홈 / He Wanted a Fake Divorce, I Took Our Son to Finland / 챕터 1 - 챕터 10

He Wanted a Fake Divorce, I Took Our Son to Finland의 모든 챕터: 챕터 1 - 챕터 10

15 챕터

Chapter 1

I had been married to Dante for ten whole years.In New York's underworld, everyone knew Dante was the Don of the Falcone family. Few knew he'd started out in a minor branch. After our wedding, my father used the Moretti family's money, ports, and connections to help him secure his position, and from then on, our two families were allies.When I was eight, I watched my mother get gunned down in a back alley by a rival gang while she shielded me. After that, I developed severe PTSD and selective mutism. For five whole years, I wouldn't speak. Through all of it, Dante stayed by my side and swore he would protect me.Before my father died, he placed me in Dante's care and left him to manage the Moretti family's ports and underground connections in New York.We'd built a life together over those ten years and had a sweet eight-year-old son, Leo.But all of that changed the day a woman named Sofia showed up, claiming to be the sister he'd lost 20 years ago.Today was Leo's eighth birthday.

Chapter 2

Early the next morning, I was downstairs making Leo's breakfast when a huge crash came from the second floor, followed by a sharp crack, as if something heavy had split apart.Leo and I ran upstairs. The door to my music room was wide open.On the floor lay the only thing my mother had left me: a handmade 17th-century Italian violin. The priceless instrument held all my childhood memories, and now it had been smashed in two. The strings had snapped, and splinters of wood were scattered across the floor.Sofia sat in the wreckage with a tiny cut across her right palm, sobbing as if her heart would break.Dante came running at the noise. He didn't spare the violin a single glance. He rushed straight to Sofia and cradled her hand, his face tight with worry. "What happened? Why are you bleeding?"Sofia sniffled and burrowed into his arms. "I'm sorry, Dante. I was only trying to help Helena dust. I didn't know the violin was worth so much. The way she looked at me just now, it was like she

Chapter 3

Leo's words cut deep, but they finally made me see things clearly.I had Ernesto, the old butler my father had left me, keep checking Sofia's background. Dante's private doctor had already signed off on a DNA test, and her records, her old scars, and her birthmark all matched, so the investigation hadn't turned up any obvious holes. Before Ernesto could track down the lab that ran the test, Sofia went after Leo again.On Wednesday afternoon, just as Leo got home from school, Sofia walked out of the kitchen with a plate of chocolate muffins. "Leo, I made these for you. Think of them as my way of saying sorry."I was just coming out of the study when I saw them. "Leo, don't touch those!" I shouted.But it was too late. Leo had already taken a small bite before he realized it tasted strange.A few seconds later, he was gasping for air. His face turned a grayish blue, and he clutched at his throat as he collapsed.I grabbed the EpiPen from the side pocket of Leo's backpack and pressed it a

Chapter 4

The day Leo was discharged, the worst coastal storm in ten years slammed into New York.Long Island vanished under driving rain and lightning. Power lines went down all along the coast. Late that night, the estate went dark.Enemies liked to use bad weather to knock out cameras and communications. Ernesto stationed guards at designated posts around the main house. I held Leo, who was still running a low fever. With every crack of thunder, the gunshots from my childhood forced their way back into my head.Just then, hurried footsteps sounded outside the door.Sofia's scream rang down the hallway. "It's thundering! The people who kidnapped me locked me in a basement in a thunderstorm too! Dante, save me!"Sofia threw herself into Dante's arms, saying she couldn't breathe and needed to get to a private psychiatric clinic in Manhattan right away or she might hurt herself.Dante turned to the head of security. "Take the main convoy and escort us into the city. Leave the guards at their post

Chapter 5

Dante stormed into the master bedroom and found that more than half of my clothes and luggage were gone.He panicked and drove straight to the old Moretti family house.When he pushed the door open, I was sitting calmly on the sofa, looking over financial reports. Ernesto and several Moretti elders stood behind me, their faces hard.Dante breathed a sigh of relief when he saw me. He came over and reached for my hand. "Helena, stop this. Come home with me. Last night was my fault. I shouldn't have taken the main convoy. But I was out of my mind with worry. Sofia almost slit her wrists..."I pulled my hand out of reach and looked at him like he was a complete stranger. "Sit down, Dante. I asked you here to talk business."Dante frowned. "What business?"The Moretti family's old accountant, standing off to one side, spoke up. "Mr. Falcone, last night federal agents seized weapons container number three at the Port of New York. The early evidence shows Sofia sold the customs access codes o

