LOGIN"I spent three years being his 'used rag.' Now, I’m the one cleaning up his empire, starting with the trash." For three years, Shay Falcone lived for her husband, Massimo. She worked twelve-hour shifts behind the scenes, skipping meals and sleep to ensure his company became a billion-dollar legend. She was his ghostwriter, his secret strategist, and his most loyal soldier. She thought her reward would be the child growing inside her. But on the night of the Billionaire Launch, Massimo didn't give her a thank you. He gave her a death sentence. "You're a used rag, Shay," he sneered in front of the world's cameras. "A servant I don't need to pay. Meet my real wife, Elena." One shove from his bodyguards sent Shay spiraling into a stone fountain. As Massimo walked away to celebrate his wealth, Shay lay in a pool of blood, feeling the heartbeat of her child stop forever. Two years later, the rag is gone. The Ice Queen has arrived. When Massimo’s empire begins to crumble, he begs for a meeting with the untouchable Alessia Valois. He expects a savior; instead, he finds the wife he killed. "Shay?" Massimo gasps, reaching for her. "I... I’ve realized my mistake. Please, I still love you." Alessia doesn't even look up from her glass of vintage scotch. She steps over his hand as if he were a stain on the carpet. "I’m sorry, Mr. Falcone," she purrs, her voice cold enough to freeze his soul. "The woman who loved you died in a fountain. I’m just here to collect the debt."
View Moreその日は1日、雪が降りしきるそんな日だった。
夜も更け寒さも厳しさを増す中、少年が1人空を眺めながら佇んでいる。
しかし少年の周りは寒さを感じず、寧ろ燃えるような熱さに包まれていた。 それもそのはず、少年の周りは火の海で囲まれているのだから。 周りはかつて建物があったであろう瓦礫が散乱し、更にその中には、かつて|人《・》|で《・》|あ《・》|っ《・》|た《・》モノすらも……まるでこの惨劇を生み出したかの様に夜空を見上げる少年。
それもその筈まだ10歳になったばかりのこの少年こそが、この破壊の元凶なのだから。これはそれだけの事を行った|大人達《ヤツら》に対する、復讐だった。
当然の報いだろうと少年は思う。
なにせ彼等は少年の家族を傷付けたのだ。 親にも捨てられ行き場所の無かった自分を、血の繋がりは無くとも家族として迎え入れてくれたあの子達を、あろう事かモルモットとしてしか考えていなかったのだから。だから少年は懇願したのだ。
自分があの子達の代わりに全てを受け入れる。
だからあの子達に手は出さないでくれ……
と。しかしそんな子供の戯言に誰が耳を貸すだろうか。
表向きは安心させる様な事を言いながら、裏では結局変わらず彼等は……そんな彼らが嫌いだった……
家族が傷付くのに耐えられなかった……
優しい家族が1人、また1人と減っていくのが許せなかった……
何より、そんな状況なのに何も出来ない自分が何より許せなくて……
だから少年は今日この日、家族を守る為全てを|殺し《こわし》たのだ。
と、その時微かに自分を呼ぶ声が聞こえて、少年は周りを見渡す。
すると遠くに避難させたはずの家族が、こちらに向かって走ってきているのが見えた。 どうやら避難した先で自分が居ない事に気付きここに戻って来たのだろう。 その事実に嬉しくなりやはりこれで良かったのだと、少し安堵する少年。その時今度は|自《・》|分《・》|の《・》|中《・》|か《・》|ら《・》声が聴こえた。
「契約は完了した。これで君は何を成す?」 まるで嘲笑うかの様に、試す様に、それでいて少し|悲《・》|し《・》|む《・》|様《・》|に《・》…… そのどれでもあり、そのどれでも無い様に感じられる声が、そう問い掛けてくる。そうだ、自分はこの地獄を終わらせたくて……
皆を守りたくて……
だから契約したのだ、|彼《・》と。
契約が完了した今なら分かる。
何故彼がこんな問いをしてくるのかを……何せ今は|彼《・》|は《・》|自《・》|分《・》|で《・》|あ《・》|り《・》、|自《・》|分《・》|は《・》|彼《・》|な《・》|の《・》|だ《・》|か《・》|ら《・》。
なのでこの質問にも意味は無い。
でも改めてこの想いが揺らがない様に……
この決意が鈍らない様に……
家族の元に向かいながら呟いた少年のその応えは、夜雪と共に儚く消えるのだった。
Chapter 16Alessia's POV The world didn't just shake; it roared. The white marble courtyard, once a symbol of sterile perfection, was splitting open like a dry bone. Dust and the acrid smell of sulfur billowed from the fissures as Catherine’s demolition charges began their rhythmic, terrifying countdown."Sixty seconds," the intercom droned, Catherine’s voice sounding like a bored goddess presiding over an apocalypse.I looked at the chaos around me. To my left, Massimo was pinned under a fallen marble pillar, his legs trapped, his eyes wide with the realization that the empire he had built was literally crushing him. To my right, Lucien was clinging to the rappelling line of his hovering helicopter, his hand extended toward me, shouting something lost to the wind.And in the center, standing on a slab of stone that was slowly tilting toward the dark abyss of the sub-basement, was Drake.The boy who wasn't mine. The boy who was the genetic legacy of a woman I had never met. The boy
