I Helped My Husband's Brother Take The Mafia Throne

In her previous life, Valerie Russo took a speedboat, stormed the yacht with a crew, and dragged her husband Cassian back to his dying father's bedside, securing his seat as don of the Russo family. His gratitude was a pair of concrete shoes and a shove off the Brooklyn Bridge, punishment for interrupting his mistress Julia's birthday. Valerie opens her eyes back in that hospital room, the family lawyer already shouting at her to call Cassian. The old don is fading fast. His will is simple: whichever son reaches the hospital first and slips the black onyx ring onto his finger inherits the multi-billion-dollar mafia empire. Cassian is a thirty-minute drive away, on a yacht anchored just off the pier with Julia, his phone switched off at her request. Valerie looks at her phone. She likes Cassian's latest Instagram post, then sends a text to his exiled half-brother Matteo, telling him exactly where to be.

The hours that follow are a slow-motion wreck Valerie refuses to stop. She dials Cassian, and his lackey Jax—Julia's own brother—mocks her as a jealous liar who hired actors. Cassian's mother Carmela shrieks and claws at Valerie, swearing she will sell her to the brothels if Cassian loses the throne. On the yacht, Julia complains the ringing phone is giving her a headache, and Cassian, with one flick of his wrist, tosses both phones into the dark ocean. Carmela drags Valerie to the pier, where Jax and armed guards block the gate. The old woman sinks to her knees on the concrete, begging Jax to let her through. He laughs and tells her Cassian ordered even his own mother to wait outside. Valerie leans against the car and watches. Back at the hospital, Matteo's heavy boots cross the threshold just as the heart monitor flatlines. The lawyer announces Matteo as the undisputed don. Carmela collapses. Cassian strides off the yacht onto the pier furious and blind, still sneering at Valerie for putting on a circus, still promising to divorce her tomorrow. Julia lectures Valerie that Cassian needs true love, not power. Valerie tells them to love each other forever. Cassian raises his hand to strike her. Before his palm can fall, Matteo steps forward.