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Chapter 5

Author: Bagel
My fingers clenched inside my coat pockets, knuckles turning white, as I limped across the marble corridor.

The sound of Julian's leather shoes clicking against the floor approached from behind. "Serafina, I'll have a car take you back to the estate."

I didn't look back, instead, I quickened my pace.

I stumbled over something on the floor and fell hard. My freshly bandaged burn wound instantly tore open, staining the bandage red.

The fall was brutal. Deep inside my chest, something shattered, taking with it the last, laughable shred of hope I had left.

I clenched my jaw tight, but no matter how hard I tried to stop them, unwanted tears rolled down my face.

Growing up in a convent orphanage, my greatest fear was seeing holidays where families reunited.

Seeing the warm glow in streetlamp windows and hearing the laughter drifting out of other people's homes, the envy felt like a dull knife, hacking away at my flesh piece by piece.

Julian knew this better than anyone.

Yet now, just to coddle the woman who cried behind his back, he was repeatedly tearing that old scar wide open with his own hands.

He rushed forward and tried to pull me up from the floor, suppressing anger in his voice. "Serafina! Do you really have to act tough right now?!"

Before he could finish, a scalding cup of black coffee was hurled at my face.

The dark liquid splashed all over me, and a battered leather purse smashed against my temple, causing it to swell instantly.

Mia's mother stood a few steps away, trembling all over like a madwoman. "You bitch! How dare you throw yourself at my son-in-law? I'll teach you not to be some home-wrecking slut!"

She lunged forward and slapped me hard across the face.

The impact knocked my head aside, and I slumped onto the floor.

Immediately after, that stiff, old leather purse swung down hard on my shoulder.

I heard the sickening thud and felt it in my bone as my vision went black for a moment.

Julian caught her arm as she swung for the third time. "Enough! Calm down! It's not what you think!"

"What else could it be?!" the old woman shrieked. "This homewrecker was throwing herself at you. Do you think I'm blind?!"

I pushed against the coffee-stained tiles and staggered to my feet. "Keep your daughter in check. She knows perfectly well who the real mistress is, whoring her way into his life!"

Julian whipped his head around, issuing a low growl that only the two of us could hear.

"She has a severe heart condition and can't take any stress! Serafina, I'm begging you, don't make a scene!"

With that, he immediately turned back to support the old woman. His tone shifted instantly, becoming so gentle he was a different person.

"You misunderstood. This woman is just... an acquaintance. She lost a child recently and isn't well..."

He even pointed at the prescription for the heavy-duty painkillers I had just received.

The old woman glanced at it, scoffed coldly, and spat on the ground. "No wonder! No wonder she's so creepy. Forget it, I'll just take pity on her! I'll let it slide!"

Julian half-carried, half-supported the mother and daughter out of the corridor, escorting them away. From start to finish, he never looked back at me once.

I slumped onto the coffee-drenched floor tiles, staring at his retreating back, no longer even capable of shedding tears.
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  • Too Late, My Capo, Your Love Means Nothing   Chapter 13

    Three years passed in the blink of an eye. I became the youngest member of the Family Commission and the only female Chief Consigliere in the history of the Five Families.At the solemn annual high-level summit, in front of all the Capos, Vittorio personally bowed his head to me.Thunderous applause erupted from both sides of the long table as all the mob bosses raised their glasses in submission.It was already evening by the time the summit dispersed.A fine, steady drizzle fell outside, blanketing the cobblestone streets of the old city.I drove alone to the Family cemetery on the outskirts of the city. The gold iris pin on my lapel glinted faintly in the rainy light.I laid a bouquet of white roses in front of my parents' grave."Papa, Mamma," I knelt down, my voice soft. "I brought back the Family's honor and rules.""From now on, I will guard the rules of this coast for you."The cold rain drifted down, and the ivy on the walls rustled in the wind, as if in silent reply.As I ope

