All Chapters of He Sold Me for Cheap: Chapter 11 - Chapter 17

Rewind to seven years ago. I was seventeen, at the height of my misery, getting bullied relentlessly by the spoiled daughters of the mafia elite.Determined to change myself, I begged my mother to call in every favor the Pierce family had on the East Coast to get me into a secluded, cross-family etiquette and discipline training camp.That place was where the old families sent their kids to be whipped into shape.Three months. Fully locked down. Before entering, every trainee had to surrender all electronic devices, real names, and family crests.The instructors didn't use our names. Everyone chose a designated code.The rules at the camp were brutal. We woke up at 5:00 AM every day to practice standing against walls and walking straight lines with books on our heads, with extra endurance shooting drills at the range at night. Snacks and sugary drinks were strictly forbidden. If you slouched or hunched your shoulders while walking, you took a whip to the shoulder.Every day I was so e

For some reason, Zeno seemed upset. He hadn't sent a single message all day.It was a complete one-eighty from his usual clingy behavior, where he usually acted like he wanted to be surgically attached to my hip.Feeling suspicious, I texted him that night and asked him to meet me downstairs by the safehouse on the Lower East Side."Found someone new?" I asked, looking up at him."If you do, just say so. I'm not the type to be a clingy girlfriend."He stared at me dead on, his jaw clenched tight."I knew it. You really don't like me that much."I was just about to fire back a sarcastic remark when a sudden force yanked me into the shadows against the rough brick wall.Zeno's familiar scent of cedar and leather enveloped me.Only this time, his aura was different from usual.There was a ruthless edge to it.He pinned me against the cold brick wall, bracing one hand beside my head, looking down at me.The neon orange glow from the building across the street bled into the alley mouth, fal

The unlock passcode for Julian's phone was my birthday.I scrolled through his contacts and called his parents, one by one.When I told him the news, his father, every inch the district Capo, just snorted. "Shot? I'm in the middle of a smuggling op at the border. I don't have time for this.""Find out how much hush money and medical fees are needed. I'll have my men wire it straight into the doctor's account."Then he ruthlessly hung up.I dialed his mother's number several times, but no one ever answered.Finally, I got his aunt's private number from one of his men.By the time his aunt arrived at the hospital, Julian's surgery had just ended.Fortunately, the private medical team the Marchesi family kept in Brooklyn was professional enough. Several bullets had narrowly missed his vital organs.The blood loss was terrifying, but he survived.He was still unconscious, his bare chest wrapped in heavy bandages seeping with blood."Madam," I said, a twinge of guilt washing over me as I re

Three months later.Julian formally requested to be withdrawn from all direct affairs of his branch of the Marchesi family.Madre Marchesi pulled some strings for him with the family council, and he left for their ancestral home in Sicily to recuperate.He kept his word. He never appeared before me again.The night he boarded his flight, he sent one last message to the encrypted channel only the two of us used.He repeated the last sentence I ever gave him, word for word:"I'm sorry. And I wish you happiness."As the message popped onto the screen, a private jet flew low over the East River.Against the night sky, the red lights on its wings blinked.Soon, it vanished into the clouds.I looked up for a moment, waiting until the two red dots had disappeared completely.Then, I unlocked my phone and decisively deleted the forum app."Baby," Zeno's voice came from behind me."What are you looking at?"He smiled, revealing the same slightly crooked canine from his Oreo-smuggling days at ca