เจียงหย่าเสวี่ย จิตรกรหัตถ์สวรรค์

Prologue

Damiano

Blood splattered on my face faster than I could ever process what was happening. The sound of gurgling had me slowly widening my eyes when I saw who was hit. I dropped to my knees, pressing my hand onto her neck where blood kept sputtering out.

“You’ll be okay… you’ll be okay.” The words came out of my mouth hastily, but she was choking on her own blood, watching me with fear in her eyes as tears filled them up. I gritted my teeth, trying to stop the bleeding, but deep down inside, I knew I couldn’t.

“Find them! Find who did this!” I shouted to my men, my chest heaving uncontrollably in fury.

“Don’t close your eyes.” I pleaded. Her eyes drooped, but they never fully closed. She placed her hand on my cheek, giving me a silent plea before I watched her eyes become lifeless and her hand dropped to her side. 

I cradled her body into my arms, I shouted.

“Open your eyes. Open your eyes!” But she remained unresponsive. 

“Why, Damiano?” I stilled and stared into her eyes, which were open but glazed over with no spark of life.

My eyes narrowed in confusion. Something was not right. Her eyes were cold and lifeless, yet her mouth was moving, screaming at me.

“Why did you let me die, Damiano? Why? Why? Why?!”

I snapped my eyes open. I let out a breath as I stared at the ceiling before sitting on the edge of the bed, my head dipping between my shoulders as I rested my elbows on my thighs.

Once again, she was tormenting me in my dreams, giving me another sleepless night. I’ve been having this dream for four years, and the anger from it is still deeply engraved within me. If I had put her first instead of being absorbed in building my empire, maybe she would still be alive instead of haunting me.

Instead of trying to sleep, knowing I wouldn’t be able to, I took a shower and got dressed to do what I do best; handle my businesses and make sure they all went smoothly. It was the only distraction I could give myself before she tormented me again for failing to protect her.

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I was in one meeting after another, killing one fuckhead after another. The slightest things set me off; looking at me the wrong way, breathing too loud, wearing too much cologne, anything to let my trigger finger work overtime.

It was probably because of the lack of sleep.

My brother, Lorenzo, and my right-hand man, Antonio, loved to remind me how I was always a pain in the ass when I was sleep deprived. They were probably the only ones who could get away with saying that and not end up with a bullet between their eyes.

I went back to the manor to take another shower to wash off the blood. Some piece of shit thought he could steal from me as if I wouldn’t notice. I liked to deal with them directly.  I loved to make them into my personal punching bag, except that my gloves were made of knives. It was messy but satisfying.

Freshly showered and dressed in slacks and a dress shirt, I went to the Volante mansion to attend my brother’s engagement party. Arriving, I took a quick glance around the decorated backyard as I sipped my whiskey. I had my men stay vigilant in case Gaetano Volante tried something funny.

I pulled out a cigarette and took in a deep drag as Lorenzo and his fiancée, Cara, made an appearance and mingled with the other guests.

“That shitface, Michael, isn’t here. Find out where he is.” I ordered Luca.

“He’s coming right there.” Giovanni informed before Luca started looking.

I inhaled deeply from my cigarette and blew out the smoke as my eyes narrowed on the woman Michael was with. I observed her closely as they exchanged some words before Michael walked away.

“… She’s hot.” One of the men nearby let out a low whistle at the sight of her.

“… Gorgeous.” Another one commented. I couldn’t blame them; she was a fucking beauty.

My gaze slid down, drinking in every inch of her body. She had long, brown curly hair flowing down past her shoulders. The dress she was wearing hugged her body deliciously, the generous amount of her cleavage on display left little to the imagination. My gaze went up to her face and our eyes clashed. I almost let out a smirk when I caught her checking me out since she wasn’t being discreet about it either.

Fucking hell, she had the most striking green eyes I had ever seen, and I found myself becoming lured into them. I tilted my head slightly to the side as I continued to look at her. She looked oddly familiar.

Then I finally realized who she was.

Michael moved in front of her, obscuring our view of each other before I could signal for her to come over.

“No one is to go near her.” I told my men firmly, and I received grumbled responses in return.

“That’s Althaia Volante.” I informed them, and everyone looked back at her in surprise. I let out a low laugh, rubbing my jaw as my eyes never once left her.

Now, how the fuck was she alive and well, when the file clearly stated she died?

Chapter 1

Althaia

I looked in the mirror and nodded in approval at my appearance. I was wearing a long black backless silk dress with thin straps; the front was a deep v-plunge neckline that showed quite a bit of my cleavage. The dress was tight on the top and got a little loose at the hips as there was a long slit on the right side, stopping mid-thigh. I finished the look with a pair of open-toe black stilettos with straps around the ankle.

I did a simple brown smokey eye which complimented my green eyes and had them look a bit cat-like. I let my long curly and thick brown hair fall as it was but accessorized it with a sparkly hair clip to lift some of the hair away from my face on the right side.

“Get it together. What’s the worst that can happen?” I continued to fiddle with my hands before forcing them to remain still as I took a deep breath, building up the courage to leave my hotel room.

