Home / The Seven-Year Bet / Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

All Chapters of The Seven-Year Bet: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

"Camilla, are you insane?! Every family in the country has their guns pointed at this room, and you want a divorce?!"Vivienne held onto me tightly.I did not look back. I wrenched my arm free and pushed open the heavy carved doors.Hundreds of cold eyes snapped toward me.At the head of the banquet table, the high seat stood empty. It was waiting for Chicago's new Don.I walked right up to the center of the main stage under every capo's gaze. I pulled off the ring on my left hand. The ring that made me his Donna.I threw it straight into the silver ice bucket in front of me.With a sharp clink, ice water splashed.I stared down the whole room. "As of tonight, Matteo and I are done."Dead silence fell over the hall."Camilla."The deep voice cut through the air.Matteo walked up the stage stairs with long strides.He stood tall and broad-shouldered. After seven years, his features had grown colder from the smoke of gunfire, but when he looked at me, there was still a trace of tendernes

Chapter 2

"Ma'am, your bags cannot stay in the master suite."The butler kept his head down as I stepped into the foyer of the Long Island estate.Down the hallway, maids carried boxes of baby items right into my room.Vivienne caught up to me and sighed. "Don't blame the staff, Camilla. Mia is sickly. She cannot take the cold. The master suite has the best heating system. Matteo ordered it himself."I watched them take over the room I lived in for seven years. My face remained blank."Where do I stay?" I asked.The butler looked everywhere except my eyes. "Matteo's mother, Vittoria, gave orders. The old armory behind the east wing is empty...""How dare you!" Bridget, my bodyguard, stepped up to reach for her piece.I grabbed her wrist. "Take my bags to the back."I walked into the main living room. The fireplace crackled with heat.Matteo was already home, dressed in a dark casual shirt. Five-year-old Mia slept soundly on his broad lap, her little face pale and frail. Gianna knelt quietly by h

Chapter 3

The door flew open right as the words left my mouth.My mother, Lucia Bellini, walked in.She wore an expensive mink coat. An attendant trailed behind her carrying a box of gourmet pastries. The sharp smell of gun oil in the armory made her wrinkle her nose in disgust."Look at you, Camilla. What a pathetic mess."She clicked across the floor in her stilettos and dropped the pastries onto an iron rack. She reached out to grab my arm. "Matteo called home. He just returned, and you threw your ring into an ice bucket in front of every boss in America! You humiliated the new Don. How is he supposed to save face?"My hands stilled. I looked up at her. "What did he tell you?""I know all about it! The child is just blood he was forced to leave behind in Sicily!" Lucia sounded frantic. She pulled a neatly folded document from her handbag. "Sign this consent form. Accept the girl, and Matteo promises to double our monthly allowance. You stay the Don's Donna. Nobody can replace you!""Double?"

Chapter 4

Heavy morning rain slammed against the skylights with dull thuds.My fever raged. I pulled on a heavy black tactical trench coat over my sweat-soaked skin. Bridget supported my weight as we descended into the underground vault.Matteo had left ironclad orders:"Take back every encryption key she holds. But without my word, she does not leave Long Island."He thought stripping my power and cutting off my exits would force me to crawl back to him.I never cared about his empire. If he wanted it back, I would gladly return it.Vittoria sat cold and stiff behind the long steel table. Several capos stood silently along the walls.I pushed the encrypted drives holding our smuggling codes and overseas routes across the surface."Everything is here," my voice was flat and hoarse. "As of today, the Castiglione family and I are even."Vittoria took inventory and sneered. "Satisfied now? I have no idea why you are making such a scene."I ignored her, turned around, and walked toward the corridor.

Chapter 5

"Dead?"Matteo froze in the doorway. His throat bobbed. A sickening, bitter laugh tore from his lips."What kind of sick joke is this, Bridget?" He strode into the armory, his trench coat whipping in the freezing draft. "Mia's safe. I brought the doctors. Tell Camilla to stop playing games and get up."He walked straight toward the narrow iron cot in the center of the room. A white sheet covered it. The shape beneath it was paper-thin and completely motionless."Camilla?"He called her name. His voice cracked with a tremor he could not hide.Nothing moved under the sheet.His men and the surgical team crowded the doorway. No one dared to step inside. The air was suffocating.Matteo spun around, his eyes instantly bloodshot with rage. "Surgical team! Are you all deaf? Where's the crash cart? Where's the epi? Bring her back! Who told you to just stand there?!"He turned back and reached for the sheet. Even if she was just unconscious, even if this was another silent protest to leave him,

