Forced to Marry His Dead Friend’s Chubby Cousin, the Mafia Boss Never Expected What Happened
Forced to Marry His Dead Friend’s Chubby Cousin, the Mafia Boss Never Expected What Happened
Chapter 1: The Blood Oath
The rain fell hard over the cemetery in Queens, turning the ground into thick mud that clung to expensive shoes and graves alike.
Gabriel Moretti stood motionless in front of the coffin.
At 32, he was the head of the most feared mafia syndicate in New York. A man who had survived wars, betrayals, and assassinations. A man whose name alone made grown men lower their eyes.
But now… he could not move.
Inside the coffin lay Mateo Rossi.
His oldest friend. His most loyal soldier. The only man who had ever dared to stand between Gabriel and a bullet.
And he had died doing exactly that.
“Protect Penelope,” Mateo’s voice still echoed in Gabriel’s mind. “Marry her. Make her untouchable.”
.
.
.
It wasn’t a request.
It was a blood oath.
Gabriel had nodded as Mateo took his final breath.
Now he was here to fulfill it.
Hours later, his black SUV stopped in front of a quiet safe house in Staten Island.
Inside, sitting on a worn floral couch, was Penelope Rossi.
Mateo’s cousin.
She looked nothing like the world Gabriel lived in.
Soft features. Tear-stained face. Oversized cardigan wrapped tightly around a body she seemed painfully aware of. Her eyes were swollen from crying for days.
She looked fragile.
And terrified.
“Where is he?” she whispered immediately. “Where’s Mateo?”
Gabriel did not soften the blow.
“Mateo is dead.”
The words shattered her.
Her body folded inward as grief consumed her, loud and uncontrollable.
Gabriel watched silently.
He was not a man who comforted.
He was a man who ended wars.
And now he had inherited one.
“Victor Costello knows about you,” Gabriel said coldly. “Mateo’s bloodline ends with you. You are a target.”
Penelope shook her head.
“I didn’t do anything. I’m just— I work in a bakery—”
“In our world,” Gabriel interrupted, stepping closer, “ignorance is not protection. Blood is.”
He placed a velvet box on the table.
“One solution. You become a Moretti.”
Her eyes widened.
“What?”
“We marry,” he said. “Tomorrow.”
Penelope laughed bitterly through tears.
“You want to marry me? Look at me.”
She gestured at herself, ashamed.
“I know exactly what I look like. I’m not— I’m not someone you choose.”
Gabriel’s expression did not change.
“This is not choice,” he said. “This is survival.”
Before she could respond—
Glass exploded.
Gunfire erupted outside.
Chapter 2: The Wedding of Survival
Penelope had never been in a gunfight before.
She had never imagined her life would include one.
But suddenly she was on the floor, dragged behind a sofa as bullets tore through the walls of the safe house.
Gabriel’s arm shielded her as he fired back without hesitation.
“Costello’s men,” he said calmly over the chaos. “You decide now, Penelope. Marriage or death.”
Her entire body shook.
She wasn’t brave.
She wasn’t strong.
She was just alive—and terrified.
“I— I’ll do it!” she cried. “I’ll marry you!”
The shooting continued.
But Gabriel’s decision was already made.
The wedding happened within 24 hours.
City Hall, heavily guarded.
No guests except syndicate witnesses.
No romance.
Only obligation.
Penelope wore a designer gown that barely fit her, the fabric straining against her curves. Stylists whispered behind her back. Shame burned her skin.
Gabriel heard everything.
And did nothing—until a designer mocked her directly.
“It’s like wrapping a tent around—”
He didn’t finish.
Gabriel grabbed him by the collar.
“You have ten seconds to leave before I break your hands,” he said quietly.
The room emptied instantly.
Penelope trembled.
“You didn’t have to do that,” she whispered.
Gabriel adjusted his cufflinks.
“No one disrespects a Moretti.”
