Mafia Boss Begged Me Back

Alexander sat at the head of the long mahogany table, nursing a glass of scotch, his expression unreadable. He was flanked by his Capos and the Consigliere.And there was Sophia, perched right beside him. Her eyes were rimmed red, playing the part of the traumatized little bird to perfection, clinging to his arm as if she were made of fragile glass.When I burst in—blood-soaked, disheveled—Alexander’s grip on his glass tightened so hard I thought it would shatter. For a split second, a flicker of raw concern flashed in his dark eyes before he masked it with ice."Ivy," he warned, his voice low and dangerous. "You are injured. Go to the infirmary. We are in a meeting."He was giving me an out. A chance to leave before the sharks smelled blood.But I couldn't leave.My legs gave out. I collapsed to my knees, my voice raspy and broken. "Boss… please. The mission failure… it’s my fault. You can take my life. Kill me if you have to. But please, I’m begging you, don’t send Lily to Luca. She’

After that night, Alexander threw me into solitary confinement. I didn't see the sun for a week. The scabs on my body had barely formed when the order came down. Sophia was going to Milan for a high-profile jewelry auction—a classic front for money laundering. She specifically requested me as her detail. I wanted to refuse. But the Consigliere delivered the message with icy precision: "Ivy, the Don says this is a direct order. A Soldato does not have the right to say no. If you refuse, he cannot guarantee Lily's safety." I let out a hollow laugh, grabbed my gun, and climbed into the passenger seat of the armored Lincoln limousine. In the back, Sophia was snuggled deep into Alexander’s embrace, playfully twisting his silk tie around her finger. When she saw me in the rearview mirror, a flash of triumph lit up her eyes. She pitched her voice high and sweet. "Darling, aren't you being too careful making Ivy come along? With you here, who would dare touch me? Didn't Naples and

I don't know how much time passed before they fished me out. By the time I hit the deck, I had gone into hypovolemic shock. Alexander jammed a needle of adrenaline straight into my heart, dragging me back from the gates of hell. "Since you're not dead, stop acting weak," Alexander spat the words at my heaving chest. Then, he wrapped his arm around a still-trembling Sophia and led her back to the luxury cabin. I retched, coughing up seawater onto the teak deck. My hands, shaking uncontrollably, fumbled for the encrypted satellite phone in my pocket. The screen lit up. A message from a familiar ID popped up. It was a photo. The background was a dim, filthy chemical lab. Lily was strapped to a surgical table, tubes inserted into her veins, her eyes unfocused and rolling back. The caption beneath it read: [Neapolitan suburbs, abandoned chemical plant. Camorra's new synthetic drug trials. The girl has a high tolerance. The Red Light District was just a cover; this is her real

After Lily died, I didn't go crazy. I didn't scream. The trauma was so massive that my mind simply shut down. I engaged a kill switch on my emotions. I became an exquisite, soulless marionette. Alexander locked me in a villa on the Sicilian coast. No matter how he humiliated me, I did it. Everyone thought the wildest dog in the family had finally been tamed. One month later. The engagement gala for the union of the Alexander and Camorra families. Alexander ordered me to attend as a server. To pour wine for Sophia. That night, I didn't wear a maid's uniform. I wore a deep V-neck red dress. I had bought it with the commission money I had saved for years. I looked like a poppy blooming on the edge of a cliff—dangerous and mesmerizing. Tray in hand, I wove through the crowd of Mafia royalty, stepping closer and closer to the perfect couple on the dais. Sophia clung to Alexander’s arm, beaming with triumph. When she saw me approach, her eyes glittered with malice. "Ivy.

After dismissing the Camorra, I turned and strode toward the elevator.Back at the cliffside villa, the search team was waiting. Several soldiers were kneeling on the marble floor, trembling visibly."Where is she?" I loomed over them.The lead Capo of the search party shook as he lifted an object from a plastic bag. "Boss... we searched the downstream reefs. We only found... this."It was the red dress.It was soaked pale by the seawater, shredded by the jagged rocks, and stained with dried, dark blood.My pupils constricted to pinpricks."I don't listen to excuses."In one fluid motion, I drew the gold-plated Beretta and pulled the trigger.The Capo dropped dead with a hole in the center of his forehead before he could even scream."Useless! The family doesn't feed failures!"I kicked the corpse aside and leveled the smoking gun at the remaining soldiers. My roar shook the crystal chandelier above."I don't care if you have to drain the entire Mediterranean Sea! Find her!""Dead or a