Fragments of Memories 1 : Married at Seventeen (ENGLISH)

The day I married Santino Connor, he announced he was leaving the Family, and as a result, all his accounts were frozen.

Believing his promise to "go straight and start over," I spent five years chained to a sewing machine in a cold, damp basement, my fingers scarred from countless needle pricks.

Our son, Luca, dressed in oversized T-shirts from a thrift store, was digging through dumpsters with me for scrap cardboard by the time he was three.

But then I discovered that my supposedly broke husband, the man I thought was earning an honest living, had taken his place as the Don of the Connor family.

This time, something inside me broke for good. In one month, I would be gone from his world completely.

On Luca's fifth birthday, a torrential downpour soaked the city. I had just pulled an all-nighter to finish a rush order.

Drenched to the bone, we stood at the gates of a sprawling private estate, clutching a newly finished sample tuxedo.

This was an urgent job, and the pay was enough to cover Luca's tuition for the next semester.

A man who looked like a butler tossed a towel at me. "Get inside before you dirty the carpets. The Don is meeting with important guests. You two can use the dog door over there."

"You're here to discuss the tuxedo with the staff. Don't disturb the Don and his guests in the main hall."

The thought that this money was one step toward a clean break gave me the strength to go on. I took Luca's hand, and we stooped low to crawl through the dog door.

The scent of cigars drifted out from the hall. I glanced up at the glittering, magnificent ballroom.

I never expected the man in the seat of honor, a red rose pinned to his lapel, would be my husband. The same man I thought was breaking his back hauling crates at the docks.

My body went rigid. A deafening roar filled my head.

Santino leaned back in his chair while the woman beside him whispered in his ear, her red lips vivid, her face eerily similar to mine.

I grabbed the arm of a nearby servant. "That man... the Don. Is that Santino? I thought he left the Family years ago."

"Leave?" The servant looked at me like I was crazy. "Are you kidding? He practically runs this city."

My knees gave out, and I could barely stand.

"Santino," the woman beside him murmured, a smile in her voice, "you're giving my father the entire port's profits. What does that leave for you?"

Santino slowly raised a hand, his thumb stroking her earlobe. "It's nothing. I told you, Riley, everything I have, all my power, is for you. Only for you. I never break my word."

The jazz music swelled as a servant shoved me hard. "What are you gawking at? Get down and take the measurements!"

I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood.

I knelt mechanically, adjusting the trousers. From the corner of my eye, I saw Luca frozen in place. Children are so sensitive. He must have recognized his father's voice.

"What are those two doing crawling on the floor? They're like dogs, blocking my view!" a child's voice rang out. The woman, Riley, swept the boy into her arms. He looked about the same age as Luca.

"Santino, my darling Finn adores you. He says that when he grows up, he wants to be the most powerful man in the city, just like you."

Santino let out a deep laugh and pulled the boy onto his lap. "Clever boy."

He pulled a wad of cash from his pocket and tossed it down. "Get those two dogs out of here. Can't you see they're ruining the view?"

The bills fluttered down, landing on me and Luca. I fought to hold back my tears, refusing to look up until my eyes burned from the strain.

I pressed Luca's head down, shielding his eyes, then quickly finished the measurements and retreated.

Five years. Eighteen hundred days and nights.

Had he lied to me for five years with that story of "leaving the underworld to start over," all to keep his promise to Riley that "everything I have is for you"?

I realized then that no matter how much time had passed, he had never forgotten her.

The memory was a poisoned knife, twisting in my heart.

I was the daughter of the Connor family's old tailor. I had always known Santino was the untouchable heir, while I could only admire him from the shadows.

I never asked for anything. I just watched as he spoiled his childhood sweetheart, Riley, rotten.

When he was eighteen, he blew up a rival casino for her, just to see her smile.

Riley, wearing a gown stained with another man's blood, threw herself into his arms and whispered, "You're insane."

He held her tighter, a smile playing on his lips. "You deserve the best. I would give you my life if I had to."

Later, during a power struggle within the family, the Connors were in crisis.

Riley fled overseas to save her own skin. He chased her to the airport like a madman, only to be met with her cold words: "Stop bothering me. You're beneath me."

That night, he collapsed on my doorstep, covered in blood. I saved him, and in return, he pulled me violently into his arms.

"You like me?" His eyes were unfocused, but his fingers still dug painfully into my skin.

I opened my mouth, but no words came out.

He scoffed. "Then be with me. We'll leave the Family, start a new life."

"Help me forget her."

I knew he only said it because I looked so much like Riley, but I chose to believe him anyway.

On the first day of our marriage, he told me that to escape the bloody underworld, his accounts had to be frozen. He couldn't touch a cent of the family's dirty money.

I was so in love with him, I never cared about his status as a mafia heir. Starting over was fine. As long as it was with him, I was willing to do anything.

So during what he called his "downfall," I lived in a basement, ate stale bread, washed clothes for mobsters in the dead of winter, and gave birth to Luca in a back-alley clinic.

Only now did I see how absurd my dream had been.