All Chapters of Betrayed by the Mafia Alpha: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Lila I couldn’t sleep. Not because of fear. Or worry. But because I could feel something ancient scratching behind the walls of my bones. It started the moment I looked into the mimic girl’s eyes saw her take my face like a second skin, smile with my mouth, challenge with my energy. She wasn’t just pretending to be me. She was becoming the reflection prophecy never accounted for. “You were made, not born,” I whispered to the night, pacing the upper corridor of the compound. “And I was born, not made.” But if that was true, why did the edges blur when I closed my eyes? Maximus found me near the balcony rail before dawn. His chest was bare, breathing rough. No guards followed him. No titles stood between us. “I had a dream,” he said. I turned toward him. “So did I.” We said the next part together. “She bled from the eyes.” My stomach twisted. “She stood in the circle of the Alpha Council,” I said. “She wore my bones. My hair.” “And the moon bowed to her,” he whi

Lila The Council called it “a hearing.” As if the sound of their robed silence and silver-inked parchments could resemble justice. As if I hadn’t already been judged from the moment I was born with my mother’s blood and no father’s name stamped in ink they recognized. As if it were a debate… and not a eulogy with my name scratched into the stone. They didn’t call it a trial. They called it a containment strategy. Which told me everything. The hall was colder than I remembered. Thirteen seats again. Twelve filled. The Luna’s chair still empty. They didn’t stand when I entered. They didn’t need to. Because the silence bent around me. Maximus walked at my side. Not to guard. To witness. Leif stood at the rear flank. Unmoving. Elora was absent. By design. Some truths, she said, weren’t fit for political chambers. They were meant to be spoken in blood or whispered in storms. I’d bring both. Kalen opened. “Lila Grey,” he said, voice neutral. “Born of Syl

Lila The moon didn’t look like silver that night. It looked like an eye. Too round. Too bright. Too… aware. I tried to sleep. Failed. Tried to meditate. Failed. Everything inside me was vibrating like an echo of a sound I hadn’t yet heard. But when I finally let go when I stopped trying to rest and simply laid there, still, arms stretched and breath softened That’s when I fell. Not asleep. Not awake. Just… through. The first thing I felt was cold. The second was breath. Not mine. Hers. She stood across from me. Same height. Same eyes. Same mouth. But everything in her was hollow. Like I’d been drained into a mold and something colder had poured in. “Hello again,” the mimic said. Her voice came in two tones one my own, the other like glass breaking underwater. I didn’t speak. “You’ve marked the earth,” she said. “But you haven’t marked the moon.” “I don’t need to,” I replied. She smiled without warmth. “You think this is about marks? It’s about memory.

Lila The pain hit my chest like betrayal wrapped in teeth. No claws. No injury. Just… agony. Sour and sharp and not mine. I stumbled in the war room, mid-briefing, halfway through reading a rogue report and collapsed. Maximus was across the room in seconds. His hands pressed against my ribs, voice barely controlled. “What is it? What hurts?” “I don’t know,” I gasped. “I’m fine, I didn’t… this isn’t” Then I understood. It wasn’t me. It was her. Leif paced while I steadied myself against the mirrored wall. “She’s linked to you physically now,” he said, jaw tight. “Every time she draws closer, the boundary thins.” “It wasn’t like this before,” I said. “I could see her. Hear her. But now… I feel her.” Elora entered moments later, robes loose, her expression darker than usual. “She’s bleeding,” she said quietly. “Not in body. In essence. Because she’s trying to sever her own tie. She’s rejecting the failsafe protocol.” I blinked. “She doesn’t want to destroy

Lila The gates opened just after moonrise. No alarms. No weapons drawn. Just a girl. Same face. Same walk. Same eyes, but quieter. Like she wasn’t here to fight me. Just… to see if I still existed. “I called her,” I told Maximus. “You invited her?” His voice caught. “I needed truth,” I said. “She is mine, in one way or another. And if she’s going to destroy me she’ll have to look me in the eye first.” Leif exhaled like the world had shifted again. “She came alone,” he muttered. “That’s not war posture. That’s penance.” Or faith, I thought. Though I wasn’t sure in what. We met in the lower courtyard. Torches lit. Guards watching from the walls. Maximus stayed close, a storm barely leashed. She stood still as I crossed the stone path toward her. And for once, the bond didn’t buzz. The prophecy didn’t hum. The air didn’t burn. Just stillness. “I dreamed of you,” she said first. “Me too.” “You died.” “I lived.” Her mouth twitched. Not a smile. Not yet