Library
Search
Home / Mafia / Imprisoned by the Don I Called Mine / Chapter 8

Share

Chapter 8

Author: Peachy
I stood outside room 308, my hand clutching the white roses.

Three years. I was finally here.

I reached for the doorknob, but stopped when I heard a voice from inside.

"...so you see, old woman, what kind of person your precious granddaughter really is."

It was Cassandra.

What was she doing here?

My hand froze in the air. I listened through the crack in the door.

"She killed her own father," Cassandra's voice was dripping with malicious glee. "Then she played the innocent victim and fooled everyone."

"No… that's not… " a frail voice trembled in protest.

Nonna.

My heart hammered against my ribs.

"Oh? It's not?" Cassandra laughed. "Then why did she do three years in prison? Why did Lorenzo himself testify against her?"

"Isabella's not… she wouldn't…" Nonna's voice was getting weaker.

"She wouldn't?" Cassandra's laugh was even more piercing. "You're so naive, old woman. Your 'good' granddaughter is trying to kill me now, too."

I heard the heart monitor begin to beep erratically.

Beep-beep-beep—

Nonna's heart was failing.

"See? The truth is the truth," Cassandra said, without a shred of pity. "Your granddaughter is a born killer, just like her father. An eye for an eye. It's fate!"

Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep—

The alarm on the monitor grew faster, more desperate.

I couldn't take it anymore.

BAM—

I threw my shoulder into the door, slamming it open.

"Nonna!" I screamed, rushing to the bed.

The old woman lying there was just skin and bones, her face a deathly white.

Was this really the warm, kind Nonna I remembered?

"Isabella…" she whispered, reaching out a weak hand. "My child…"

I grabbed her cold hand, tears instantly streaming down my face.

"Nonna, I'm back. I'm finally back…"

Cassandra jumped at my sudden entrance, stumbling backward.

"Ah—!"

She stepped on a piece of broken glass on the floor, cutting her ankle.

A drop of blood welled up. She immediately started to panic.

"Blood… there's blood… Lorenzo! Lorenzo, help me!"

Her screams tore through the quiet facility.

"Doctor! Get a doctor!" I yelled into the hallway. "My grandmother is having a heart attack!"

The beeping of the monitor grew sharper, more frantic.

Nonna's breathing was shallow, her fingers like ice.

"Isabella…" she said, her voice strained. "I've… been waiting for you…"

"Nonna, hold on, the doctor's coming…"

Just then, Lorenzo burst into the room.

He saw the drop of blood on the floor, he saw the hysterical Cassandra, and his face turned to thunder.

"Isabella!" he snarled. "What the hell did you do to her?"

What was I doing?

I couldn't believe my ears.

"Lorenzo, Nonna's having a heart attack, call a doctor—"

"Cassandra's hurt!" he cut me off, rushing to where she was huddled in the corner. "Baby, are you okay?"

Baby?

I watched, frozen, as he knelt down to gently inspect the tiny cut on Cassandra's ankle.

"It hurts… it hurts so much…" Cassandra sobbed, a perfect picture of distress. "Lorenzo, I was so scared…"

"I'm here now. Don't be scared." Lorenzo held her, then barked at the doctor who had just arrived. "Come look at Miss Viti's cut! Now!"

"No!" I blocked the doctor's path. "My grandmother is dying!"

Lorenzo’s eyes were black with fury. "Enough. Cassandra is hurt."

"Lorenzo, please…" I fell to my knees, grabbing his pants leg. "Nonna is dying. Please, just let the doctor save her first…"

Lorenzo coldly shook me off. "If she has the strength to hurt Cassandra, then it can't be that serious."

He scooped Cassandra up into his arms. "Treat Miss Viti's wound," he ordered the doctor. "Everything else can wait."

"Mr. Romano," the doctor said, looking torn. "But the old woman's condition…"

"That's an order!" Lorenzo’s eyes flashed with menace.

The doctor gave me a helpless look, then followed Lorenzo out of the room.