  • Too Late, My Capo, Your Love Means Nothing   Chapter 12

    When I opened my eyes again, I was lying in a plush velvet bed back at the San Celano estate.Outside the window was the familiar olive grove, the morning light creeping inch by inch up the walls.Vittorio sat in the old leather chair by the bed. He looked like he hadn't slept a wink all night, the bags under his eyes were a bruised, sickly gray."You're awake?" His voice held a rare tremor. "You stubborn girl... You're just as reckless with your life as your father was."I opened my mouth, but my throat burned fiercely. I couldn't make a sound."Don't speak." He leaned forward and tucked the blanket around me. "The bullet grazed your collarbone. The doctor said you were lucky. It was a miracle."He paused."The treaty got through. The next morning, the Commission unanimously voted to approve it. The northern smuggling routes are secure for the next ten years."He pulled a narrow, dark green velvet box from his suit's inner pocket and slowly opened it.Resting inside the box was a soli

  • Too Late, My Capo, Your Love Means Nothing   Chapter 11

    The negotiation in Blacksand was far more perilous than anticipated.In that abandoned port warehouse, I spent six grueling days in a standoff with Salazar and his dozen gunmen.On several occasions, I had gun barrels pointed directly at my forehead.Finally, just as I used my final piece of leverage to force his signature, rival gangs in the town turned on each other, and a fierce firefight erupted.The bodyguards who came with me fell one by one, covering my retreat. I hid behind a solid concrete barrier. Flying shrapnel sliced open my arm, the blood quickly staining my trench coat crimson.Leaning against the freezing wall, I booted my encrypted device, took a photo of the signed treaty, and sent it to San Celano.As the progress bar crept forward, bullets rattled fiercely against the tin roof, and muzzle flashes flickered violently through the bullet holes.In that moment, a flood of memories surged over me.The hallway light in the orphanage that was never fixed on cold winter nig

  • Too Late, My Capo, Your Love Means Nothing   Chapter 10

    Another three months passed. Vittorio invited me into his private study."There's a job. It's dirty, and it's highly dangerous." The old man pushed a locked black leather folder toward me, the key resting beside it. "But it's more important to the Family than anything we've dealt with in decades. You can refuse, Serafina. No one will blame you."I opened the folder: Southern Border, Blacksand.A smuggling route spanning three countries had recently been choked off by a smuggling boss named Salazar.His men had already butchered two batches of negotiators sent by San Celano, dumping their bodies in the desert. They didn't even send the heads back.The Family needed someone to go there in person, bearing leverage, to get a ceasefire agreement signed."I'll go.""Think it through." Vittorio's gaze was heavy. "Those outlaws don't play by the rules. Going there is a death sentence.""I have," I said. "My father didn't calculate the odds when he went. If he could do it, I have no reason to

  • Too Late, My Capo, Your Love Means Nothing   Chapter 9

    It took Julian six months to track me down to San Celano.That day, I was in the estate's underground negotiating room, reviewing a money laundering operation with three old vineyard owners from Naples. My deputy pushed the door open and lowered his voice:"Miss Vitale, there is a gentleman from Porthaven waiting for you in VIP Room 3 at the club. He claims to be your... husband."I set my fountain pen down, my finger resting on the corner of the document for a brief second."Tell him I am occupied tonight.""He said he's been waiting for three days. It's about the divorce papers."I stayed silent for a few seconds. "Have Enzo get the car."I closed the folder and raised my hands to button my coat. "To the club."When the bodyguard pushed open the heavy, soundproof door to the VIP room, Julian was standing with his back to the door, facing the dim floor-to-ceiling windows.Outside was the night view of old San Celano, the sharp steeples of the cathedral outlined by the warm glow of the

  • Too Late, My Capo, Your Love Means Nothing   Chapter 8

    My life in San Celano was a fresh start.I buried my past and entered the Family's inner circle. I started by auditing money laundering ledgers and handling business disputes between gangs.No one here knew about my life in Porthaven, or the grief over losing my child that nearly killed me.The men of this old city saw me only as a young widow from the north, a quiet woman with eyes as cold as ice.During the day, I sat in the study, flipping through ledgers, cross-referencing every transaction from the Family's vineyards, casinos, and shipping docks.At night, I read in Vittorio's underground library, studying the bloodlines of the Five Families and thirty years of their debts. On weekends, I locked myself in the windowless underground archives, staying there all day long.Vittorio became my strictest mentor."Your father could spot cooked books in three minutes," he would say. "You will be no less."Three months later, two hot-headed Capos drew their guns on each other at the negotia

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