Left Behind on My Honeymoon, The Mafia Heiress Returns

On the first day of our honeymoon, Dante Moretti, the Mafia Don I had just married, and his childhood sweetheart left me at a gas station. They had driven for twenty minutes before realizing I wasn’t in the car. When he called, panic filled his voice. “Ariana, why didn’t you get back in? I thought you were in the back seat.” Bianca’s voice came clearly through the phone. “She isn’t a child, Dante. You don’t have to turn around for her.” I laughed bitterly. I had lost count of how many times he had left me behind for his childhood sweetheart. When I remained silent, irritation crept into his voice. “Don’t start, Ariana. I’ve sent one of the guards to pick you up. Just wait for the guard.” In the past, I would have forgiven him and waited. But this time, I didn’t want to. I canceled the rest of our honeymoon and removed the wedding ring I had worn for less than three days. Then I called my father for the first time in five years. “Father, I want to come home.” His voice trembled. “Ariana, the Bellini family has been waiting for you.” Chapter 1 Dante and I had been planning this honeymoon for years. In the six years we had been together, we’d rarely had any time that truly belonged to us. Dante was the Don of the Moretti family. There was always another deal to oversee, another meeting to attend, another dispute within the family that demanded his attention. Sometimes, we would be halfway through dinner when his phone rang. He would leave without hesitation. By the time he came home, the food on the table would be cold. He always apologized the same way. He would come up behind me, wrap his arms around my waist, and rest his chin on my shoulder. “Just a little longer.” “Once everything settles down, I’ll take you to the coast.” There was a white villa there, perched on the edge of a cliff. The sea was visible from the bedroom windows, and a flight of stone steps led down to a private beach reserved for the estate. Three years ago, Dante bought it for me as a birthday present. Shortly before our wedding, he pressed a tender kiss to my forehead. “You can plan the honeymoon however you want.” “For one whole month, there’ll be no business. No meetings. No one interrupting us.” I had been happy for weeks. I chose every hotel myself and changed our route three times before I was satisfied. I even had the east-facing bedroom at the coastal villa redecorated. Dante was a light sleeper. The sunrise would have woken him every morning in that room, so in the end, I chose another bedroom for us. But on the second day after our wedding, Bianca appeared at the estate. She wore a long black dress, and her eyes were slightly red. When she heard that we were heading for the Amalfi Coast, she spoke softly. “You’ll be passing through Naples, won’t you?” “My parents are buried just outside the city. The anniversary of their deaths is in a few days, and I’d like to visit them.” My hands stilled over the suitcase. “This is Dante’s and my honeymoon.” The smile on Bianca’s face faltered. “I know.” “I only want to ride with you as far as Naples. Once I’ve visited my parents, I’ll leave. I won’t follow you to the coast.” I didn’t answer. I turned to Dante instead. His brow furrowed slightly, but he remained silent. Seventeen years ago, Bianca’s parents had died in an ambush while protecting Dante’s father. Afterward, the Moretti family had taken her in. She had grown up on the estate with Dante. Their deaths had left Dante with a debt of guilt he believed he could never repay. Bianca lifted her reddened eyes to us. “All these years, the family has sent flowers in my place.” “This time, I only want to visit them myself on the anniversary.” “But if that makes you uncomfortable, forget I asked.” She forced a smile and turned to leave. Dante stopped her. “Bianca, come with us tomorrow morning.” I stared at him as the hope I had been holding on to slowly sank. Dante avoided my gaze, guilt flickering across his face. “She’s only coming as far as Naples. It won’t affect the rest of our trip.” “The convoy is passing through the city anyway.” My fingers tightened around the key to the villa. “But this is our honeymoon.” Dante frowned. “Ariana, she has no family left.” “She’s only riding with the convoy for part of the journey. You don’t have to make such a big deal out of it.” His tone wasn’t harsh, but the implication was clear. If I continued to refuse, I would be heartless. I would be unreasonable. I would be the woman too jealous to show compassion to an orphan who had already lost everything. I stayed silent