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The Mafia Boss Signed Our Divorce, Then Begged Me to Come Back
Novelix
Completed
My mafia-boss husband never reads anything I hand him. So when I slipped him our divorce papers, he signed them like it was another property deal. Then he pulled his new girl onto his lap and told me to move out for three days. He still thinks I'll come crawling back, because he pays for my dying mother's treatment. He doesn't know she's already dead. He doesn't know he signed away everything. And by the time he finds out, I'll be in another city, another life, with a man who actually asks me what I want.
Chapters (3)
Chapter 1
My mafia-boss husband has no idea the property papers I hand him are our divorce papers.
Dominic Kane does not even read them.
He signs his name, clean and fast, like he is approving another hit, another deal, another body dumped in the river.
Then he pulls Mia Blake onto his lap.
“Another property?” he asks, his voice flat.
He looks at me like I am a bill he is sick of paying.
“Claire Hart, is that all you know how to do? Spend my money when you’re pissed?”
He tosses the pen on the table.
“I just had someone renew the payments for your foster mother’s private clinic. So drop the wounded-wife act.”
Mia leans against his shoulder. Her red nails slide over his black shirt.
“Dom, baby,” she says, soft and sweet as poison, “why is Mrs. Kane so quiet today? What if she really doesn’t care about you anymore?”
Dominic laughs.
“She wouldn’t dare.”
His hand rests on Mia’s waist.
“Her mother’s life still depends on me.”
My fingers go cold around the folder.
He does not know.
Last night, while he is with Mia, while he ignores every call from the hospital, my mother misses her last chance.
Nora Hart dies before dawn.
The woman who raised me dies alone in a white hospital room because the doctor cannot reach Dominic Kane.
And Dominic still thinks he owns the air I breathe.
Everyone says I will never give up being Mrs. Kane.
Not when I need his money.
Not when I need his name.
Not when I grew up with nothing and married into the most feared mafia family on the East Coast.
Dominic believes it too.
So when Mia looks around the mansion and says she wants to stay here, he does not even blink.
“This place suits Mia,” he says. “Move out for now. Come back in three days.”
His tone is not a question.
It is an order.
Like always.
“As long as you don’t make a scene, I won’t cut off the clinic money.”
I put the signed divorce papers back into the folder.
Then I nod.
“Okay.”
Dominic’s eyes narrow for one second.
He thinks I have finally learned to bow my head.
But this time, I am not swallowing it.
I just have no reason left to stay.
I go upstairs to pack.
The bedroom still smells like his cologne and the flowers Mia sent herself yesterday.
My suitcase is barely open when Dominic’s voice stops me at the door.
“The bracelet on your wrist,” he says. “Take it off. Mia likes it.”
I freeze.
The silver bracelet is old. Plain. A little scratched.
It is the last thing Nora left me.
Mia stands beside him with that fake soft look.
“Forget it, Dom. Mrs. Kane doesn’t seem willing.”
Dominic’s face stays cold.
“How much?” he asks me. “I’ll buy it.”
My throat tightens.
He says it like everything in me has a price tag.
“After all,” he adds, “you stayed with me for money, didn’t you?”
If this is before, I would hand it over.
I would smile, even if my heart was bleeding.
Because I would be scared.
Scared he would get angry.
Scared he would stop paying for Mom’s treatments.
But now I lift my head and look right at him.
“No.”
The room goes still.
Dominic’s face darkens.
“What did you say?”
“I said no.”
For one second, I see shock in his eyes.
Then he steps forward.
His hand clamps around my wrist.
I try to pull back, but he is stronger. He always is.
“Dominic, let go.”
He does not.
He drags the bracelet down over my hand.
The silver catches on my wrist bone. Pain shoots up my arm.
My skin burns red.
I bite my lip so hard I taste blood.
With one hard pull, he rips it off.
Then he drops it into Mia’s palm.
Mia turns it between her fingers.
For a few seconds, she looks pleased.
Then her mouth twists.
“Never mind,” she says. “I don’t want it.”
And she throws it.
The bracelet hits the floor.
A sharp crack splits the room.
It breaks in two.
Something in my head goes blank.
I drop to my knees and reach for the pieces.
Before I can touch them, Mia gasps.
“Ah! It hurts!”
Her fingertip is barely red.
Barely.
But Dominic is already holding her hand like she has been shot.
“Call the private doctor,” he snaps.
The housekeeper runs out.
I stare at my own palm.
A broken edge of silver has cut me open.
Blood gathers in my hand and drips onto the floor.
No one looks.
No one asks if I am hurt.
And because I am a stupid fucking fool, I remember the past.
Once, I cut my finger while slicing fruit.
