A Bomb for His Beloved

A bomb was strapped to my chest, with only a ten-minute countdown.

I was forced to call Don Logan Carbone, my boyfriend, "I've been kidnapped! Don't—"

"What the hell are you playing at?" he snarled. "I told you I was handling business. How dare you joke about this!"

His furious roar came through the phone, followed by the sweet, coquettish voice of another woman.

Even the kidnappers shook their heads and sighed. "Logan doesn't give a damn about this whore. We grabbed the wrong one."

Before the world went white, I sent my last text. Goodbye, Logan. I hope we never meet again.

My body was obliterated. But my soul was trapped, chained to his side.

And then, I overheard a secret.

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1

My boyfriend, Logan Carbone, was the Don of the Carbone family.

And I had been kidnapped by his archenemy, Marco, the leader of the Rinaldi family.

A car bomb was strapped to my chest.

My kidnapper, Marco, had a vicious glint in his eyes. "You're Logan's girlfriend, right? Tell him to get his ass over here, now!"

I was forced to call Logan. He answered the phone, his voice clipped with impatience. "I told you not to call me when I'm handling business! What, are you trying to piss me off?"

I stammered, "Logan, I've been kidnapped! They're getting revenge on you! Whatever you do, don't come—"

Before I could finish, Marco snatched the phone from my hand.

Logan's voice cut through the speaker, sharp and ice-cold. "Jasmine, have you lost your mind? I told you I'm dealing with something! What the hell is this, some kind of joke?"

"Alessia screwed up a shipment in Red Hook. You know what that means? If I don't go handle it, who's going to cover the family's losses? And you pull a stunt like this just to get my attention? You might as well just tell me you're dying!"

I glanced down at the bomb strapped to my body. The timer showed a ten-minute countdown.

"Enough! I'm not listening to your lies! To Alessia, that shipment is everything! If it goes south and she goes down with it, it's on you! I swear to God, Jasmine, I won't let you off the hook!"

On the other end of the line, a delicate, wounded voice piped up. "Logan, you're the best! Are you really coming to help me with this mess?"

Then, the call was disconnected.

Marco cursed loudly. "Fuck, what a bust! Logan doesn't give a damn about this broad! We grabbed the wrong person!" He and his accomplice bailed.

I looked down at the bomb on my body. In that moment, tears streamed down my face.

Even the kidnappers could see it: Logan didn't love me.

But it took me until the final moments of my life to face that truth.

The Alessia that Logan mentioned was the daughter of another crime family, his childhood friend.

When we first started dating, he swore Alessia was just like a sister to him. And I believed him.

By the time I sensed something was wrong, I was in too deep to escape.

Whenever Alessia called, Logan would rush to her side immediately, no matter the time or place.

He even ditched me and my parents the first time he met them, all because Alessia claimed she was scared to be alone at the docks. He didn't even bother to explain, only saying, "Something urgent came up."

I had grabbed his arm then, begging him to stay, for my parents' sake.

Logan had just sneered. "Jasmine, this is how it's been with Alessia and me for twenty years. If you can't handle it, you can't handle me."

I used to tell myself he only saw Alessia as a sister, that deep down, he still loved me.

But it wasn't until I was about to die that the truth hit me. Logan had never loved me.

The only woman he ever cared about was Alessia.

Before the bomb detonated, I sent him one last text message. "Goodbye. I hope we never meet again in the next life."