The worst that could happen was my father being angry at me for showing up and throwing me out…. My eyes widened and my face paled. I hadn’t thought that was a possibility until now. I quickly shoved that thought away. I was here for Cara, not him, and there was no way I would let that stop me from attending her engagement party.

I have always been close to Cara. We grew up together in the same household since both of our fathers were running a business together. Long story short, I found out that my father and uncle were in organized crime, and since they would always be busy, Cara spent time with me and my mother. Sadly, Cara’s mother died during her birth, and my mother raised Cara as if she were her own daughter. Aside from that, we were a happy family.

At least, that was what we thought.

There was stuff you didn’t notice because you were busy being a kid, right? So, as usual, Cara and I were nosy and tried to eavesdrop on my parents, when it sounded like they were fighting one night. We had crept down the steps to get a closer look and listen to what was going on, but we couldn’t hear anything.

But what happened next shocked us both and had our jaws dropping to the floor.

My mother, Jacinta, slapped the fuck out of my father that night. We remained silent, stunned by what had just happened, before we ran back to our shared room and pretended to be asleep so we wouldn’t be caught snooping.

The next day, my mother had our bags packed, and we left. I remember crying so hard because Cara wasn’t coming with us. My mother tried to take her with us, but my uncle refused to let her go. It pained my mother to leave Cara behind, and I was sure she had her reasons to leave my father. The reason for that was still unknown though.

My father and I didn’t stay in touch after that, even though I tried to call him because I missed him, but he never once called me back. He then changed his number-message received.

We moved to Florida while my father stayed in California. I met up with Cara whenever it was possible. However, it became more difficult for her to leave the house the older she got because her father was strict as fuck. He turned out to be a parent from hell.

He was always intoxicated with a dangerous mix of drugs and alcohol that made him crazy and abusive towards Cara. The minute I knew what was happening to her, I told her I was coming to get her out of there. But she begged me not to, nor tell a soul. She said it would do more harm than good. I couldn’t understand what she meant by it and my heart dropped when she said her father wouldn’t hesitate to kill her if she tried to run away. I couldn’t do anything but stay put as I feared for her life.

Well, to say that I was nervous to be around them all for the first time in forever was an understatement. I didn’t know what to expect and kept thinking about how my father would react to seeing me after so long.

“… Don’t get sick.” I whispered to myself as I took a deep breath. I felt nauseous. “Let’s go.” I sighed, finally working up the courage to get going, and I made my way down to the lobby.

Cara sent a car to my hotel to escort me to the mansion. My former home. My heart beat a little faster at the thought of going there after so long. So much has happened since the slap.

My father got himself a new wife not long after we left. He even has a stepson, Carlos, from his wife’s previous marriage whom he treated like his own flesh and blood. I would be lying if I said it didn’t bother the shit out of me to hear he was treating someone else more like his own child than me.

Cara instantly spilled the tea and said my father had totally downgraded. I was prepared to give the stink eye to the woman my father ended up marrying.

On the elevator ride down to the lobby, I felt myself getting more nervous and my hands fidgeted around the little gift box I had with me. It felt like my stomach was in a thousand knots.

“Get it together, Althaia… It’s just family.” I breathed out, trying to calm my nerves.

I took a final deep breath as the elevator doors opened to the lobby, and clutched the small engagement gift in my hands. It wasn’t anything grand, just two champagne glasses saying, ‘Mr. Right’ with a mustache, and the other ‘Mrs. Always Right’ with red kissy lips. It immediately made me think of Cara because she had the impression she was always right. Even in situations where she wasn’t, she still was, according to herself. She could be a little cocky sometimes.

Nearing the middle of the lobby, I stopped in my tracks when I spotted the tall, blonde-haired man in a gray suit that hugged his body to perfection.

“Michael?” I asked in shock. He spun around and grinned when he saw me.

“Althaia! Long time, no see.” He smiled at me, showing off his pearly whites. It has been so long since I last saw him. My first crush ever. Damn, now I remembered why I was obsessed with him.

Michael had the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen, a sharp jawline, and a clean-shaven face. The way he styled his dirty blonde hair gave the ‘I didn’t bother to try’ look, which made him look quite hot.

We actually dated when we were younger. He just didn’t know.

I just stared at him, my mouth ajar, as I couldn’t believe my own two eyes.

“Damn, Althaia, just take a damn picture if you’re just going to stare at me like that.” He chuckled, and I felt my cheeks heat. He still had an effect on me.

“Don’t flatter yourself, Michael. I was just surprised to see you here.” I laughed, hoping he didn’t notice my flushed cheeks.

“Yeah, well, I kind of overheard Cara saying that you were coming, and she was going to send someone over to come and get you. I couldn’t believe that the Althaia was coming, so I said I would come and fetch ya.” Michael smiled and tucked his hands into the pockets of his slacks. His eyes slowly scanned me, trailing down my body, and then up again to meet my eyes, giving me a lazy smirk.

“Can’t say I regret the decision. You look stunning as ever, Althaia.” His blue eyes darkened, and my heart raced when he gave me a look.

“And you look handsome as ever, Michael.” I returned with a smile as he sauntered up to me with a sexy grin on his face.