It was a tiny cut.
Dominic stopped a meeting for it.
He cleaned it himself. Wrapped a Band-Aid around my finger. Kissed it like I was something precious.
Now my blood is on the floor.
He does not even glance down.
The doctor arrives fast.
Dominic sits on the couch and watches him treat the tiny mark on Mia’s finger.
Mia sniffles the whole time.
After the bandage is on, she looks toward the mansion’s security panel by the front door.
“Dom, baby, I’m staying for three days. I can’t ask the staff to open the door for me every time, can I?”
Dominic does not hesitate.
He calls the security chief.
Mia presses her finger onto the scanner.
The machine beeps.
Her access is approved.
Then Dominic opens the drawer in the entry table and takes out a key.
He places it in Mia’s hand.
My chest turns hollow.
That key was once mine.
Dominic gave it to me on our wedding night.
He said, “With this, you are the woman of this house.”
Now he gives it to Mia.
Mia takes a photo right away and posts it to Instagram.
“First day living in Mr. Kane’s house. I got the key and his favorite kind of love.”
Comments pop up fast.
“Isn’t that Mrs. Kane treatment?”
“Looks like someone is the real lady of the house.”
“Mia, girl, you won.”
Mia smiles like she has just taken my crown off my head.
I look at the post and remember the last time.
She walked into my closet and wore my custom designer gown without asking.
She even went live while trying on my dresses.
She laughed with her friends and asked which one made her look most like the Kane wife.
I lost my temper that day.
Dominic only said, “She’s young. She likes to play. Do you really have to be that petty?”
Later, Mia cried.
So he gave her the gown.
Then he told me he would buy me ten more.
After that, she got worse.
Now she is walking around in my slippers.
She is wrapped in my silk robe.
The master bed has pink sheets because she likes pink.
My skincare is swept into a cardboard box.
Our wedding photo lies face down in the corner.
I stop looking.
I close my suitcase and walk out.
At the foyer, Dominic calls after me.
“One more thing. Tomorrow is the Kane Holdings year-end gala. Don’t forget.”
He pauses.
Then he adds, “And don’t get too worked up over these three days. The title of Mrs. Kane is still yours in the end.”
I look at him.
His face is calm. Almost generous.
Like he has loaned my life to another woman and expects me to thank him when he takes it back.
I nod.
“Okay.”
To him, Mrs. Kane is just a title.
Something he can hand out for three days.
Something he can take back when he is bored.
But I do not want it anymore.
Tomorrow, I am not going to Kane Holdings just for the gala.
I am going to hand in my resignation too.
Chapter 2
The next day, I go to Kane Holdings to quit.
The HR manager stares at my resignation form for a long time.
“Miss Hart,” she says carefully, “does Mr. Kane know about this?”
I shake my head.
“I’ll tell him myself.”
Her face goes pale.
People at Kane Holdings know better than to question anything linked to Dominic.
He is not just the CEO.
He is the Kane heir.
The man who can close a billion-dollar deal in the morning and order a traitor buried by midnight.
I sign the form anyway.
When I leave HR, I pass the long wall at the end of the hall.
Dominic’s business covers hang there in black frames.
“Ruthless.”
“Cold-blooded.”
“Untouchable.”
That is what the magazines call him.
But when I first meet him, he is not like that.
That night, Nora is dying.
I am at the clinic billing desk, begging them to give me one more day.
One more hour.
Anything.
Then the world spins, and I pass out on the floor.
When I wake up, the bill is paid.
Dominic sits beside my hospital bed in a black suit.
His face is sharp. His voice is calm.
“From now on, I’ll cover her medical costs.”
Then he looks at me.
“Claire Hart, stay with me.”
Back then, I have nowhere to go.
No money.
No family strong enough to protect me.
No right to say no to Dominic Kane.
So I stay.
I just never imagine that the money that saves my mother’s life will turn into the chain around my neck.
I pull my eyes away from the wall.
Then I sign the last exit document.
When I reach the lobby, the anniversary video is playing on the giant screen.
Dominic appears first.
Then there are photos of him at charity events and private dinners.
Mia is beside him in most of them.
I watch for a few seconds before I understand.
Every part that belongs to me is gone.
The merger plan I spent two months building is gone.
The medical partnership I helped close overseas is gone.
Even last year’s charity photo, where I stand beside Dominic as his wife, has been cropped in half.
Only my shoulder remains.
Like I was never there.
The last part of the video is the Annual Contribution Award.
My breath stops.
That project took me six months.
I slept in the office for half a month.
My stomach pain got so bad I had to live on painkillers and black coffee.
When the deal finally closed, Dominic said the award was mine.
