When the Mafia Queen Returns
Agatha Christie · Completed · 7.2k Words
Introduction
Five years later, I returned to New York with my husband—the most powerful Mafia boss in Naples. At Atelier Milano, my former best friend Bianca circled my custom gown like a vulture, pestering the staff about meeting the legendary Mrs. Salvatore.
She had no idea the woman she pitied as a pathetic nobody was the very person she was dying to impress.
Chapter 1
Sophia's POV
Five years ago, on my wedding day, my fiancé Vincent fucked my best friend in the bridal suite.
Five years later, I returned to New York with my husband—the most powerful Mafia boss in Naples. At Atelier Milano, my former best friend Bianca circled my custom gown like a vulture, pestering the staff about meeting the legendary Mrs. Salvatore.
She had no idea the woman she pitied as a pathetic nobody was the very person she was dying to impress.
"Mrs. Salvatore's car gets here in ten minutes."
"Oh my GOD, I can't wait! They say she's like a ghost—nobody EVER sees her!"
"Bianca, is the champagne ready? We need to make this perfect!"
I stood outside Atelier Milano as these voices drifted through the glass door.
Inside, a cluster of overdressed society women huddled near the window display. The woman at the center barked orders at the staff, directing the placement of champagne flutes and flowers.
Bianca Rossi.
My former best friend. My maid of honor. The bitch who screwed my fiancé on my wedding day.
I pushed the door open. The bell chimed. Every head swiveled toward me.
"Sorry, we're closed today—private event," the saleswoman said, clearly sizing me up.
I ignored her and walked straight to the dress rack by the window.
A silver gown hung there, shimmering under the lights. Swarovski crystals flowed across the silk like liquid starlight.
Lorenzo had it made for me. For the Five Families gala in three days.
I reached for it. Another hand shot out at the same moment.
Bianca froze, then turned. Her face cycled through confusion, shock, then settled on pure contempt.
"Oh my God... Sophia?" She jerked her hand back like I was diseased. "Sophia ROMANO?"
She looked me up and down—the understated navy coat, simple flats, small black clutch. No logos anywhere.
No wonder she looked at me like trash.
The other women stopped mid-conversation and turned to stare. When they took in my outfit, the same expression rippled across their faces—disdain mixed with vicious glee.
"What the hell are YOU doing here?" Bianca's voice shot up. "Did you come to clean the toilets?"
"Jesus, three years and THIS is what you look like?" Another woman didn't bother hiding her smirk. "Can't even afford a decent bag."
"How'd she even GET in here? We're expecting someone important. We can't have HER ruining everything."
Idiots. Every piece I wore came from Naples's most exclusive private ateliers. But these women wouldn't recognize quality unless it had a logo screaming in their faces.
I ignored them and spoke to the saleswoman. "Take that dress down, please."
Silence.
Then an explosion of shrill laughter.
"WHAT?" Bianca doubled over, actually wiping tears from her eyes. "Sophia, have you completely lost your MIND?"
She stepped between me and the gown, blocking my view. "That's CUSTOM COUTURE for Mrs. Salvatore! Do you have ANY idea what it costs? You couldn't afford it if you saved for TEN lifetimes!"
I kept my voice level. "I know exactly who it's for. So take it down."
Bianca stared at me for a beat, then burst out laughing again. She spun toward the other women. "Oh my GOD, did you hear that? She says she KNOWS!"
The pack dissolved into giggles.
"Sophia, wake the fuck up," one woman drawled. "Vincent dumped you at the altar in front of EVERYONE. You ran out of the Waldorf in your wedding dress, mascara running down your face. People STILL laugh about it at parties."
"Right? God, you must be desperate now. Why else would you dress like... THAT?"
Bianca moved closer, her eyes glittering with false sympathy that made my stomach turn.
"Sophia, sweetie." Her voice dripped honey laced with poison. "For old times' sake, let me throw you a bone. Vincent's family actually needs someone right now."
"We're hosting important dinners. We need a nanny—someone reliable to watch my son."
She paused, her smile turning razor-sharp. "You were always SO good at... taking care of Vincent, remember? Those back rubs, fetching his drinks, staying up late to make him comfortable. Kids are easier than grown men, right?"
"Room and board, uniform included. Better than whatever you're doing now—which clearly isn't working out."
