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Chapter 2

Author: Peachy
The air went dead silent.

Chloe's body went stiff for a second.

Then she exploded into sobs. Even more dramatic than before.

“I wasn't faking! I was just... I was so scared!” She clutched Eleanor's sleeve, tears streaming down her face. “Mom, does she want to kill me? If she wants me dead, I'll die right now!”

“Don't talk nonsense!”

Eleanor hugged her tighter. Then she shot a look at me. Her eyes were tired. And full of disappointment.

“Aurora, you are a massive disappointment.”

I stood under the blood-red crystal chandelier.

Listening to my own mother judge me.

“You don't have a single drop of Callahan honor in you. You're nothing but gutter trash from the slums!” Eleanor accused, heartbroken.

Honestly, I felt nothing.

In Italy, my adoptive father Silas was afraid I'd be wronged. He blew up half a city block and handed me control of his biggest washing operations.

In Russia, my adoptive brother Killian was afraid I'd be bored. He tossed me the keys to his armory like it was a toy.

Compared to that, this cheap emotional blackmail from the Callahans... it felt like kids playing house.

I looked right at Eleanor. “I did grow up on the streets of the Bronx.”

“And nobody there ever taught me how to be best friends with the thief who stole my life.”

I smirked. “If you can't stand me, just call a car. Throw me back on the street where I belong. I'll even pay for the ride.”

“Shut up!”

Victor's face went dark.

He'd probably never met anyone like me. Someone who couldn't be bought or broken.

In their script, I was supposed to grovel to please them. Or pull a gun out of jealousy over Chloe.

Not this. Not stand here like an outsider, laughing at their little show.

Victor's face was cold. He pulled a file from his suit jacket. Slammed it on the mahogany table.

“Since you keep calling Chloe a thief, then prove it. Prove you didn't come back just for the family fortune.”

I glanced down.

It was a waiver. For the Callahan family territory.

It listed the family's five most valuable smuggling routes. And half their illegal casinos on the East Coast.

“Sign it.” Victor's voice was a command. “Give up these core assets. Prove you're clean.”

He lifted his chin, like a king tossing a coin to a beggar. “You keep your head down. Stop bothering Chloe. I guarantee you'll have a place in Boston. A roof over your head, food on the table. Enough to live on.”

I almost laughed out loud.

Threatening me with the things I was supposed to inherit anyway? To prove my innocence?

The Callahan's logic was a joke. Robbery, plain and simple.

Julian sneered from the side.

“You hear that, Aurora? That's the best offer you'll get from Victor.” He swirled his glass, his eyes full of contempt. “Take the deal. Before you end up with nothing. A girl from the gutter like you should be grateful for a place to sleep.”

Hearing that, Chloe sat up straight in Eleanor's arms.

She wiped away tears that weren't even there. Her face a mask of ‘I'm so hurt but so generous.’

“Brother, don't force her.” Chloe bit her lip, her voice trembling. “I don't want any territory. I just want to be with you all. To see Mom and Dad and you every day... that's all I need...”

“You see!” Eleanor's eyes were red with emotion. She glared at me again. “Chloe is willing to give up her life, and all you care about is power and money!”

I looked at the three of them.

A posturing brother, a fake fiancé, and a drama queen with a terrible script.

Did they really think they could leash a wolf who clawed her way out of a pile of bodies?

I picked up the blood-stained Montblanc pen from the table. Didn't even read the agreement. I signed “Aurora” on the last page.

No hesitation.

Victor froze for a second. He clearly didn't expect me to do it so easily.

Julian frowned, a flicker of curiosity in his eyes.

“Done.”

I slammed the pen back down on the mahogany table. It stuck in the wood with a dull thud.

“But, Victor.”

I looked at him, a faint smile on my lips.

“Since I've given up my claim to the Callahan territory...”

