The Broken & Reborn Mafia Matriarch Chapter 01

The Broken & Reborn Mafia Matriarch Chapter 01

The car crash burned me alive. Every inch of my skin melted and blackened beyond recognition. 

Aiden Collins, the cold–blooded heir to the Collins crime syndicate, wanted nothing to do with a disfigured fiancée. He demanded the marriage alliance be transferred to Zoe Campbell, the daughter of my stepmother Aria. 

Just when I’d lost all hope, Eric Thompson showed up. He was my psychiatrist, and later my husband. He pulled me back from the edge of death and gave me a reason to live. 

He walked with me through every skin graft 

surgery, and gave me a wedding that blew up every tabloid and gossip site from coast to coast. 

I thought I’d finally found real happiness. 

That is, until the day my final graft was done. I overheard Eric confessing his love to my sister 

Zoe. 

“She’s nothing but a placeholder for you. You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved, the only one I ever 

will.” 

I left heartbroken and shattered. Funny, isn’t it? 

Now he’s tearing the world apart looking for me. 

I woke from a coma to the sound of Eric’s voice. I 

was about to call out when the next words ripped 

my heart out and stomped it into dust. 

“Zoe, you have no idea how disgusting her face is. 

I can barely keep my food down every time I have 

to sit across from that monster!” 

“You’re the only one for me. Just to be safe, I slipped her a permanent birth control shot. She’ll 

never carry my child.” 

I heard Zoe’s laugh ring out. 

“Come on, you’re married to her. She might be a freak, but she’s still your wife. If she ever found out 

you never loved her, she’d probably kill herself.” 

Eric’s voice dripped with contempt. 

“It’d be better if she just kicked the bucket, 

anyway. I took out a massive life insurance policy on her. Once the payout comes through, I’ll buy you that diamond ring you’ve been gushing over.” 

I drove my nails into my palms until blood pooled, silently begging the pain to prove this was a 

nightmare. 

The sharp, throbbing pain told me it was all real. 

Every cruel, cutting word had come from Eric’s 

mouth. 

I’d once thought Eric was my salvation. 

The night before my engagement, my car suffered 

a catastrophic brake failure at full speed. It 

careened off the road and slammed into a 

concrete overpass, and I blacked out. 

I’d barely stepped out to find help when the car 

burst into flames, and I was trapped inside. 

The fire licked at my skin until I was 

unrecognizable. Though I was pulled from the wreckage alive, the damage to my body was 

irreversible. 

Aiden had never cared for me to begin with. 

When he heard about my disfigurement, he called off the engagement without a second thought. 

But the marriage was critical for the Campbell family. We were drowning and desperate for the Collins‘ financial backing. 

Zoe went to negotiate with the Collins family 

herself. 

The deal was struck. Zoe would take my place as 

the bride. 

And me? With my face destroyed and no more 

value to the family, my parents cast me out like 

garbage. 

I was a complete and utter failure. 

I stood on the roof of the hospital, ready to jump 

and end it all. 

That’s when Eric wrapped his arms around my scarred, broken body and said: 

“Gold retains its luster even in fire. If the 

Campbells don’t want you, I do. I’ll give you a home. No one will ever hurt you again.” 

He arranged for the best plastic surgeons to perform my skin grafts, and told me he’d love me even if my face never healed. 

His love felt so unshakable that I stopped caring 

what anyone else thought. 

But now I know the truth. 

He never loved me. He only married me to keep me from ruining Zoe’s position in the family. 

He even spat the most vile insults at me. He used 

me used me as a doormat to amuse the woman 

he actually loved. 

I suddenly remembered our wedding day. I’d seen 

him crying as he stared at Zoe in the crowd. 

I’d thought they were tears of joy. 

They were tears of regret–regret that he hadn’t 

married the woman he loved.