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Todos os capítulos de He Let Me Drown Now Watch Him Burn: Capítulo 1 - Capítulo 10

16 Capítulos

Chapter 1

Ice water flooded the boathouse. It was over my ankles.For a second, I couldn't breathe."Open the door!"I threw myself at it. My hand gripped the frosted handle. I shook it. Hard.Nothing. The door wouldn't budge.Through the huge glass window, I could see the shore.A massive bonfire burned.The flames lit up the night sky. And the faces of our guests.The heads of the five families. All here for my engagement party tomorrow.Right now, they were sipping expensive whiskey. Watching me.Like it was a show.Someone whistled. Loud.Someone else raised a phone. The flash cut through the glass. Right on my terrified face."Hell of a show!" a guy in a loud shirt yelled. "This is how the Falconettis do an initiation!""That's right! Teach the civilian some respect!"Their laughter cut through the glass. It hurt.The water was still rising.It covered my calves now. The cold was like needles in my bones. Stealing my warmth.Outside the window, Isabella walked closer.She wore a stunning, c

Chapter 2

"Let her have her fun?"I stared at the man in the warm firelight. It was like I was seeing him for the first time.The water was at my thighs. Thousands of icy needles stabbing into my bones."Nico!" My eyes burned with tears. I screamed through the glass. "You know I'm afraid of water!"I was eight years old.A rival family. They locked me and my mother in a car. Pushed us into the river.Black water flooded the car. My mother smashed the window. Pushed me out.She never came back up.A locked space. Cold, deep water.It's my deepest fear.Nico was the only person I had ever told.Three years ago, he was a nobody. Hunted by his own family. He was hiding out in a South Side safe house, bleeding.I stayed with him all night while his fever raged.He held my hand. Kissed it. Swore to me. "Alessia, as long as I'm alive, I'll protect you from everything you fear."And now?He was turning my greatest fear into a joke. Just to please another woman.Isabella heard me. She just laughed harder

Chapter 3

Isabella's words were colder than the December lake.The key was an intercom. Only we could hear."Last month. In my bed," her voice was sickeningly sweet, intimate. "He was holding me. He told me your sad little story like it was a bedtime joke. He said the way you shake when you see deep water... it's like a pathetic stray dog."I stood rigid in the icy water. The air left my lungs.Three years.I helped him take out his rivals.I used my winery's shipping routes to connect him to the biggest network in South America.Countless nights, up at 4 AM, analyzing territory for him.The night he was shot, I was the one in that dark safe house, tending his wounds.That night, he knelt on the blood-soaked carpet. He clung to my waist.He cried. "Alessia," he said, "I'd be nothing without you."And now?Isabella was still laughing into the intercom. "He said I could do whatever I wanted, as long as I was happy. But..."Her smile twisted. "He probably doesn't know I broke the controls. The wate

Chapter 4

Isabella saw my hand on my chest.She thought I was finally breaking."Look! She can't take it anymore!" she screamed with excitement.She ran to the water's edge, phone held high, camera pointed at me."Cry, Alessia! Tell the camera you're a manipulative bitch! Admit you don't deserve Nico!" she offered. "Do it, and I'll pull you out!"I stopped coughing.The water was at my collarbone.I slowly raised my head. My eyes locked onto hers through the glass.Ice cold."Isabella," I said. My voice was quiet, but dead. "Are you sure you want to keep going?"She froze for a second. Then laughed."You're about to drown and you're still putting on a show?" She pointed at me. "Don't forget, Nico gave you everything! Without him, you're nothing!"I ignored her.My neck felt stiff as I turned to Nico on the shore.I stood up as straight as I could in the chest-deep water."Nico," I looked at his arrogant face, and my voice was steel. "My place by your side... you really think you can just take it

Chapter 5

The glass shattered.A sharp edge sliced me, shoulder to collarbone.Blood gushed out. It mixed with the lake water, staining half my body red.I didn’t stop.I stumbled out of the broken window, my feet crunching on the shattered glass as I walked ashore.Dead silence.The same guests who were laughing moments ago were now frozen. Wine glasses hung in mid-air.Isabella’s face went white. She took a step back.I lunged. Grabbed her wrist. Hard.My blood dripped down my fingers, instantly staining her perfect white designer gown.“Let go of me!” she shrieked. “Help! She’s crazy! Somebody help!”“Let her go.”Nico strode forward. His voice was a command.He stopped in front of me. His eyes fell on my soaking wet red dress. On the blood pooling at my feet. On the murder in my eyes.His jaw tightened.A flicker of something shot through his eyes. Something he didn’t even recognize himself.Awe. And fear.“I begged you for help in the water. Where were you?” I sneered. My voice trembled fro