Chapter 15Alessia's POV The mountain air was a serrated blade against my lungs as I sprinted down the spiral stone staircase. The luxury of the upper floors had vanished, replaced by the brutalist concrete of the sub-levels. Above me, the sky was screaming, the rhythmic thwack-thwack-thwack of Lucien’s black-ops helicopters drowned out the sirens.I didn't care about the billionaires in the sky. I didn't care about the man groaning on the floor upstairs. I only cared about the small boy in the white courtyard.The chase intensified as I burst through the heavy steel doors leading to the training grounds. The scene was pure chaos. Falcone security guards were scrambling, their rifles aimed at the sky, while red laser dots from Lucien’s snipers danced across the white marble like blood-red fireflies."Draco!" I screamed, my voice cracking under the weight of three years of lost motherhood.The boy was standing by the stone table. He hadn't moved. While grown men panicked and died aro
Chapter 14Alessia's POV The world didn't return with a bang; it returned with the smell of expensive lilies and the sterile hum of a high-end ventilation system.My eyelids felt like they were weighted with lead. As the haze of the sedative cleared, the first thing I felt was the softness beneath me, a mattress too plush, silk sheets too cool. This wasn't a dungeon. It was a palace. But as I tried to sit up, the sharp clink of metal against metal echoed through the silence.A cuff. Fine, polished titanium, lined with velvet, tethering my right wrist to the gilded headboard of a massive canopy bed."Awake at last," a voice croaked from the shadows of the room.I bolted upright, my heart hammering against my ribs. In a plush armchair by the window, Massimo sat, his head in his hands. He wasn't cuffed, but he looked more imprisoned than I was. His clothes were rumpled, his eyes bloodshot, and he was staring at a wall of glass that overlooked a valley of mist-shrouded pines."Where are
Chapter 13Alessia's POV The phone slipped from my numb fingers, clattering onto the silk rug. The nurse’s voice, ‘the second child didn't die’ echoed in the hollow chamber of my chest, shattering the frozen armor I had spent years freezing into place.My son.I had mourned a ghost. I had built a graveyard in my soul for a child that was currently drawing breath, tucked away in some corner of the world by the man I had trusted to be my savior. Lucien Valois hadn't just managed my tragedy; he had curated it. He had pruned my life like a bonsai tree, cutting away the parts that made me soft so I could be the sharp-edged weapon he desired."Alessia?"The door creaked. It was Massimo. He hadn't left. He was standing there, looking pathetic and small, his eyes searching my face for a flicker of the Shay he used to own.The next action I took was instantaneous. I didn't cry. I didn't scream. I moved. I lunged across the room, grabbing Massimo by the lapels of his expensive, blood-funded






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