Homewrecker Mafia の短編小説 & Mind Reading 小説

The day I learned the family's secretary had been Richard's mistress for three years, I called off the wedding without a second thought. Heartsick, I took a family flight and moved out to the West Coast, only to walked straight into an ambush. When they had me surrounded, Richard appeared out of nowhere and threw himself in front of the bullet meant for me. He ordered his most trusted guards to keep me alive, whatever it cost. Dying, he stared deep into my eyes. "Elise, I have no right to ask your forgiveness. Just live. Live well, and let me love you properly in the next." The sea ran high and wild that day, and they never found his body. By the time the rescue boat pulled me out of the water, I had already cried myself hoarse. After that I lived to eighty, carrying the guilt of him every single day. Then I opened my eyes again and found myself back, before he had ever betrayed me. This time, before I could even speak, he fired Charlotte right in front of me. Apart from family business, his greatest interest was cooking dinner for me. Everyone marveled at it. The Don himself, Richard, loved Elise nearly to the point of madness. And then, the night before our wedding, I heard his thoughts. [I'm finally about to have Elise.] [This time I can't let her find out Charlotte exists.]

On the night of my 17th birthday, everyone at the Moretti estate was celebrating "Elena Moretti." The real Elena, however, had spent the past nine years locked beneath the old house in the vineyard. As fireworks burst over the main house, Sophia entered the wine cellar wearing the black gown my mother had left behind. She set a silver place card bearing my name in front of me, then slid a slice of birthday cake within reach. She kept the fork. "It's been nine years. How do you still not get it?" She tapped the place card. "You think a birth certificate makes the name Elena worth something? Or some old keepsake you've been hiding all these years? It doesn't." She glanced toward the brightly lit main house above us. "Because out there, I'm the sister they know. Eight armed brothers have my back. Luca keeps me by his side. Samuel calls me Ellie. Leon throws me a birthday party every year." "Whoever the Moretti family protects is the real one." Nine years ago, my parents were killed when their convoy was ambushed. My father's most trusted advisor hid me in this cellar, put his own daughter in my place, and let my eight brothers believe they had found their missing sister. I tried to escape. I wrote letters begging for help. I even tried to force my way out. Each attempt only brought heavier locks and more warnings that if I got out, they'd treat me as an enemy. So this time, I didn't fight back. After Sophia left, I sat in the dark and remembered Luca holding me in his arms when I was little. "No one can take you away from us," he'd told me. I closed my eyes and called to him inside my head. Luca, have you forgotten me all this time? At that exact moment, all eight of my brothers stopped what they were doing in the main house.

My husband, Don Cassian, just survived an assassination attempt. He limped in, bleeding, and ordered me to stitch him up. But when I reached into his blood-soaked suit, my fingers brushed against something soft. Black lace panties. Not mine. My hand flew to my still-flat stomach. For our child. How could he do this to us? Ice flooded my veins. “We’re done, Cassian.” His gaze was heavy, exhausted. He gave a single, sharp nod. “Fine. I’ll have my lawyer draft the papers.” But then, a frantic little voice—one that wasn't mine—screamed from deep within my womb. [Mom, don’t leave him! Dad didn’t cheat! The family isn’t going to fall. It’s a setup!] [Oriana Gallo planned all of this! She wants your place! She put those panties in his pocket herself!] [If you leave, her men will grab you. They’ll take you to an abandoned warehouse and dump your body in Lake Michigan. Then she’ll play the grieving friend, comfort Dad, and become the new Mrs. Marino!] [Mom, I came back to stop this! Please, don’t fall for it again!] I snapped back to the present. Spinning around, I launched myself into Cassian's arms, my body wracked with sobs. “I was just trying to scare you! How could you agree so easily? Are you that tired of me?” I jabbed a finger at his chest, tears streaming down my face.