Chapter 3

John stopped and frowned slightly. He did not look at me but walked straight toward Jolene. "How did you get yourself so dirty?" His voice was magnetic and gentle, but he was not talking to me. He reached out to pull Jolene away from me while carefully smoothing down her dress. "Let the bodyguards do the work next time."

My heart felt like it was crushed into pieces. "John… She was the one who hurt our baby…" I looked at him in disbelief.

John finally turned to look at me with a frighteningly calm look in his eye. He crouched next to me but did not help me up. He used his clean, white handkerchief to wipe the bloodstains off my fingers carefully. He was very gentle with me as he cleaned my fingers as if they were an expensive porcelain vase with dirt on it.

"You've always been a good girl, Annie," John said with a sigh. His fingers brushed my cheek gently. "But Jolene's father is giving the Curtis family three shipping routes, while you… All you have is this face, and nothing else."

"All it took was three shipping routes for you to kill your own child?"

"Shh…." John placed a finger to my lips as he smiled sadly but cruelly. "Don't make it sound so bad. Survival of the fittest is the law of nature. Don't be mad at me about this. If you want to be mad, be mad that you were not born to a better father."

I watched as he stood up, and I burst out with a laugh. "Let me tell you once more, I'm the daughter of a Don! I'm Don Corleone's Principessa! You should…"

John laughed coldly. "Do you really want to forgo your dignity just to win me back and marry into the Curtis family?" He went to Jolene and put his hand around her waist. "Don Corleone doesn't have a daughter. You shouldn't make up such a ridiculous lie!"

He looked adoringly at Jolene and said in a sickly-sweet tone, "Look at her carefully. Jolene is the daughter of a Capo. She's the only one who can take me to greater heights and help me reach the core of the family, so I can one day inherit the position of Don. As for you, you're nothing but a materialistic, lying orphan."

I stared at the man I loved for four years as my heart turned cold. Once upon a time, I had begged my father to keep my identity a secret because I wanted to live an ordinary life, but John treated my sacrifice as garbage.

"You came at the right time, Honey." Jolene leaned into John's arms daintily while pointing at my brother and me on the ground. "These two lowlifes tried to hit me just now. I was so scared."

"Don't be scared. No one will dare put a hand on you with me around."

Jolene took out some thick ropes from the trunk of the car as her eyes glinted with excitement. "How about playing a game, Honey? Wouldn't it be exciting to walk a dog in the snow?"

John glanced at the rope and turned to look at me, who was seriously wounded. He hesitated but did not do anything to stop Jolene. John lit up a cigarette, took a deep swig, and exhaled the smoke. "You can do whatever you want as long as you're happy."

Jolene smiled maliciously as she came over to me. She tied one end of the rope onto a hook on an off-road vehicle and tied the other end around my neck. I was instantly suffocated by the thick rope rubbing into my skin.

"Run, you homeless wild dog!" Jolene got into the driver's seat and stepped hard on the gas pedal.

Vroom!

The vehicle flew in the air due to the speed, and I could feel the strong tug as I fell hard onto the ground.

"Annie!" Anthony did not even care about the sharp pain in his leg when he saw me being dragged along like a raggedy doll as he struggled from the grips of the burly men holding him down to run toward his car.

A black car sped toward the off-road vehicle like a wild beast sprinting through the snow.

Screech!

It was the shrill sound of the tires against the snowy ground. Anthony's car stopped Jolene from speeding forward.

Jolene was not hurt, but Anthony crashed into a big tree because he was worried about accidentally hurting me. I gasped for air as I laid in the snow. A dark bruise could be seen around my neck.

Not far away from us, Anthony got out of his car and fell as a pool of blood formed under him. He tried hard to look up at me to smile. "Don't be afraid…. Annie… I'm… Here…"

Tears streamed down my face as I crawled toward my brother despite being seriously injured. John approached Anthony with a cold look on his face. He flicked away his cigarette and said, "Not bad." He tugged on his shirt sleeve to straighten it before looking down on Anthony. "Too bad you're just another boorish character.

"Annie, I hope you get reborn into a better family in your next lifetime." John exhaled some smoke as he looked at me with hypocritical pity. "I like you a lot. Too bad there's no monetary gain to it."

Jolene got out of the vehicle. "What a letdown, but it's fine. It would take a lot of trouble to clean them up if I got them killed. Let's go, Honey."

John turned away from us to hold her in his arms. "I wanted to give you both an easy death, but you just had to name-drop Don Corleone to threaten me. That's my idol, and none of you are good enough to even mention his name.”

"Lock them up in the basement."

Dark shadow suddenly loomed over everyone as a loud whirring was heard in the air. There was a strong gust of wind, and everyone was forced to shield their eyes from it. John looked up, and his eyes widened.

Dozens of black weapon-grade helicopters were seen above his head. Each helicopter had the crest of the Black Eagle, which also had an image of a blade on it. It looked intimidating under the light.

"What's that?!" Jolene screamed in fear. Before she could process the situation, dozens of red lights were pointed between the eyes and chests of John and her. The light was from snipers aiming at them.

"Where did you get these actors?" Jolene was still cursing out loud, stupidly, despite everything that was happening, but her voice was trembling. "Who are you trying to scare? Do you know my father is…"

Before she could finish her sentence, the doors of a helicopter opened, and a group of men in black exited to quickly take control of the scene. All of the Curtis family's men who had been acting arrogantly were now kneeling on the ground with their hands over their heads and quivering.

When the largest helicopter landed, a man in a black fur coat walked out. It was my father, the man who controlled the Corleone family of Segona, Don Andre Corleone.