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Chapter 3

Penulis: Half Sugar No Milk
I dragged my leg–stitched with more than a dozen sutures–back to the Gallante family estate on Ivywood. What awaited me was not concern or comfort, but a cold judgment from the family.

The Don, Carmine Gallante, slammed his cane hard against the floor, the dull thud echoing through the hall.

"You look pathetic, Chiara. You couldn't even hold a dock, and you brought shame to the Gallante family."

Marco stood beside Carmine with Fiore wrapped tightly in his arms. As he looked at my battered state, his eyes were filled with smug satisfaction. Meanwhile, Fiore nestled in his embrace like a pampered cat who had just claimed her territory.

The Don's wife, Mariah Valentino, looked Fiore up and down, nodding approvingly. "She has such a kind aura. She'll definitely bring good fortune to the family. Unlike some people who reek of death..."

She shot me a pointed glance before announcing, "In God's name, starting today, Fiore will take over the household. The keys and the books will all be handed to her."

"The docks got raided, but I saved what mattered." I leaned against the wall, trying to defend myself.

Suddenly, a vicious slap struck my face, cutting off my words.

It was Marco.

He jabbed his finger at my nose and snarled, "You've got some nerve! If you weren't such an incompetent consigliere, how would the FBI have targeted that location? Now apologize to Fiore and beg for her forgiveness!"

Fiore walked over with fake sympathy, tugging at Marco's sleeve. "Darling, don't be like that. Chiara didn't mean it."

Marco waved his hand impatiently, like he was swatting away a fly. "Chiara, just apologize to my parents. Then, get on your knees and kiss Fiore's shoes to show your submission, and we'll call it even."

Fiore lifted her skirt and walked up to me. She raised her stiletto-clad foot slightly, her eyes full of innocence but dripping with malice.

"Chiara, Marco just gave me these shoes. Be gentle; don't get them dirty."

She cooed sweetly, pushing her pointed toe closer to my face.

I frowned at her but did not move.

Seeing my resistance, Fiore suddenly lurched backward without warning, staggering as if she had been violently shoved. She let out an exaggerated scream, clutching her ankle as tears instantly streamed down her face.

"Chiara! I get it if you didn't want to do it, but why did you stomp on my foot? It hurts so much..."

"Chiara!" Marco completely lost it. He grabbed me by the hair and slammed my head into the hard wall.

A sharp pain exploded in my forehead, and warm liquid trickled down my cheek. Before long, my vision blurred as the world turned blood red.

After that, I was locked in the cold family chapel. This place housed the crucifix and photos of past Dons.

It was also the place Marco feared the most.

He should have been afraid, because Luca’s ashes were kept here.

Late at night, when everything was silent, I dragged my battered body and painfully climbed up to the statue. Inside its base, I found Luca's urn. Then, with trembling hands, I felt around the hidden compartment at the bottom of the urn.

A ruby signet ring fell into my palm, something I had never dared touch before.

Marco was paranoid by nature, and the estate was crawling with his informants. With the chaos of the storm keeping everyone distracted, however, this was the perfect moment to move in plain sight.

Years ago, the old Don, Giovanni Gallante, had secretly slipped it to me in the confessional before he died, away from prying eyes. He had held my hand, his cloudy eyes filled with tears.

"Chiara, M-Marco doesn't have what it takes to bear the weight of the crown. This signet ring can access all the family's secret accounts in Slandrea. It's the Gallante family's last lifeline. Don't use it unless absolutely necessary."

He added, "But if... If that fool Marco is going to destroy this empire, then you use it. Protect the Gallante family's foundation."

I clenched the cold ring in my hand and hid it close to my body. Then, I turned my gaze to Luca's portrait.

"Luca, just wait a little longer. Soon, I'll take back everything...for you, for our child."

Due to the blood loss and the long night of terror, my vision went dark, and I collapsed unconscious at the foot of the statue.
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  • Pregnant with My Dead Lover's Heir   Chapter 10

    10 years passed in the blink of an eye. Lumi Group had become New Urlenea's undisputed business titan, with operations spanning real estate, finance, technology, and more.On Alessandro's tenth birthday party, we celebrated at the Plaza Hotel Ballroom. Every prominent figure and politician in the city attended the grand and lavish affair.After the party ended, I dismissed my entourage and drove alone to the seaside. This place used to be the family-controlled abandoned dock, full of crime and bloodshed. However, I had transformed it into a beautiful waterfront park.The breeze swept gently past, carrying the salty, humid scent of the sea. In a daze, I felt transported back to when I was 19.Back then, I was not some decisive business mogul or a consigliere navigating between various mob families. I was just a waitress working at a cheap diner in the Barklesfield slums.In my memory, Luca wore a faded white T-shirt, leaning against a streetlamp as he waited for me to get off work.

