

On our seventh wedding anniversary, I was straddling my Mafia husband, Lucian, kissing him deeply. My fingers fumbled in the pocket of my expensive silk dress, searching for the pregnancy test I'd hidden there. I wanted to save the news of my unexpected pregnancy for the end of the evening. Lucian's right-hand man, Marco, asked with a suggestive smile in Italian: "Don, your new little canary, Sophia. How does she taste?" Lucian's mocking laughter vibrated through my chest, sending a chill down my spine. He replied, also in Italian: "Like an unripe peach. Fresh and tender." His hand was still caressing my waist, but his gaze was distant. "Just keep this between us. If my Donna finds out, I'm a dead man." His men chuckled knowingly, raising their glasses and swearing their silence. The warmth in my blood turned to ice, inch by inch. The one thing they didn’t know was that my grandmother was from Sicily, so I understood every word. I forced myself to remain calm, keeping the perfect smile of a Donna fixed in place, but the hand holding my champagne flute trembled. Instead of making a scene, I opened my phone, found the invitation I had received a few days ago for a private international medical research project, and tapped "Accept." In three days, I would disappear from Lucian's world completely.

"My mother was a player in a quest. Once her mission was a success, she exited this world, leaving me behind with four Dragon Kings. The first was Ethan—the Golden Dragon King who controlled over seventy percent of the Dragon Realm’s Dragon Crystal veins. The second was Nolan—the Silver Dragon King, the strongest healing dragon in the entire Dragon Realm. The third was Ryker—the Black Dragon King, the commander of the Black Dragon Legion and the most feared battle dragon in the Dragon Realm. The fourth was Tony—the Crimson Dragon King, the supreme ruler of the Dragon Council who maintained order across all dragonkind. My four Dragon King fathers spoiled me rotten for sixteen years, giving me everything I ever wanted. That was until three years ago when Chloe, the daughter of the one that got away, returned. Since then, my four fathers believed her over me. Chloe claimed that I scared her while flying in the sky, so Tony personally tore off my dragon wings. When Chloe accused me of poisoning her, Nolan forced Dragon Venom down my throat—a forbidden potion that destroyed the spiritual energy within my dragon body. Once again, Chloe insisted that I had hurt her, so Ryker ordered my claws to be removed. Chloe said she didn't want to see me anymore. As a consequence, Ethan abandoned me in the mines where lowborn dragons were exiled. As I lay there in pain, my mother’s voice rang in my ear. “Seren, do you want to come back to Mommy?”"

I was the Falcone family's top consigliere. Their brain. And today, I was walking away—handing over the books to every legitimate business I ran, severing my final tie. My protégé couldn't understand. "You're the future of this family, Aurelia. You can't just leave." I shook my head with a bitter smile. They didn't know. I'd been secretly married to the Don, Vittorio Falcone, for three years. I thought my looks, my mind, and everything I gave him would be enough to win all of his love. A hit at the docks three months ago showed me the truth. I took thirteen bullets. Emergency. I needed the family surgeon—which required Vittorio's direct order. I called him over a dozen times. But when he finally answered, all I heard was a soft, breathless voice on his end. "Vittorio, we haven't cut my birthday cake. Will you hold my hand and cut it with me?" That voice. My best friend. The woman Vittorio once had a crush on. Carina. In the safe house, weak from blood loss, I dug the bullet out myself and had one of my men rush me to a family clinic. Right before they wheeled me into the OR, Vittorio burst in—carrying Carina. Twisted ankle. Needed a doctor. Now. My surgeon was dragged away. The antibiotics came too late. The wound got infected. I fought for my life for a week. When I woke up, I stared at my phone. Not a single message. The tears finally came. I understood. I was just the woman he'd been forced to marry after he was drugged and slept with me. A scandal averted. All he cared about was my value and his reputation. And me? The secret princess of the Rossi family, who gave up everything to build his empire. All for nothing. So I prepared four parting gifts. A celebration of our mutual destruction. Then he'd never see me again.