My Husband Dumped Me on Our Wedding Night, Then I Married a Mafia Don

The water was swallowing the car when my husband Odell Brown called. I tried to lift my arm to grab the phone and scream for help. The line connected. What came through was not his voice but the wet, rhythmic slap of skin on skin. "Vera, you're taking so long. I'm almost done." Odell sounded hoarse. Then my stepsister Fanny Smith let out a breathy moan. "She's still on the line, Odell. And you're still hammering into me so hard." "What's she going to do about it? She wants to marry me. We could make love right in front of her, and she wouldn't say a word." His heavy breathing and her giggling exploded inside my skull. Before I could speak, the signal cut out. Water closed over my head. Every last trace of oxygen vanished. The hand holding my phone drifted downward. Cold spread through my body. My thoughts began to blur. And yet my mind pulled me back to when I was five years old, the most invisible girl in the Smith household. He was the heir to the Brown family. My mother was dead. My stepmother disliked me. My stepsister found endless ways to torment me. My father never stood up for me. He packaged me like a gift and delivered me to the Brown estate, Shadowmere Hall. That day, I stood in the garden like a discarded doll with nowhere to go. Odell took my hand. "Your job is to play my wife." I became his playmate. His little shadow. When I was ten, we were kidn*pped together. We planned to run in opposite directions. But when I saw a man charge at him with a knife, my body moved before my mind could catch up. I threw myself forward. The blade sliced my arm open. Blood came fast. My body turned colder, and my vision started fading. Hot tears fell onto my face. His whole body shook as he sobbed, but his voice held steady. "Vera, you are not allowed to die. You promised to be my bride. No one else. Only you." From that day on, Odell protected me as his future wife. When people mocked me for being his maid, he used his family's influence to force an apology. When my stepsister locked me in the cellar, he searched from dawn until night. The seat beside him was always mine. I believed every word. I studied hard to become a proper wife. I saw myself as the future mistress of the Brown family. I thought he would love me forever. Even when his gaze grew colder. Even when he called me boring with a look of pure boredom on his face. I still believed he was my destiny. Until tonight. Our wedding night. I had put on the lingerie he loved most. I saw the hunger in his eyes. His hand was sliding under my dress when his phone pinged. He grabbed it fast. I caught a glimpse of a sultry figure on his screen. "Vera, go to sleep. I have something to take care of." Before I could ask a single question, he pushed me aside with an eagerness that made my stomach drop and walked out of our home. No matter how many times I called his name, he did not turn back. Not one glance at his bride. At three in the morning, he called. "Bring a box of condoms to Rose Villa." In the background, I heard a woman giggling. A sound I knew too well. My stepsister Fanny. Something inside my chest split open. But I could not say no to Odell. I never could. I stared at the storm outside the window for a long time. Then I answered, my voice quiet. "Odell, the weather report says there's a flash flood warning. The mountain road is closed." "Just get here. Stop making excuses." He hung up without waiting for a response. He did not give me the chance to refuse. Bitterness spread through me, but I refused to believe the man who loved me would betray me so casually with someone who had spent years hurting me. I looked at myself in the mirror for a long time. I put on my best makeup. I changed into a red dress. I grabbed my bag and walked out the door. I was going to see for myself if Odell was truly that cruel. The rain was so heavy I could barely see the road ahead. The engine stalled more than once. I pushed forward anyway. For Odell. I reached the base of the mountain when rocks thundered down and crushed my car. Pinned in the driver's seat. Unable to move. Floodwater surging in from outside. When that call came through, I still had hope. I told myself that if he came for me the way he used to, when I was in danger, I would forgive him this one mistake. But he did not even have the patience to wait for me to pick up. His texts said nothing about me. On our wedding night, he sent me photos of himself with another woman. I was nothing to him. Just part of their game. Pain shot through my heart, sharp and unrelenting. In the last second before I lost consciousness, I used every bit of strength I had left to send a message to that man. Vera: At the foot of the mountain near Rose Villa. Come save me. I'll divorce him. I'll leave with you.