After They’re Gone

Born into poverty, a woman saves Gabriele Carlos, the most dangerous man in Sicile. After seven years living in his guarded estate, she and their young son remain unacknowledged due to her lowly status. While her son pushes himself to exhaustion to earn his father's pride, she discovers Gabriele is planning a strategic marriage to a mafia heiress. Realizing he intends to keep them hidden forever, she decides she is finally done living in the dark.

Chapters

Chapter 3

At that moment, Gabriele was also taken aback. He looked at Stefano, as if he hadn’t expected the boy to comply. However, Kate looked pleased. She looked down at the child who was carefully holding up her dress hem and let out a soft laugh.

“Such good manners.”

With that, she turned and walked toward the banquet hall.

Stefano followed right behind her, his small hands carefully lifting the luxurious fabric. Everyone around stood tall and composed, except him. He was a hunched-over, thin, and fragile little figure.

My eyes stung, and I followed without hesitation. However, Kate suddenly stopped in her tracks and turned back to look at me.

“What are you doing following us? Tonight is an important gathering of the family’s honored guests. You’re not exactly qualified to attend.”

Before I could respond, Gabriele spoke first. “The child is helping. It’s normal for the mother to be present as well.”

Kate glanced at him, but his tone remained calm as he added, “Tonight is your night. There’s no need to lose composure over something so small.”

She stared at him for a few seconds, then suddenly smiled. “If the Don says so, of course I won’t mind.”

Just like that, she continued walking ahead.

Standing there, I suddenly found myself cold. Gabriele had fought for me a way inside, but he had never once fought for us to have a real identity.

On the way to the banquet hall, Kate and Gabriele chatted happily. Meanwhile, Stefano and I followed at the very back, silent the entire way.

The banquet began shortly after. The moment Kate appeared, all eyes in the room turned toward her. However, more than her expensive gown, what drew attention was the child carefully lifting her dress hem.

Someone chuckled. “Miss Smith, this kid is quite sharp. Can I borrow him for a bit? I need someone to serve drinks.”

Another voice followed with a laugh. “I could use him, too. He can come over and carry some plates for me later.”

They spoke casually, as if he were nothing more than a tool that could be passed around. Kate neither agreed nor refused. She simply glanced at Gabriele, but Gabriele, holding his wine glass, said nothing.

My fingers clenched.

At that moment, someone bumped into me from behind and said impatiently, “Move. You’re in the way.”

I looked at that wine glass, then at Stefano, who was surrounded by the crowd not far away. I couldn't hold myself back any longer and broke into stride toward him. However, in the next second, a hand suddenly clamped around my wrist.

Gabriele had appeared behind me without me noticing and pulled me out of the banquet hall. The cold night wind hit me instantly, and I shivered. I shook his hand off, turning to look at him with red eyes.

“Gabriele, what exactly do you take us for?”

He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he took out an insignia from inside his coat and held it out to me. I stared at him blankly.

Seeing my confusion, he explained in a low voice, “The one she’s wearing is fake. The real one has always been with me, and it belongs to you.”

As he spoke, he pressed the insignia into my palm.

“Once I take over the Smith family, the Carlos family’s authority will be entirely mine. By then, no one will be able to stop me from publicly acknowledging you and Stefano.”

After that, he pulled out two plane tickets.

“For now, take Stefano and leave. I’ve arranged everything in the Switz. Don’t stay here and force yourself to watch this mess.” He pulled me back into his arms, his voice low and steady. “Just be patient. It’ll be over soon.”

I leaned against him, the insignia pressing painfully into my palm. I had once longed for it so deeply, but now that I finally held it, I felt nothing at all.

After some time, I gently pushed him away and said nothing. I simply took the two tickets from his hand and turned back toward the banquet hall.

I could be patient, but Stefano wasn’t even seven years old yet. There was no way I could stand by and watch my son be dragged through the mud alongside me.

When I returned to the entrance of the banquet hall, I booked another flight with the same time, but to a different country. Then, I pushed open the door, and in the next second, I froze.

In the center of the crowd, Stefano stood small and alone. A crimson liquid was dripping over his head, streaming down his hair, and soaking into his clean little suit.

My mind went blank, and everything around me faded into silence.

“Stefano!”

Continue to next part

Hailey wakes naked in a hotel room beside a stranger, with dried blood on the sheets—drugged and framed by her stepsister, Isabelle. Before she can process the horror, her father summons her home to be sold in marriage to an abusive billionaire twice her age, all to save the family company. Overhearing her stepmother and Isabelle celebrate the takeover, Hailey realizes she is the sacrificial lamb. She runs to her ex-fiancé for help, but he stares at her with disgust, amnesia erasing every promise he made. With one hour before her father's men drag her away, Hailey posts an anonymous ad for a contract husband. The stranger from the hotel accepts. Certificate in hand, she storms the family mansion, slaps her fake-crying stepsister, and declares herself legally unavailable.

