My Family Faked Their Deaths, So I Left

My mother and I were getting the estate ready for Thanksgiving dinner when word came that my father and my fiancé, Adrian Marchetti, had died in an explosion at the docks. In an instant, our family feast became our last meal. A bodyguard burst into the house, covered in blood. "The Don and Mr. Marchetti were ambushed by the Ferraro family at the docks. The arms warehouse blew up... there's nothing left of them. They took Matteo Valenti alive!" My blood ran cold. Adrian had told me the Ferraro boss was ruthless. The last time he'd gone after a family, he'd had the men slaughtered and their organs sold, and every woman shipped off to an underground bar and forced into prostitution! The bodyguard pressed a pistol into my hand. "Ms. Valenti, I risked my life to warn you. There are too many of them, and I can't stay. Change your name and leave L.A.!" Without a word, my mother sent Grandma, my sister-in-law Lana, my six-year-old niece Annie, and my aunt Clara down to the basement. Then she took the gun from my hand, pressed it to her temple, and pulled the trigger. Her warm blood splattered across my face. In a single night, my father, my mother, my brother, and the man I loved were all gone! The pain tore me apart. I ran my fingers over my mother's gun. The muzzle still smelled of gunpowder. A second later, the gun went off on its own. A bullet tore through my chest, and my blood soaked the rose brooch Adrian had given me. As tears streamed down my bloodstained face, I heard one of my father's men laughing on the other side of the door. "Wow. The Don and Mr. Marchetti will do anything for Ms. Celeste. She wanted a little holiday prank, and they went all out for her." Grief ripped through me, and I coughed up a mouthful of blood.