Chapter 5

I didn't dare leave through the main gate, so I took a detour to the secluded alley behind the school.

But I'd only gone a few steps when Giovanni and his three lackeys blocked the entrance.

Giovanni stood from his wheelchair and stretched his limbs a little before walking toward me.

"Didn't you say you'd be my errand boy? I haven't even left yet, and you're already running off. Are you messing with me, Dante?"

"Sorry, you didn't send for me."

"Whether I send for you or not, you'll follow behind me like a good dog!"

Giovanni pulled out his phone and aimed the camera at my wretched face.

"Come on, apologize again. Say 'I'm a broke loser, and I shouldn't have forgotten to be Mr. Giovanni's lapdog.'"

I bit my lip and didn't move.

That only spurred Giovanni on, and he launched right into a fresh round of torment.

They poured ice-cold mineral water over my head, tore at my soaked school uniform, and ground cigarette butts haphazardly across my face.

Giovanni held up his phone, laughing with unhinged glee.

"Come on, smile and say 'Thank you, Giovanni, for teaching me a lesson.' Or should I call the police and have your shameful sister take a nice little trip down to the station for a chat?"

My mind went blank with a deafening buzz. I stared at him in disbelief. Did Giovanni actually know that my sisters were mafias?

I didn't dare risk it. All I could do was stand there shaking, my voice rasping as I echoed his words back to him.

"Thank you, Giovanni, for teaching me a lesson."

Only after I had said it dozens of times did Giovanni finally smile in satisfaction. He then kicked me and walked off.

"See? If you'd just behaved this well from the start, none of this would've happened. From now on, you wait for me here after school every day. Got it? Whatever I say, you do it."

"Yes, sir."

Giovanni then left with his lackeys.

In an instant, I was the only one left in the alley.

After a long moment, I slowly crouched.

On the ground lay a soaked math test, the bright red "100" glaring harshly against the mess.

Fighting back tears with everything I had, I reached out to pick my books and papers up from the muddy water.

But the moment I looked up, I saw five women standing at the entrance of the alley.

At the front was Sofia, and behind her stood four more of my sisters.

Their faces were as dark as thunder. Not one of them said a single word. They just stared at me, their eyes fixed and unblinking.

The air in the alley seemed to freeze solid.

After a long silence, Sofia crouched and gently wiped the blood from my face with her rough fingers.

"Who did this?"

I turned my face away, unable to meet the fury burning in her eyes, and murmured, "No one. I just fell."

"You fell?

My fifth sister, Elena Bianco, snatched up the math textbook from the muddy water and pointed at the filthy shoe prints covering it.

"This is from a fall? This was stomped on purpose!" she roared angrily.

Alessia pushed up her glasses, the gaze behind the lenses as sharp as a blade.

"Dante, just tell us. Even if you told us to blow up the whole city, we'd risk our lives to take every last one of them down."

But I bit down hard on my lip.

I couldn't say it.

Mr. Rossi had money and power, and Giovanni had said that even the police answered to his family.

My sisters were all wanted fugitives. I couldn't drag them into this and send them to prison.

I shook my head stubbornly, even as tears I refused to let fall pooled in my eyes.

The seconds dragged on.

Finally, Sofia let out a sigh. She gently took my ice-cold hand, her grip firm despite its softness.

"Dante, do you remember when you were five years old, and that fat kid from the next street stole your candy? You went home and cried all night. The next day, his whole family moved away. We're no saints, but our family has one rule—anyone who lays a hand on you is dead."