“...if the Callahan family ever gets its house burned down, don't come crying to me for a gun.”
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    “Did you hear?” Killian sprawled across my leather sofa, his shoulders shaking with laughter. “Chloe tried faking a heart attack in prison. The guards just hit her in the kidneys with a baton.”He took a drink, smiling wider. “She was in too much pain to stand up straight, let alone fake gasping for air.”I didn’t look up. I just kept cleaning my custom Glock. The steel gleamed under the light as the cloth went around and around the barrel. Quietly.It’s been three months.The first snow of winter is falling on New York.The Callahan family is officially a footnote in a history book.Victor is living with a broken Eleanor in a basement in the Bronx. It leaks. In the winter, it’s cold enough to freeze a rat.He shakes down street vendors for protection money to get by. I heard a few days ago, some rival crew’s thugs pinned him against a wall and beat his face bloody. He still had to limp back to that freezing basement and spoon-feed his mother.The man who slammed his fist on a table an

  • The Real Heiress Mafias Feared   Chapter 9

    My laugh was still in the air when Julian crawled up from the mud, shuffling forward on his knees to grab my ankle.“Aurora, I said I’d worship you!” He looked up, mud and tears streaming down his face. “We can have the wedding tomorrow! Just say the word!”I looked down at him, my smile cold.“Where’s that backbone?” I said slowly. “Just a few days ago, you were so eager to break our engagement. You were much cockier then.”“What happened? Did your spine disappear along with your territory?”Julian’s face went pale. His lips trembled, but he couldn’t speak.I pulled the heavy coat tighter. My voice was like a knife.“I wouldn’t even spit on the Callahan family,” I said, looking down at him. “And I sure as hell have no use for a two-faced piece of trash like you.”Victor shot up, grabbing at a last, desperate hope.“We’re family,” he yelled hoarsely. “Blood. The good of the family. You can’t just watch us—”“Blood?” I cut him off. A cold laugh slipped past my lips. “You didn’t give a d

  • The Real Heiress Mafias Feared   Chapter 8

    Chloe’s high heels slipped on the stairs. She shoved Eleanor’s helping hand away.“Don’t touch me!” she screeched, her sweet, fragile mask shattered completely.The assassins were faster. One of them lunged, tackling her onto the upstairs carpet.“Let me go! You’re all insane!”Chloe thrashed like a cornered animal, her face twisted with rage as she screamed at Victor and Eleanor below.“How else was I supposed to get my hands on millions in laundered cash? You think they just hand that out? I had to play sick!”She was spitting, her voice pure venom.“You Callahans are all idiots! You just had to provoke that demon Aurora, and now look! We’re all going down together!”Eleanor stood frozen, as if she’d been stripped naked in public.Chloe tried to crawl toward the window, but her legs were pinned.“Hold still,” the man in the lab coat said, walking toward her with a gentle, calming smile.He pressed the cold defibrillator paddles directly to Chloe’s chest.“BZZZZT—Two hundred joules.”

  • The Real Heiress Mafias Feared   Chapter 7

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  • The Real Heiress Mafias Feared   Chapter 6

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  • The Real Heiress Mafias Feared   Chapter 5

    He didn't wait for my answer. He raised his hand, his rough fingers, still warm from gunpowder, gently brushing my jaw.“Had your fun yet?”His voice was low, laced with a strange kind of affection.Before I could speak, he shrugged off his own expensive coat. Threw it over my shoulders without asking.The lining was cool, but the coat was heavy.Bulletproof. Custom-made, right down to the thread.His arm tightened around me, pulling me halfway into his chest. Guarding me. Like I was his, and no one else was allowed to even look.“Silas.” I looked up at the other man walking toward us.Silas held a dry martini. He offered it like a gentleman, but his eyes were sharp as a knife.“Fine, have your little adventure. But don’t push it.” His voice was deep, a gentle scolding. “Those transfer documents for the Swiss offshore accounts are waiting for your signature.”The whole room went dead silent.Like someone had just dropped a C4 in the middle of the crowd. The explosion hadn't come yet, b

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