I walk slowly down the staircase, every pair of eyes in the room glued to me. I bend down and pick up those two cold metal coins off the marble.

“Call our engagement off for good. I’ll leave the Costello manor of my own free will, no delays to your wedding with Chloe. Does that satisfy your terms?”

His face darkens instantly, all faint warmth freezing over in his pupils.

“You’d better know. When Dante Costello makes a promise, he keeps it. I said you’re going to that mechanic, and that’s final—no takebacks.”

“Fine. I’ll marry him, then.”

I turn on my heel to walk away.

“Stop right there.”

Dante races over and grabs my wrist tight.

“You sound like you’re practically dying to run off with that freak?”

“Are you that starved for attention you’d throw yourself at some filthy, deranged mechanic without a second thought?”

“Here’s a better deal, Lucia. You stay living in the Costello estate, be my mistress. Chloe gets the official wife title, and you’ll look after her and my baby. The Costellos can easily afford to feed you—what do you say?”

He lowers his voice, a faint tight edge under his casual tone.

“This is your last shot at a better life.”

I yank my arm free and step far back from him.

“Mr. Costello, you asked what I wanted earlier. I have one condition: once I’m married, we cut all ties. I never want to cross paths with you again for the rest of my life.”