From Mafia Wife to Rival Queen: I Came Back to Ruin HimChapter 1
My husband, Vincenzo Castellano, was a mafia boss—cold, untouchable, the kind of man people obeyed without question, the kind they would kill for. But on the night our son was fighting for his life, he wasn’t with us. He was in another hospital, comforting his mistress because her son had a simple stomach ache.
I called him from the ER, desperate, begging him to unlock my accounts. I needed to pay for a specialist. I needed it done immediately or our child wouldn’t survive.
He let out a tired sigh, irritated.
“Olivia, enough with the theatrics. Raffy is actually suffering right now. I don’t have time for your jealousy fits.”
“Vincenzo, I’m begging you… he can’t even breathe properly… please, just let me pay the doctor—”
“If you call me again, I’ll sign the divorce papers. Deal with it yourself.”
And then he ended the call.
Just like that. Like we weren’t talking about our own son.
So I stayed beside Gabriel alone, the only one holding his world together while it fell apart.
I held his tiny hand as it slowly lost warmth in mine. I whispered to him even as the machines started to fail. I pressed a kiss to his forehead and watched his chest rise weaker and weaker until it stopped completely. I didn’t let go even when he was gone—until the nurses finally took him from my arms.
**
The cremation room was cold, smelling of burned metal and stale air. Dust drifted through the sunlight like it didn’t belong to anything anymore. I remember thinking maybe it was all that remained of other mothers’ grief. Soon, my child would become part of it too.
I stood there in a black dress that hung loosely on my thin body. I had cried until I couldn’t anymore. My eyes were dry now, but swollen and heavy.
I reached under the white covering and touched Gabriel’s hand. It was stiff, already gone from warmth. I slipped two small blue origami stars into his palm—things I had folded the night before with shaking hands, because I didn’t know what else a mother could give her child at the end.
“Gabriel…”
The staff exchanged uneasy glances before gently pulling the sheet back. And there he was.