The Mafia Boss' Betrayed Wife

Rose's POV

I was too numb to notice the tears rolling down my cheeks until they landed with soft taps on my computer.

Playing on the screen was CCTV footage showing the parking lot of my sister's apartment building the day she went missing.

When I received the envelope containing the flash drive from the private investigator, I had thought it was more good news, fresh out of a doctor's visit confirming my pregnancy.

That is until I read the autopsy report that confirmed all my worst fears over the last eight months.

Bella was dead.

The short video stopped and replayed for the third time, forcing me to rewatch her struggle as she was forced into a van by the same man whose child I was carrying in my belly.

My husband, Nathan.

I refused to believe it, even as it replayed a fourth time.

Nathan had been my rock those first few months of Bella's disappearance—making sure her case was a priority to the police, weeding through the dark underbelly of his world to check if she had been taken by one of his enemies, only to come up with nothing.

The case had been closed in just four weeks after the police had met nothing but dead ends. Meanwhile, Nathan had sworn he would never stop searching for her.

All of it had been a performance, and it made me wonder why.

What reason did he have to kill Bella?

I wiped my tears away and opened the autopsy report, knowing the pain of reading it was the only way to get answers.

The report stated that she was not harmed in any way, save for a few bruises from the struggle and one missing organ—her heart.

Confused, I searched through the other files on the flash drive until I found my sister's medical report and an organ donor form with her signature on it.

Alongside it was the medical report of the recipient, and my blood froze in my veins when I read the woman's name.

Katherine Salford, Nathan's exgirlfriend.

Katherine had come back into his life a year ago to spend what she had thought were her last days with him.

By some miracle, a donor match had been found, and I remember the joy I had felt when we visited her postsurgery.

I had placed my head on her chest, listening to her brandnew heartbeat, not knowing it belonged to the woman I had been desperately searching for.

My heart shattered into a thousand pieces, and I broke down in sobs.

Nathan calling out for me snapped me out of my grief. I hurriedly pulled out the flash drive and hid it under the pillow.

He walked in before I could wipe my tears, and his expression grew worried.

"Are you alright, darling?" he asked, wrapping his arms around me and pressing a kiss to my head.

Nathan had committed crimes that would horrify a hardened soldier but I had never been frightened of him.

Being held with the same hands that had taken my sister's life, I felt fear for the first time.

"I was thinking about Bella and got carried away," I managed to respond.

His expression did not change, not even a hint of remorse. "We'll find her someday."

"Are you up for golf with me and Katherine?"

My blood boiled in my veins, hearing how easily he dismissed talk of the woman he murdered for the woman who had broken his heart to pieces before I came along and fixed it.

"No, but don't let me stop you." I gave him the option because I wanted to know who he would choose.

"Alright." He kissed me on the lips. "I'll call you if I can make it back for dinner."

With that he left, taking with him whatever love and loyalty had made me doubt the evidence staring me in the face.

Nathan had a clean persona for the public to hide his criminal organization, and Katherine was a model married to a man in Nathan's line of work.

They both had something to lose if something like that got out.

A shiver went down my spine as I wondered what would happen if he ever discovered I knew their secret.

My hand cradled the small bump underneath my shirt, the only innocent in the whole mess.

I couldn't sleep beside him, eat at the same table and call him my husband knowing what he did.

I would slip up one day and put not just myself but my child in danger of his father.

I had to leave.

But there was no such thing as divorce for the women in his world, and even if I got out, I needed to give him a reason not to come after me and my child.

I fished out the flash drive and studied it.

It was a good start, but if I wanted to convince him to let me live and agree to a divorce, I would need more.

Rose's POV

It took two tries to guess the password to his computer—Katherine's birthday.

Nathan loved order, so it didn’t take long to find what I was searching for.

Transaction receipts, contracts for deals that would never hold up outside a kangaroo court, reports and graphic pictures of his men's work, files upon files about his enemies' businesses he was after. All carefully hidden by his entertainment company.

