The Mafia Boss Asked His Wife to Tell His Mistress Their Marriage Was Already Over—But She Refused to Give Him the One Lie He Needed

Don't trust the Falcone men.

My own family.

I stood frozen in the bedroom. Michael had broken into my jewelry box eleven years ago. He had found my emergency key, wrapped this warning around it, and hidden it away.

He knew he was going to die. But he wasn't just warning me about Gabriel. He was warning me about my own bloodline.

I dressed quickly in jeans and a sweater. I drove straight to the downtown bank.

The manager recognized me immediately. "Mrs. DeLuca. We saw the news. I am so sorry."

"I need to access my father’s old deposit boxes," I said, keeping my voice perfectly steady.

He led me into the vault and left me alone.

I found box 814. I slipped the silver key with the falcon crest into the lock. It turned smoothly.

I pulled the long metal drawer out and carried it to the private viewing table.

I opened the lid.

There was no money inside. No passports.

There was only a thick manila folder, and a delicate gold necklace with a sapphire pendant.

I recognized the necklace immediately. It had belonged to Isabel Rossi. I had seen her wearing it in that old Polaroid photograph with Gabriel and Michael.

Why was Isabel’s necklace in my father’s emergency lockbox?

I opened the manila folder.

Inside were bank transfer receipts, old surveillance photos, and a birth certificate.

I looked at the birth certificate. It was for Isabel’s son, the boy named Gabriel.

Father: Gabriel DeLuca.

Mother: Isabel Rossi.

But stapled to the back of the birth certificate was a DNA test from a private lab, dated fifteen years ago.

I read the results.

Gabriel DeLuca was not the father.

I flipped through the surveillance photos. They showed Isabel Rossi meeting in secret, not with Gabriel, but with another man. An older man.

I stared at the grainy photograph of the man kissing Isabel in a dark alleyway.

It was Silvio.

My father’s most trusted underboss. The man who had helped me take down Gabriel last night.

Silvio was the father of Isabel’s child.

My stomach heaved. The entire narrative Gabriel had confessed to—the tragic romance, the secret son—was a lie. Gabriel had claimed the boy to protect Isabel from Silvio’s wrath, or perhaps Silvio had blackmailed Gabriel into taking the fall.