Chapter 1

• Ava’s POV
• "I'm marrying Erica Gambino, Ava."
• I couldn't help but scoff. Right in his face. My new husband. After a year. A whole damn year. He vanished right after our wedding—no honeymoon, no wedding night, not even a consummation of our marriage, just gone. A "mission," he said. And now? He just strolls back in and drops this bomb.
• My fingers were knotted so tight they felt numb. I tried to keep my voice steady. "You're joking, right? Caspian, you know it's against the rules. To marry another woman while your wife is still alive."
• Caspian Pavlov. He stood before me, the Pavlov family underboss, still wearing the suit stained with… God knew what. Blood.
• "The new Don of the Ironclad Organization approved my request. I can have two wives. Erica will be my second. What's the problem?"
• As an underboss of the Pavlov family, he holds a significant leadership position within The Ironclad Organization, directly involved in executing its directives and maintaining its power structure. He is a key figure in enforcing the Organization's rules and carrying out its often violent business.
• "Two wives?" I gasped, the words catching in my throat. "Is she truly willing to be your mistress?"
• A bitter laugh threatened to escape me. The Ironclad Organization. Fifty years of enforced peace, built on a foundation of blood and broken treaties. A pact forged from the ashes of a war nearly destroyed the Italian and Russian mafias. They'd created this... this fragile alliance to end the senseless killings, the endless battles for territory.
• They'd established a rigid code: respect, honor, unwavering obedience. These weren't just words; they were laws, the very pillars that held their precarious union together. They were the only things that kept two ruthless organizations from tearing each other apart.
• “Not a mistress! but a second wife! it’s still equal status to you, Ava. What the hell are you talking about?”
• I kept my voice level, though fury simmered. "Caspian, 'second wife' is a euphemism. It's still a mistress."
• "Watch your mouth, Ava!" He jabbed a finger at me. "Erica is not going to be my mistress. She's going to be my wife. She's different from any woman I've ever met. I'm in love with her..." His eyes softened as he spoke her name, and the betrayal I felt twisted in my gut.
• How could he stand there, saying those words to my face? Where was his shame?
• "You were gone for a year, Caspian," I said, my voice trembling. "Do you even remember the vows you made to me before you left?"
• He shifted, a brief, dismissive glance my way. "Forget those vows," he said, his voice flat. "I didn't know what love was when I married you. I thought you'd make a...convenient wife. Until Erica."
• “Then I want to meet her.”
• Caspian immediately refused. “There’s no need for you to meet her, Ava. She’s different from the women you know. She’s a capo, an underboss in the Gambino Family. She’s above petty domestic disputes. She wouldn’t want to see you.”
• I retorted, “What kind of women do I know? Or what kind of woman am I in your eyes? Caspian, you seem to forget that I am also the daughter of the former leader of the ironclad society!”
• "Was…" Caspian interrupted, "but you are ultimately a delicate woman, suited only as a housekeeper or a housewife. Erica looks down on such women. She is frank and unrestrained. She might say things that would cause you discomfort. Why invite your own embarrassment?"
• He seemed to forget, as so many did, that I was more than a 'delicate woman'. I was Ava Romanov, daughter of Dimitri Romanov, the man who had once held the entire Russian Mafia in his iron grip.
• My father, sixty-five years old, the Don of Dons, had maintained peace and order within our organization, a feat that required both cunning and ruthlessness. But that peace had been shattered fifteen years ago when he, along with my twenty-five-year-old brother, was betrayed and murdered within the very walls of the Ironclad Society.
• My mother, though she survived, was left paralyzed, a constant reminder of the treachery that had ripped our family apart.
• Now, that same feeling was back, amplified a thousand times. The feeling of being utterly, irrevocably betrayed.
• My mother chose him before she died. Choose Caspian. He swore to her, promised in his honor, that he would never betray me.
• And he broke that promise. Now, with me the last of the Romanov line, I have to face an impossible decision. What was I supposed to do?
• I wiped away the tears and walked into the hallway, stopping dead when I saw my father-in-law and mother-in-law talking to each other.
• “I can't wait to have her as my daughter-in-law!” Felicity beamed.
• Sergei agreed, “Well, she’s a great fighter. I can’t imagine how many deals she sealed. And their mission in Russia was successful.”
• So, they'd agreed to this… this mockery.
• How easily they cast me aside. I secured the best medical care for Felicity. And now, I'm treated as if I'm nothing. I’ve handled the family's finances every single day, and this residence is a burden, especially when my contributions are so unappreciated!
• Without a word, I turned and walked out, refusing to look back.
• "Miss Ava! Where are you going?" My personal maid's voice echoed behind me as she tried to follow.
• I drove, the rain a furious curtain against the windshield. I didn't care. Betrayal was a betrayal. I wouldn't be reduced to sharing a house and life with another woman.
• ****Moretti’s Building****
• The guards immediately recognized me, swinging open the massive gates without hesitation. I drove through, parked, and tossed the keys to a waiting guard. Time to play the hand I was dealt.
• I straightened my shoulders, the damp chill seeping into my skin, and walked towards the building. They want to dismiss me? They will learn that Romanovs are not so easily erased.
• "The Don is unavailable, Mrs. Pavlov—"
• "Romanov," I corrected, my voice sharp and clear, cutting him off. "And I don't care about his schedule. He will see me. Now." I let a sliver of my father's icy authority bleed into my tone. "Tell him Ava Romanov demands an audience. And tell him that the matter concerns the very foundation of the Ironclad Organization." A little fear goes a long way.
• I watched his eyes flicker, a hint of uncertainty replacing the initial dismissal. Good. He understands the stakes. "If he refuses," I continued, my voice low and dangerous, "I will address the council myself. And I will remind them of the oath my father swore, and the oath they broke. The solemn promise that no member of the Romanov line would ever be abandoned or betrayed by the Society, a promise they have now callously broken!”
• Before he could stammer a response, I added, "And tell him, I’m not going anywhere… and I’ll wait for him until dawn.”
• The guard swallowed hard, his gaze darting to the imposing building behind me. He nodded quickly, turning to head toward Don's office. He knows I’m not bluffing. Now, to play the waiting game.
• I didn't wait in the lobby like a supplicant. Instead, I walked to the nearest window, surveying the grounds. Information is power. I noted the placement of the guards, the security cameras, the exits. If this goes south, I need to know my escape routes.
• Suddenly, the Don's secretary, a woman in her fifties, appeared. "This way, Miss Romanov."
• She held the door open, and I stepped inside. I stood a few feet away from the Don, a man who radiated danger. He was impossibly tall and broad-shouldered, a picture of masculine power. His face was striking, drawing every eye, and his dark grey eyes held a depth I couldn't analyze.
• It’s been years since I saw him.
• He was dressed in a black suit, the fabric smooth and expensive, a stark echo of the ones my father had favored. The faint scent of expensive cologne, sharp and unfamiliar, pricked my nostrils. The dark color brought back flashes of that night, of dark figures in similar suits, of my father's blood staining the floor.
• "Miss Romanov," he said, his voice deep and smooth, but his face was intimidating. I felt small, like a child again, but I forced my chin up. "I've already granted your husband’s request. Their recent mission in Russia, specifically, was critical to securing key alliances and stabilizing volatile trade routes. Their value to the Society is immense. Refusing Caspian's wish, given their record, would have been... unwise. There's nothing more I can do."
• My lips tremble. "I'm not here to stop them," I managed, my voice steady now. Let him underestimate me.
• He shoved his hands into his pockets, taking a step closer. "Then why are you here, Ava Romanov?"