Home / My Family Faked Their Deaths, So I Left / Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

All Chapters of My Family Faked Their Deaths, So I Left: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

My mother and I were getting the estate ready for Thanksgiving dinner when word came that my father and my fiancé, Adrian Marchetti, had been killed.The messenger, one of my father's trusted men, staggered through the door covered in blood."The Don and Mr. Marchetti were ambushed by the Ferraro family at the docks. The arms warehouse blew up... there's nothing left of either man."He gasped for breath, his voice shaking."They've taken Matteo alive too. Their men have the estate surrounded, and they'll storm it before dawn!"He had barely finished speaking when heavy gunfire broke out beyond the estate walls.Through the window, I saw a line of black cars blocking both the front and back gates.A few armed men stood guard outside the iron gate. There was no way out.Every guard and every gun on the estate was gone.My mother stood there for a long time, her brow furrowed, holding my father's wedding ring.She had already sent Grandma, Lana, Annie, and Aunt Clara down to the basement

Chapter 2

My soul drifted out of the estate and into the Caesar Hotel on the edge of the city.In a private suite on the top floor, my father, my brother Matteo, Adrian, and Celeste were popping champagne.Adrian was already the Marchetti family's chosen heir.In three months, we were supposed to marry in front of both families.Celeste swirled her drink and smiled innocently. "Dad, Matteo, Adrian, you really went all out for me. When my sister finds out, do you think she'll ever speak to me again?"My father sighed. "Your father died in that ambush saving us. I promised him I'd never let anyone hurt you as long as you lived. Serena knows the whole story. She won't really blame you."Matteo chimed in. "If Uncle Sal hadn't pulled me out of that car back then, I'd be dead. You wanted a fun Thanksgiving, so we'll go along with it this once."During that same ambush 12 years earlier, the Ferraro family kidnapped me, and I spent years cut off from my family. Celeste's father was shot several times wh

Chapter 3

After a few rounds of drinks, Adrian picked up his phone for the third time."Something's wrong."He stood up. "If Serena can't reach me, she won't just sit around and wait. So why hasn't anyone from the estate called?"My father said, "They did call. Celeste said the show had to look real, so I had the calls cut off. Relax. I told the men at the door to go in right away if they heard anything strange."Matteo couldn't sit still either. "Annie's scared of the dark, and Lana will do anything to protect her. I'm going back to check."Celeste's eyes welled up at once."Matteo, you all promised you'd spend Thanksgiving with me. Now that my sister's back, I don't even get that much anymore?"She took out an old, yellowed photo. In it, her father stood beside the bombed-out car, shielding a young Matteo and Adrian.Matteo stopped where he was.The life debt was like a rope. All Celeste had to do was give it a little tug, and none of them could leave.Adrian didn't sit back down. He tried cal

Chapter 4

As soon as the sun came up, Adrian rushed out of the hotel ahead of everyone.He'd brought me a sapphire heart necklace. Matteo carried the doll Annie had asked for and a bracelet Lana had been eyeing for ages. My father had his men pack Grandma's medicine, my mother's favorite chestnut cake, and the red wine Aunt Clara loved.The whole ride, my father practiced how he'd apologize to my mother."If she pulls a gun on me, don't any of you stop her. I went too far this time."Matteo squeezed the doll's ear. "Annie must've cried herself sick last night. When she wakes up, I'll take her to the amusement park and buy her anything she wants."Adrian didn't say anything. He just held the cashmere shawl he'd bought me against his chest. Celeste saw it and pouted, and for the first time, he didn't try to make her feel better.They talked about how to apologize the entire way, as if a few gifts could make last night's scare go away.When the car pulled up at the estate's back entrance, Adrian sp

Chapter 5

Adrian dropped to his knees beside me and wrapped his coat around me."Serena, I'm back."There was no explosion at the docks. I'm not dead. Your father and your brother are both here."He spoke fast and frantically, as if telling me the truth would make me open my eyes and yell at him.But my hand slipped out from under the coat and hit the floor hard.Adrian stared for a few seconds. Then he picked up my hand and pressed it to his face."Serena, you hate it when I'm late. I'm only one night late this time. Open your eyes and yell at me."My palm had no warmth left in it.Dr. Bianchi, our family doctor, took in the thick streaks of blood on the inside of the door, then the trail I'd left behind me."She crawled this far after she was shot. She didn't want to die. She was trying to get help the whole time."Adrian pressed my hand against his face, his voice shaking so badly the words barely came out."I know. She promised she'd marry me. Why would she want to die?"Down in the basement

