Library

Search

Home / Mafia Short Story / The Don’s Favorite Lover Vanished / Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

All Chapters of The Don’s Favorite Lover Vanished: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

25 Chapters

Chapter 11

Vincenzo's POVThe bells of Holy Name Cathedral rang out.I stood at the altar, my eyes on the massive oak doors.This wasn’t a wedding. It was a goddamn spectacle.“Boss,” Marco whispered in my ear. “Something’s wrong. Dimitri’s men… they’ve tripled their perimeter outside.”Ice flooded my veins.“Watch them.”The oak doors swung open.Katerina, in a priceless gown, walked toward me like a goddamn saint.But I felt nothing. Just the cold premonition of a man walking to the gallows.She reached me and took my arm. “Darling, you look nervous.”“I’m not.”The priest began the vows.I didn’t hear a word. My focus was locked on Dimitri Petrov in the front pew.He was smiling at us. His gray eyes held the glint of a hunter watching his prey walk into a trap.During the toasts, Dimitri stood up.“Today is a historic moment,” his voice echoed through the cathedral. “For our great alliance, and for the… obstacles that were ‘cleansed’ for its sake.”When he said “obstacles,” his eyes stabbed at

Chapter 12

Vincenzo's POVThree hours later, the church reeked of blood and gunpowder. The stench was sickening.The wound on my chest was still bleeding, but the pain was nothing compared to the agony in my soul.Two of my men held Katerina on her knees before me. The dagger lay on the stone floor beside her.She was trembling, her blonde hair matted with blood and dust. The princess was gone.“Vincenzo, please… don’t kill me…” she sobbed, trying to crawl toward me. “Dimitri made me do it! I love you, I was just so scared…”“Love?” I looked down at her, my voice quiet. “Your love is setting a six-month trap with your family to put me in the ground?”I crouched, grabbing her chin and forcing her to meet my eyes.“Your love is planning an ambush to get rid of Chiara?” My voice trembled with suppressed rage. “Do you know you almost succeeded? Do you know I… I pushed her right into the explosion you designed?!”I was shouting the last words.Every word was a knife twisting in my own heart.A flicker

Chapter 13

Vincenzo's POVTwo months later. Chicago was once again on its knees before the Russo family.But I was different.“Boss,” Marco reported carefully, “the Castellano family wants to negotiate…”“Kill their boss.” I didn’t look up from the document I was signing. My voice was terrifyingly calm.“…Yes, Boss.”They were all scared of me now.It used to be respect. Now, it was fear.Because I was a monster now. Killing was all I had left.Every night, I dreamed of her.I saw her final look. Cold. Disappointed. Not a trace of feeling left.I’d wake up drenched in a cold sweat.“Find her,” I ordered Marco. “Use every resource. I want Chiara Rossi.”“Boss, we’ve been looking for two months…”I slid a handgun across my desk.“If you don't find her in one month,” I looked at him, my eyes empty, “you know what to do with this.”Marco’s face went white. His hand trembled as he took the gun.But a month later, nothing. She had vanished from the face of the earth.Then Tony came into my office, pale

Chapter 14

Chiara's POVTwo years later. Florence.I stood at my studio’s floor-to-ceiling window, watching the sunset over the Arno River.This was my new world. Quiet, elegant, far from the blood.“Bella, daydreaming again?” Alessandro, a man who’d been pursuing me, walked into the studio with a bouquet of white roses.He was a rising star in the art world. We’d met at a gallery opening.I was hesitant when he first asked me out. I wasn't sure I could ever face another relationship.But he was handsome, elegant, and most importantly, his world was as clean as a blank canvas.He kissed my cheek and asked me to the opera that night.I smiled and accepted.After he left, I went back to my workbench to continue restoring a portrait for a mysterious collector.The woman in the painting looked surprisingly like me.I picked up a scalpel and carefully began scraping away a layer of grime.Suddenly, my hand froze.In the bottom right corner of the canvas, hidden under layers of paint, a symbol slowly e

Chapter 15

Chiara's POVThe next day, in a private room at a three-Michelin-star restaurant in Florence.I sat there, watching the three Russos across the table.My father, Lorenzo Rossi, sat beside me like a silent lion.“Lorenzo,” the old Don Russo began, his voice low, “I apologize for my son’s actions.”“An apology?” my father sneered. “Your son almost got my daughter killed. You think an apology is enough?”“Chiara, my child…” Elena, Vincenzo’s mother, looked at me, her eyes full of guilt.“Signora,” I cut her off, my tone polite but razor-sharp. “I stopped being your child a long time ago.”Just then, the door to the private room was thrown open.Vincenzo strode in, his face a dark storm cloud.“Vincenzo!” the old Don roared. “Who told you to come here?!”“This is my business.” He walked straight to my side, ignoring my father’s warning glare, and tried to take my hand.In a flash, the barrel of my father’s gun was pressed against Vincenzo’s temple.“Get your filthy hands,” Lorenzo’s voice