  • Pregnant with My Dead Lover's Heir   Chapter 9

    Marco was diagnosed with severe paranoid schizophrenia accompanied by extreme persecution delusions. The judge sentenced him to spend the rest of his life in a federal psychiatric hospital.In that padded cell, he would live day after day in terror, waiting for his dead brother to return from hell and claim his life.The absurd opera that was the Gallante family finally came to a close.I handed over the black ledger, which documented decades of New Urlenea's underground crimes, to the Justice Department's top brass as a bargaining chip with the FBI.I cooperated with them to uproot that deeply entrenched drug network from the ground up. Every dirty transaction in that ledger was authorized with either Marco's genuine signature or my forgery of his handwriting, stamped with the family signet ring he had never even seen.All the blame fell squarely on that fool of an heir.As for me, backed by Vincent's medical evaluations citing long-term domestic abuse and psychological coercion

  • Pregnant with My Dead Lover's Heir   Chapter 8

    Marco had completely lost his mind. Only then did he realize that the woman beside him in bed had always been death itself, dressed as revenge. Every victory he thought he had won was nothing more than a step I laid for him on the staircase to hell.He had been trapped in a losing game from the very beginning, yet he never saw it.Towering hatred briefly suppressed his madness, and his only goal was no longer money or power. He wanted to drag me, and the unborn child, straight down to hell with him.Using his familiarity with the hospital, Marco hid in a medical waste truck and slipped into the underground parking garage undetected.That day, I had just finished my prenatal checkup and was about to get in my car. Just as my bodyguard opened the door for me, the cleaning truck suddenly charged out from the shadows and violently knocked two guards flying.Marco jumped down from the truck, dragging his crippled leg. His expression was deranged, but his movements were shockingly fast.

  • Pregnant with My Dead Lover's Heir   Chapter 7

    Marco was granted bail, but the astronomical amount drained the last of the family's liquid assets. To save their only son, Marco's parents sold off every property and antique they owned, and they even turned to loan sharks for emergency cash.However, when they arrived at federal court with the check in hand, the combined shock of bankruptcy and public disgrace proved too much, and both of them collapsed from massive strokes on the cold courthouse steps.The Gallante family's Ivywood Estate was officially seized and auctioned off by the bank.Marco was thrown out of those gilded gates with his crippled legs and not a dime to his name, left to wander the streets. He tried finding Fiore, only to learn that she had suffered a complete mental breakdown in prison and been transferred to a psych ward.His old enemies and the loan sharks, circling like hyenas with their keen sense of smell, began hunting him down in every corner of New Urlenea.He became a pathetic being that everyone w

  • Pregnant with My Dead Lover's Heir   Chapter 6

    Marco was out of options. Like a mad dog backed into a corner, he decided to go all in. Eventually, he contacted Rodrigo Cartagena, a major kingpin from the Jueloma Cartel.Using the family's core port shipping routes as bait, he lured me to a meeting on a yacht in international waters. He wanted Rodrigo to do his dirty work and eliminate me.Sal warned me not to go, insisting it was a trap. I just smiled, telling him that who was the hunter and who was the prey was still up for debate.I brought Vincent along and walked straight into the lion's den. Inside the yacht's luxurious top-deck cabin, Marco sat in the head chair wearing a white suit, trying to look calm while barely hiding his smug satisfaction.Across from him sat a tanned-skinned, vicious-looking middle-aged man.It was Rodrigo himself. A dozen heavily armed bodyguards stood behind them, their guns casually pointed at the door.I pushed the door open and strolled in like I owned the place.Marco stood up with exagg

  • Pregnant with My Dead Lover's Heir   Chapter 5

    From the folder Vincent handed me, I took out the signet ring that symbolized the family’s highest authority, along with a photocopy of the most critical page from the black ledger.I did not look at Marco. Instead, I locked eyes with Carmine."Don, the docks were sealed off, but I have the core ledger."I tossed the copy onto the nightstand, where it showed detailed records of shocking illegal transactions with Marco's flamboyant signature in the authorization column."This signet ring is the key to the family trust, and it's also in my possession."I held up the heavy ring and watched Carmine's pupils contract sharply as I spoke each word deliberately."Right now, I've frozen all the family's secret accounts in Zaethar and the Nusmye Islands. If anyone dares touch the child in my womb, I swear to God the Gallante family will be wiped off the map in New Urlenea by tomorrow."Starting today, I'm taking custody of the family business's financial seals until the baby is born safel

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