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Chapter 7
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After the Escape Chapter 9
The first snow fell over Boston the day I got my official nursing license at the hospital.I was still fighting for lives on the daily, but my own paycheck had bought me a tiny apartment with central heating. After shifts, I could brew a cup of hot cocoa and read medical journals by the window.I thought my life would just keep going like that—until that evening.I'd just finished back-to-back shifts and was dragging myself home when I saw a figure I never expected.A white-haired woman, leaning on a cheap blind cane, shivering in the freezing wind.The beauty she'd once been so proud of was gone—sunken eye sockets ringed with hideous scars. Her faded old coat couldn't hold back Boston's brutal winter.If not for the crumpled photo clutched in her hand, I wouldn't have recognized her.It was my mother.A blind woman, fighting through god knows how many scams and cold shoulders, had tracked me down in this foreign city."Vera?"At the sound of my footsteps, she whipped her head around.
After the Escape Chapter 8
After my mother went blind, more servants fled the manor.No one wanted to look after a paralyzed has-been don and a blind second wife. Sofia was useless—she spent her days either cursing her disloyal underlings or complaining about the cooking and some ruined dress."Mom! Can't you control these servants? They used cheap detergent on my velvet gown!"Sofia burst into my mother's room and threw the dress right in her face. The rough, wrinkled fabric scraped against my mother's healing eye wounds—she flinched in pain."Sofia, I can't see..."My mother fumbled, trying to catch her stepdaughter's hand. "The estate's running low on money. You need to learn to take care of yourself.""Can't see, can't see—that's all you ever say!"Sofia yanked her hand away in disgust. "You're useless now! Dad's paralyzed, you're blind. If you hadn't driven Vera away, at least she had some clinic experience—she could've stayed to take care of you both! She could've run errands for me! This is all your fault
After the Escape Chapter 7
That slap didn't just knock Sofia's dignity off—it knocked off whatever was left of Falcone's authority.From that day on, the underbosses who used to bow and scrape to my stepfather dropped their masks completely. They started carving up Falcone territory without a second thought.Sofia's first month as don was a catastrophe.She didn't understand the code. Didn't know how to intimidate her men. When her subordinates reported problems, she'd either throw a tantrum or lock herself in her room crying."The south warehouse got taken by the Raptor Gang? What are you—all dead? Fight back!"Sofia hurled an expensive vase at the captain giving the report.The captain wiped porcelain shards off his face and snorted. "Miss Sofia, fighting back costs money—death benefits, bullets. The accounts are so drained you've been buying limited-edition handbags with the ammo fund. What exactly are we supposed to fight with? The boys need to eat too."He didn't even bother bowing. Just turned and walked o
After the Escape Chapter 6
Boston's autumn was far colder than Sicily.I found a night-shift orderly job at a community clinic near the med school. I cleaned up patients' waste, handled bloody wounds—but every person who looked at me did so with equal respect.The old doctor answered my questions during rounds. The head nurse stuffed extra sandwiches into my pockets.It was a peace I'd never known in eighteen years.Sometimes I thought about that cage I used to call home.But the surgeries and thick medical textbooks always drowned out those memories soon enough.A thousand miles away, Falcone Manor was a very different story.That highly anticipated initiation ceremony had become the underground's biggest joke of the year.Tradition required Sofia to recite a fifteen-minute family oath in ancient Sicilian to the Council. During practice, she'd always made me hide behind the curtain, mouthing every word with hand signals.But that day—the curtain was empty.Sofia stood under the crystal chandelier, face burning
After the Escape Chapter 5
Two days passed. By the evening before Sofia's initiation ceremony, the manor was buzzing with last-minute chaos.Sofia was trying on her gown when she noticed a single crystal missing from her custom velvet gloves. She threw a fit right there in the living room, screeching about how useless the shopping staff were.To calm her down, my mother shoved open the basement door without a second thought. "Vera, go to that tailor shop in the neutral zone and pick up Sofia's spare gloves."She didn't even glance at the bandage wrapped around my elbow. Didn't care that it was already pitch black outside. "Tomorrow's the ceremony. These gloves matter to Sofia. If you don't come back with them, don't bother coming back at all."I looked at her cold face, said nothing, stood up, grabbed my backpack, and walked out.After picking up the gloves from the neutral zone, I took a shortcut through a deserted alley to save time.I'd barely rounded a corner when a rough hand clamped down on my shoulder.I
After the Escape Chapter 4
I needed money.The acceptance letter was full scholarship—tuition, room, board—but I'd need living expenses. Books. Emergency funds. A cushion in case something went wrong.So I found work. An old doctor in the neutral zone ran a small clinic, patching up low-level thugs and street fighters. He didn't ask questions. He just needed a pair of steady hands.I worked the evening shift, cleaning wounds, handing him instruments, learning what I could. The pay was pitiful—barely above minimum—but every dollar was a step closer to freedom.For three days, I kept my head down and my mouth shut.On the third day, the clinic door got kicked open.My mother, my stepfather, Sofia—and a few armed bodyguards—stormed in.Before I could even open my mouth, my mother was already on me, grabbing my hair and yanking me out from behind the counter."You shameless little wretch!" Her sharp voice echoed through the clinic. "Scraping together a few lousy bucks by treating those gutter rats? Have you no shame
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