Chapter 6

The guests’ faces turned sheet-white. They scrambled to hide their phones.The black-suited enforcers were faster, intercepting every hand that held a phone.The guy in the loud shirt, the one who’d been yelling about getting a good shot, was shaking like a leaf.“I… I was just drunk!” he stammered. “Seriously, Miss Marino, I didn’t film anything!”I didn’t even look at him.“Save it for the Commission.”Isabella finally scrambled to her feet, screaming. “My father will ruin you! Do you have any idea who he is?”“Then you should ask your father,” I said, staring at her pathetic face, word by word, “if he knows what his daughter did tonight. Let’s see if the Rossi family can even save you.”Nico’s face was a thundercloud.“Bringing the Commission into this is going too far,” he said, his voice low, a clear warning.“I don’t need you to tell me what’s too far,” I cut him off, not even bothering to let him finish.Ten minutes later, an emissary from the Commission arrived with two enforce

Chapter 7

The second I finished, Nico’s face changed.He stalked towards me, cornering me against the car door. He slammed his hands on either side of my head, trapping me completely.“Are you out of your goddamn mind?” he snarled, his voice low but failing to hide the rage. “Terminate the partnership? Do you know what that means? The South District shipping lines will collapse! The guys on the street don’t get paid, they riot!”He was close. So close I could feel his hot, heavy breath on my cold cheeks.“The losses will be catastrophic,” he said through gritted teeth. “Are you really going to watch both our families burn?”I met his gaze without flinching.“Of course I know.”My voice was flat. Like a sheet of ice.“Because I’m the one who built that line from the ground up.”Nico froze.“Three years ago, when your family was tearing itself apart,” I said, staring into his eyes. “I bribed the ports, secured the smuggling routes, and doubled the profits in a year. I’m the reason you’re the heir

Chapter 8

When Leo finished, I laughed.“Her port shares, mortgaged to my own trust,” I said softly, savoring the irony. “Nico used my money to bail out the Rossi family.”I looked at Leo. “What channel did he use for this deal?”“A shell corporation in the Caymans. On paper, it has no link to the Falconetti family,” Leo replied. “But the money trail leads right back. If this comes out, he used the family’s name to bail out some other woman.”“Confirm it. Complete the evidence chain,” I said, leaning back. “Tomorrow, I’m going to give it to Nico as a gift.”At 3 AM, my phone buzzed.Nico’s name flashed on the screen. Once. Twice.I didn’t answer.Then came the texts, one after another.“Alessia, can we please talk.”“I know I messed up. Give me a chance. Don’t destroy the alliance.”I stared at the screen for three seconds, then blocked him.A few minutes later, a call came from Isabella’s number.I answered. Said nothing.“You think you’ve won?” Her voice was shrill and shaky. “You’ll regret th

Chapter 9

The air in the boardroom froze.A dozen pairs of eyes, sharp as knives, dug into Nico.“Bullshit,” a senior Capo slammed his hand on the table, his voice trembling with rage. “Nico, who gave you the balls to touch the joint trust’s money?”Nico swallowed hard, trying to stay calm.“It was just a short-term loan,” he said through gritted teeth. “The Rossi family was in a tight spot. I helped them out. I’ll get the money back. It’s not a big deal.”“Not a big deal?”I let out a cold laugh and tossed another file onto the table.“Open it.”The Capo’s hands shook as he opened the file. The color drained from his face.“The port union is planning a strike next week,” I announced, each word a hammer blow aimed at Nico. “Three banks owned by the Rossi family have already started debt collection procedures. Three major risks, all at once.”I looked at him, my expression blank.“That money you ‘loaned’ them? You’re not getting it back.”Nico slammed his hands on the table and shot to his feet.

Chapter 10

At the Rossi mansion, the sound of smashing porcelain could be heard two doors down.The day Isabella’s house arrest was lifted, she stormed into her father’s study, tears still fresh on her face.“Why did you lock me up?” she screamed at her parents. “What did I do wrong? That woman is just some trash who got lucky with a winery! Why does she get to take my things?”Mr. Rossi’s phone slipped from his hand and clattered to the floor.Mrs. Rossi sat slumped on the sofa, her face a mask of gray despair.The family meeting ended with Isabella’s complete breakdown.No one dared to say she was the victim anymore.By 2 PM, all three of the Rossi family’s main business lines were in crisis.Port partners canceled contracts, banks froze their credit, and even their money-laundering fronts were being raided by the Feds.Mr. Rossi made a dozen calls. No one picked up.Finally, he put on his coat and had his driver take him to the Vittorio Holdings building.I leaned back in my chair, swirling a

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