Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 1 - Chapitre 10

Chapter 1

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

Chapter 2

At the head of the long table sat the current Don Moretti, the man known as the “Old Lion”. His eyes were closed, resting.Though he was advanced in age, the presence radiating from him silenced the entire dining hall.Lorenzo sat at Don Moretti’s lower left, the seat reserved for the underboss.And Sophia was really there. Dressed in a garish red gown, she trembled as she sat to my right.The other family elders exchanged looks. They stared at Lorenzo as if they were watching a dead man.“Lorenzo.” Don Moretti slowly opened his eyes, his voice hoarse yet commanding. “This is the ‘surprise’ you mentioned to me?”Lorenzo stood stiffly. “Don Moretti, Sophia may be of low birth, but she… she’s carrying my child. I wanted to take this opportunity—”“Outrageous!”Before Don Moretti could speak, the consigliere across the table slammed his hand down.“Lorenzo! Your wife is sitting right here, and you bring a mistress to the main table? Where does that put Ms. Bernardi? Are you tryin

Chapter 3

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,

Chapter 4

To celebrate the lost lamb’s return to the flock, Don Moretti hosted a special family dinner.The long table was draped in white linen, and the silverware gleamed under the lights. Aside from Don Moretti, Lorenzo, and me, every core member of the family was present.Lorenzo looked nothing like his old self. Even the beard he’d kept for years had been shaved clean, leaving him looking humble and obedient.“Elena.”He stood up, holding a thick stack of documents, and walked toward me.“I was an asshole before and so immature. These past months, I’ve thought things through. These are deals I secured through my own connections. Please consider them my apology.”There were several international trade contracts. The projected profits were staggering, enough to make the elders at the table visibly restless.“All my effort, all the credit, belongs to my beloved—you, Elena. These deals are my vow, my resolve.“As long as you sign, all profits are yours to control.” He handed me the pen,

Chapter 5

“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

Chapter 6

Without warning, the massive floor-to-ceiling windows exploded inward.Glass rained down like a storm. Smoke grenades rolled across the floor, and thick white clouds erupted instantly.Several black figures descended through the shattered windows on rappel lines. Their movements were perfectly synchronized, muscle memory forged through relentless training.They weren’t wearing the family’s black suits but full tactical gear. Ballistic vests marked with the faint outline of a black hawk, flickering in the smoke.It was the Bernardi family’s Blackhawk Guard.This wasn’t a gang fight. This was an elite military unit crushing street thugs with overwhelming force.“Drop your weapons! Hands on your head!”The mercenaries Lorenzo had paid a fortune for didn’t last three seconds. A few who tried to resist had their jaws smashed in with rifle stocks. The rest dropped to their knees without hesitation.The banquet hall changed hands in an instant.I pushed away the corpse slumped agains

Chapter 7

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

Chapter 8

The deepest dungeon of the Moretti family estate was not only damp, but it also reeked of dead rats.The water level crept past the ankles, icy to the bone.Lorenzo was curled up in a corner. His expensive custom suit had long since turned into rags, hanging off him like a joke on a clown.Sophia lay beside him.The once-arrogant mistress now had only her left hand, her other limbs useless.Her wounds were crudely wrapped with a few loops of bandage. Blood seeped through, clouding the filthy water even further.“Hang on a little longer, my love.”Lorenzo held Sophia tightly against his chest, using his body heat to warm her trembling frame. “I’ll find a way out. That woman wouldn’t really dare to kill me.”“Lorenzo…” Sophia had woken from her stupor. Her one functional hand clutched his collar desperately. “It hurts… I shouldn’t have come back…”“Don’t be afraid. I’m here.”Lorenzo kissed her mud-smeared forehead, his eyes filled with pain and tenderness.Anyone who didn’t k

Chapter 9

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

Chapter 10

The conference room was thick with smoke.Along both sides of the long table sat the surviving elders of the Moretti family, dressed in outdated suits, faces carved with the marks of age and violence.I sat at the head, fingers tapping lightly on the table.“Effective immediately, all drug operations are to cease.”The room erupted.“Madam, that’s the family’s largest revenue stream!”“What are we supposed to feed our men without it?”“Don Moretti never once said we should give up this cash cow!”I didn’t speak. I just watched them.My assistant tossed a stack of files onto the table. The slap of paper cut through the noise, and silence fell.“These are the accounts for the past three years.” I opened the first page. “Vito, the line you manage shows three million euros in profit, yet only 1.2 million actually made it in. Where’s the rest?”Vito’s face drained of color.“And you, Francisco.” I looked at the beefy middle-aged man. “The nightclub your son opened in Milan, re

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