That night, she became his wife.
Not loved.
Not chosen.
But protected.
Chapter 3: The Invisible Wife
Life in the Moretti estate was colder than Penelope expected.
Gabriel was rarely home.
The mansion was too large, too silent, too expensive to feel real.
And the staff… made sure she knew she didn’t belong.
They whispered when she walked past.
They served her food like an afterthought.
Penelope ate alone most days.
She spent hours wandering empty hallways, grieving Mateo and adjusting to a life she never asked for.
She was invisible.
At least, that’s what she thought.
Until one night.
She entered Gabriel’s private study.
He found her there at 2 a.m., sitting at his desk.
Instead of fear, she looked… focused.
On the table were financial ledgers.
Encrypted documents.
Mateo’s hidden files.
“What are you doing?” Gabriel demanded.
Penelope didn’t flinch.
“I can read them,” she said.
He paused.
“What?”
“I worked in accounting for Mateo,” she explained. “These aren’t random. They’re coded. And I can decode them.”
Gabriel stared at her.
For the first time, he didn’t see her as fragile.
He saw her as useful.
Dangerously intelligent.
She pointed at a page.
“Fifty million dollars is missing,” she said quietly. “And it wasn’t stolen by your enemy.”
Gabriel’s expression darkened.
“Then who?”
Penelope looked up.
“Someone inside your organization.”
Silence fell.
For the first time since Mateo’s death, Gabriel felt something shift.
Trust… was no longer simple.
And neither was she.
Chapter 4: Poison in the House
The next night, everything changed.
Penelope collapsed.
It happened in seconds.
She was in the study when her face went pale, her breath tightening, her body shaking violently.
“Gabriel…” she gasped. “My chest— it burns—”
Then she collapsed.
Gabriel caught her before she hit the floor.
“Penelope!”
A cup of herbal tea sat on the desk.
Half empty.
He understood instantly.
Poison.
In his house.
He moved fast—too fast for fear, too precise for panic.
“Get me the clinic,” he barked into his phone. “Now.”
Within minutes, he carried her unconscious body into a black Mercedes.
Her breathing was shallow.
Her skin was losing color.
And for the first time in years…
Gabriel felt fear.
Not of enemies.
Not of war.
But of losing her.
The surgeon confirmed it immediately.
Arsenic.
Mixed with monkshood.
Designed to kill slowly.
Someone wanted her dead.
Someone inside his world.
Back at the estate, Gabriel locked every door.
Then went hunting.
Chapter 5: The Queen of the Mafia
The traitor was revealed within hours.
Dominic Rossi.
Mateo’s own brother.
The man who had stolen money, betrayed the syndicate, and ordered Penelope’s death.
Gabriel didn’t hesitate.
There was no negotiation.
Only judgment.
Bang.
It was over.
And for the first time, silence returned to the Moretti empire.
Six months later.
The syndicate gathered in the grand boardroom.
But something had changed.
Gabriel wasn’t alone at the head of the table.
Penelope sat beside him.
No longer hidden.
No longer dismissed.
She wore a deep burgundy power suit, tailored perfectly to her body—not to hide it, but to honor it. Her presence commanded silence without effort.
She had rebuilt the entire financial structure of the Moretti syndicate.
Clean. Powerful. Untouchable.
She had turned chaos into an empire.
A capo leaned forward nervously.
“Boss… who runs the books now?”
Gabriel looked at him.
Then at Penelope.
And smiled.
“My wife does.”
The room froze.
Penelope didn’t flinch.
She simply opened the ledger.
And spoke.
“Let’s begin.”
Gabriel leaned back in his chair, watching her.
This was not the woman he married to fulfill a blood oath.
This was not the woman he saved out of obligation.
This was not the woman anyone underestimated anymore.
This was power.
His power.
Their power.
And for the first time in his life…
Gabriel Moretti realized the truth.
He had not saved her.
She had saved him.
THE END