Claiming the Mafia Queen

V I C T O R I A

"You can't do this!!" My voice echoes through the office, and at this point, I'm sure the entire house can hear it as well.

"I can, and I will. I want a divorce. So sign the papers." My so-called husband, Alberto Diaz, answers as he stands across from me with a coldness in his gaze that freezes my heart to stone. We are currently in his office, surrounded by his guards. I thought he was calling me to discuss how his meeting with the other families had gone today, but instead... I'm getting blindsided by a set of divorce papers.

"You told me that you loved me... You said we were going to build our own empire together... how can you do this to me...?" I yell at him as I hold the papers in my hand, shaking my head at him in disbelief, with tears streaming down my face.

"You can't even bear me any children, Victoria! Your womb is toxic and barren, and I want nothing to do with you. Imagine... me, Don of the Diaz family, unable to have a child... an heir. You're an embarrassment to me, and the entire family. How am I supposed to build an empire with someone like you?" His voice booms, and shock covers my face as I glance around at all the men in the room who have their eyes on me. I can't believe he would dare do this in front of so many people...

"Alberto, please..." I shake my head at him and rush forward to him, placing the papers on the desk before desperately reaching for his face, my blue eyes bearing into his cold brown ones. "Please let us just speak about this alone, hm? Just you and I..." I try to appeal to the man who once claimed to love me, but instead, I am met with nothing but cruelty.

"Don't touch me, you filthy wh*r*." She snaps at me, and before I know it, I am shoved backwards and soon after I feel a powerful slap across my cheek. The impact sends me hurling to the floor, where my hands would painfully break my fall. I gasp in fear and shock, more tears streaming down my face as I look back at my husband, shaking my long pitch-black hair out of my face.

"You... you struck me..." I let out in a quiet voice, unable to believe that he would dare put his hands on me. Alberto huffs and adjusts his jacket, almost as if he is trying to get my touch off him, a look of pure disgust printed on his face.

"And I will do much worse to you if you don't sign the f*ck*ng papers..." He lets out just as he motions once with his hands. In seconds, two of his guards are standing behind me. They roughly pull me to my feet and begin dragging me forward towards the desk, where one of them would take the papers on the table and slide them towards me.

I stare back at them fearfully before I continue to read the details of the divorce papers, all the conditions and settlements, and once I do, I stare back at Alberto with disbelief.

"Alberto, these papers say I get nothing... You can't take away what I've worked for... not after everything we've been through... " I shake my head at him. Without me, the Diaz crime family wouldn't be where it is today. Both Alberto and I came from nothing, and we worked hard to get to the point we are today. To make the Diaz family one of the most recognised crime families in the city. He can't take that away from me, not when half of this belongs to me.

"You will sign the papers, or you can die right here and now... You choose, Victoria." He tells me, and that's when I hear a clicking behind me. I don't have to turn around to realise there is a gun pointed at the back of my head. He is really about to order them to kill me if I don't sign these papers...

"Alberto, I'm begging you..." I say to him, shaking my head desperately as I hold out my hands.

"Last chance..." He answers me, his eyes squinting at me, and it's only at this point that I realise... this is no longer the man that I fell in love with... only a ghost in a shell. The room grows silent for a few seconds, but that is soon broken by the presence of someone else...

"Alberto darling, is it done...?" A voice fills the room, followed by the sound of heels clicking across the tiles. I recognise the voice instantly and slowly turn to face the woman making her way towards us. Her blonde hair is what I catch first, beautiful and flowing down her back, then soon, her green eyes meet mine, staring at me with disgust and, dare I say, pity.

"Not yet, sweetheart, but it will be soon..." Alberto answers, the expression on his face changing entirely to one filled with relief. I watch as Elora Rionetta, an ally of the Diaz family, strides over to my husband's side, where he would embrace her tenderly, and give her a slow, deep kiss on her lips, right in front of me.

"Elora?" I let out in disbelief as I glance between the two of them. Elora finally pulls away from my husband's lips and faces me, staring down at me from head to toe, her green eyes meeting my blue ones.

"Oh, don't tell me you didn't see this coming, Victoria..." She smiles at me vindictively while keeping her hands on his chest, her fingers tracing over the fabric of his white shirt as if he belongs to her.

"You've been having an affair this whole time...?" I question him as I glance between the two of them.

"Elora is everything you are not. She's strong, magnificent, she listens... and..." He trails off, just as he tenderly places a hand on her belly, a proud smile printed on his face.

"She is having my child..." He declares proudly, and that is the final shot to the heart, leaving it shattering into pieces...

V I C T O R I A

I am too stunned to speak.

Tears continue to stream down my face as I glance between the two of them, to the woman who has my husband's hands around her, and placed on her belly.

She is having his child... something I could not give him... and there they stand, proud of themselves as my entire world falls apart.

"I can't believe you... Alberto... why would you betray me like this when I have given you everything? My love, my loyalty, my devotion..." I say to him, my heart thundering in my chest from the pain that courses through my body.

Alberto sighs heavily, as if I am simply boring him, and lets go of his mistress, staring back at me and taking a few steps forward.

"Enough with these theatrics." He answers me, paying no mind to what I've just said to him. He doesn't even feel ashamed of cheating on me and having a child with another woman...

"Sign the papers, or you can die where you stand, Victoria