I transferred as much as I could to the flash drive, all while my heart pounded in my chest, knowing one of his men could walk in at any moment.

When the transfer was completed, I reached to pull out the flash drive, but something caught my eye.

It was a folder titled "Blueberry," a codename Nathan often used for important data or people.

I was nicknamed Blueberry in his organization, so I assumed it contained moments from our lives and opened it without a second thought.

My breakfast threatened to make a reappearance when I was greeted with thousands of intimate pictures and videos of Katherine and Nathan.

They dated back years, starting a couple of months after Nathan and I had started dating, and Katherine had gotten married to her husband.

Some were taken in random hotel rooms, but my eyes were drawn to the familiar layout of our bedroom and the very bed I went to sleep in every night.

Disgusted, I continued scrolling until I saw a video with a cover image of Katherine wearing my wedding dress and draped across our bed.

My heart clenched painfully and I had to look away as my emotions overwhelmed me.

Turning took my eyes to a smiling picture of me on his desk and my vision blurred with tears I refused to let fall.

Led by my pain, I transferred the pictures and videos of them to the flash drive then left the office.

My feet led me to my closet, filled to the brim with designer clothes fresh off the runway, expensive jewelry custommade by top jewelers, and all the shoes a woman could wish for.

Once upon a time, it had all been a dream come true.

But now that I knew Bella was the price that was paid for it, I hated the me who adored them.

I had worn it so many times after that cursed day it didn't take long to find my wedding dress, and I laid it out on the ground.

It was an oldfashioned style that had people questioning my taste. I modeled it after Nathan's mom's dress to honor her.

He had been so proud of it, bragging to everyone about how devoted and loyal his new wife was—only to defile it by letting his mistress wear it while he did her on our bed.

I grabbed a pair of scissors and cut it up, then bundled the shreds into a trash bag to be burned by the maids.

Destroying the dress was a good way to get my anger out, but then came another problem—how to get out of the house and away from the bodyguards Nathan had follow me at all times.

A few hours after midnight, Nathan crawled back into our bed, covered in Katherine's perfume.

He tried to be intimate, pressing kisses into my neck but I refused to give in, knowing I would break down in tears if he touched me.

He asked what was wrong. I didn't bother facing him as I told him nothing, but his silence as he lay down to sleep let me know he could hear the lie in my voice.

The next morning, I woke up to Nathan preparing breakfast.

He had on my frilly apron and was covered in flour—a sight that would have warmed me before but now felt like a performance to lower my guard.

"Good morning, darling," he kissed me and led me to the breakfast nook. "I know yesterday was hard for you, so I thought, why not start the day with something sweet?"

He placed a plate of chocolate chip pancakes in front of me—my favorite—and smiled proudly at his work.

He was so good at playing the perfect husband, it almost made me forget he had cut open my sister and used her for spare parts.

"Thank you," I forced a smile.

"It was my pleasure. Plus, I told Katherine about your mood, and she agreed to come shopping with us to cheer you up."

The sweet pancake turned bitter in my mouth.

Nathan noticed the change and frowned in confusion.

Ever since I met Katherine, I had wanted to be friends with her, so suddenly not wanting to go shopping with her was too out of character.

"I guess I should have asked first then," he said apologetically. "Should I call her and cancel?"

Yes, was my first thought—until I realized this was what I needed.

Shopping meant my bodyguards wouldn't be allowed into certain rooms, and that could be my chance to escape.

I schooled my features into one of excitement and shook my head.

"No. A day out is exactly what I need.”

Rose's POV

With long legs and a face that turned heads, Katherine looked every bit the supermodel she was.

It was no wonder Nathan had risked his marriage and organization by sleeping with the wife of the most bloodthirsty Don of their generation.

She hugged me like we were old friends.

I froze when I heard the muffled beating of her heart in her chest.

The thought that it had been inside Bella a few months ago sent me into hysterics and I shoved her away with more force than I intended.

