Lahat ng Kabanata ng My Sister Crowned Him Don, I Bought Back My Ten Years: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 9

At two a.m., Matteo opened the front door.The entryway's motion-sensor light caught his right hand. He had removed the ring Isabella had slipped onto his finger.When he saw me, he paused. His voice was a little rough. "Why are you still awake?"I crushed my cigarette out in the ashtray. "Waiting for you."Matteo pulled off his tie and came toward me with a smile, bending to kiss my forehead. "Worried about me? It was a minor problem. It's taken care of."The perfume on him was not mine. I frowned, set the pair of wedding bands I had prepared on the coffee table, and looked up at him. "Matteo," I said carefully, "let's get married."The smile froze on his face. He dropped onto the sofa across from me. "I just became Don. Every rival out there is watching for weakness. Getting married now would be reckless. We've been together for ten years. Married or not, I'll love you for the rest of my life. You're the only woman I'll ever marry. Please, just wait a little longer."Wait?I had wait

I set the phone aside, curled under the covers, and cried for so long that I never noticed falling asleep.The harsh smell of liquor on Matteo woke me.He sat on the edge of the bed, three shirt buttons undone, staring at me through bleary eyes. "Aurora, why did you never tell me your father is one of the heads of the Five Families?"One of the heads of the Five Families?No! He wasn't! My grandfather was.He had betrayed my mother and grandfather. He had used every filthy trick imaginable to build his glory on their bones.Why would I ever have told the man I loved about someone like that?I did not answer.His stare was accusing. "You did it on purpose. You wanted me to struggle."If you'd introduced me to your father earlier, or apologized to him and gone back to the family, we might not have needed ten years to get this far."He was blaming me.For denying him a shortcut.He had forgotten how I had knelt before the man I hated most in this world, for his sake.I left the bedroom an

Matteo stared at the wreckage, stunned, and a howl of grief tore out of him. "No!"He tried to charge into the burning building, but Isabella grabbed him.Her brows knotted. "You've lost your mind! You'd throw your life away for Aurora? You couldn't save her even if you went in. She's already dead."Matteo stared at her, dazed, and yanked his arm free.With shaking hands, he pulled out his phone and called his men. "Use my location. Get here and put this fire out. Now!"He could not believe Aurora had died like that.In the back alleys of Brooklyn, Aurora and Matteo had been almost unbeatable.With only two handguns between them, they had climbed from the lowest rank of soldier all the way up, survived more life-or-death trials than he could count, and emerged alive from every one.She would survive this too. Once the fire was out, she would be standing right in front of him.Ten minutes later, Matteo's men arrived with a water truck.Before it had fully stopped, Matteo ripped the hose

Only Matteo, Mauro Volkov, and Isabella were in Mauro's study.Mauro stared at Matteo in disbelief, veins standing out on the hand gripping his cane. "What did you say? You may be Don now, but without the Volkov family's backing, you won't hold the position for long. Marrying Isabella is our only chance to become one family, and now you tell me you don't want her!"Isabella stared at him too, and tears spilled down her face."Matteo, I gave you what you asked for. Why don't you want to marry me now? Aurora is dead. She's never coming back!"Matteo glared at them, his eyes red. "Why is Aurora dead? Because you staged the kidnapping. You killed her!"Isabella's face changed, and she started to speak, but Mauro laughed coldly first. "So you know? I never intended to hide it forever. With Aurora dead, I can legitimize your past. Marry Isabella and you'll become heir to the Volkov family. With my support, the entire North will be yours."Matteo's fists clenched, and his voice shook. "Why? A

Matteo became a killing machine with no emotion left, driven only by self-interest.He seized control of the Volkov family and absorbed the western territory, making himself Don over both the North and West.His own men, however, never seemed fully loyal. Knox said Matteo had made so many enemies that he slept with one eye open, never sure he would live to see morning.It surprised me, but only a little.Matteo's ambition had always been boundless. His alliance with Mauro after becoming Don proved that one family's power would never satisfy him.The western and northern families maintained a polite facade, but in private they traded fire and fought constantly over territory and resources. That Matteo had merged them was sheer madness!I had no desire to think about how Matteo ran his empire, because Knox and I were getting married.A month later, I spread the handwritten invitations across the coffee table and looked up at Knox. "Anyone else we need to invite?"Knox bent to kiss me and