All Chapters of SOLD TO THE RUTHLESS MAFIA LORD: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Serena's Pov I sat beside my mother's bed and stared at her face. She looked so much older than I remembered. So fragile. The years had not been kind to her. The drugs. The men. The life she had chosen. They had all left their mark. Her skin was pale. Her cheeks were sunken. Her hands were thin and trembling. She looked like a ghost of the woman I used to know. I wanted to scream at her. To cry. To run away. But I didn't. I stayed. I held her hand. And I asked the question that had been burning inside me for years. "Why?" I said. "Why did you sell me?" Lucia's eyes fluttered. She turned her head slowly to look at me. Her lips moved, but no sound came out at first. "I was desperate," she whispered finally. "I was addicted. Scared." "That's not an answer." "It's the only answer I have." She paused. Her breathing was labored. "I was sick, Serena. The drugs had taken everything. My mind. My body. My soul. I wasn't thinking clearly." "You chose Carlo over me. You chose money ove

Serena's Pov I couldn't breathe after a few minutes. The weight of everything was pressing down on me. Antonio wasn't just my father. He was a monster. A man who had been watching me my whole life. A man who had threatened my mother. A man who was building an army to destroy the person I loved most in the world. And I was his daughter. His blood. I felt sick. I walked to the window of the hospital room. The city was dark outside. The lights were dim. The night was quiet. But inside me, there was chaos. I remembered the meeting at the Villa dei Sette. The cold stone walls. The flickering candles. Antonio's scarred face. His eye patch. The way he had looked at me like I was something precious. But I wasn't precious to him. I was a tool. A key. A way to get what he wanted. He had played on my emotions. He had told me Dimitrio was my enemy. He had said I was just a replacement for a dead girl. He had made me doubt the only person who had ever truly loved me. And I had believed h

Serena's Pov I felt her hand go loose in mine before I understood what it meant. For a second, I thought she had simply fallen asleep. Her face still held that small, soft smile. I waited for her chest to rise again. It did not rise. The machine beside the bed let out a long, flat tone. I stared at the screen, at the straight line where a moving one used to be, and I could not make my mind accept what my eyes were showing me. "Mom?" I said. Nothing. "Mom, wake up." I shook her hand gently, then harder. "Mom, please. Wake up." I do not remember if I screamed. I remember sound leaving my mouth, but I could not tell you if it was words or just noise. Dimitrio was suddenly beside me, his hands on my shoulders. "Serena," he said. "She's not waking up," I said. "Why isn't she waking up?" Nurses came into the room fast, one of them pressing a button on the wall, another moving me back gently by the arm. I did not want to move. I wanted to stay right there, holding my mother's ha

Serena's Pov The gun was pointed straight at my heart. Everything around me slowed down. I saw Giovanni's finger resting on the trigger. I saw the small movement of his hand as he steadied his aim. I heard Dimitrio's voice, loud and full of fury, though the words did not fully reach me. "Giovanni, no!" Dimitrio shouted. I watched him move toward me, but it felt like he was moving through water, too slow to reach me in time. Giovanni's eyes were on mine now, not on Dimitrio. "This is what happens," he said, "when you stand between me and my daughter's freedom." I did not step back. I do not know why, but my legs would not move. "Serena, get down!" Dimitrio's voice cracked through the room. I stayed where I was. Giovanni's finger tightened on the trigger. I saw it happen, slow and clear, like I was watching it from somewhere outside my own body. I should have been afraid. I waited for the fear to come, for my knees to buckle, for tears to fill my eyes. None of that happened.

Serena's Pov I was still trembling when Dimitrio pulled me close, his arms wrapping around me tightly. "I thought I was going to lose you," he said, his voice rough. "I'm here," I said. "I'm fine." His hands moved over my shoulders, my arms, checking for any injury, though I had told him twice already that Giovanni's bullet had never reached me. I could feel his hands shaking slightly as he touched me, and I understood, in that moment, just how frightened he had been. "You saved me," I said. "I should have gotten to you sooner," he said. "I should never have let him get that close." "You got to me in time," I said. "That's what matters." He pulled back just enough to look at my face, his eyes searching mine like he needed to see the truth of it for himself. "I am done letting anyone come near you like that," he said. "I don't care who they are. Advisor, family, anyone. If they threaten you, they die." "Dimitrio—" "I mean it," he said. "I will not lose you the way I lost he