Chapter 6

Broad daylight flooded the yard.The heavy door of the old armory creaked open again. The sharp clicks of high heels echoed against the cold concrete.Vittoria walked in briskly with two armed guards at her back.She pulled her heavy coat tight. She did not spare a single glance at the sheet on the cot. Instead, she stopped right behind the long wooden table."I just spoke with the elders," Vittoria said with cold, practiced authority. "Order the finest walnut casket. Have the bishop himself say the funeral Mass. Send word to the Five Families. Tell them our Donna died a hero defending the family bloodline."She turned to the lieutenant and tilted her chin up. "Make it grand. Shut every mouth in the country. That way, no one will dare question why Matteo took the doctors last night."The room stayed deadly quiet.Matteo had been kneeling by the cot all night. Now, he finally moved. Bloodshot veins covered his eyes. His stubble was wild and dark. His designer coat was completely wrinkle

Chapter 7

"Insane! This is completely insane!"At three in the afternoon, the doors to the main study flew open. Three gray-haired elders from the council walked in, their faces dark with fury.The lead elder slammed a stack of papers onto the long table. He glared at Matteo across the desk. "You are signing a Blood Oath Dissolution in front of the whole country? Camilla is dead, and you are using your absolute authority to strip her of the Castiglione name?"Matteo sat in the shadows. Dark red veins filled his eyes.He had not slept in days. His face looked like carved stone, completely lifeless."I already signed it." His voice was flat and raspy.On the desk lay the parchment document. Fresh black ink sat right next to the red wax seal of the Don.Officially releasing all blood oath duties. Stripping the name. Setting her free."She was the Donna of this family!" The elder slammed his cane against the floor. "Stripping her name tells the world you drove your own wife to her grave! The family

Chapter 8

"Boss, those are her things. The matriarch said she would have someone clear it out. Why put yourself through this?"His lieutenant spoke in a low voice from behind.Matteo did not stop. He tore right through the seal on the door. His dress shoes crushed the dead leaves scattered across the threshold.The heavy iron door swung shut behind him with a dull thud.The room was pitch black. Only a sliver of pale moonlight cut through the window, catching the dust floating in the air.He had not closed his eyes for seven whole days.Every time he blinked, the smell of her blood filled his lungs, thick and impossible to wash away from that rainy night.The room was terrifyingly quiet.A line of black garment bags hung neatly on the wooden rack against the wall. Over the past seven years, he had ordered expensive furs, couture evening gowns, unopened jewelry boxes, and Patek Philippe watches from Europe.Matteo pulled down a zipper. The tags were still on. Even the tissue paper stuffed inside

Chapter 9

"Don, Gianna has been waiting outside for three hours."Midnight at the Long Island estate.No overhead lights were on. Only the red ember of a cigar drifted in the dark room. Thick tobacco smoke and stale whiskey hung heavy in the air.Matteo sat deep in his armchair, hidden in the shadows. He had not slept through a single night in a whole month. His sharp jaw was locked tight. His eyes were cold, lifeless gray."Send her in."The door opened quietly.Gianna walked in, leading Mia by the hand.The moment the door closed, Gianna dropped to her knees, pulling her daughter down with her."Don," Gianna spoke, fighting to keep her voice steady. "Please let us go."In the dark, the red tip of the cigar paused."Go?" Matteo lifted his eyes. His gaze rested on her. "This house has the best security and doctors in the country. What are you running from?"Gianna lifted her head and dropped all pretense. "I am terrified of dying in this house."This past month, she had actually tried many times

Chapter 10

Twenty years after Camilla died, the Five Families answered to only one man.Matteo ruled the American underworld with an iron grip. His name was law. But for twenty whole years, no other woman ever stepped foot inside the Long Island estate."Don, the council sent another proposal. The uncles are asking the same thing."His lieutenant glanced through the rearview mirror, keeping his voice careful and low. "You never named an heir. The crews in the outer boroughs are getting restless. They want to know... do you want to bring Mia back from the West Coast, or adopt a boy from one of the cousins?"Matteo sat in the back of the armored sedan. He did not even lift his eyelids."Cut off the hands of anyone who makes a move."His voice was dead and flat. The lieutenant shut his mouth and did not dare say another word.The motorcade moved through downtown Chicago. Every gun and smuggling route in this city carried the Castiglione name. But Matteo had one strict rule for his drivers: no sirens

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