And just like that, they were gone.

Leaving me alone with my dying grandmother.

Beep… beep… beep…

The monitor's alarm was slowing down.

"Nonna, hold on…" I squeezed her hand. "I'll find another doctor…"

"Isabella…" her voice was as faint as a feather. "Don't… hate…"

"What?" I leaned in close, my ear to her lips.

"Don't let… the hate… eat you…"

BEEEEEEEEEEEEP—

The monitor let out one long, final tone.

Then, silence.

Nonna's hand slipped from mine.

She was gone.

The only family I had in the world. Gone.

And in her final moments, Lorenzo chose to treat a scratch on Cassandra's ankle that didn't even need a band-aid.

I knelt by her bed, silent tears streaming down my face.

Five days later.

Lorenzo walked in holding a document.

I was sitting on the living room sofa, numbly watching TV.

Nonna's funeral was over. Lorenzo hadn't even shown up.

He said he had to take care of the "injured" Cassandra.

"Isabella," Lorenzo said, placing the papers on the coffee table. "Sign it."

I looked down.

Divorce Agreement.

"This is Cassandra's last wish," Lorenzo said, his voice flat. "She wants a grand wedding. To solidify the alliance between the Romano and Viti families."

An alliance?

He was going to marry my father's killer for an alliance?

I picked up the pen. The ink flowed, my signature clean and sharp. No hesitation. No regrets.

He stared, clearly thrown by my lack of a fight.

"Bella, you…"

"Is there anything else?" I asked without looking up.

Lorenzo opened his mouth, but said nothing.

He picked up the signed papers and turned to leave.

At the door, he stopped.

"Isabella, I…"

"Get out," I said. My voice was quiet, but it was final.

After Lorenzo left, I walked into the bedroom.

The walls were covered in photos of us.

Every picture, a memory of a love that was now dead.

I took them down, one by one. And I tore each one to pieces. The fragments fluttered to the floor, like the shattered pieces of my heart.

Finally, I grabbed my suitcase and walked out of that home for the last time.

Lorenzo. Cassandra. You gave me three years of hell.

Now, it's my turn.

I'm going to give you a wedding gift you will never, ever forget.
Continue to read this book for free
Scan code to download App
Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Latest chapter

  • Imprisoned by the Don I Called Mine   Chapter 24

    Isabella’s POVThree years later.The small town in Maine was as peaceful as ever, a little slice of paradise.My seaside hotel was a success, a popular spot for tourists.No one knew the owner was once the Donna of the New York Mafia. No one knew about the blood and chaos of the past.Petra and her sister opened a bakery in town, creating new cake recipes every day. Sofia married a kind local fisherman and had a beautiful daughter. Mama R filled her backyard with flowers and spent her days in the sun.Everyone had started a new life.So had I.It was my birthday again.My friends were celebrating with me inside. The warm, yellow light from the windows glowed on the snow outside."Bella, make a wish," Sofia said with a smile, pushing the cake toward me.I closed my eyes.I didn't wish for happiness, or love, or peace. I simply wished for enough. For this moment, right here, to be enough.As I blew out the candles, I glanced out the window without thinking.The snow was falling heavily.

  • Imprisoned by the Don I Called Mine   Chapter 23

    Isabella’s POV"Lorenzo Romano is hereby stripped of the title of Don and is declared Excommunicado."The inquisitor's gavel fell with a heavy thud.It was the sound of his social death.In this world, Excommunicado meant he lost all protection. Any member of any family could kill him without consequence. He was now a rat to be hunted.The old Don sat on the dais, clutching his chest, his face gray. He didn't look at Lorenzo once. With a trembling hand, he announced to the room, "I have no son."In that moment, the light in Lorenzo's eyes died completely.He was dragged out by a couple of enforcers.Tossed like a dead dog into the rain outside the courthouse.His suit was torn, his face covered in mud and blood.The once-untouchable king of New York was now garbage that everyone despised.I walked out of the courthouse and opened a black umbrella.The rain was heavy, washing over this filthy city.A pair of black high heels stopped in front of Lorenzo.He struggled to lift his head, lo

