The Mafia Boss Woke Up in the Hospital and Reached for His Mistress Instead of His Wife—But When the Younger Woman Asked Why His Wife Was Still Alive, Everything Changed

Thomas froze in the center of the living room, staring at the drawing in my hand.

“What are you talking about?” he demanded, stepping closer.

I tapped the crayon figure of the blonde woman wearing the emerald necklace.

“This is Elena Castellano,” I said, my voice barely a whisper. “The younger sister of the Castellano boss. She disappeared seven years ago.”

The pieces clicked together with violent force.

Gabriel hadn’t just had an affair. He had slept with the sister of his greatest enemy. He had fathered a child with her.

And Rebecca?

“Rebecca is a cover,” I realized aloud. “She’s a paid actress. A decoy.”

No wonder Gabriel hadn’t been able to explain things to me in the hospital. He couldn’t tell Rebecca the truth because Rebecca didn’t know the whole truth either. She thought she was the mistress. She thought the child was hers to claim later. But she was just a shield Gabriel used to hide the boy’s true bloodline.

“Maggie,” Thomas said, his face pale. “If Elena Castellano has the boy…”

“Then the war has already started.”

I dropped the drawing and ran to the SUV. Thomas was right behind me.

“We need to go back to the hospital,” I ordered as I climbed into the passenger seat. “If Elena took Leo, she’s going to use him against Gabriel.”

Thomas slammed his foot on the gas. The heavy vehicle tore out of the quiet suburban neighborhood.

My mind raced. For thirty-four years, I had believed I was the center of Gabriel’s world. I had ironed his shirts, hosted his dinners, and turned a blind eye to the blood on his hands.

He had repaid me by building a labyrinth of lies so deep it was about to get us all killed.

My phone vibrated in my purse.

I pulled it out. The caller ID was restricted.

I answered it. “Hello?”

“Margaret,” a woman’s voice said. It was smooth, cultured, and terrifyingly calm.

It wasn't Rebecca.

“Elena,” I said.

Thomas swerved slightly at the name, his knuckles turning white on the steering wheel.

“I hear my brother’s men are preparing for November,” Elena said lightly. “But I didn’t want to wait. I wanted my son back.”

“You have him,” I said, keeping my tone steady. “So what do you want?”

“Gabriel stole Leo from me when he was a baby,” Elena said, her voice dropping its pleasant facade, revealing the venom beneath. “He hid him. He used that pathetic woman Rebecca to pretend she was his mistress just to keep my family off the scent.”

“Why are you calling me, Elena? Gabriel is the one in the hospital.”

“Because Gabriel is dying, Margaret.”

My breath hitched. “He had a mild heart attack. He’s stable.”

Elena laughed softly. “Oh, Maggie. You always believed the doctors he paid for. Gabriel’s heart is failing. He doesn’t have weeks. He has days. That’s why he was rushing to finalize his will. That’s why he was rushing your ‘funeral.’”

I stared out the window at the passing highway, feeling the ground completely vanish beneath my feet.

The heart attack wasn’t a sudden event. It was the end of a long illness he had kept hidden from me.

“He wanted to secure Leo’s future before he died,” Elena continued. “But Leo is a Castellano. He belongs with my family.”

“What do you want?” I repeated, my voice hard.

“I want the ledger,” Elena said. “The one Gabriel kept. The one that proves my brother’s involvement with the port authorities. I know Gabriel hid it.”

I thought of the safe in the floorboards. The birth certificate. The rosary. There had been no ledger.

“I don’t have it,” I said.

“Find it,” Elena snapped. “You have until midnight. Or I will let my brother’s men visit Gabriel in his hospital room tonight. They won’t be bringing flowers.”

The line went dead.

I lowered the phone.

Gabriel was dying. Truly dying.

And he had left me in the middle of a war zone.

“Thomas,” I said. “Did Gabriel ever mention a ledger?”

Thomas shook his head. “Never.”

I closed my eyes, thinking of the man I had loved. The man who had lied to me about everything. If he had hidden something that important, he wouldn't have put it in the house. He would have put it somewhere only he and I knew about.

Somewhere from our past. Before the money. Before the lies.

Then, I remembered the watch.

Three years ago, Gabriel had his favorite vintage pocket watch repaired. He had given it to me to hold onto, telling me never to let it out of my sight. It was currently sitting in my jewelry box.

“Turn the car around,” I said to Thomas. “We’re going back to the house.”

Thomas hit the brakes, throwing us forward as he spun the wheel.

As we pulled back up to the estate gates, I saw something that made my blood run cold.

The heavy iron gates were wide open.