for a long time before finally nodding. “All right.” Bianca paused in the doorway and smiled back at me. “Thank you, Ariana.” At the time, I had no idea that I wouldn’t even reach the end of the honeymoon that was supposed to belong to Dante and me. Chapter 2 The next morning, Dante came to pick me up himself. But Bianca was already sitting in the passenger seat. She had changed into a fitted leather outfit that allowed her to move freely. A holster was strapped to her thigh, and she held a map in her hands. When she saw me coming, she rolled down the window. “You can sit in the back, Ariana.” “I know these roads better. It’ll be easier for me to guide Dante from up here.” Except I had planned the entire route. I knew where every checkpoint was, which roads ran through neutral territory, and which safe houses we could use along the way. I knew the route far better than she did. I was about to say so when Dante got out and took my luggage. “Ariana, Bianca gets carsick.” “It’s only for the first half of the trip. She’ll leave when we reach Naples.” He opened the back door for me and kissed my temple. “Don’t be upset, all right?” I looked into his gentle eyes and climbed into the back seat. Five years ago, the first time Dante took me beyond the estate, I had sat beside him in the passenger seat. The Moretti family had just survived a violent internal power struggle, and men who wanted Dante dead were scattered all across Sicily. My palms had been slick with sweat when we passed through the first checkpoint. Dante had taken my hand and rested it on his thigh. “Relax. As long as I’m here, no one will hurt you.” We had survived more attacks than I could count since then. I had bandaged his wounds and guarded his back while bullets tore through the air around us. I was no longer the girl who trembled at the sound of gunfire. But somewhere along the way, the place beside him had stopped belonging to me. It had become Bianca’s. They talked animatedly throughout the drive. They reminisced about the trouble they had gotten into as children. They talked about the years when Bianca’s parents were still alive and all three of them had lived together on the estate. They discussed which mountain roads could be reopened and which warehouses would be best for storing weapons. With the map spread across her lap, Bianca kept leaning closer to Dante. “Do you remember this place?” “When we were children, you snuck me off the estate, and we nearly got lost in the mountains.” Dante laughed. “You were the one who insisted on going.” “And who ended up carrying me all the way home?” They laughed together. I sat alone in the back, feeling like an outsider who had forced her way into memories that belonged only to them. This was supposed to be my honeymoon, yet I couldn’t find a way into their conversation. I lowered my eyes and focused on the itinerary resting on my knees. I had listed every road we would take, every hotel where we would stay, every stretch of hostile territory we would cross, and every escape route we could use in the event of an attack. Several times, I tried to remind Dante that we needed to cross the territory ahead before nightfall. It was controlled by a rival family. Neither of them paid any attention to me. When we stopped for lunch, Bianca pointed to a restaurant across the road. “I want to eat there.” I glanced at the family crest above its entrance. “That restaurant belongs to the Calderone family.” “We seized one of their shipments last month. It isn’t safe for us to go inside.” Bianca arched an eyebrow. “We brought an entire convoy with us, and we’re supposed to be afraid of one restaurant?” Dante smiled at her. “All right. Your choice.” I frowned. “Dante, your stomach was acting up again last night.” “The food there is spicy. You shouldn’t eat it.” His smile faded. “Ariana, can we go one day without talking about danger?” “It’s one meal. Nothing is going to happen.” In the end, they ordered a table full of spicy food. Dante barely ate, but within half an hour, all the color had drained from his face. I took his medication from my bag, poured him a glass of water, and handed both to him. Across the table, Bianca propped her chin on one hand and smiled. “Ariana, you’re more like his mother than his wife.” Dante accepted the pills and gave me an exasperated look. “That’s just how she is. She’s so used to managing me that she can’t help herself.” My hand froze around the glass. I had only been worried about him. Yet the way they spoke made my concern sound like a joke I should have known better than to make. Chapter 3 That