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Ch 10: Elizabeth Gable

مؤلف: Kudoz Penn
last update تاريخ النشر: 2026-05-08 23:30:16

The air in the ballroom of the Vane Estate was thick, unquiet, and smelled of expensive lilies, the scent of a very high-class funeral. The cool brass of the railing biting into my palm, my cigarette holder balanced between my fingers like a conductor’s baton. 

Below me, the elite of the North Side moved in choreographed circles and whispered secrets over the black-and-white marble. To the untrained eye,

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  • The Don's Unwanted Prize    Ch 15: Elizabeth Gable

    The Vane Estate was a temple built to the god of Silence, and I was its high priestess. I stood at the base of the grand staircase, my hand resting lightly on the cold mahogany rail. Outside, the midday sun was a pale, sickly thing, struggling to pierce the thick Chicago fog that clung to the North Side like a shade.Upstairs, the master suite was a monument of high-end medical equipment and the artificial hiss of an oxygen concentrator. Silas was there, anchored to the bedside of a boy who had spent most of his life as a ghost and was now threatening to become a permanent one. I checked my watch, a vintage Cartier that kept time with unforgiving precision. Silas had told me she was coming. He had spoken of the ‘other’ De Santis with the same detached pragmatism he used to discuss shipping manifests or municipal bribes. But I knew better. In this world, there were no simple additions. There were only complications. “The transport is at the gate, Ms. Gable,” Miller’s voice crackled

  • The Don's Unwanted Prize    Ch 14: Silas Vane

    The first dawn of the war was grey, and cold. I stood by the window of the suite, watching the light crawl across the choppy surface of Lake Michigan. Behind me, the steady, rhythmic hiss-click of the oxygen concentrator was the only heartbeat this house needed.I turned my head slightly. Luca was a pale indentation in the charcoal sheets, his chest rising and falling in a dance dictated by the machine. He looked small.“The doctor says his vitals are holding,” Aunt Gable’s voice came from the doorway. She was dressed in a maroon silk, her eyes tracking the IV line running into Luca’s bruised arm. “But the Board is calling, Silas. They saw him fall. They want to know if the alliance is a sinking ship.&rdquo

  • The Don's Unwanted Prize    Ch 13: Silas Vane

    As I caught him, the ballroom didn’t just go silent; it turned into a hunting ground. The boy felt like a handful of dry leaves in my arms; weightless, brittle, and ready to scatter into the wind. I could hear the sharp intake of breath from the Board members, the rustle of silk as the vultures leaned in, and the click-click-click of shutters from the back of the room. They weren’t looking for a tragedy; they were looking for a crack in the Vane empire. “The Prince has had a bit too much excitement for one night,” I said, my voice projecting a calm, terrifying authority that sliced through the murmurs. I didn’t look at them.“Oliver, see to the guests. The party continues. My husband has simply forgotten that the North Side air is thinner than the filth he’s used to.”I didn’t wait for a response. I turned and strode to the private elevator, my grip on him so tight I could feel the irregular, stuttering pulse beneath his ribs. It was chaotic. Don’t you dare, I thought, my jaw locki

  • The Don's Unwanted Prize    Ch 12: Luca De Santis

    “Stop breathing so loudly, boy,” Aunt Gable snapped, her voice ringing out sharp and cold. “You sound like a dying horse.”I flinched, my fingers digging into the polished mahogany of the banister. The rail felt like ice against my palms. I didn’t turn to look at her; I couldn’t. If I moved my head too fast, the world tilted, a dizzying roundabout of grey and black. “I’m trying,” I managed to croak. My throat was a desert. The detox had moved from the shivering stage to a dull, relentless throb in my bones. Every nerve ending felt raw, as if the skin had been peeled back to expose the wire. “Try harder,” she said, stepping into my sight. She looked like a queen of a forgotten era: emerald velvet, sharp silver hair, and eyes that saw through the ‘Vane Masterpiece’ suit I was wearing. She reached out and adjusted me with a jerk. “You are a De Santis by birth, but tonight, you are a Vane by necessity. The North Side doesn’t value your trauma, Luca. They value your composure. If you tre

  • The Don's Unwanted Prize    Ch 11: Elizabeth Gable

    I turned my head and noticed another pair of eyes fixed on the empty staircase. Ezra. The enforcer stood by the east wall, blending into the shadows. His tuxedo stretched over his massive frame, but it was his face that caught my attention. Ezra was a fanatic. He worshipped the “order” of the North Side, and he worshipped Silas. And right now, Ezra looked like a fanatic who had spotted a heretic. I excused myself from Silas and glided across the ballroom, cornering Ezra near the linen curtains. “You look like a dog whose bone has been stolen, Ezra,” I said, not bothering with pleasantries. Ezra’s jaw clenched. “I am securing the perimeter, Ms. Gable. Nothing more.”“Don’t play coy with me,” I snapped softly. “I see the way you look around. You hate the boy. You think he’s a glitch in Silas’s perfect machine.”“He is,” Ezra rumbled, his voice low. “He faints. He cries. He pollutes this house with his habits. Silas is blind to the damage the boy is doing.”“Silas is the King,” I re

  • The Don's Unwanted Prize    Ch 10: Elizabeth Gable

    The air in the ballroom of the Vane Estate was thick, unquiet, and smelled of expensive lilies, the scent of a very high-class funeral. The cool brass of the railing biting into my palm, my cigarette holder balanced between my fingers like a conductor’s baton.Below me, the elite of the North Side moved in choreographed circles and whispered secrets over the black-and-white marble. To the untrained eye, it was a celebration of power. But I knew these people. I had built the political foundation they stood upon. They were vultures in tuxedos, waiting for a single drop of blood.They were waiting for Silas to fail. And more specifically, they were waiting for the South Side to show its symptoms.“Elizabeth. You look as formidable as ever.”

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