Todos os capítulos de After the Escape: Capítulo 1 - Capítulo 9

The basement sat right next to the wine cellar—damp, dark, and cramped, with nothing but a narrow cot that barely fit my body.When my mother first married my stepfather, she'd volunteered me to the housekeeper to prove how humble and well-behaved she was. "Vera's small. She can sleep by the wine cellar and help keep an eye on the bottles. That's enough."That was seven years ago. I'd long since grown taller, my limbs too long for this bed now—but no one ever replaced it.I curled up on that tiny mattress in an awkward, twisted position, and the tears just started spilling down my cheeks.Truth is, I used to crave my mother's love.I used to take on every dirty, backbreaking chore in the manor, ran errands for the low-level mafia thugs, and saved up a few hundred dollars.With that money, I bought Sofia the limited-edition hairpin she'd been eyeing for months—hoping it might help me belong.But Sofia took one look at it, knocked it out of my hand, and crushed it under her heel. "A thin

I needed money.The acceptance letter was full scholarship—tuition, room, board—but I'd need living expenses. Books. Emergency funds. A cushion in case something went wrong.So I found work. An old doctor in the neutral zone ran a small clinic, patching up low-level thugs and street fighters. He didn't ask questions. He just needed a pair of steady hands.I worked the evening shift, cleaning wounds, handing him instruments, learning what I could. The pay was pitiful—barely above minimum—but every dollar was a step closer to freedom.For three days, I kept my head down and my mouth shut.On the third day, the clinic door got kicked open.My mother, my stepfather, Sofia—and a few armed bodyguards—stormed in.Before I could even open my mouth, my mother was already on me, grabbing my hair and yanking me out from behind the counter."You shameless little wretch!" Her sharp voice echoed through the clinic. "Scraping together a few lousy bucks by treating those gutter rats? Have you no shame

Boston's autumn was far colder than Sicily.I found a night-shift orderly job at a community clinic near the med school. I cleaned up patients' waste, handled bloody wounds—but every person who looked at me did so with equal respect.The old doctor answered my questions during rounds. The head nurse stuffed extra sandwiches into my pockets.It was a peace I'd never known in eighteen years.Sometimes I thought about that cage I used to call home.But the surgeries and thick medical textbooks always drowned out those memories soon enough.A thousand miles away, Falcone Manor was a very different story.That highly anticipated initiation ceremony had become the underground's biggest joke of the year.Tradition required Sofia to recite a fifteen-minute family oath in ancient Sicilian to the Council. During practice, she'd always made me hide behind the curtain, mouthing every word with hand signals.But that day—the curtain was empty.Sofia stood under the crystal chandelier, face burning

After my mother went blind, more servants fled the manor.No one wanted to look after a paralyzed has-been don and a blind second wife. Sofia was useless—she spent her days either cursing her disloyal underlings or complaining about the cooking and some ruined dress."Mom! Can't you control these servants? They used cheap detergent on my velvet gown!"Sofia burst into my mother's room and threw the dress right in her face. The rough, wrinkled fabric scraped against my mother's healing eye wounds—she flinched in pain."Sofia, I can't see..."My mother fumbled, trying to catch her stepdaughter's hand. "The estate's running low on money. You need to learn to take care of yourself.""Can't see, can't see—that's all you ever say!"Sofia yanked her hand away in disgust. "You're useless now! Dad's paralyzed, you're blind. If you hadn't driven Vera away, at least she had some clinic experience—she could've stayed to take care of you both! She could've run errands for me! This is all your fault