The Don’s Double Standard: She Vanished with His Child Chapter 01

The night I graduated from college, Dante Moretti and I slept together one last time.

A Breakup sex.

Afterward, he handed me a cigarette with practiced ease and gave a soft laugh.

“The woman I marry will never be the kind who smokes after sex.”

Something tightened in my throat. I asked him why.

He said it gently, which somehow made it worse. “Clara, you can be my lover. But the future Donna of the Moretti family? She has to be pure and flawless.”

I didn’t say a word. After that night, I cut him out of my life completely.

When we met again, he had become my new boss.

To avoid the awkwardness, I submitted my resignation first.

But he cornered me in the Don’s office and pulled me onto his lap.

“Five years. Want to do it again?”

I lowered my eyes. “No. I have to pick up my child from school.”.”

…

A heavy silence fell over the room.

Dante went rigidly still.

I tried to get up, but his arm banded around my waist, pinning me in place.

The dark amusement in his eyes iced over. The steady, untouchable mask he always wore finally cracked.

His jaw clenched. “How old?”

I didn’t answer right away.

“Three.”

Three.

Not four.

It had been five years since that last night together.

The math didn’t add up. That was the whole point. This kid wasn’t his.

Dante could do the math too.

I stood up again. This time, he let me go.

I was halfway out the door when his voice caught me. Careful. Laced with suspicion.

“Your file says you’re single.”

My feet almost stopped. I made myself turn around, my face blank.

“I just got married.”

“You just got married, and the kid’s already three?”

I nodded, not a flicker of hesitation.

“We had her before we tied the knot.”

Dante didn’t answer. His eyes dropped to the cheap ring on my finger, and he let out a short, ugly laugh.

I didn’t flinch. I held my hand up higher and let him get a long look, long enough for the reality to sink in.

The second I saw his jaw twitch, I was out the door.

Back home that night, I finally let myself breathe.

A good lie could kill a problem before it could grow teeth.

I’d picked up the ring at a mall kiosk the minute I heard he was taking over the company—twelve bucks, but convincing enough to sell the lie.

All I needed was for Dante to believe I’d moved on. The ring did the rest.

Sure enough, my resignation went through the next morning.

HR came by that afternoon to tell me I could be gone within a week, as long as I wrapped up the handoff.

The standard notice period in the US was two weeks. I got seven days.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out who made that call.

I nodded and started training the intern on everything she’d need.

The new intern, Mira Brooks, was sweet and eager to impress. Over the short handoff period, she never let me pay for my own coffee or breakfast.

Near the end of the day, Mira came up to me looking sheepish.

“Clara, would it be okay if I ducked out early? My boyfriend wants to take me to dinner.”

The problem wasn’t letting her go. I needed to leave early too, to pick up Talia Vale from preschool.

When I didn’t answer right away, she shifted her weight nervously, giving me a pleading look.

I couldn’t help smiling faintly. “Go. It’s fine.”

She lit up, thanked me about five times, and started throwing her stuff into her bag.

“He’s heading up here in a sec.”

That caught me off guard. “He works here too?”

Mira’s eyes went wide, like she was sitting on a secret. “No, he’s…”

A low voice cut her off before she could finish.

“You ready?”