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He Let Me Drown Now Watch Him Burn
He Let Me Drown Now Watch Him Burn
Autor: Peachy

Chapter 1

Autor: Peachy
Ice water flooded the boathouse. It was over my ankles.

For a second, I couldn't breathe.

"Open the door!"

I threw myself at it. My hand gripped the frosted handle. I shook it. Hard.

Nothing. The door wouldn't budge.

Through the huge glass window, I could see the shore.

A massive bonfire burned.

The flames lit up the night sky. And the faces of our guests.

The heads of the five families. All here for my engagement party tomorrow.

Right now, they were sipping expensive whiskey. Watching me.

Like it was a show.

Someone whistled. Loud.

Someone else raised a phone. The flash cut through the glass. Right on my terrified face.

"Hell of a show!" a guy in a loud shirt yelled. "This is how the Falconettis do an initiation!"

"That's right! Teach the civilian some respect!"

Their laughter cut through the glass. It hurt.

The water was still rising.

It covered my calves now. The cold was like needles in my bones. Stealing my warmth.

Outside the window, Isabella walked closer.

She wore a stunning, custom-made red gown. The Rossi family's golden girl. Arrogant. Powerful.

A bodyguard held a huge black umbrella over her, catching the light snow.

She stopped right outside the glass. Looking at me.

In her hand, she dangled a key. The key to the boathouse controls.

"Everyone just wants to see, Alessia," she said. "How low will our perfect, rule-following girl go for Nico?"

Her smile was angelic. Her words were cruel.

I was shaking. I pressed my hands against the freezing glass.

"Isabella! Turn it off! Open the door!"

She tilted her head, like I'd just told the funniest joke in the world.

"But the game's just getting started."

"We made a bet. On how long you'd last before you start begging."

She stepped closer. Looking down at me.

"You're always saying how strong you are. How you can help Nico run the business."

"So prove it."

I looked at her innocent face. My heart turned to ice.

The water was at my knees.

The small, sealed boathouse. The rising black water.

The pressure was a hand squeezing my throat.

I stopped looking at the crazy woman. My eyes found the bonfire.

My fiancé stood there. Nico Falconetti.

Tonight was the night before our engagement party.

He was wearing the handmade suit I flew to London to get for him. Tall. Handsome. Untouchable.

I did everything for him.

Everything so he could secure his position as Underboss. Everything for the party tomorrow.

I hid my real identity. Used my winery’s most secret channels to launder his dirty money.

I paved the way for him. I took bullets for him. I settled his two biggest turf wars in the South Side.

He once knelt by my hospital bed. Kissed my fingers. His eyes were red. He swore he’d protect me with his life.

And now?

He was standing less than thirty feet away.

He held a glass of bourbon. Tapped the ash from his cigar.

I pounded on the glass. A desperate scream tore from my throat.

"Nico! Make her stop!"

"Nico!"

The fire danced across his face.

He heard me. He saw me.

He didn't even flinch.

An old timer next to him laughed, clinked his glass against Nico's. Joking about this special "loyalty test."

"Alessia, Isabella's just playing around."

Nico flicked a snowflake from his expensive suit. His eyes were cold, but he was clearly on Isabella's side.

"She’s a Rossi, Alessia. Let her have her fun. Don't make a scene. Just wait it out. I promise, you'll be fine."
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  • He Let Me Drown Now Watch Him Burn   Chapter 16

    Six months later, at a charity gala, the lights were blinding.I was holding a glass of champagne, talking to an ally about a port expansion project.“Miss Marino,” my assistant whispered, leaning in. “Mr. Falconetti is at the entrance. Security stopped him. He said… he’s just begging to see you for a moment.”I paused.“Let him in.”Three minutes later, Nico appeared at the entrance to the ballroom.He was wearing an old suit, a size too big, hanging off his gaunt frame.The once-dashing Falconetti heir now looked like he could barely stand.He walked toward me, his eyes locked on my face, with a sick, greedy hunger.As if he was searching for any flicker of emotion in my cold expression.Even hate would have been something.“Alessia,” he said, his voice trembling. “I know I have no right to bother you.”He pulled a small, worn wooden box from his pocket and held it out with both hands.“This is…” he swallowed hard. “From three years ago. When I had nothing. I carved it myself.”I gla

