My Mafia Fiancé Let Another Woman Wear His Family Ring—So I Disappeared Before the Wedding

By sunset, the Italian underworld was in an uproar.

The news that Don Matteo Bellini had unilaterally severed the seventy-year alliance with the Moretti family—and exiled his own mother to Sicily—sent panic through every criminal family from Milan to Palermo.

In the grand study of Villa Bellini, Lucia Bellini stood screaming at her son across his mahogany desk.

"You have lost your mind!" she shrieked, clutching her pearl necklace. "You ruined a fifty-million-Euro shipping deal! You disgraced the Moretti family! And for what?! For a nobody from Florence who ran away like a coward on her wedding morning!"

Matteo sat behind his desk, pouring two fingers of dark scotch into a glass, completely unfazed by his mother’s fury.

"Elena didn't run away because she was a coward, Mother," Matteo said calmly, taking a sip. "She ran because she realized this family was toxic. And she was right."

"She insulted us!" Lucia shouted. "She abandoned her dress!"

"She abandoned a dress you picked out to make her feel small," Matteo corrected, setting his glass down with a heavy thud. "You gave Francesca the ring because you wanted to show Elena she didn't belong here. Well, congratulations, Mother. You succeeded. But in doing so, you lost your son."

Lucia froze, her face draining of color. "Matteo..."

"Your car leaves for Sicily in twenty minutes," Matteo said, picking up a pen and returning to his paperwork. "If you refuse to enter the vehicle, my guards will physically place you inside it."

"You would banish your own mother for her?!" Lucia gasped, tears of outrage finally filling her eyes.

"I am banishing anyone who threatens the woman I love," Matteo said, raising his eyes, his dark gaze icy and unyielding. "Including you."

Lucia backed out of the room, crying hysterically, flanked by two stoic guards who escorted her down the bronze staircase toward the waiting sedan.

Gianna stepped into the study a moment later, watching her mother’s car speed away down the gravel driveway.

She walked over to her brother’s desk, leaning against the edge.

"Sergio Moretti called three times," Gianna said quietly. "He is mobilizing his men in Genoa. He thinks you've gone mad."

"Let him mobilize," Matteo said without looking up. "If Sergio steps onto my territory, kill him."

Gianna looked at her brother with a mixture of awe and concern. "Where is she, Matteo?"

"She is at a private villa in Amalfi," Matteo said, his posture relaxing slightly at the mention of her name. "Away from the syndicate. Away from the cameras."