More laughter erupted around us.
"A NANNY? Is she even qualified to walk through the Rossi front door?"
"At least she'd get a uniform. Though honestly? Looking at her now, what's the difference?"
"She's already dressed like the help."
"Bianca, you're way too nice. I wouldn't piss on her if she was on fire."
I thought of what Lorenzo had told me.
"If anyone disrespects you, tell me. I'll handle it."
He'd been cleaning his Beretta when he said it, his eyes flat and cold. Lethal.
Lorenzo's possessiveness bordered on pathological. If he knew these women were humiliating me right now, he'd kill them. Slowly. Creatively.
But I didn't need him to handle this.
I reached into my clutch and pulled out the card.
Matte black. The family crest embossed in the center—a black eagle's talons gripping a blood-red rose.
The Salvatore crest.
Below it: 1108.
Bianca's face changed. She lunged forward, nails raking across my hand as she tried to grab it.
"Where'd you STEAL that?"
I pulled back and calmly handed the card to the saleswoman, ignoring the red scratches on my skin.
"FAKE! That's obviously FAKE!" Bianca's voice hit a frequency that could shatter glass. "Sophia, you desperate bitch—you're forging Salvatore credentials now?"
She whirled on the other women. "Look at THIS! She's committing FRAUD just to play dress-up!"
"What even is that?" One woman squinted at it. "Plastic crap from Chinatown? Ten bucks?"
"Sophia, this is pathetic even for YOU. You think waving a fake card makes you Mrs. Salvatore?"
"Please. We all know what real Salvatore credentials look like. The actual family crest is solid gold, not... whatever THAT is."
Bianca's smile turned vicious. "Someone like you? You'll never even BREATHE the same air as people like that. Not in this lifetime or the next."
"SECURITY!" She raised her voice. "Get her OUT of here! Someone call the cops—forging family credentials is a FELONY!"
But the saleswoman had the card now.
She stared at it. Her eyes went wide. Wider.
Then she looked at me. Every drop of color drained from her face.
Her hands started trembling so violently the card nearly slipped from her fingers.
"M-Mrs..." The word came out strangled, barely audible.
She bowed so low I thought her spine might snap.
"Please—please wait right here. I'll get your dress immediately."
Last Chapters
You Might Like 😍
Taste of Fate: The Vampire King's Human Mate
He reached for the back of my head and pulled me up just enough to reach my neck. When his fangs slid into me, the pain was instant, electric. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. My hands found his shoulders, clawing for something to hold. My legs kicked. Tears streamed down my cheeks.
He moaned against my throat as he drank, and the sound was devastating.
The MC Hacker’s Stolen Princess
She did not come to find out her father had promised her to another man.
As the only daughter of Shane “Rook” Rourke, president of the Lost Coast Renegades MC, Taryn has always known club business comes first. But when Rook signs a treaty with the dangerous president of Iron Mesa, he crosses a line even she never imagined.
Safe passage through Arizona territory comes with a price.
Her.
Kellan Stroud is thirty, powerful, ruthless, and already waiting at Sturgis to meet the woman he expects to marry.
Taryn wants no part of him, no part of the agreement, and definitely no part of a future chosen for her by two men who think a signature is enough to decide where she belongs.
Then she meets Bobby Fuentes.
At twenty, Bobby is one of the youngest fully patched members of the Sons of Doom MC. He is quiet until he has something to say, dangerous when he needs to be, and smart enough to get into places no one else can. Hacking is what he does best.
Until Taryn gives him a new problem to solve.
One reckless connection at Sturgis becomes something neither of them can ignore, and when Bobby realizes exactly what Rook has promised away, walking away stops being an option.
But stealing another president’s future wife is not a misunderstanding.
It is an insult.
A betrayal.
And in the MC world, it can mean war.
Taryn refuses to be anyone’s property.
Bobby has never been good at following rules.
And Kellan Stroud does not forgive what he believes belongs to him.
The road out of Sturgis may cost them everything first.
Bride To The Werewolf King
The Spy Who Left
"I still can't believe she actually did it. Aria Hart, filing for divorce. Who saw that coming?"
"How long do we think it'll take before she comes crawling back?" Another voice joins the conversation.
"Three days," Victoria declares. "Five at most. She has no money, no skills, no family. Where's she going to go?"
