Twenty Years, One Mistake

I was my husband's childhood sweetheart. He never failed to pursue me for two long decades.

He loved me like I was his life and cherished me deeply.

But then, suddenly, just a month ago, he cheated on me.

Everybody knew — except me.

But I was just pretending like I hadn't caught them and still played along like a naive wife.

That was until I erased every last trace of my existence.

And then, I disappeared.

Only then did that bastard look for me like crazy.

………………………………

"Mrs. Moretti, are you absolutely certain you want to cancel your ID, passport, and every official record tied to your name? If you ever decide to restore them, it'll be incredibly difficult. It'll be as if... you never existed at all."

The clerk continued trying to change my mind, but I never hesitated. I simply slid the signed documents across the counter.

"That's exactly what I want."

"I need to disappear completely if I'm ever going to start over."

I knew better than anyone how much Domenico loved me.

Or at least, how much he used to.

If there was even the slightest trace of Serafina Cavallo left in this world, he would find me.

A man like Domenico had eyes and ears everywhere. Every port authority, every police precinct, every customs checkpoint from here to Palermo had someone loyal to him. Judges owed him favors. Federal agents conveniently looked the other way in exchange for monthly envelopes.

As long as Serafina Cavallo still existed on paper, he would track her down within days.

So Serafina Cavallo had to vanish completely.

It was the only way to escape him.

After finishing all the paperwork, I returned home and took out my phone to review my escape plan one last time.

But the moment my gaze landed on the wedding photo set as my lock screen, my fingers froze.

Back when we got married, Domenico had insisted on giving me the most extravagant wedding imaginable.

To make that dream a reality, he spent a fortune purchasing an entire villa estate along the Amalfi Coast.

He even named it Nostalgia di Serafina.

Serafina's Longing.

A declaration of love so grand that the entire world heard it.

The day he announced it, every Family on the Eastern Seaboard knew my name.

Old Dons in Sicily sent priceless wines as gifts. Even rivals who wanted Domenico dead couldn't help but acknowledge the depth of his devotion.

Then the story of how he donated his bone marrow to save my life five years earlier became public as well.

Soon, our so-called love story that had defied death became legendary.

People whispered about it at Family gatherings, business meetings, and Sunday dinners from Brooklyn to Catania.

What I had hoped would be a quiet wedding turned into something far larger.

Every influential Boss on the East Coast attended.

It felt less like a wedding and more like a coronation.

And yet now, staring at that photograph, all I felt was bitterness.

Domenico had pursued me relentlessly for twenty years.

Maybe it was because my father abandoned my mother when her blood disease worsened.

When federal pressure mounted, he turned informant and entered witness protection alone, leaving my mother behind with no Family protection, no identity, and no one willing to claim her.

She died alone in a charity ward.

At her funeral, I made a promise to myself.

I would never hand my future over to another person.

No expectations.

No dependence.

No heartbreak.

Domenico stood beside me that day.

He was only a boy himself, yet he tried to sound mature as he placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I'll never leave you, Serafina."

I didn't believe him.

Not for a second.

For the next fifteen years, I ignored every kind thing he did for me.

Deep down, I was simply waiting for him to give up.

Everyone always did.

Then I got sick.

The same hereditary blood disease that had taken my mother.

The kind of illness that forces you to start counting the days you have left.

Without hesitation, Domenico signed the papers to become my bone marrow donor.

The surgery saved my life.

When he woke up afterward, still pale and barely able to stand, he dragged himself to my room.

His body was weak, but his eyes shone brighter than I'd ever seen.

"I did it for you," he whispered.

Even then, I still didn't accept him.

For the next five years, he told me he loved me every chance he got.

Hundreds.

Thousands of times.

Never once giving up.

Then one day, I noticed strands of gray creeping into his hair.

People said the donation had nearly killed him.

That it had aged him from the inside out.

Among rival Families, he had even earned a nickname.

Il Grigio.

The Gray One.

That was the moment my heart finally surrendered.

I'll never forget the look on his face when I said yes.

It was as though he had been handed the entire world.

Before I could change my mind, he slipped a ring onto my finger.

Heavy Sicilian gold.

Old-world craftsmanship.

The kind of ring that carried weight in his world.

The kind that meant forever.

Then he transferred every asset he owned into my name.

Everything.

The companies, the real estate, the legitimate businesses.

All of it.

I refused every last cent.

Instead, I looked at him through tear-filled eyes.

"I'm saying yes."

"But remember this."

"I can take it back at any time."

"If you ever leave me—even once—"

"I'll disappear so completely that you'll never find me again."

"Domenico, you only get one chance."

I said those words as a warning.

But the truth was, I never doubted him.

Not once.

Until a month ago.

When he cheated on me.

I've never been the kind of woman who waits around to be abandoned.

Not after everything I'd already lived through.

So this time, I chose to leave first.

I booked my flight.

Prepared a dissolution agreement that claimed nothing.

No money.

No property.

No rights to anything connected to the Moretti name.

I signed it and arranged for it to be delivered three days later.

Then I returned home one final time.

When I stepped through the front door, Domenico was already in the kitchen making dinner.

It didn't matter that he was the Don of the most powerful syndicate on the Eastern Seaboard.

To me, he still insisted on cooking every meal himself.

Still acted like the devoted husband he had always promised to be.