Semua Bab He Said , “Go Die”: Bab 1 - Bab 10

Seven years ago, I begged my boyfriend, Declan, to save my father's life. When we met again, he was the youngest Don in the city, and I was just the woman dealing his cards.Someone had dared his fiancée, the princess Maeve, to share the most shameless thing she'd ever done to win him over. She pointed at me and laughed, boasting about how she'd intercepted my distress message to Declan, leaving me to wait all night in the rain for nothing.Everyone laughed, except for Declan. Enthroned at the head of the table, his eyes were bloodshot. "Is that true? Why did you really leave me?"I calmly dealt his hole cards. "Because you told me to go die."The most exclusive underground casino in the city was booked for a private event tonight.Word on the street was that a new Don, one who'd clawed his way up over a mountain of bodies, was back in town and holding court.When the manager handed me the table assignments, his eyes held a hint of pity I couldn't quite decipher."Sienna, that lounge

When I returned, the card game had stopped.After a few rounds of hard liquor, the group of mobsters had completely shed their pretenses.Their true, depraved nature was beginning to show.The atmosphere had devolved into a drunken game of Truth or Dare.It was a cliché game, but fueled by high-proof alcohol, it never failed to rip away inhibitions.Expensive, empty bottles littered the table. Macallan, Royal Salute, aged bourbon.The liquor alone cost enough to buy me a basement apartment in the slums.Maeve was clearly drunk.Her cheeks were flushed, her body was practically plastered against Declan, and her eyes were hazy and feverish.She was the absolute center of attention tonight, and the casino's biggest winner.Her impending marriage to Declan, a strategic union that would make her the Don's wife, left her giddy and reckless."Here we go! Next round!" the family's Consigliere slurred, his tongue thick with booze."Let's see who's next."An empty bottle spun across the polished

The color drained from Declan's face. He let go of my hand and staggered back."It wasn't me… I didn't…" He clutched his head, a pained growl tearing from his throat."I was in a coma. When I woke up, the phone was gone. Maeve told me you'd run off with Victor. She said you sent a message saying you were tired of me being a nobody with no turf."His head snapped toward Maeve, his eyes murderous."It was you. You tampered with my secure phone!"Maeve was completely terrified by now. She had never seen this side of Declan.In her eyes, Declan had always been a cold machine who could kill at the negotiating table without blinking."Declan, let me explain…" Maeve sobbed, her perfect makeup ruined, as she scrambled to grab the hem of his suit."I did it for the good of the family! I didn't want to see you dragged down by some low-level grunt's daughter. That ransom was a black hole! I did it for you!""For me?" Declan's laugh was a raw, furious sound.He drew the M1911 from his waistband an

Back in the present, the air in the VIP lounge was heavy enough to suffocate."How could this happen... How could this happen..."Declan was on his knees amidst the wreckage, muttering to himself like a broken man.He was asking me, but the question was for himself.Looking at him, I felt a twisted sense of satisfaction.But deeper down, there was mostly just sorrow."Declan, do you have any idea how I've survived these past seven years?"I knelt down, forcing him to look at my hands.These hands were once pampered.Once, on those damp, hot nights, he had held them in his palms, kissing every inch with religious devotion.Now, they were covered in rough, yellowed calluses. The knuckles were swollen and misshapen from years of dealing cards.The backs of my hands were scarred with cigarette burns and hot irons, along with the fresh, bloody puncture from Maeve's stiletto."To pay off the ransom debt, to dodge assassins, I didn't dare sleep a single full night.""I laundered dirty money i

The next day, a bloody storm swept through the city's underworld.Declan unilaterally tore up the alliance.He launched a brutal, bloody purge against Maeve's family, completely taking over their territory in the West District.Maeve's family had been propped up by the marriage alliance. With that foundation gone, their entire network collapsed and they were wiped off the map.Maeve became the laughingstock of the underworld.The once-untouchable mafia princess became an outcast overnight.The word was she went to Declan's estate and knelt, begging for forgiveness, only to be dragged away by his bodyguards like a dead dog.Declan searched for me like a madman.But I was prepared. I had quit my job as a dealer that same night. I moved out of the chaotic slums and changed my contact information.I just wanted a few days of peace.But I had underestimated the reach of his network.On the evening of the third day, I saw Declan's black armored car parked downstairs from my new apartment.De