When Aria Chen divorced billionaire Leon Hart, New York's elite sneered, betting she'd crawl back within days. She never did.
Three years later, the world is rocked when Dr. Aria Vale, CEO of a revolutionary cybersecurity empire, steps into the spotlight. The mysterious genius who built a billion-dollar company from nothing is none other than Leon's discarded wife, the woman everyone thought was just a pretty ornament.
Now, every powerful man wants the queen Leon threw away a renowned scientist seeking partnership, a financial titan proposing an empire, and an actor offering devotion. Each sees the brilliance Leon ignored.
Then Leon discovers the truth: Aria's sacrifices, her secret double life, and the daughter she's been raising without him. For the first time, the man who once took her for granted must fight for her love. But can he compete with men who valued her from the beginning?
A story of love, betrayal, and power where the king must kneel before the queen who never needed saving.
The first of her kind
And if I don’t unite the warring factions by my twenty-fifth birthday, the prophecy will kill me. I have exactly three months left to live.
Love was never option. Survival was the only plan.
Until they showed up.
Nelson: The brutal, dominant Supreme Alpha who demands my absolute submission, waking a wolf inside me that I’ve suppressed for twelve years.
Jay: The ruthless, lethal Vampire Heir who craves my blood, feeding the dark, feral hunger I never wanted to admit.
They are sworn enemies, born to tear each other apart. But fate has a twisted sense of humor—because they are both my fated mates.
If they find out what I truly am, they’ll destroy me. But as the bond tightens and my time runs out, I’m caught between the Alpha who wants to protect my soul, and the Vampire who wants to rule my darkness.
I was born to bring peace. But loving them might just start the bloodiest war history has ever seen.
Bella and Her Beast
.
Locked in her frozen tower, Bella dreamed of warmth, of touch, of freedom and of love. Cursed with the power of ice and snow, she’s spent her life alone. A secret they tried to protect the world from. Her only escape comes in the form of the books she reads. Stories of heat, desire, and the kind of love that could melt even her frostbitten heart.
Damien is the Beast. A dragon King with a temper forged in flame and a soul hollowed by duty. The world fears him. The people call him a monster. But beneath the scales and the rage lies a man who has never been touched by love.
When frost meets fire, the world shatters. She was never meant to leave her tower. He was never meant to find her. But destiny doesn’t bow to kings or care for cages and now the question burns through them both: Can Bella have her Beast? Or will the girl of snow melt in the heat of his desire?
.
"I’m keeping her."
"What?"
Before I can react, he scoops her up. Her small body fits easily in the cradle of his talons. For a split second, she looks startled, but not afraid. Her hand rests against one scaled finger, and she stares up at him with that same curious wonder, as though she’s already forgotten she was ever meant to fear me.
"Put her down," I try to command, panic threading through my thoughts. "You’ll hurt her."
"She’s ours," the beast insists, possessive and fierce. "Our snowflake."
The Rejected White Luna
"No... You can't do that."
Those words shattered Aria's world in front of the entire pack.
As the daughter of the Alpha of Silver Moon Pack, Aria was born with a powerful legacy. But with a weak wolf that could never shift, she became a disappointment in the eyes of her own people. She was mocked, ignored, and treated as a weakness instead of the future Luna she was meant to be.
She believed finding her fated mate would finally change everything.
Until Kael rejected her publicly and chose another.
"Because a mate who cannot shift is no mate at all. She's a weakness. And weakness spreads."
Broken but refusing to surrender, Aria leaves the only home she has ever known. But fate has a different plan waiting for her.
When she crosses paths with another powerful pack, Aria discovers a shocking truth: she has been given a second chance mate. The only problem? She never expected him to be someone who could change her entire destiny.
With a new bond awakening hidden powers within her, Aria is no longer the weak wolf everyone looked down on.
Now she has the chance to make those who hurt her pay.
But when Kael realizes the woman he rejected has become the one person he cannot lose, he wants her back.
Will Aria choose revenge, or will she find a love greater than the betrayal that destroyed her?
The Billionaire's Surrogate's Secret
“Who said that’s still fucking true? We stopped being just man and surrogate the first time our eyes met.” He walked towards me, boring into my eyes with those eyes of his. “I fucking want you, Vanessa.”