She crashed to the ground with a loud, pained cry.

"Katherine!" Nathan rushed to her side, helping her off the floor as she whimpered and leaned into his touch.

He turned to me with a glare so fierce I stumbled back.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! You could have seriously hurt Katherine!"

"It was an accident," I tried to explain, but he continued glaring, sure I was lying.

"It's fine, Nathan. She's grieving, and I must have startled her," she pleaded with him but I could see the smirk dancing on her lips.

Hearing her beg for me only made him angrier.

"That's not an excuse!"

His shout drew more attention from the other guests to our small group. Seeing the two bodyguards and the famous Katherine Salford piqued their curiosity, and soon, phones were brought out to record the drama.

Nathan had always hated attention, and having so much on him worsened his mood.

His voice was low and frightening as he commanded, "Apologize, right now."

I didn't want to cause a stir when I was so close to leaving. My fist tightened around the straps of the bag containing what little I could pack without suspicion and apologized to her.

Not satisfied, Nathan decided to end the day, but Katherine insisted she had to get the new line of clothes.

I watched his expression soften at her pout and wondered how I had been so blind to how devoted he was to her.

He gave in easily, but as punishment, I was only allowed to watch, not participate.

I agreed, knowing why I was really there, and remained quiet as I followed behind Katherine and Nathan.

I wore his ring on my finger, but staring at them as they joked and playfully browsed through clothes for her, they looked like a perfect pair.

It left a sour taste in my mouth, and I placed my hand on my belly to remind myself of who really mattered.

Finally, it was time for her to try on the clothes she had picked. I offered to follow her into the changing room, hoping to find a window I could climb out of.

Nathan tried to refuse, but Katherine insisted she needed my help. She dumped her heap of clothes into my arms and commanded me to follow.

I turned to Nathan, wondering if he would step in and set her straight.

He met my gaze, daring me to refuse.

It was a sad goodbye, but it was better I remembered him as the lovestruck fool he was for Katherine rather than my doting husband.

Katherine's smile was wide when I set her clothes down on a table in the stall.

"I can't imagine losing a sister and husband in the same year." She sighed, dramatically.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm just saying, it's only a matter of time till Nathan gets bored of all the weeping and moaning."

All I could do was stare, wondering what made her act so boldly when, up until that moment, she had been playing the friend role so well.

"Is there something you'd like to say to me, Katherine?"

Katherine took her time putting on her dress and taking a picture in it before she responded.

"I've already said all I need to. Unless you're too stupid to know how a flash drive works."

Realization dawned on me, and I froze.

She knew.

My Private Investigator was the best in the business. He had kept such a low profile not even Nathan had known I hired him, so how could she?

Unless...

I tried to remember the envelope—yellow and discreet, without any hint of who had given it to the delivery guy.

I had just assumed it was the Private Investigator, but when I tried to recall any sign of a sender, I came up with nothing.

Insisting Nathan had to see her dress, Katherine handed me her phone and left the stall before I could question her.

Looking down at her screen, I expected to see the selfie she had just taken but was met with a picture that sent a chill running down my spine.

It was a picture of a familiar hand—limp and pale, with a blue friendship bracelet that I knew well because I had made it for Bella.

It confirmed my suspicions that Katherine had sent that flash drive and she was taunting me about it.

Bella had been reduced to a part of her sick games.

The tears I had sworn not to shed ran down my cheeks before I could stop them, and my hands trembled with rage.

I would leave to protect my child, but first, I was going to make Nathan and Katherine pay for what they had done.

Wiping my tears away, I searched through Katherine's phone until I found what I was looking for—her husband, Francis Salford's number.

Rose's POV

The café was catthemed and filled to the brim with giggling enthusiasts.

My assigned guards hated it, always choosing to wait outside but remaining close enough to rush in if anything went down.

It was the perfect place to meet Stephen, the private investigator.

Stephen looked disturbed as he browsed through the contents of the flash drive on his laptop.

