Fall of the Underboss のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 1 - チャプター 10

Lorenzo Moretti’s “rabid dog” was still echoing through the hall. On the floor, the shattered blue-and-white porcelain from the mysterious East was painfully glaring.“Apologize to Sophia.” Lorenzo patted the woman’s back, his voice low and cold.I looked at him, mockery flickering in my eyes.Five years ago, when the Bernardi family expanded south, they chose the Moretti family as their pawn.Lorenzo married me as part of that alliance, and only then was he promoted to underboss of the Moretti family.Everything he had—status, money, and this estate—came from me. However, he had clearly forgotten how he had climbed here.Now he was eager to grind my dignity underfoot, desperate to hide the fact that he rose through his wife.“I won’t apologize.”I lifted my chin and said with a flat tone, carrying the natural arrogance of a Bernardi heiress.Lorenzo’s expression darkened instantly.He hated this look. It reminded him, every time, that aside from the don, there was still me

The Trinacrian wind didn’t clear Lorenzo’s head. If anything, it taught him how to play the victim.That fool who only knew how to squander money somehow reinvented himself as a penitent monk in a rural monastery.A month later, Don Moretti’s desk was buried under letters from Trinacria.None was written by Lorenzo himself, but by a highly respected local priest.The letters said Lorenzo rose at four every morning to scrub the church floors, prayed devoutly for redemption, and kneeled until his knees bled.“Elena,” Don Moretti said as he set the letters down and removed his reading glasses. A trace of pity surfaced in his clouded eyes. “A lost lamb has returned to the flock. He is, after all, blood of the Moretti family and your husband.”I sat across from him, peeling an apple. The skin came off in one long, unbroken strip.“Don Moretti, when a crocodile sheds tears, it’s usually because it’s hungry,” I said calmly, handing him the sliced apple. “If he’s truly devoted to God,

“I’ve had enough!”The roar snapped through the room, cutting off my thoughts.Lorenzo straightened violently, a wineglass clenched in his hand. He hurled it to the floor.“Crash!”Glass exploded across the marble.That sound was a signal.The family guards stationed by the doors drew their guns not toward any outside threat, but toward the elders seated along the table.“Lorenzo! What are you doing?!” the consigliere screamed in terror.“Rat-tat-tat—”The burst from a submachine gun swallowed his voice whole. Blood erupted from the consigliere’s chest as he toppled backward, chair and body crashing to the floor.Screams, gunfire, and shattering porcelain filled the room. In an instant, the banquet hall turned into a slaughterhouse.“Stop it! Lorenzo! Have you lost your mind?!” Don Moretti rose unsteadily, pointing at him, his hand shaking violently.Lorenzo stepped over the bodies and stopped in front of Don Moretti.All traces of humility were gone. What remained was the

At the interrogation room of the Moretti family estate.Lorenzo and Sophia were bound to two rusted iron chairs.Sophia’s wrists and thighs had been roughly bandaged to stop the bleeding, but the pain and blood loss had already knocked her unconscious.As for Lorenzo, his hair was a mess, and his expensive custom-made suit was smeared with mud and grime.When he saw me walk in, it was as if he’d spotted a lifeline.“Elena! Elena!”He struggled wildly, the chains clanking loudly. “I know I was wrong! We were together for five years. Don’t you remember all the anniversaries, the gifts… I love you!”I pulled over a chair and sat down. Behind me stood the family accountant, holding a tablet.“Love me?” I let out a soft laugh. “Did you love me or my money and the status I gave you?”“No! I really—”I raised a finger and gently shook it. “No rush to confess. Watch this first.”I waved my hand. The accountant turned the tablet toward Lorenzo.On the screen was surveillance footage

Lorenzo drank that cup of water.But that was the only one.For the next two days, he clutched Sophia’s slowly rotting corpse. A raging fever set in, and he began to babble.He rolled in the filthy water, muttering my name over and over.“Elena… tie is crooked…“Elena, you’ll forgive me, right?”People were always like this. When they had something, they treated it like trash. Only after losing it did they start digging through garbage for memories.Pathetic.…When I appeared outside the dungeon again, I was wearing the white custom-made suit he loved most and the first pearl necklace he’d given me.The sound of my heels striking the floor jolted Lorenzo awake.With his one remaining eye, he recognized me and crawled toward the bars on hands and knees. His withered fingers clutched the iron.“Elena! Elena, is that you?”His face was smeared with blood and sludge. He smiled, obsequious and twisted.“I knew you wouldn’t let me die… I know I was wrong, really. I already too