A Donna Unclaimed chapter 01

A Donna Unclaimed chapter 01

“I thought you wanted to become my Donna, my damn wife.”

Griffin Delarosa—the future Don of one of Chicago’s three most powerful mafia families—looked at me like his heart had just been torn out.

He lowered the gun in his hand, disappointment flooding his eyes, then turned and left the hotel room without another word.

I glanced sideways at the bullet hole beside me and said flatly to the terrified man beside me, who was wetting himself, “You can go.”

The next day, Griffin left the country for studies and disappeared from my world.

Six years later, he came back with his new girlfriend—his future Donna—to meet the family, and we happened to run into each other on the road.

Our homes were separated by just one street. His was a luxury townhouse. Mine was a modest apartment.

That day, after being told by my doctor that six years of fighting cancer had failed and I could go home to wait for death, I was finally discharged from the hospital.

When Griffin saw me being helped by my mother into a wheelchair, his hands were still tucked inside his black coat. A mocking smile curled on his lips.

“Six years, and this is what you’ve become? You can’t even walk anymore?”

Hearing his contemptuous voice, I simply pulled down my sweater sleeve, covering the countless needle marks on the back of my hand.

“It’s nothing. I just fell and broke a bone.”

Griffin let out another cold laugh.

“In that case, I’m getting married soon. You should come be my fiancée’s bridesmaid.”

I smiled faintly, calm as ever.

“I wish I could, but I’m going somewhere far away soon, sorry.”

With that, I patted my mother’s hand, signaling her to take me home.

Back at home, lying in bed under my mother’s care, Griffin’s mother came to visit.

The moment she entered, she hesitated, then looked at me.

“Rosa.”

Her voice was cold. She didn’t finish the sentence, but I already knew why she was here.

It was the same reason as six years ago.

Back then, the moment she learned I had cancer, she rushed into my hospital room just as urgently.

Before I had even processed my diagnosis, before I had stopped crying from fear, she stood in front of my bed and said:

“Rosa, don’t drag Griffin down. He’s just been accepted to study abroad, and he’s the heir of the family. If he finds out you have cancer, he won’t leave.”

“You two are impossible. You’re just an ordinary girl. Griffin is different. If you hadn’t lived across from us, you never would’ve even met him. You’ve been together long enough—it’s time to break up.”

“I’ve already arranged everything for you. I found you a boy. All you need to do is pretend you slept with him, let Griffin catch you, and then break up.”

“You understand what happens if you refuse me… and refuse my family, don’t you?”

Because of her words, when I found out I had cancer, my first reaction wasn’t treatment.

It was to coldly stage an affair, push Griffin away, and force him to leave the country.

Now, just as I expected, Monica Delarosa lifted her chin and said coldly,

“Rosa, you’ve seen it for yourself. Griffin has returned with his fiancée. They’re here to prepare for their wedding. His fiancée is the daughter of the most powerful mafia family in Russia. She and my son are the perfect match.”

“Even so, you are not to tell him the truth about what happened six years ago. Don’t meet him anymore. You’re dying anyway. It’s better this way.”

At the word dying, my mother angrily threw my adult diaper onto the bed.

Before she could explode, I quickly grabbed her arm and gently stopped her, then looked back at Monica calmly.

“Donna Monica, I can agree not to tell Griffin what happened six years ago. But I can’t agree to never see him again.”

Yes.

I couldn’t.

Because in these six years of fighting cancer, there wasn’t a single day I didn’t think about Griffin.

I missed him so bad.