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Home / Mafia Short Story / Reclaiming My Path / Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

All Chapters of Reclaiming My Path: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

14 Chapters

Chapter 1

I crouched in front of the safe, my fingers clenched so tightly around two documents that my knuckles had turned white. One of them was our marriage contract, signed three days ago, its edges already wrinkled from being crushed in my hand. When Enzo shoved that gold-stamped contract at me, the mix of cigar smoke and his usual cedar cologne had been so thick it almost drowned me.“Lily,” he’d murmured, his fingertip brushing over the thorned rose tattoo along my collarbone—my family’s crest, the one my Papa inked on me for my eighteenth birthday. “Sign it, and we’ll be officially bonded under the Moretti name. I’ll give you half the control of the docks.”I’d told him I needed time to think. Yet now, as my fingertips trembled across the forged signature on the contract, I could see how perfectly he had copied my handwriting, because he’d forgotten one thing: a tiny rosebud I would always draw at the very end of my signature. However, on this document, there was nothing but a cold, l

Chapter 2

At six in the morning, the sky was barely turning bright when I walked into the living room with a cup of coffee. The heat from the mug burned my palm, yet somehow my chest felt frozen stiff.Giovanna was already sitting on Enzo’s lap, twirling my thorned rose pendant between her fingers. It was my coming-of-age gift from Papa. I’d torn the whole place apart looking for it last week and never found it. Now, she dangled it by the chain, giving me a smile sharp enough to cut me.“Morning, Lily. Enzo said this pendant belongs to me now.”“Can you give it back?” I tightened my grip on the cup, knuckles going white. The rim dug painfully into my palm, and my own voice shook.She let out a snort and pushed up her sleeve. A twisted burn scar snaked down her arm from elbow to wrist. “I got this ten years ago from saving Enzo. Do you have anything like that?” She leaned closer, her perfume brushing against me. It was her last year’s birthday gift from me—the same perfume Enzo told me to

Chapter 3

At four in the morning, a violent pounding on the door snapped me out of my shallow sleep. The pounding was heavy and frantic, shaking the door so hard that it vibrated on its hinges.I jolted upright, instinctively keeping my steps quiet so I wouldn’t wake Enzo. However, the second I cracked the door open, Giovanna shoved it wide with full force. The impact knocked me backward. I stumbled two steps and hit the wardrobe hard.She marched straight into the guest room, hands on her hips, her eyes wide and wild.“Where’s my coat? Where did you hide it?” she yelled, her voice shrill as she started ripping through my closet, and hangers clattered loudly as she yanked them off the rod.My shirts and dresses flew across the floor, my neatly folded clothes scattering like torn paper.“I haven’t seen your coat,” I said, standing at the doorway as a cold dread spread through me.She wasn’t looking for anything. She was picking a fight—one she wanted Enzo to walk in on.Suddenly, Giovanna

Chapter 4

At noon, Enzo brought Giovanna back from the hospital. He was carrying a small brown bag filled with disinfectant and bandages. Giovanna leaned gently against him, a strip of gauze taped to her forehead, her face pale.When he pushed open the front door, the living room was empty. Sunlight streamed through the windows, catching even the dust in the air.His first instinct was to call out, “Lily?”There was no response but only an echo circling the room.“Have you organized the documents? We’ve got a video conference with the Camorra at three.” He raised his voice on the second call, but still nothing.A hint of unease crept into him. I was usually obedient, and even when I was upset, I still handled whatever needed to be done. I never just disappeared.Giovanna sat on the sofa and squeezed some ointment onto her hand. She said softly, “Maybe she’s in the guest room. She apologized to me this morning, so she shouldn’t be angry. She’s probably just tired and taking a nap.”Enzo no

Chapter 5

By the time Enzo returned to the house, the sky had already turned dark. The living room lights were off. Only the entryway lamp was on, casting a pale glow across his exhausted face.Giovanna heard the door and immediately stood from the couch, hurrying toward him.“You couldn’t find Lily?” she asked softly, her voice careful, almost timid. She held his coat in her hands, offering to help him take it off.Enzo didn’t take it. He stepped aside, avoiding her touch, his eyes filled with fatigue.“You knew she was leaving, didn’t you?” he asked suddenly, fixing his gaze on her. His voice was cold and sharp.Giovanna froze. Then, her eyes reddened, and tears burst out fast.“How would I know that?” Her voice trembled as she clutched the hem of her shirt. “I just… I just didn’t want you to leave with her. I got a little emotional, that’s all.”She reached out as if to touch his arm, but she eventually pulled her hand back, looking even more pitiful.“The day I said she pushed me… I