afternoon, the convoy continued north. The weather worsened with every mile. Heavy clouds pressed down over the mountains, and powerful gusts sent the trees along the road thrashing back and forth. I warned Dante, “There are a lot of sharp turns ahead, and the road may be icy. You should slow down.” Bianca was checking her pistol. She didn’t even look up. “If you’re scared, close your eyes and go to sleep, Ariana.” “Don’t distract Dante while he’s driving.” Dante glanced at me in the rearview mirror. “If you’re tired, lie down for a while. I’ll wake you when we reach Naples.” I slowly released my grip on the seat belt and turned toward the window. The moment I saw the first snowflake drift past the glass, old memories began surfacing one after another. Four years ago, the Moretti family had come under attack. I took a bullet meant for Dante and spent an entire month in the hospital. On the day I was discharged, Bianca ran into trouble outside the city. Dante didn’t even stay long enough to take me back to the estate. He handed me over to his guards and drove away alone to find her. Later, he held me in his arms and apologized. Bianca’s parents had died for the Moretti family, he reminded me. He couldn’t turn his back on her. Then there was the family banquet two years ago. Dante had promised to celebrate my birthday with me. But Bianca got drunk, and he spent the entire night beside her bed. The following day, he gave me a diamond necklace. “She had a nightmare last night. She was shaking all over.” “You know she watched her parents die when she was a child. Please don’t hold it against her.” Another time, Dante and I had been at the church discussing the wedding arrangements. Bianca suddenly called and claimed someone was following her. Dante left me standing there in my wedding gown and took every guard with him. I sat alone in the empty church until nightfall. Taken one at a time, none of those incidents seemed unforgivable. Bianca had lost her parents. She had no family. Her parents died protecting Dante’s father. That meant I was supposed to understand. I was supposed to be considerate. I was supposed to step aside and let her have him, over and over again. But those moments had piled up inside me like layer upon layer of wet cotton. They didn’t hurt. They simply made it harder to breathe. The convoy reached Naples before nightfall. Bianca checked the time and sat up straighter. “The cemetery closes in two hours. If we go now, I can still visit their graves on the anniversary of their deaths.” She turned to Dante. “It’s only forty minutes away.” Dante glanced at the darkening sky. “Go tomorrow. It’s getting too late.” Bianca shook her head. “You’ll be continuing to the Amalfi Coast tomorrow. I don’t want to delay your honeymoon any longer.” Dante was silent for a few seconds. Then, without asking me, he changed our route and headed for the cemetery. He told the rest of the convoy to follow as soon as they cleared the checkpoint behind us. “We’ll take you there now,” he said. “But we leave as soon as you’re finished.” Bianca’s face brightened. “I knew you wouldn’t make me miss it, Dante.” I stayed in the back seat as the car turned toward the western edge of the city. Halfway across the city, Bianca suddenly pressed a hand to her stomach. “Dante, pull over. I need to use the restroom.” Dante immediately turned into the first gas station he saw. He unfastened his seat belt and turned toward her, concern tightening his features. “How bad is it? Do you need a doctor?” “No. I just need the bathroom.” I got out with them to get some fresh air. That was when I noticed how pale Dante looked. The spicy lunch must have aggravated his stomach again. When the pain grew this severe, his usual medication did nothing. Only painkillers could ease it. “I’m going inside to buy you some painkillers,” I told him. The gas station was crowded. While I stood in line to pay, the roar of an engine suddenly sounded outside. It was familiar, but I didn’t give it any thought. When I walked out with the painkillers in my hand, the spot where we had parked was empty. I stopped short. At first, I thought Dante had moved the car to the other side of the lot. But after circling the entire gas station, I found no sign of the black sedan. There wasn’t a single Moretti guard in sight. An icy wind swept across the deserted road, sending a shiver through me. As I stood there trying to understand what had happened, my phone rang. “Ariana?” Dante sounded flustered. My fingers tightened around the box of painkillers. “Where are you?” Chapter 4 An engine roared in the