After the Mafia Boss Abandoned Me, I Decided to Forget Him Forever

“Your memory loss is getting worse, Selah. The doctor said if you don’t get the surgery soon, it could kill you.” Grandpa’s voice cracked on the phone, “Tell me the truth. Is that man really worth your life?”

I sat quietly by the window, staring at the invitation in my hands while the dizziness got worse again.

“I’ll do the surgery, Grandpa,” I whispered.

Grandpa went silent for a second, probably shocked because I’d spent months refusing it.

Then he asked softly, “The doctor said if we do it in time, there’s still a chance you’ll keep your memories of Gideon. Are you sure about this?”

I lowered my eyes to the blood suddenly dripping from my nose and staining the invitation red.

“How long before I forget everything?”

“Around a month,” Grandpa answered carefully. “Maybe less if your condition gets worse.”

A month.

That was enough.

“Schedule the surgery for next month."

After the call ended, I pressed trembling fingers against my nose, but the blood kept falling anyway, spreading across the paper in my lap.

The groom’s name on the invitation was Gideon Salerno; Boss of the Red Bullets Mafia. CEO of Salerno Empire Holdings. My fiancé.

But the bride’s name wasn’t mine.

It was Judith Williams.

And under her name, written in elegant silver letters, was a line that nearly destroyed me.

If only you were the bride.

I stared at the words until my vision blurred.

Funny, isn’t it?

I was the woman wearing his ring, sleeping in his bed, carrying his family name everywhere I went, and somehow I still felt like the outsider in his life.

The blood on the paper looked like flowers blooming over Judith’s name.

My chest hurt so badly I could barely breathe.

Then the memories from earlier finally came crashing back into my head.

Tonight was supposed to be my engagement party with Gideon. Instead, it became my humiliation. The entire mafia circle watched me get abandoned like trash.

I looked down at my finger where the skin was still split open from gripping a broken wine glass too hard earlier. It stung, but honestly, it was nothing compared to what Gideon did to me.

I gave that man everything.

Everything.

And still wasn’t enough.

Grandpa’s question echoed in my mind again.

Was he worth it?

Maybe years ago, I would’ve answered yes without hesitation... Back when we were kids...

Back before loving Gideon Salerno started feeling like slowly dying.

I was nine when I first fell for him. I’d been practicing riding my bicycle outside the estate gates when a pack of wild dogs suddenly started chasing me. I panicked and crashed hard onto the road. I still remember crying while those dogs barked around me.

Then Gideon appeared.

He was just a boy back then, but he grabbed a metal pipe and stood in front of me without even thinking. He fought the dogs off by himself and carried me home while I cried into his shirt.

From that day on, I loved him.

And maybe that was my biggest mistake.

Because Gideon never loved me the same way.

During university, he fell in love with Judith Williams, a woman working at one of Salerno Empire’s luxury hotels. He fought his family for her and nearly tore the entire Salerno household apart over that woman.

If the Salerno family hadn’t fallen into crisis years later, Gideon would never have agreed to marry me.

The marriage alliance saved their empire.

My family helped rebuild their power, their money, their connections. And stupidly, I thought that meant I finally had a chance.

For four years, I stayed by his side and acted like the perfect fiancée while helping him stabilize the Red Bullets from the shadows. I watched him build Salerno Empire Holdings back into something untouchable. Sometimes he’d look at me gently. Sometimes he’d come home early. Sometimes he’d hold me at night like he actually needed me. So I started hoping.

God, I was pathetic!

Then tonight happened.

Right in the middle of our engagement banquet, Gideon got a phone call from Judith. I still remember the look on his face when he heard her voice.

Panic.

“Where are you?” he snapped into the phone while everyone stared. “Judith, answer me! Where the hell are you? I'm coming.”

I grabbed his arm before he could leave. “Gideon… the guests are still here.”

He pulled away from me so fast like my touch disgusted him. “Judith’s in trouble, Selah.”

"And what about me?”

“I’ll come back."

Then he left me there alone in front of everyone.

The future wife of the Salerno boss abandoned at her own engagement party while the entire room whispered behind her back.

I stayed anyway. I smiled. I greeted relatives and mafia associates and business partners while feeling like my body was rotting from the inside out. And when it was finally over, I went back to the penthouse alone.

That was when I found the invitation hidden inside Gideon’s private cabinet.

The invitation he never meant for me to see.

So it was true. Gideon never loved me. Maybe he never even tried to. And no matter how much I bled for him, sacrificed for him, waited for him like some pathetic wife chained to his shadow, I would never replace Judith.

My phone suddenly lit up with an Instagram notification. I stared at it for a second before tapping it open without thinking.

The second the post loaded, it felt like someone slammed a hammer straight into my skull. My vision tilted. I almost lost my balance.

The photo showed a private fine dining room glowing under golden lights. Judith sat across from Gideon smiling while he cut her steak for her with those cold, dangerous hands that usually terrified grown men.

He was still wearing the black engagement suit from our banquet earlier tonight. The same suit he wore while abandoning me.

Behind them stood armed Red Bullets guards near the doors, silent and watchful like always. Even dinner dates for the mafia king of the city looked like war meetings. And yet Gideon looked relaxed with her. Almost gentle.

The caption underneath nearly made me sick.

“Just one call and you’ll come find me no matter where you are. My favorite restaurant, my favorite person. Feels too good being loved like this.”

I stared at the screen quietly.

No screaming. No crying. No hysterical phone call asking Gideon why he kept humiliating me.

Maybe I was too tired now, or maybe the tumor in my head was already eating away the part of me that loved him.

My fingers calmly opened the airline app instead. I booked a flight for one month later.

One month.

That was all I needed before I disappeared from Gideon’s life forever.