The Don Picked His Mistress，I Picked ChicagoChapter 1

The first thing my husband does after I save his empire is hand it to another woman.

Luca Delgado once tells me, "Business is business. Feelings don't belong at the table."

So when Vance Holdings starts falling apart, I believe him.

For three months, I sell the house my mother left me. I sign over my trust shares. I sit through ninety-seven back-room meetings with bankers, loan sharks, union bosses, and men who smile while they break people.

I drink whiskey until my stomach bleeds.

I beg until my knees shake.

At last, I secure a $300 million line of credit.

I should be happy.

I should run to my husband, throw my arms around him, and tell him I did it.

Instead, when I push open the door to the private floor of his club, I find Luca playing a live-action board game with Sasha Reyes.

The whole room has been turned into a giant map of our city.

Every square on the floor is one of my family's assets.

A marina. A hotel. A shipping line. A research lab. A hospital.

Every one that has already fallen carries a red pin with Sasha's name on it.

Sasha rolls the dice.

Six.

She squeals and hops forward in her little white dress until she lands on the last lit-up square.

"Vance Holdings."

My heart stops.

Sasha throws herself into Luca's arms and pouts up at him.

"Luca, baby, I landed on Wren's spot again."

She shakes her empty stack of fake cash.

"But I'm broke. I don't have enough game money to buy it. What do I do?"

Luca smiles like she is the cutest thing alive.

Then he touches the tip of her nose and takes out his phone.

One call.

That is all it takes.

My phone buzzes in my hand.

The message from the bank is short.

The $300 million credit line has been suspended.

Around me, Luca's men cheer.

Sasha claps like a spoiled little girl getting a pony.

Luca takes a red flag from the table and plants it in the center of the Vance Holdings square.

"There," he says. "Now it's worth nothing."

He pulls Sasha close and kisses her hair.

"My little princess, this territory is yours."

* * *

I stand in the doorway, cold from my scalp to my toes.

So this is the truth.

Every hole I crawl into hell to fill, my husband digs with his own hands.

For her.

I wipe the blood from the corner of my mouth and call a number I haven't touched in years.

Chicago answers on the second ring.

Dorian Kane's voice is low and calm.

"Wren?"

I look at Luca holding another woman on the ruins of my family.

"You once told me if I married you, I'd never have to lower my head and beg anyone again."

My voice breaks.

"Does that promise still stand?"

Behind the door, Luca bends Sasha over a pile of fake cash.

The game board crashes. Plastic pieces scatter across the floor.

The sounds coming from inside are soft, wet, and disgusting.

I hear all of it.

But somehow, I hear nothing.

My eyes lock on the wall.

There is a huge scoreboard hanging there.

At first, I think it is part of the game.

Then I see my family's name written over and over in thick black marker.

It is a death log.

Three months of Vance Holdings being gutted, one asset at a time.

The last line is still fresh.

"Round 97: Vance Holdings. Credit line terminated."

Pain tears through my stomach.

I grab the wall to stay on my feet.

My ulcer starts after the eighth meeting.

Back then, Vance Shipping is hit with a sudden contract cancellation. No warning. No reason. Just gone.

I need one more day to fix it.

So I sit with three men in a private room and drink bottle after bottle of whiskey until I pass out.

I wake up in the ICU.

Now I know why.

Sasha landed on Vance Shipping in round eight.

My near-death was not bad luck.

It was entertainment.

I force myself to read the rest.

Round 47: Sasha takes the Vance Grand Hotel. Luca pulls every silent partner the next morning.

That is the week a debt collector smashes a bottle against my forehead. The cut still hasn't healed.

Round 80: Sasha draws a "freeze funds" card. The next day, every bank shuts us out at once.

The ring of burn scars on my hand comes from that night.

A man presses his cigar into my skin while another one pours whiskey down my throat and tells me to smile.

Three months.

Ninety-seven meetings.

Every time I come home bruised, drunk, and smelling like smoke, Luca holds me.

He strokes my hair.

He says, "You win some, you lose some. That's business, baby. None of this is your fault."

Now I stare at the bloody little scoreboard and almost laugh.

He is right.

It is not my fault.

My wins and losses have belonged to another woman from the start.

"Luca."

Sasha's sweet little laugh drags me back.

"You're not scared your wife will walk in and find out you destroyed her family just to play with me?"

Luca doesn't stop touching her.

At the sound of my name, he only gives a lazy laugh.

"We'll tell her I was here asking for help for Vance Holdings."

His voice is careless.

"You know Wren. She believes anything I say."

Sasha giggles.

"True. She's easy as hell."

My fingers dig into the wall.

Sasha goes on, almost singing.

"Remember the Vance Research Lab? She kneeled outside that club all night in the snow, begging for a meeting. Then you crawled out of my bed the next morning and told her you spent the night fighting for her. She cried in your arms like you were her damn hero."

My body locks.

The research lab is my mother's life's work.

Last month, an anonymous tip brings federal heat down on it.

I kneel outside a private club until sunrise because no one will let me in.

By morning, my legs are so numb I can't stand.

Then Luca comes out.

He looks tired.

He says he has been pushing all night and finally bought me a chance.

I throw myself into his arms.

I think, "God, I am lucky. I married a man who would bleed for me."

No.

That night, he is in bed with Sasha.

Sasha's voice drops.

"It's my fault. If I hadn't wanted to play this game, Wren wouldn't have suffered so much."

Luca kisses her tears away.

"Stop it."

His voice is so gentle it makes me sick.

"If she hadn't gotten pregnant, I would've married you."

My hand flies to my stomach.

"Before the wedding, I kept you up all night," he says. "The next day, you could barely walk, but you still came to give her your blessing. You're the one who suffered."

Sasha starts crying for real now.

Then she lifts her face and kisses him.

I stand outside the door and remember my wedding.

Luca choked up three times during his vows.

He stops for so long before saying, "I do," that everyone laughs softly and calls it emotion.

I thought he cried because he was happy to marry me.

Now I understand.

He cried because he couldn't marry her.

Inside the room, they kiss like I am already dead.

I can't listen anymore.

I raise my hand and push the door open.