No one else came close.
But now the name on the screen is Mia Blake.
The final line reads, “Thank you, Miss Blake, for standing beside Mr. Kane.”
Applause rises from the banquet hall.
I look over.
Mia stands beside Dominic in a silver-white gown.
That gown was sent by the designer for the wife of Kane Holdings’ CEO.
My gown.
On her chest is the emerald Kane crest pin.
Only the wife of the Kane boss wears that pin.
Mia holds Dominic’s arm and smiles as people raise their glasses to her.
Someone calls her “Mrs. Kane.”
She lowers her head like she is shy.
But she does not correct them.
Dominic frowns.
Mia sees it and pouts.
“Dom, baby, this is only day one. You promised I could be lady of the house for three days.”
Dominic looks down at her.
His voice is soft in a way it almost never is with me.
“Two days left.”
The people around them laugh and cheer.
Then someone sees me.
Their voice rises.
“Isn’t that Claire Hart?”
“She actually came?”
“Damn, she has nerve.”
“I heard she refuses to let go of the Mrs. Kane title.”
“Her sick foster mom’s bills, the houses, the money. Didn’t Mr. Kane pay for all of it?”
“The award went to Mia. How much clearer does he need to be?”
“Right? Everybody knows who Mr. Kane is backing now.”
I stop walking.
So this is what I am to them.
Not the woman who works.
Not the wife who stands beside him.
Not the person who gives everything until there is nothing left.
Just greedy.
Just a woman who sells herself for money.
I do not enter the banquet hall.
I turn and go to my office.
My handover files are ready.
Client lists.
Access accounts.
Project notes.
Every password. Every backup.
I give them to the girl taking over my work.
She looks at me with red eyes.
“Claire, are you really leaving?”
I smile.
“Yes.”
She glances toward the banquet hall.
Then she lowers her voice.
“Don’t take the award thing to heart. Anyone with eyes knows you deserved it more than Mia.”
I pause.
Before I can answer, Dominic’s voice comes from behind me.
“It’s just an award. You need to throw a fit over that too?”
I turn.
He stands at the door in a perfect black suit.
Cold face.
Clean hands.
Like he has never destroyed anything in his life.
I ask, “Did I say anything?”
Dominic looks at me.
“Your face says you’re unhappy.”
Mia is beside him.
She sees the resignation papers on my desk and covers her mouth.
“Oh my God. Mrs. Kane, are you quitting just because I got one little award?”
Dominic finally notices the documents.
His face drops.
“Claire Hart, what the hell are you doing now?”
“I’m not doing anything,” I say. “I’m serious.”
His eyes go colder.
“Mia is attending the gala for the first time. She just wanted to know what it feels like to be admired. I gave her the award for one night. Did you have to make it this big?”
He stops.
His voice turns even sharper.
“And as my wife, you should learn to be gracious.”
That word almost makes me laugh.
Wife.
What a joke.
“She wants my house, so I move out.”
My voice is calm.
“She wants my bracelet, so you rip it off my wrist.”
“Now she wants my work, and you give that to her too.”
I look straight at him.
“Dominic Kane, is that what you call a wife?”
His eyes harden.
“Don’t act like you’re so wronged.”
His voice is low.
Dangerous.
“You agreed to stay with me because I could save your foster mother. Don’t rewrite history.”
He steps closer.
“All these years, the money, the houses, the name. Which part of it did I deny you?”
Mia touches his arm.
“Forget it, Dom. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have taken the award…”
Her voice shakes just enough.
Perfect little act.
Dominic looks at me like the case is already closed.
“Claire, you dare quit today because you want to force me to bow my head.”
His mouth twists.
“But don’t forget. With one word from me, every arrangement at that clinic stops.”
I look at him quietly.
He still does not know.
There is nothing left for him to stop.
No machine.
No treatment.
No bill.
No heartbeat.
I pick up my bag and walk around them.
Dominic’s voice follows me.
“If you turn around now, I can pretend this little scene never happened.”
I keep walking.
My steps do not stop.
Chapter 3
After I leave Kane Holdings, I go to the cemetery.
Nora’s photo on the headstone is warm and soft.
She smiles the way she always did.
Like life never taught her how ugly people can be.
I kneel in front of her grave.
“Mom, I’m here.”
When I was little, I was left outside a group home with a thin coat and no real name anyone wanted to keep.
Nora takes me home.
She is not rich.
She has no husband with power.
No family with guns.
No last name that makes people lower their voices.
She only has a tiny apartment, tired hands, and a heart too good for this world.
One winter, I get a terrible fever.
I cry all night.
She carries me to the ER on her back because the buses have stopped running.