My heart stuttered.
This could not be real.
“But the rules—“
“I made them. I can destroy them. I already destroyed them when I kissed you.” He was dangerously close now, but all I kept getting was danger signals combined with the panic, alarm, lust and above all, the guilt.
It was killing me.
Vanessa Sterling who never liked men because of what her father did to her mother ended up having a drunken one night stand with a stranger and that might end up changing her life forever.
Rodri Darnell who doesn’t want to get married or have kids but is forced to give his father a grand child, decided to use a surrogate.
Vanessa Sterling was supposed to be an ordinary surrogate to Rodri Darnell of the Dolphin Emirates, but he fell in love with her.
Their only problem will be Vanessa's secret.
Let Them Kneel
Cast out by her pack. Forgotten by the Lycans.
She lived among humans—quiet, invisible, tucked away in a town no one looked at twice.
But when her first heat comes without warning, everything changes.
Her body ignites. Her instincts scream. And something primal stirs beneath her skin—
summoning a big, bad Alpha who knows exactly how to quench her fire.
When he claims her, it’s ecstasy and ruin.
For the first time, she believes she’s been accepted.
Seen.
Chosen.
Until he leaves her the next morning—
like a secret never to be spoken.
But Kaelani is not what they thought.
Not wolfless. Not weak.
There is something ancient inside her. Something powerful. And it’s waking.
And when it does—
they’ll all remember the girl they tried to erase.
Especially him.
She’ll be the dream he keeps chasing… the one thing that ever made him feel alive.
Because secrets never stay buried.
And neither do dreams.
Pregnant by My Husband's Rival Alpha
Those words should have destroyed me, but the truth was worse: I'd been used as a broodmare by the man who swore to love me, set up in a hotel room with a stranger because My husband Alexander Cross couldn't father children himself, and now I carried the secret babies of Damon Lester—the most powerful and dangerous Alpha in San Loris—while my own family replaced me with the daughter they'd always wanted. But when that same stranger's doctor appeared at my door, when twenty million dollars exchanged hands over a fake perfume bearing my secret identity, and when Damon's gray eyes locked onto mine with recognition I couldn't afford, I realized my carefully hidden life as the legendary perfumer Vera was colliding with a pregnancy that could cost me everything.
Could I protect my babies from the husband plotting my death, hide my true identity from the Alpha who's been hunting me for years, and reclaim the freedom I'd buried along with my dreams—even if it means standing alone against the wolves who see me as nothing more than a womb to be used and discarded?
Legacy Of Dragons, Royal Dragons Book 2
Ria and the Balaur brothers never imagined how far their family would come.
After surviving betrayal, loss, and the lies that nearly destroyed everything they loved, they dedicated themselves to building a future. What began as a training facility for dragons soon grew into something far greater—a place where dragons and other species from around the world could learn, train, and thrive together.
Now the facility is flourishing. Their children have grown, many finding their own mates among dragons, shifters, and other species from distant lands. The family Ria fought so hard to protect has expanded beyond anything she once dreamed possible, bringing new friendships, new adventures, and a growing legacy of grandchildren.
As old secrets continue to surface, long-held beliefs about dragons and mixed-species bloodlines are being challenged. Truths buried for generations are finally coming to light, reshaping everything they thought they knew about their world.
Where The Ice Gives Way
Blake Atlas scents his mate the moment Charlotte arrives. The bond hits hard and unmistakable, but Charlotte doesn’t recognise it. She doesn’t know why her chest keeps pulling toward the one boy she absolutely cannot afford to want. Blake is Charlie’s new hockey captain. Charlie’s chance at making something good. Charlie makes it clear; his sister is off-limits and Blake tries to do the right thing, but secrets don’t stay buried forever. Rogues prowl the edges of town. The ice cracks. The bond tightens. Then Charlotte’s rare white wolf awakens, the very thing that makes her powerful, also makes her a target.
Shanti needs Shakti. (Peace needs strength.)
Where the Ice Gives Way is a slow-burn YA paranormal romance filled with fated mates, protective alpha energy, fierce sibling loyalty, found family pack bonds, hurt/comfort, and quiet, aching tension. It’s a story about first belonging, learning to be cared for, and what happens when the girl who has always held everyone else up finally falls, and someone catches her.