  • Imprisoned by the Don I Called Mine   Chapter 22

    Isabella’s POV"Isabella Rossi, what right do you have to be here?" The current Don of the Vitale family, a brutish old man, slammed his hand on the table. "You're a wanted fugitive!""I am a victim."My voice was calm and clear, without a hint of submission."Three years ago, Cassandra Vitale murdered my father. And there was a witness."I guided Leo to the front."Leo, tell them what you saw."Leo stood trembling at the microphone. Facing the most feared men in the underworld, his legs were shaking.But he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and seemed to return to that night of horror."That night... I was working late... I heard arguing next door...""I saw... Miss Viti with a knife... she stabbed Mr. Rossi in the chest...""She kept screaming... 'Die, you old bastard'..."As Leo spoke, Quinn played the restored security footage on the large screen.The video was grainy, but the evidence was undeniable.Cassandra committing the murder. Lorenzo arriving later to clean up the scene.

  • Imprisoned by the Don I Called Mine   Chapter 21

    Isabella’s POVNew York City. Manhattan.The city's neon lights still flickered, a tireless monster devouring everyone's desires.Our car stopped under the Brooklyn Bridge."Isabella, the road ahead is blocked," Sofia said, her expression grim as she looked out the window. "It's Vitale's men. They've set up a checkpoint on the only road to the Commission headquarters."Through the window, I saw men in black trench coats standing in the rain, holding submachine guns, checking every car."They don't want me to testify," I said coldly.If I was a no-show, they could pin everything on me, paint Lorenzo as a fool, and save the Vitale family's honor.A neat little plan."Should we ram through?" Mama R's fingers tapped the steering wheel, her eyes sharp as a hawk's."No."I put my hand on hers."That would just prove their point. We're witnesses, not thugs."I took out my phone and dialed a number I hadn't used in years.It was the last card Nonna had left me—an old, retired Godmother who was

  • Imprisoned by the Don I Called Mine   Chapter 20

    Isabella’s POV"Lorenzo's on his way back to New York."Quinn watched the monitor, her voice tense. "His car just hit the interstate, heading straight for Manhattan. And... Vitale hitmen are on the road, waiting to intercept him."I paused in my cleaning of the gun."Going back to die?"The Vitale family wanted to eat him alive. The Commission's summons was his death warrant.Going back now was walking into the lion's den."There's something else," Petra said, displaying an encrypted file on the wall. "The Commission has also issued a summons for you. The Vitales are naming you as an accomplice. If you don't show, they'll issue a nationwide warrant for your arrest.""Heh."I let out a cold laugh and slapped the gun down on the table."These old men just don't give up, do they?"They thought I was a soft target they could push around.They thought if they pinned the blame on me, they could paint Lorenzo as a fool manipulated by his ex-wife, saving the Vitale family's face and carving up

  • Imprisoned by the Don I Called Mine   Chapter 19

    Lorenzo's POVThe snow in Maine kept falling, a white blanket over everything.My car was parked on the side of the road, three miles from town. The tank was empty. So was I.After Isabella threw me out, I just wandered the wilderness like a ghost.I didn't want to go back to New York. I didn't want to live.All I could see was her eyes when she pointed that gun at me.So cold. So full of hate.The way you look at an enemy.She said my love was a disease.She said we were enemies."Boss..."Marco found me somehow, holding a can of gas. He watched me cautiously as he filled the tank."Are we... going back to New York?""Back?" I let out a hollow laugh, coughing up a mouthful of blood. "There's nothing left for me there."The old Don stripped me of my power. Isabella sentenced me to death.Right now, I was worth less than a stray dog on the street.Just then, Marco's phone rang, shattering the silence in the car.He answered. His face went white. His hand shook so badly he almost dropped

More Chapters

You may also like

Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status