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I Faked My Death To Escape the Don
I Faked My Death To Escape the Don
Author: Eternity

Chapter 1

Author: Eternity
Before Adrian left the bedroom, he told me Bianca would be staying at the estate for a while.

“She’s in poor health, and someone has already tracked her once. This is the safest place in Chicago.” He held my hand, his thumb brushing my wedding ring. “Mara, my feelings for you haven’t changed. She simply needs our help.”

I did not argue.

Only after the door had been closed behind him for a long time did I call Nora in. “Bring me the estate accounts, the vault permissions, and the family trust records.”

Nora saw the medical consent form on the desk, and her eyes immediately reddened. “Have you really decided to take the drug?”

I placed the authorization card and encrypted key in a wooden box. For seven years, I had managed every Vescari account, cared for Adrian’s gravely ill mother while he fought a family war in Europe, and used my maternal trust to rescue the family from a cash crisis. Now that Bianca was back, everything received under her name had to be returned.

Nora picked up the medical consent form, her fingers trembling. “The doctor said the drug is dangerous even under constant supervision. Once you take it, you may truly never wake up.”

“It’s only supposed to put me into a long sleep.”

I slowly closed the ledger. “When I wake, Bianca will be the Bellandi heir again, and Adrian will no longer be caught between us. Everyone will have what they want.”

Nora could not stop herself from asking, “And what about you?”

I was silent for a moment. “This relationship was built on a lie from the beginning. I walked into the church in Bianca’s place, and Adrian kept me because of the truce agreement. Seven years of this mistake is enough.”

Nora finally began to cry. She picked up another document from the desk. “You even prepared this?”

It was a signed separation agreement and property waiver. I would leave Adrian, claim nothing from the Vescari family, and never again appear as his wife. Once my staged death succeeded, Mara Bellandi would cease to exist.

“Are you really willing to give up even your name?”

I folded the papers. “My family declared me dead seven years ago. It makes no difference what name a dead woman uses.”

Footsteps sounded in the hall. Bianca entered with two guards, still pale and smiling apologetically. “Am I interrupting?” Her gaze settled on the ledgers. “Adrian said the Bellandi trust was established in my name. Since I’m back, I should take over. I’ve been gone too long, so I had to ask you.”

Nora clenched her fists, but I pushed the ledgers across the desk. “Everything is here. Take them.”

Bianca opened the file, then looked at my throat. “That white opal necklace was Mother’s wedding gift to me.”

My hand rose to the pendant. Adrian had fastened it around my neck the morning after our wedding, studying my reflection before saying white suited me. I had worn it for seven years, believing it was his first gift to me. Even this necklace had belonged to Bianca first.

She came closer. “You wore it for me for seven years. Don’t you think it is time to give it back?”

For the first time since her return, I refused her. “You can have everything else. I want to keep this.”

Tears immediately filled Bianca’s eyes. “I only asked. If you don’t want to return it, forget it.” She lightly touched her chest. “You’ve already taken so many things that belonged to me during these seven years.”

Adrian’s voice came from the doorway. “Bianca.”

He entered, exhaustion etched between his brows. “Don’t say that.”

Bianca lowered her head and fell silent.

Adrian stopped in front of me, his gaze resting on the pendant. “Mrs. Bellandi did prepare it for Bianca. She’s emotionally unstable right now. Give it back for the time being, and I’ll have another one made for you.”

I held the necklace tightly. “It was the first keepsake of our marriage—the first thing that made me believe what we had was real.”

His expression softened. “I remember. Mara, our seven years were real. Returning something that should have belonged to Bianca cannot change that.”

He reached behind my neck to undo the clasp. Several strands of hair caught in the metal, and I turned away at the sting. Adrian stopped at once, murmured, “I’m sorry,” then carefully freed them.

The necklace still left my neck. He handed it to Bianca.

She saw the strands of hair caught in the clasp and frowned. “Forget it. She’s worn it against her skin for seven years. It’s filthy. I don’t want it anymore.”

She opened her hand. The white opal struck the marble and shattered into several pieces.

The room fell silent.

Adrian’s face darkened. “Enough, Bianca.”

Her eyes reddened. “It only reminded me of all the years I lost.”

After a moment of silence, Adrian did not rebuke her again. He only told the guards to escort her back to her room. Before leaving, he looked at me. “I’ll replace it with something better. Don’t take this as a denial of our past. I simply owe her an explanation.”

My hair hung loose around my shoulders as I nodded. “All right.”

Adrian hesitated, as if he wanted to say something more. Before he could speak, Bianca suddenly clutched her chest and broke into a violent coughing fit.

“Bianca?”

Adrian immediately caught her by the shoulders. She leaned weakly against him, struggling for breath.

He glanced back at me. “I’ll come back later.”

Then he steadied Bianca and left the room with her.

Only after their footsteps disappeared did I crouch to gather the fragments. Nora hurried to stop me. “Don’t touch them. They’ll cut you.”

