The Way Things Were

Can love once lost, be renewed?

Castelli, head of the Giordano family happens upon an old flame during a scuffle in a turf war against a rival and finds that she's not quite the woman he remembers. the once confident and outgoing Maria shows up as a broken nihilistic version of herself after suddenly disappearing from his world many years ago. however, not only does she hold the key to fixing his current predicament, he realises his feelings towards her hadn't changed... but her's might have.

Maria hates the person she became after she'd been forced to disappear into a marriage with the head of the Falsseti family and is unable to walk away from all she endured over the years. now faced with the man she'd abandoned years ago, the guilt from the event feels like being between a rock and a hard place. giving up her life seems like the best possible means for atonement.

Maria is chasing the nearest exit to freedom and Castelli wants nothing but to remind her of the person she once was. how do these two find each other find each other after being torn apart by unexpected forces?

#*#

this is a short story I wrote a while back and as it's in a genre I've never tried writing before, the editing is just as crude as my understanding of what the mafia and it's genre in romance literature actually is. I honestly gave it my best shot and I'd be happy for you to give it a read. it's one of my favourite things I've written in a while.

Happy reading ❤️