"She confessed she was the one who sent it?" He asked me, looking up from his computer after fifteen minutes of silence.

"Not in those words, but she alluded to the fact she was behind me getting it."

"That makes sense because she definitely didn't send it—I did."

My brows furrowed in confusion, which I quickly masked with a smile when our waiter placed our orders on the table.

"Explain this to me like I'm a fiveyearold."

"I sent one of my men to deliver it to you, with a lot more information than is in here. Katherine must have intercepted it and changed the contents of the flash drive."

She must have assumed I would be so busy planning my escape that I wouldn’t risk confronting them or going back to Stephen for answers.

I had to hand it to her—she was a good judge of character because I would have done just that if she hadn't confronted me in the dressing room.

"You know what that means? Not only do I have a rat in my ranks, but Katherine has more influence in the underworld than we assumed, and we have to be more careful."

I nodded, sipping my coffee to calm my nerves at the new information.

"So, what was removed from the flash drive?"

Stephen shifted nervously, typing away at his computer to avoid meeting my eyes.

"Nathan has been having an affair with Katherine for the last two years or so."

My hands clenched around my cup, and I took a long sip to stop the tears that threatened to make an appearance.

"I know. Anything else?"

"The autopsy report I got had the name of the doctor who performed it and the address of the morgue—hers doesn’t."

Hope swelled in my heart. "So I can see my sister’s body?"

If he pitied me, he hid it well, which I was thankful for. "If you really want to."

"Let's go now," I demanded, rising to my feet.

"What about your guards?" he reminded me, already packing away his things.

They were seated at one of the tables outside and would be there until I was ready to leave, so we snuck out through the back door, hopped into Stephen’s car, and sped away.

Eight months had felt like an eternity, not knowing what had happened to Bella.

Sometimes I hoped she was still alive somewhere out there. Other times I knew better and wished for a body to put an end to the grieving.

Standing there as the morgue attendant opened the freezer and slid the tray out, I found myself wishing I could go back to those days of hoping—not the harsh confirmation that was the corpse lying on the table.

Her cheek was cold when I stroked it. I remembered how warm it used to be when I would stroke them to comfort her.

The tears I had been holding back came flooding out.

Distantly, I heard the morgue attendant walk out to give me some space, leaving me and Stephen alone with Bella.

Stephen gave me his condolences, and I laughed at how sad it was that this strange man was being kinder to me about my sister’s passing than my own husband.

"I failed her," I whispered as I stroked her hair, brittle and dry without her rigid hair care routine.

"There was nothing you could have done. And now, you are doing all that you can."

"You’re right. I'll do everything I can to make them pay," I swore, my hands trembling when I thought of Katherine and especially Nathan.

"But first, I want her buried."

"Coming here is already a huge risk. There’s no way you could bury her without them knowing you've found her body."

He was right. No matter how much it hurt, I had to leave her body lying on the cold slab until I could give her justice.

"I'll be back," I promised, brushing her hair out of her face.

My hand stilled when a black shape on the left side of her neck caught my eye.

Carefully, I turned her head to the side until I could see it more clearly and frowned in confusion.

It was a tattoo of a barcode that I was certain had not been there when she first went missing.

"What is this?" I asked, waving Stephen over to take a look at it.

He crouched down and studied it for a few seconds then stepped away from Bella's corpse with a grim expression.

"Stephen. What is it?" I asked again, growing fearful after his bizarre reaction.

"I thought it was just a rumor."

"What rumor?" I demanded impatiently.

"That Nathan Foster’s dabbling in a new kind of business."

He glanced at Bella pointedly and it suddenly clicked.

Human trafficking.

Those two words were the nail in the coffin, burying whatever love still remained in me for Nathan.

"So Bella is one of—"

"Hundreds, maybe thousands of men, women, and children taken and sold."

My hand fell to my belly, and I stumbled away from the body, fearing I would empty my coffee all over her.

"I have to stop this," Stephen whispered to himself.