The sharp edge of the opal had already sliced my palm, and blood slowly stained the white stone. I did not let go. “It’s better broken.” Looking at the shattered pendant in my hand, I whispered, “Now I won’t see it someday and mistake those seven years for something that ever belonged to me.”
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  • I Faked My Death To Escape the Don   Chapter 10

    Bianca’s immunity agreement was formally revoked three months later.She pleaded guilty to wire fraud, identity theft, extortion, money laundering, and conspiracy to sell protected financial records. At sentencing, she insisted that everything had begun because I stole the life meant for her.The judge asked who had forced her to flee on the night of the wedding.Bianca had no answer.She received eighteen years in federal prison.My father was indicted for falsifying my death certificate and misappropriating my trust. The Commission permanently removed him from his seat, while the family’s harbor holdings were divided among its creditors. My mother moved to a guarded house in Switzerland and sent me three letters asking for forgiveness.I returned them unopened.At my identity hearing, their attorneys warned of scandal. I testified anyway. The judge vacated my false death certificate and recognized that my signature had been coerced. At last, my survival existed in public records.Adr

  • I Faked My Death To Escape the Don   Chapter 9

    Bianca disappeared two weeks after Adrian revoked her protection.Before leaving Chicago, she stole an encrypted copy of the Vescari financial ledger. It contained shell companies, port payments, and enough evidence to destroy Adrian’s organization.It also contained transactions authorized under her name during the seven years I had lived as Mrs. Vescari.Her lawyer contacted me first.Bianca would give the ledger to federal prosecutors unless I signed a statement accepting responsibility for the accounts. If I cooperated, she would keep my new life out of the investigation.The threat exploited the years when I had managed accounts under Bianca’s legal identity. On paper, separating us looked almost impossible.She had forgotten that I designed the accounting system.I read the demand twice, then forwarded it to Northbridge’s general counsel.Adrian called ten minutes later.“Do not answer her,” he said. “I’ll handle it.”“That is what you always say.”“Mara, those records can implic

  • I Faked My Death To Escape the Don   Chapter 8

    Eleven months after leaving Chicago, I stood at the head of a glass conference table in Boston and explained how someone had stolen forty million dollars without moving a cent through an unauthorized account.The executives across from me had spent six weeks blaming hackers. I showed them that their chief financial officer had instead altered ownership records, pledged company assets through shell corporations, and prepared to disappear before the next audit.When I finished, no one spoke for several seconds.Then the chairman closed the report. “How soon can you recover the assets?”“The injunctions were filed this morning. He can no longer move them.”My managing partner smiled. The case had been considered impossible when he assigned it to me. Three hours later, he offered me an equity position at Northbridge Risk Advisory.I accepted under the name Mara Hale.At first, I had joined Northbridge as a temporary analyst because my new identity could not withstand an extensive backgroun

  • I Faked My Death To Escape the Don   Chapter 7

    After the funeral, Adrian returned to an estate that no longer felt inhabited.My orchids had been removed, my books were packed in boxes, and the limited-edition camera he had bought me remained unopened on the table. He found a dark stain on the marble where my blood had dried around the broken opal.For the first two days, he blamed Bianca.On the third, he began blaming my parents.By the end of the week, there was no one left to blame without eventually reaching himself.In his mind, the final days replayed without mercy. He remembered asking me to return the necklace, telling me Bianca deserved justice, and leaving me alone because the Commission was waiting downstairs. At every moment, he had believed his love excused the choice he made. He had never considered that love could become another weapon when only one person was expected to endure it.He ordered his men to reconstruct my final days. They traced my car to the Bellandi estate and discovered I had spent almost an hour in

  • I Faked My Death To Escape the Don   Chapter 6

    He demanded records from the bank, the household staff, and every security checkpoint on the estate. The answers only made the truth clearer. I had closed my personal accounts, released Nora from her contract, and transferred the last of my money days earlier. Adrian had slept beside me without noticing that I was quietly preparing to die.Dr. Mercer told him the substance in my blood could endanger anyone performing an ordinary autopsy. My body had to be transferred to a controlled facility before the funeral home could receive it.Adrian objected until the other doctors agreed. He followed the medical van through Chicago and remained outside the secured examination room for hours. Shortly before dawn, his consigliere arrived with news that the Commission was demanding an explanation for the chaos at the gala.Adrian refused to leave.It took three senior members of the Vescari family to convince him that failing to appear would expose both my identity and the substitution that had be

  • I Faked My Death To Escape the Don   Chapter 5

    It burst open, and Adrian rushed inside, catching me before I slid from the bed.“Mara!” For the first time, genuine terror filled his voice. “Look at me. What did you take?”I wanted to tell him it was not poison. I would not die. I had simply decided to leave him at last.But my lips could no longer make a sound.Adrian lifted me and repeatedly ordered his guards to call a doctor. His arms held me tightly, but his voice trembled. “You can’t leave me like this. I love you, Mara. Open your eyes. There is still so much I haven’t told you.”What a pity. It had taken me seven years to understand that whether someone loved you was never what mattered most. What mattered was whether, whenever a choice had to be made, he chose to keep you.By the time Dr. Mercer arrived, my heartbeat was too faint to detect. Following the plan, he examined me twice before finally removing his stethoscope.“Mr. Vescari, I’m sorry.”Adrian’s entire body went rigid.I closed my eyes in his arms and sank complet

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