Chapter 6

Dante shot to his feet and reached for me. "Helena! Have you lost your mind? Without me, how are you going to make it in New York? Leo can't grow up without a father!""He hasn't had a father for a long time."In an instant, Ernesto and several armed bodyguards stepped between us. Staring down the black barrels of their guns, Dante was forced back two steps."Mr. Falcone, I'll ask you to behave yourself," Ernesto said coldly. "You are no longer welcome in the Moretti family's house."I walked out of the old house without looking back.A black armored SUV had been waiting outside. The door opened. Leo sat quietly in the back seat, hugging the silk scarf that held the pieces of my mother's violin. When I climbed in, he reached out and wrapped his little hand around my cold fingers. "Mom, where are we going?""Somewhere far away and quiet." I kissed my son's forehead. "There's snow there, and nobody will make us pay for his mistakes."Half an hour later, we were on the private tarmac at J

Chapter 7

After we landed in Helsinki, we took the overnight train north to Rovaniemi, a city in Lapland right on the Arctic Circle.There were no dark, damp back alleys like the ones in New York. No screaming sirens. No gunfire. As far as I could see, there was nothing but endless, clean snow and tall, silent pine forests.I bought a log cabin with huge floor-to-ceiling windows on the edge of the forest.Dry birch crackled in the fireplace. We adopted a white Samoyed from a local animal rescue, and Leo named him Snowball.During our first week in the cabin, the color slowly came back into Leo's cheeks.He started classes at the local school, where his teachers and classmates treated him like any other new kid. On weekends, the neighbors showed him how to spot reindeer tracks and taught him to make wind chimes out of pinecones and wood chips.I still had nightmares, but they came less and less often. My therapist kept working with me online, helping me cope with the trauma triggered by thunderst

Chapter 8

I looked at the card and stayed calm."Tell him we're safe, and we don't want any contact." I pushed the card back across the table.The man took back the card and promised to pass along that message and nothing else.I knew Dante would keep looking sooner or later, but I'd already had my lawyer prepare legal papers to stop him from harassing or approaching us.I didn't care if Dante kept looking.Over the next few months, my fragrance brand slowly built a following. I partnered with Elsa Virtanen, a Finnish designer, and got our products into a few lifestyle stores in Helsinki and Stockholm. The money was nothing like what the trust used to pay me, but it was enough to prove I could build a business of my own.Leo won first place in a ski race at school. He ran home waving his medal and threw himself into my arms.That weekend, we took Snowball to the town square for the winter festival.The square smelled of grilled sausages, and lively accordion music mixed with children's laughter.

Chapter 9

Dante's POV: New York, two weeks earlier.Dante had already lost most of his power in New York.Once the Moretti trust stopped providing financial guarantees for the Falcone family, money quickly grew tight. The council also began holding Dante responsible for disposing of the ports and shipping routes without approval. With Helena gone, there was no one left to keep the woman posing as Sofia in check, and she grew bolder than ever.She used the black card Dante had given her to gamble at casinos, then sold three secret shipping routes to the Cruz family to cover her debts. Two Falcone men died in the fighting that followed, and 12 of their locations were shut down by the authorities or taken over.In the estate's security footage, she still threw herself into Dante's arms, insisting she didn't understand business and had only wanted to take some of the weight off her big brother.This time, the council didn't buy it.Under pressure from the lawyers and the Falcone elders, Dante took a

Chapter 10

Dante's POV:Dante swept the report onto the floor, then called in his lawyer and his security team.He didn't go after Camila right away. First, he sent copies of the investigation files and the estate's security footage to the federal prosecutor and arranged for agents to come make the arrest.Once everything was in place, he took his security men and pushed open Camila's door.Camila was packing up her jewelry. When she saw Dante and the security men behind him, the color left her face. "What's going on, big brother?""Don't call me that."The real Sofia died 15 years ago." Dante threw the report down in front of her. "Your name is Camila Cruz, isn't it?"When Camila saw the report and the arrest notice, she knew her cover was blown.She dropped the timid act."You're only figuring this out now?" Camila sneered. "I'm just a pawn the Cruz family planted here."I'm not the only one who wrecked this home," she said, staring at Dante. "Helena put the proof right in front of you, and eve

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