background. “Why didn’t you get back in the car? I thought you were asleep in the back seat.” “I told you I was going inside to buy painkillers for you.” Silence fell on the other end of the line. “I didn’t hear you,” he admitted, guilt creeping into his voice. “I was too worried about Bianca.” Before I could answer, Bianca’s voice came through the phone. “I thought she was asleep in the back seat.” “Dante, we’ve already been driving for twenty minutes. If we turn back now, the cemetery will be closed by the time we get there.” I stood alone at an unfamiliar gas station, surrounded by strangers coming and going. A truck thundered past, its wake stinging my eyes. “Dante,” I asked, “are you coming back for me?” He was silent for a moment. “I’m already twenty minutes away. The rest of the convoy is closer to you.” Bianca cut in. “She’s not a child, Dante. The guards can pick her up.” When I remained silent, irritation entered his voice. “Don’t make a scene, Ariana. I’ve already sent someone to get you.” “Just wait for the guards. This isn’t going to ruin our honeymoon.” I stared blankly at the medicine I had bought for him. Suddenly, I felt like the biggest fool in the world. A freezing wind swept in from the open road. Only then did I remember that my coat was still in Dante’s car. I began to shake from the cold. The box in my hand crumpled beneath my tightening fingers. Tears spilled from my eyes without warning. I had spent years giving way. Bianca’s parents had died for the Moretti family, and I never wanted Dante to believe that I was too heartless to accept an orphan who had lost both her parents. So every time he abandoned me to run to Bianca, I pretended it didn’t hurt. But no matter how many times I stepped aside, I was always the one he left behind. It was time for me to let him go. I swallowed the sob rising in my throat. “All right.” Dante seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “Call me when the guards arrive. We’ll wait for you at the cemetery.” I ended the call. Then I canceled the hotels and restaurants I had booked for the next month, along with the rest of our plans at the coastal villa. I had planned this trip. I had no obligation to keep arranging a honeymoon that no longer included me. I slipped off the wedding ring I had worn for less than three days and threw it into the wind. Then I opened the contacts on my phone and scrolled through a list I hadn’t looked at in years. At the very bottom was a number I hadn’t called in five years. Five years ago, I had still been in college. Dante and I had already been together for a year, and he had not yet become the Don of the Moretti family. I had always used my mother’s surname. I had never told him that I was the Bellini family’s heir. When my father discovered our relationship, he ordered me home and arranged a marriage for me. He wanted me to marry a man whose connections would benefit the Bellini family and cut Dante out of my life for good. I refused. During our worst argument, my father asked me, “Ariana, are you truly prepared to give up the Bellini family for that man?” Back then, I had been certain Dante was the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. So I walked away from my family and chose him. For the next five years, I never contacted my father. Dante had no idea what choosing him had cost me. I had always believed he was the home I had chosen for myself. Today, I finally realized how wrong I had been. I drew a deep breath and pressed the call button. My father answered almost immediately. I heard the sharp, restrained sound of his breathing. “Father.” My voice came out hoarse. “I want to come home.” Several seconds passed before he answered, struggling to hold back tears. “Ariana, the Bellini family will always welcome you home.” He didn’t ask why. He didn’t blame me for disappearing for five years. “Where are you?” I gave him my location. My father lowered his voice and issued several orders to someone beside him. “My men will be there in twenty minutes. They’ll bring you home.” Not long after the call ended, a heavy rumble rolled across the sky. Everyone inside the gas station looked up. Two black helicopters emerged beneath the low clouds and circled over the highway. The silver crest of the Bellini family gleamed against their sides in the fading light. The wind whipped my hair around my face. One of the helicopters slowly descended. The door opened, and my father’s underboss strode toward me with eight heavily armed guards behind him. He stopped in front of me and bowed deeply. “Miss Bellini, we’re here to take you home.”