Chapter 16

Chiara's POVJust as the elevator doors were about to close, Vincenzo shoved his hand between them, forcing them open.His eyes were wild, obsessive. “Wait. We’re not done.”I gave him a cold look, then turned to my father. “Dad, let him in. It’s better to get this all out in the open, once and for all.”We returned to the suffocating tension of the private room.Vincenzo thought he still had a chance. What he got was a public trial.“Don Russo,” I began, my voice clear and calm, carrying across the room. “Since your son believes the past is just a series of ‘misunderstandings,’ I don’t mind repeating them. Here. In front of all our elders.”I rose to my feet, as if I were taking the stand.“First,” I began, my voice ringing with cold clarity. “The tunnel. The rocket attack. You used me as a human shield for her.”Elena gasped, her hand flying to her mouth.“Second. The engagement party. The grenade. You chose to shield her again, leaving me to take the blast. To live or die on my own.

Chapter 17

Chiara's POVI spent one night getting up to speed on Vincenzo’s two years of madness and the chaos within the Russo family.Using my top-tier intelligence skills, I located Katerina’s hideout in Prague.“Dad,” I said, putting down the intel file, my eyes cold. “That woman, Katerina. She, the rest of the Petrov loyalists, and the Russo traitors who helped her—they all need to face judgment.”My father looked at me, his gaze sharp. “I’ve already sent my men. In three days, they will be in Chicago, on time.”“Good.” I stood up. “I’m calling a hearing of the High Commission. I want the entire underworld to watch what happens when you cross Chiara Rossi.”Three days later. Chicago.The secret chamber of the High Commission. I took my seat in the petitioner’s chair.Marco and Tony stood silently behind me, witnesses for the prosecution.I stared coldly at the defendants’ box across the room.Katerina Petrov sat in the center.My men had dragged her out of her Prague hideout. She was in a pr

Chapter 18

Chiara's POVI stepped out of the fortified building into the cold Chicago wind.Vincenzo was standing across the street.He had tried to clean himself up, dressed in an expensive Brioni suit, trying to maintain the last shreds of a Don’s dignity.But the bloodshot eyes and the exhaustion he couldn’t hide gave him away.He saw me, immediately dropped his cigarette, and strode toward me.“What are you doing here?” I stopped. The bodyguards behind me instantly moved to shield me.“I heard about the hearing,” his voice was hoarse.“And?” I sneered. “Here to collect the bodies?”“No.”“Then you’re here to question why I touched your people?”“I’m not here for them!” His voice was edged with emotion. “I’m here for you!”I ignored him and turned toward my car.He suddenly rushed forward, throwing his arms out to block my path.“Chiara, please,” his voice held a note of pleading. “Five minutes.”I looked at him, then at my bodyguards. “Stand down.”They stepped back.I didn’t get in the car.

Chapter 19

Chiara's POVThe car had barely gone two blocks when a black Maserati shot out from a side street, tires screaming, and screeched to a halt in front of my convoy.Vincenzo jumped out and ran recklessly toward my car.“Dammit,” I cursed under my breath.“Miss, should we handle this?” My bodyguard’s hand was on his gun.“No.” I lowered the window and looked at him coldly. “Let him talk.”Vincenzo ran to my window, his hands braced on the car door. He was panting, his eyes bloodshot and wild.“Why?” he stared at me, pinning me with his gaze. “Why can’t you forgive me?”“Forgive you?” I laughed, a sound full of mockery. “Vincenzo, have you forgotten what you’ve done?”“I remember! I remember all of it! But they were mistakes…”“Mistakes?” I cut him off, my voice rising sharply. “You used me as a human shield. A mistake?”His face went white.“At the engagement party, a grenade comes flying, and you sacrifice me again. Is that also a mistake?”“At the time, I…”“At the time, you were only t

Chapter 20

Chiara's POVThree months later. Florence.My art gallery was about to open. Everything was falling into place.Alessandro’s gentle affection was like a warm sun, illuminating a world that had once been nothing but shadow.I thought I had finally left the past behind.Until my assistant, Lucia, handed me a package from Sicily. No return address.It was heavy. Inside was an ancient box made of ebony.Carved on the lid was the original Russo family crest.The older, fiercer phoenix. The one from before I redesigned it.My breath caught.I opened the box. Inside lay an old key and a faded, parchment contract.It was the deed to the original Russo family estate in Sicily. The family’s roots.The key was the only one that could open the vaults beneath the old manor.This wasn't just land. It was the soul of the Russo family.There was also a letter. Elena’s elegant, familiar handwriting.“My dearest Chiara,”“When you read this, you may still hate us. I have no right to ask for your forgive

PREV

NEXT

SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP

DMCA.com Protection Status