All Chapters of After the Third Cancelled Engagement, I Chose to Inherit the Mafia Family: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

The moment I moved to pull the dress off Capucine, Matteo stepped in and put her behind him."Are you insane?" He grabbed my wrist, his voice full of impatience. "You're going to lose it in front of everyone over one old dress?""Old dress?" I stared at him, my voice shaking a little.He did not look at me again. He turned away and bent his head, gentling his voice for Capucine. "Don't be scared, I won't let her hurt you. Just take it off and give it back to her, it's not a big deal."Capucine bit her lip, her eyes red, and slid the gown off.Matteo took it, brushed the cat hair off the skirt, and held it out to me.I looked down at the ruined gown in my hands.For a second the image came rushing back of my mother sitting by the window, sewing it.She was very sick then, her fingers so swollen she could barely hold the needle, but she smiled anyway. "When my Liana wears this dress, she's going to be the most beautiful bride in the world."Matteo was there the day I tried it on.The lig

Chapter 2

A message from my father lit up the screen. "Liana, have you decided? If you can't bear to leave your friends and the man you love, I won't force you to come and live with me."The words "the man you love" made my eyes sting.Back then, my mother only found out she was carrying me after she and my father parted.She did not go back. She made her way alone to this small northern town, rented a little house, and gave birth to me one winter.The town was small and gossip traveled faster than the wind.Bastard, mongrel, fatherless dead weight. I heard all of it through my entire childhood.On the way home from school there were always a few boys blocking the mouth of the alley, shoving my shoulders, throwing my bag into the gutter.Only one boy ever ran over and stood in front of me.Matteo Rizzi, the mayor's son.That day he broke off a branch and pointed it at them. He was only ten and shorter than the biggest of them, and he still scared the whole group off.He turned to look at me with

Chapter 3

I wheeled my suitcase out through the front gate of the Rizzi house.Capucine ran after me and spread her arms to block my way, her eyes exactly as red as they needed to be."Liana, don't go, please? It was my fault. I shouldn't have touched your gown. Don't be angry at Matteo."Twenty years. I had seen this act more than enough."Move.""Liana..."I did not let her finish. I raised a hand and pushed her aside.Matteo came out of the house at exactly that moment, and the first thing he saw was my hand still in the air and Capucine leaning against the doorpost, biting her lip and crying."Liana!" He rushed over and pulled Capucine behind him. "That's enough! Slapping her at the party wasn't enough, now you're putting your hands on her again?"He drew her closer, his heart going out to her, and his voice softened. "Are you okay? Does it hurt?"Capucine shook her head and the tears shook loose with it. "I'm fine, I just don't want Liana to leave..."Matteo lifted his head and looked at me

Chapter 4

When I woke up there was nothing in the room but the ticking of the machines.The door was ajar, and there were lowered voices out in the hallway."...she isn't awake yet." It was Matteo's voice. "The doctor says it was an acute asthma attack brought on by an allergy. They want to keep her under observation."His voice softened. "I didn't mean to snap at you earlier. In that situation... I was scared somebody was going to die."The other end said a long string of something I could not make out.Silence stretched for more than ten seconds.When he spoke again there was a tiredness in his voice I had never heard before."Capucine, can you be reasonable? If you hadn't kept turning me down back then, why would I ever have gone and told Liana how I felt?"I just... wanted to make you jealous. Then her mother got that sick, and if I'd ended it, what was she supposed to do on her own?"Something sweet and metallic rose in my throat, and I could not tell whether it was the aftertaste of the me

Chapter 5

When Matteo got home, Capucine was curled up on the couch, her eyes swollen like two walnuts.She looked up sharply at the sound of the door, and when she saw it was him her eyes reddened again. "Weren't you staying with her?"He took off his coat and hung it up, a trace of exhaustion in his voice. "She told me to come and check on you."Capucine froze, then buried her face in a cushion. "Go back and stay with her. There's nothing worth checking on with someone like me, everything I do is wrong anyway.""Enough," Matteo said, frowning, and went over to sit down beside her. "You know that isn't what I meant.""Then why did you yell at me before!" Capucine's head came up and the tears welled again, the picture of someone deeply wronged.Something in Matteo softened at the sight of her."I was panicking, wasn't I? She was having an attack, her face was turning blue. What if something had actually happened!""So she's the only one you care about, is that it?" Capucine glared at him through

Chapter 6

Blood is a strange thing. Twenty years on, I met my real father for the first time and felt not the slightest distance between us.I had assumed that a mafia boss people trembled at would carry a knife scar somewhere, or at least a cruel look.But when he stood in front of me, he was exactly the father I had drawn in my head a thousand times as a child.He put his arms around me carefully, his voice unsteady. "My good girl. You've suffered."The embrace was dry and warm and smelled faintly of cigars.As the car pulled out of town I turned and looked out the window.The streets and lampposts and shop signs I had lived among for twenty years slid backward frame by frame, farther and farther away.I do not know how long it was before the car stopped at an estate.My father walked behind me, quietly keeping me company while I looked over my new home.My room was not large, but every single thing in it had clearly been chosen with care.My favorite flowers were growing on the windowsill, an

Chapter 7

I thought that once the video died down everything would go quiet again.Then photos of me out shopping got posted online.Early the next morning, right after I got up, I heard a commotion outside the estate.I went to the window and saw Matteo at the iron gate, talking to the servant on duty, dark circles still under his eyes.Capucine stood behind him in a white dress, head slightly bowed, meek and well behaved.That was always how she looked in front of other people.My father was out, and I knew that if I did not go down and face them they would probably make a scene at the gate all day.I changed into a dress without hurrying, then went downstairs.The instant he saw me, Matteo froze like someone had hit pause on him, and he stood there blank for several seconds.His eyes went over me a few times before he spoke. "Liana, I finally found you. Come back with me."I raised an eyebrow.He took a step forward, his voice turning urgent. "I know you're still angry, so I brought Capucine

Chapter 8

Matteo pulled twice and could not get free.He whipped his head around and met a face with no expression on it at all.My father had just rushed back and had not even had time to take off his coat.Two bodyguards stood a few paces behind him, silent, their eyes locked on Matteo and Capucine.Matteo opened his mouth, and before he got anything out, Capucine moved first.She took half a step back, ran her eyes over my father, and then she smiled, with the contempt of someone who thinks she has just worked it all out."No wonder. I couldn't understand where you suddenly got your backbone, Liana. So you really did find yourself a sugar daddy."She looked my father up and down and let out a deliberate little laugh. "He's old enough to be your father. You gave up every shred of self-respect just to live like this?"The air went still for a beat.Capucine practically flew off her feet. Half her cheek swelled up fast enough to watch.The corner of her mouth split open and blood ran down her ch

Chapter 9

Summer in Sicily is long and lazy, and I had nearly forgotten every person and every thing in that northern town.Then one day my father mentioned it in passing. "The Rizzi business has shut down completely."That was how I learned that under my father's pressure Matteo's father's business had stalled, that he was buried in debt, and that no bank would lend him another cent.He spent his days in bars, cursing his son for provoking the wrong people, and when he was done cursing he begged people to go to Sicily and speak for him.But nobody dared cross the Colombo family, and nobody dared carry the message.The relatives and friends who used to fawn over the Rizzis turned into strangers overnight.Matteo's mother made herself ill with rage and could not even cover the medical bills.I did not ask about any of it, and I did not give it any thought.That changed only when I saw Matteo again.That afternoon I was out shopping alone, and just as I came out of the mall I saw an old car parked

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