Snow falls on her shoulders and melts into her coat.
She wraps her scarf around my neck again and again, like she can keep death away with both hands.
At the front desk, she pulls off her old gold ring and pushes it through the payment window.
I am half awake from the fever.
I grab her sleeve and ask, “Mom, are you giving me away?”
She bends down and kisses my forehead.
“Silly girl. I would burn the whole damn world down before I ever give you up.”
Later, when I get into college, she takes me to the bus station.
She carries a cloth bag with hard-boiled eggs and a stack of wrinkled cash inside.
The bus is about to leave, but she still holds on to the window.
“Don’t be scared,” she tells me. “If you want to come home, come home. I’ll be there.”
But now she is not home.
And I have nowhere to go back to.
When I leave the cemetery, my phone rings.
Dominic.
I answer.
His voice is cold, like he is giving an order to one of his men.
“Mrs. Kane, bring the emerald crest pin to the Kane estate. Family dinner is tonight. They’ll need it.”
I stop walking.
He continues, “Since you’re so eager to cut ties with me, start by returning what belongs to the Kane family.”
My fingers tighten around the phone.
That pin was given to me on our wedding day by the old Kane patriarch himself.
He placed the black velvet box in my hands and said, “This is worn by the boss’s wife.”
But Dominic’s mother, Eleanor Kane, never liked me.
She read my background file like it was dirt on her table.
Then she said, “A girl from your kind of life is not good enough for my son.”
I stood there, frozen.
Too ashamed to breathe.
Dominic came down the stairs then.
He took the file from her hand and fed it into the shredder.
“She is the woman I chose,” he said. “No one chooses for me.”
For one stupid second, I believed him.
I believed he would protect me for life.
Now I walk into the Kane estate with the pin in my bag.
The front hall is cold and bright.
The marble floor shines like ice.
I have barely stepped inside when my heel slips.
I fall hard at the entryway.
The wooden box in my hand hits the step.
Pain shoots through my elbow.
For a second, my whole arm goes numb.
A housekeeper sees me.
Her first move is not to help me.
She rushes to pick up the box.
“Mrs. Kane, please be careful. The pin can’t be damaged.”
I brace my palm against the floor and stand up.
My skin is scraped open.
Blood smears across the marble.
No one cares.
The living room is quiet.
Eleanor Kane sits in the main chair like a queen with no heart.
Mia sits beside her.
A soft cashmere wrap lies over Mia’s shoulders.
That same wrap used to sit in this house for guests.
The one time I touched it, Eleanor told a maid to have it cleaned.
Now Mia wears it like it was made for her.
Dominic sees the mess I am in.
He only frowns.
Mia speaks first.
“She slipped on her own. Don’t blame the staff.”
No one asks if I am hurt.
I give the wooden box to Eleanor.
She opens it.
Only after she sees the emerald crest pin is safe does her face soften.
“Good,” she says. “At least it isn’t broken.”
Dinner is already set.
I sit down and smell peanuts right away.
Heavy.
Rich.
Everywhere.
My stomach turns.
I am allergic to peanuts.
Everyone in the Kane family knows that.
During my first year of marriage, I ate one bite of a salad with peanut dressing at this table.
That night, my whole body broke out in hives.
Dominic carried me to the hospital.
His face looked worse than mine.
After that, he told the estate kitchen himself.
“No peanuts. No peanut oil. Ever.”
Tonight, there is chopped-peanut salad.
Chicken cooked in peanut sauce.
Several dishes fried in peanut oil.
But the bowl of soup in front of Mia is taken away.
Dominic says to the staff, “Mia can’t stand ginger. Make her a fresh one.”
My hand tightens around my fork.
Eleanor glances at me.
Her voice is light, but her words cut.
“You know you’re allergic. Just avoid what you can’t eat. Don’t ruin dinner for everyone.”
I almost laugh.
So that is how it works.
Some people’s needs matter only when someone loves them.
After dinner, Eleanor asks a maid to bring out the pin.
Then she hands it straight to Mia.
“Let Mia try it.”
I look at Dominic.
He does not stop her.
Mia pins the emerald crest to the front of her gown.
She turns in front of the mirror and smiles like a damn bride.
“Dom, baby, does it look good?”
Dominic glances at her.
“It’s fine.”
Eleanor nods with satisfaction.
“Young girls always make jewelry look better.”
Dominic looks at me.
“Only two days left. I’ll return it after that.”
I stand.
“No need.”
I pick up my bag.
“Since the pin is here, I’m leaving.”
I walk out without looking back.
Behind me, Dominic says nothing.
But the silence tightens, sharp and restless, like something in him has finally started to crack.