I imagined hundreds of other sisters, mothers and fathers out there. Others like me who prayed for the return of a loved one but, unlike me, may never get their closure.

All because of the man I made a life with.

“I'll help you,” I declared with a clench of my fist.

“It'll be risky, Rose. I don't think…”

“She's in here, Mr. Foster.” The attendant's approaching voice trickled in through the gap in the door.

“Nathan.” I whispered, the blood freezing in my veins.

Rose's POV

“How could you be so stupid?”

Nathan stared at the road as he drove, his jaw clenched so tightly I could hear his teeth grind against each other

“She's my sister,” I reminded him in a small voice.

I wanted to be brave but being alone in a car while he was so pissed reminded me of how much weaker I was compared to him.

“And I'm your fucking husband! I told you I was handling it but you just had to go snooping and fuck everything up!”

He was my husband and once upon a time that would have been enough to make me stay home and pray he finds her.

But I was tired of the head shakes and dismissive smiles when I asked about Bella.

I was tired of being the good wife who only ever said ‘yes’ and ‘as you wish’ to her husband.

Blind devotion was what landed my sister in a morgue for his mistress I almost called my friend.

I was done with that crap.

“It's a good thing I went searching, then, ‘cause at the pace you were going it would have taken decades for you to find her.” I spat with vindictive pride.

“Or maybe you never planned to find her at all.”

The car screeched to a halt as he slammed his foot on the break.

I cried out as my head bounced off the dashboard. The pain spread through the side of my face and my ears began to ring.

When the ringing settled I turned to him with annoyed glare and my courage dried up when I caught the wild look in his eyes.

Dark and narrowed, the kind of stare I had seen him give to one of his men who thought it'd be funny to slap my ass.

Nathan had tortured that man in my presence, and the remembrance of his dying screams made me want that look nowhere near me let alone on me.

“Nathan…” I tried to weasel my way out of the mess but he was quick to interrupt.

“What makes you believe I haven't been searching for Bella?” His voice was eerily calm.

I swallowed and shook my head. “That's not what I meant….”

“Have you been talking to someone, baby?”

“No.”

Nathan smiled, suddenly and I could immediately tell he did not believe me.

I looked out the window, surveying the quiet street he had pulled up into.

It wouldn't matter even if there were people around to help me.

He could pull out his gun, shoot me dead in front of all of them and no one would so much as blink.

I placed my hand on my belly as frightened tears threatened to fall from my eyes.

I didn’t want him to know about the baby. Once he did, it would make getting away that much more impossible.

But if it was my only chance of leaving that car alive I was ready to do it.

Thankfully the sight of my fear softened Nathan before I could do anything drastic.

He took out a cigarette and took several drags from it, despite knowing how much I hated it before breaking the silence in the car.

“You never should have gone to that morgue. Not without telling me.” He shook his head with a tired sigh.

“Why?” I asked, softly.

“Because if Bella's killer found out you were there before I got to you, you'd have your own little compartment right next to her.”

A frightened shiver swept through me.

Yet I latched on to one part of his sentence.

“Are you saying you know who her killer is?”

He nodded, taking another drag from his cigarette.

My heart picked up in my chest, fear, excitement, nervousness and other emotions I couldn't put to words filling me.

Was Nathan confessing and giving up Katherine.

He loved her more than anything, more than even me.

There was no way he would tell me what he did knowing he and his precious Katherine would rot in jail for the rest of their lives.

Unless he expected me to keep the secret and go on with life knowing I was sharing a bed with my sister’s killer.

I would smother him in his sleep with my pillow, I decided as hot rage welled up inside him.

“Who is it?” I asked, impatiently, hoping he would say the truth.

I already knew what I would do. I would take his gun peeking out of his jacket and blow his brains out right then and there.

Consequences be damned.

My hand crept closer to his belt, waiting for the moment to pull out the weapon.

He turned to face me and said, softly. “Bella's killer is Francis Salford.”