All Chapters of Beyond the Family's Shadow: Chapter 11 - Chapter 18

Meanwhile, on Long Island, New York, at the Vane estate.Outside, a thunderstorm raged. At the far end of the third floor of the estate, in the cramped attic that once belonged to Elara, Dante Rossi sat on the bare floor.It was freezing in here, like an ice cellar.It was hard to believe that in such a luxurious estate, a room could have no heating at all.There was only a thin metal-frame bed and a wardrobe with just two sets of clothes."Mr. Rossi... you've been sitting here for three hours now."The assistant, holding a document, stood at the doorway, his voice trembling."This is what you asked for, the data recovered from St. Mary's Hospital's encrypted archive."Dante didn't turn around. His fingers traced a line of small characters carved into the headboard."Hang in there, Elara. It'll stop hurting soon."The handwriting was crooked, like something Elara would have carved when she was very young."Bring it here." Dante's voice was hoarse, as if scraped by sandpaper.The assist

The Vane family's collapse continued.Ever since Dante's meltdown that night, the Vane Enterprises stock had plummeted twice in three days.The Rossi family pulling their investments was the first domino, triggering a chain reaction.Banks started calling in loans, and partners were cutting ties.The Vane couple seemed to have aged ten years overnight.They tried reaching out to Elara, but it was like shouting into the void.And the most panicked person in the mansion was Serena.Her parents and brother had suddenly turned on her, leaving her no choice but to run to Dante."Brother Dante… you don't want me anymore?"Serena stood barefoot at the door of Dante's study, wearing a white silk nightgown, tears streaming down her face like a broken string of pearls.She looked so pathetic, just like she had countless times before.But this time, Dante didn't even look up.He was staring at the dense intelligence data on his computer screen, his hand clenched tight around the pink diamond ring

The private jet landed on a private airfield in Tuscany, Italy.This was the Thorne family's ancestral home.If Julian was the feared godfather in New York, then here, he was the true uncrowned king.The motorcade cut through miles of vineyards and olive groves, finally stopping before a magnificent medieval castle.The castle stood atop a mountain, overlooking the entire golden plain.Hundreds of servants and family members lined up to welcome them. The sheer scale and grandeur of the ceremony far surpassed anything Elara had ever witnessed in New York.Even Elara, who had built up her confidence on Sanctuary Island, felt a dizzy spell now.She looked at the castle that had weathered centuries of storms, at the portraits of past patriarchs hanging on the walls, and a deep sense of inferiority welled up inside her.She was an abandoned child, raised to be a blood bag.Did she truly deserve all this?Dinner was held at the castle's long table. The food was exquisite, but Elara couldn't

Serena wasn't dead.Death would have been a mercy.On a moonless midnight, a nondescript black cargo plane took off from New York.Serena, sedated and treated like damaged goods, was tossed into the cargo hold.She was sent to a mental hospital deep in the Siberian wilderness.A place with no windows, no visitors, just endless cold and loneliness.For Serena, who once lived in haute couture and sipped Evian, it was a hell far worse than any abyss.She would spend the rest of her life in endless cold and madness.But that wasn't the end of her reckoning.The day before Dante's funeral, Elara, accompanied by Julian, went to New York State Maximum Security Prison.It was her first, and last, visit to her parents.After they went bankrupt, their enemies moved in for the kill. Soon, they were arrested on various charges.The visiting room had thick bulletproof glass separating them.When Mr. and Mrs. Vane were brought out by the guards, Elara could barely recognize them.Mr. Vane, who once