Chapter 6

I found a small inn near the central station and checked into a single room. The room was tiny but quiet, and outside the window was a narrow alley. I set my suitcase in the corner, unzipped it, and began organizing my things.From my backpack, I pulled out the bloodstained handkerchief and unfolded it in my palm. The fabric had been washed until it was almost clean, but faint traces of blood still lingered.I remembered three years ago, when Enzo had taken a bullet for me without even flinching, he had said with a voice so steady and certain, “Lily, I’ll protect you forever.” Now, I realized those words had been lies, just like the faint blood on the handkerchief. It should’ve been washed and cleaned long ago, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I folded it carefully and tucked it under my pillow, letting it be my last small connection to the past, when my phone buzzed suddenly. The screen lit up with an anonymous message.There was no name or number I recognized, but one mes

Chapter 7

The early morning fog at the train station in Milan enveloped me, chilling me to the bone.I held my suitcase so tightly that my knuckles had turned white, the brim of my hat pulled low over my eyes. I didn’t want to run into anyone from the Camorra, and even more, I didn’t want to see Enzo’s face.The man in the black coat we’d agreed on finally appeared in the crowd. Tall and lean, with broad, straight shoulders, he held a book with a blue cover, just as the message had described.As he approached, I instinctively took a step back, my palm breaking into a cold sweat.“Miss Lily?” His voice was low and steady, without a hint of emotion. “I’m Mark. My father has been your father’s personal bodyguard for the last twenty years.”“My father… sent you?” My throat tightened, and at the mention of Papa, my nose stung with sudden emotion.Mark shook his head, taking my suitcase from me while keeping a polite distance. His fingers avoided mine. “Your father doesn’t know. The Camorra has

Chapter 8

The weekend sunlight filtered through tree leaves and spilled across the cobblestone streets of Milan’s old town. I was carrying a box of fresh strawberries I’d just bought when I turned a corner and ran straight into a familiar chest—Enzo’s.He had lost weight, with dark stubble shadowing his jaw, and his once-crisp black suit was wrinkled, the cuff stained with old coffee. However, the moment he saw me, his eyes lit up, like he finally saw hope again. He reached out and grabbed my wrist.“Lily! I finally found you!” His grip was so tight that it hurt, but his voice was hoarse and trembling uncontrollably. “I’ve been looking for you for ten days. The stations, hotels, the cafés you used to like… I thought you’d never want to see me again.”I yanked my hand back hard and stepped away, clutching the strawberries to my chest like the last bit of safety I had left. “Why are you looking for me?”“I know I was wrong.” Enzo stepped forward instinctively and then froze, afraid I’d pull aw

Chapter 9

I returned to the apartment that evening, and a brown leather envelope hung from the doorknob. A black rose emblem—the Camorra’s mark—was stamped on the seal.My heart sank. I tore it open, and inside were several photos of Enzo tied to a chair with blood streaming down his forehead, his wrists red and raw from the ropes.On the back, scrawled in red ink, read, “If you want to keep Enzo alive, meet tonight at ten at the old warehouse. Don’t call the cops or bring any backup. Otherwise, you’ll never see him again.”My hands started to shake, and the photos slipped from my grip. Enzo’s face flashed before my eyes again. Although he had hurt me, I couldn’t just stand by and let him die.With that, I picked up my phone and dialed Mark’s number, my fingers hovering over the keypad, hesitating.Giovanna had said no backup, but what if I brought someone anyway, and she actually tried to kill him?“Hello? Miss Lily?” Mark’s voice came through.“Mark, Giovanna has kidnapped Enzo. She wan

Chapter 10

The next week, Enzo was waiting outside my apartment every single day.The first day was sunny. He stood beneath a sycamore tree, holding a raspberry macaron—they used to be my favorite. He had probably gone a long way to get it. I watched from the window as he just stood there, occasionally glancing up at my window like a dog waiting for its owner to come home.The second day, it rained. He carried a black umbrella, but most of him was soaked from the umbrella tilting toward the thermos he held, probably filled with hot coffee. I told Mark to take an umbrella down for him, but Enzo refused it. “I’ll give it to her myself when she comes down,” he said. The third day, snow fell. It was Milan’s first of the year. He wore only a thin suit, rubbing his hands from the cold, yet he wouldn’t leave. Despite Mark urging him to go back, he insisted on staying. “I’ll wait just half an hour. Just half an hour.” Three hours later, snow had covered his hair, turning it white.I wasn’t hea

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