Chapter 6

Celeste knelt on the ground, crying and shaking her head."All I said was not to open the door. I didn't know anything would happen in there, and I never wanted anyone to die!"The prank was my idea, but Dad set up the fake explosion. Adrian installed the signal jammer. Matteo took the estate's weapons away himself. Could I have done any of it without you?"No one could argue with that.To sell the fake news, my father had personally pulled our most trusted men off the estate. Matteo had removed the estate's weapons so no one would accidentally shoot the men playing Ferraro thugs. Adrian had cut off communications so I couldn't check with the Marchetti family.Each of them had, with his own hands, closed off one of our ways out.My father raised his hand to hit her. "If we hadn't indulged you, they would never have died!"Celeste grabbed his sleeve. "When Mom called you, you were the one who let me hang up on her. If you'd picked up, they would never have died."My father's hand froze

Chapter 7

Adrian sat with me all night.He changed my bloodstained clothes, wiped the replica brooch clean, and pinned it back over my heart.Three years earlier, the Marchetti elders had refused to accept me because I'd been separated from my family for so many years. In front of everyone, Adrian took off his heir's ring and said that if they got to choose his wife, then whoever wanted his place could have it.Later, during a power struggle inside the Marchetti family, he was trapped on the bay bridge. I smashed through the roadblock in an armored car and pulled him from the burning wreck.The next year, the Ferraro family drugged my drink. Adrian shut down the entire port and went three days and nights without sleep, until he'd dragged every last person involved in front of me.He taught me to shoot, and I stood by him as he rose from the least favored branch of the Marchetti family to heir. It was never a case of one of us chasing the other. We'd always had each other's backs.We'd both riske

Chapter 8

The public surveillance footage recorded outside the estate on Thanksgiving night had been wiped.The tech team recovered the last frame. It showed Celeste's assistant passing an envelope through the window of a black car with no license plates. Inside were the men who'd posed as members of the Ferraro family outside the estate that night.Matteo led a team himself and broke into a Ferraro warehouse. He dragged back every one of them, along with Rafe, the fake messenger who'd smeared himself in pig's blood.At first, no one would talk. Matteo set Annie's smoke-blackened doll on the interrogation table and asked one question. "She was six. Which of you heard her screaming for help?"One of them was the first to hang his head.The ringleader broke quickly. "Ms. Celeste had us dress like Ferraro men and cover the front and back gates with gunfire. All we did was make the Valenti women believe the estate was surrounded. We never set foot inside the house."Now I knew. Grandma and the other

Chapter 9

Early the next morning, a black-market gunsmith named Vince was stopped at the airport.He was carrying a bag of off-the-books cash. The seal on the bag was from a private casino registered in Celeste's name.The moment Vince saw Celeste, he dropped to his knees."Ms. Celeste had me modify it. She said the first shot had to fire normally. After that shot, the hammer wouldn't catch properly. As soon as whoever held the gun moved, the second round could go off."Adrian asked, "Why the second shot?""She said the Donna would definitely fire first. Ms. Serena had training, and once she saw her mother fire, she'd go for the gun. With the muzzle that close, if it went off on its own, Ms. Serena wouldn't stand much of a chance."Nico then played the footage from the casino's back door. In it, Celeste handed the gun to Vince herself. Two hours later, she picked it up and gave it, along with the fake report, to Rafe.Vince also turned over a recording.On it, Celeste said, "Don't make it too ob

Chapter 10

When the joint tribunal convened, my father was the first to confess."I'm the one who signed off on the fake report. And when they called me to check, I'm the one who let Celeste hang up."One of the elders asked him, "You made them believe all the Valenti men were dead or captured. Now that it's your turn to face the consequences, do you still want to save your son?"My father looked at Matteo. His lips moved for a long time, but in the end, he only pressed his forehead to the table."I do. But my wife wanted to save her daughter too, and I never gave her the chance."Then Matteo took off his Valenti family ring."I'm the one who took the weapons out of the estate. I knew my wife and daughter were inside, and I still chose to stay and celebrate with Celeste."The tribunal played the voice message that had failed to send that night. In it, he promised Annie he'd be home next Thanksgiving, no matter what. When Matteo heard his daughter's name, he sank to the floor and never lifted his

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