

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.

Menard Group's heiress Nerissa gave up everything for love. After her boyfriend Brian Shaffer lost his hearing and speech in a car accident, she walked out on her wealthy family, faked being mute, and spent three years by his side. But once he regained his voice, he turned his back on her. Ashamed of his past and the "mute" girlfriend who stood by him, Brian drifted into the arms of another. Betrayed and heartbroken, Nerissa finally walked away. She was reclaiming her life, her name, and her future. With Michael Yeager by her side, she was done being silent. It was her time to speak, love, and rise.