  • He Let Me Drown Now Watch Him Burn   Chapter 15

    I looked down at the hand gripping my wrist.His knuckles were white. He was squeezing so hard it felt like he was trying to crush the bone.“Let go,” my voice was soft, but it held a cold, absolute command.Nico didn’t let go. He looked up, his eyes laced with red.“Have some dignity,” I said, staring into his eyes. “Nico, it’s the only thing you have left to choose.”His fingers trembled, then slowly released their grip.“If that night,” he said, his voice raw, “if I had stopped Isabella… would you still have married me?”I looked at him, feeling nothing.“Maybe.”A flicker of light ignited in his eyes. A final, desperate hope.“But there are no ‘if’s in life.”I watched that light die.“You didn’t stop her,” I said. “That is the only fact that matters.”I walked out of the clinic and didn’t look back.It was a rare, sunny December day. The wind was sharp, a winter chill in the air.I tilted my face up, letting it wash over me.The heavy weight that had been crushing my chest for thr

  • He Let Me Drown Now Watch Him Burn   Chapter 14

    On the fourth day, the Rossi family’s port business officially imploded.The news alert popped up while I was signing a document.The headline: “Rossi Family Port Shares Frozen by Multiple Banks, Rumors of Bankruptcy and Suspected International Money Laundering.”The photo showed Mr. Rossi standing outside the Vittorio Holdings building, his suit a wrinkled mess, swarmed by reporters.He stood in the cold for two hours before security escorted him away, shoving him into a car like a common criminal.I swiped the notification away and kept signing.On the fifth day, the Commission’s enforcers pulled Nico in for a final sit-down to seize his remaining assets.When the news broke, Don Falconetti collapsed and was rushed to the hospital.Nico’s brothers, like sharks smelling blood, immediately began fighting over the power vacuum he’d left behind.The messages in the family group chats, all fawning over me, became more pathetic by the hour.A week later, Vittorio Holdings officially announ

  • He Let Me Drown Now Watch Him Burn   Chapter 13

    Don Falconetti’s face was grayer than a corpse.He opened his mouth but said nothing.Nico whirled on him, his voice wild with a final, desperate fury.“Dad, you’re just going to let an outsider walk all over us?!” he roared, his eyes shot with blood. “Decades of Falconetti family code, thrown away for a woman?!”Before his father could answer, I cut in.“When you were stealing from the trust, were you thinking about the family?” I pressed, stepping closer. “When you let Isabella throw me in a frozen lake, were you thinking about the family?”Nico froze.“No,” I answered for him. “You were only thinking about yourself.”No one in the room spoke up for him.The Head of the Commission stood and announced the verdict.“Nico Falconetti is stripped of his rank. The South District shipping line will be managed by the Vittorio team, effective immediately.”The sound of the gavel was the lid slamming shut on his coffin.After the tribunal, I turned to leave. He called my name from down the hal

  • He Let Me Drown Now Watch Him Burn   Chapter 12

    Ten minutes later, the official Vittorio Holdings account released a public statement with raw footage.Attached were three security footage stills.The first: Isabella at the boathouse control panel, locking the door.The second: Nico by the bonfire, a drink in his hand, watching me in the water with a cold, blank stare.The third: Me, covered in blood, climbing out of the shattered window.The caption was one sentence.“The facts don’t need spin.”The comments exploded.“‘Misunderstanding due to stress?’ Funny how that misunderstanding knew how to lock a door.”“The balls on Falconetti Jr. are thicker than a concrete wall.”His carefully crafted statement became a joke.At 1 AM, my phone rang. Don Falconetti.I answered. Said nothing.“Alessia,” his voice was tired, the voice of a truly old man. “I know Nico was in the wrong. Let him make a public apology. We’ll give you a bigger say in the alliance. Give you control of two docks in the South District. What do you say?”I laughed.“S

  • He Let Me Drown Now Watch Him Burn   Chapter 11

    That evening, the front desk called my office.“Miss Marino, there’s a Mr. Falconetti downstairs. He insists on seeing you. Security has him.”I put down my pen. “Don’t let him up.”Ten minutes later, my cell rang. It was Nico.I stared at the screen for two seconds, then answered.“Alessia.” His voice was raw, like he’d been shouting into the wind for hours. “I know I was wrong.”“Oh?” I stood up and walked to the window, looking down at the small, dark figure huddled in the wind below.“Just call it off,” he said desperately. “I’ll cut ties with the Rossi family completely. I swear, I’ll never see her again. I’ll hand her over to you myself!”I laughed. I couldn’t help it.“Nico, you think this is about jealousy?”Silence on the other end.“This was never about me fighting Isabella for you,” I said, my voice as cold as the glass. “This is about me fighting back against your betrayal. Your humiliation. The fact that you don’t know the difference is why you’ve lost so completely.”“Ale

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