Action Billionaire Modern Mystery Romance Young Adult

7.6

HIS FORBIDDEN LUNA

7.6

Kane Rivers has always lived a life of caution. Orphaned at a young age and raised in the quiet town of Silverwood, she believes she understands the world: people betray, pain follows, and love is a dangerous game. But everything changes the night she encounters a wolf unlike any she has ever seen. Adrian Wolfe is the Alpha of the Silverwood pack, feared by enemies and respected by his own. Dark, commanding, and impossible to resist, he has a secret: Kane is not just any human. She is the Luna his pack has been waiting for, the mate bound to him by fate, and the key to a prophecy that could save, or destroy, their world. Their connection ignites in tension and fire, a dangerous pull neither can resist. But enemies lurk in the shadows, a rogue pack thirsts for revenge, and secrets buried in Kane's past threaten to shatter the fragile bond between them. To survive, Kane must embrace the power within her, trust the Alpha she fears, and face the darkness that is coming for them both. In a world where the line between love and possession is razor thin, Kane will discover that some bonds are inevitable, some hearts are unyielding, and some wolves are forbidden.

Action Romance Werewolf

9.7

I Ditched the Crown Prince After His Betrayal

9.7

Fifteen years of unwavering loyalty crumble on a cold hospital bed when Prince Alexander abandons Eleanor for another woman, revealing her true role: a convenient shield, never a cherished wife. Casting aside the crown, the ring, and the lie, she forges a new identity alongside Nathaniel Hayes, a logistics mogul who offers genuine respect. Together, they build a global legacy. When Alexander returns, desperate and regretful, Eleanor is already unreachable. Yet the late King's fatal secret emerges, entangling her in a conspiracy that imperils all she has rebuilt.

Action Billionaire Modern Mystery Romance

8.5

I Married My Ex-Fiancé's Ruthless Older Brother

8.5

I was a Vitiello, sold to the Morettis to secure an alliance. For five years, I quietly loved Dante, counting down the minutes until our wedding at St. Patrick's Cathedral. But it ended with a single text three minutes before the ceremony. "Stay at the apartment. Sofia is awake. Don't make a scene." His ex-girlfriend, the love of his life, had woken from a coma with no memory. Just like that, I was erased. For thirty days, I waited in the shadows while Dante played hero to a woman who didn't remember him. He told me he was protecting her fragile mind. But then I found the truth. I stood outside the doctor's office and heard Dante refuse a treatment that would restore Sofia's memory. "If she remembers, she might leave again," Dante told the doctor. "Elena will wait. She's a good soldier. Let me have my fantasy." He wasn't protecting her. He was keeping her broken to feed his ego, banking on my submission. He thought I was furniture he could put in storage. He was wrong. I didn't go back to the apartment. Instead, I dialed a number every made man in New York feared. "Matteo," I said to Dante's lethal older brother, the King of the underworld. "I am done waiting. I want to be a Moretti bride. But not Dante's."

Action Modern Romance

9.7

Mated To Rival Kings

9.7

I was the Omega nobody wanted—abandoned at birth and publicly rejected by my mate in front of my entire pack. Then the Peace Summit, held once every seventy years, changed everything. The Moon Goddess granted me a second chance, but not with one mate: two. Valen Aibek, the cunning King of the North, and Darian Callisto, the merciless King of the South, have been bitter rivals for a decade. Now they share one obsession—me. Both claim I belong to them. If I choose Valen, the South brands me a traitor. If I stay with Darian, the North invades. Caught between two powerful kings, I alone stand between them and a devastating world war.

Action Adventure Fantasy Romance Werewolf

7.2

Reborn Heiress: Revenge On My Ruthless Ex

7.2

I was dying in a rusted warehouse, paralyzed in a wheelchair while the man I loved and my own stepsister watched with smiles on their faces. The air smelled of old oil and damp concrete, and my vision was fading into a milky haze. Dillon, the man I’d sacrificed everything for, smoothed his custom suit and pulled out a syringe filled with a clear, lethal neurotoxin. Beside him, my stepsister Bianca toyed with my mother’s sapphire ring—the one they’d just pried off my hand while I was too weak to even make a fist. She leaned in and whispered that my father’s trust fund was already offshore and that they’d sent my husband, Kade, to the wrong coordinates to ensure he’d only find my corpse. Dillon slid the needle into my vein with the chilling efficiency of a man who had done this before. "This will stop your heart in thirty seconds," he said, sounding as bored as if he were explaining a tax form. Ice flooded my chest, and my lungs seized, fighting for oxygen that wasn't there. As the warehouse lights blurred into white streaks, an explosion echoed in the distance. Kade had come for me, but he was too late. I died staring at the ceiling, my heart giving one last violent kick of pure, unadulterated hatred. I had been such a fool, believing Dillon’s lies and running away from the only man who actually cared for me. I died with a single thought: if I ever get another chance, I will drag you both to hell with me. Then, there was nothing. And then, there was air. I sat up gasping, my silk pajamas drenched in cold sweat. The rusted beams were gone, replaced by a vaulted ceiling and the glittering Manhattan skyline. I grabbed the digital clock on the nightstand—it was five years ago, the exact night I first tried to run away with Dillon. The bedroom door slammed against the wall, and Kade Mullen stood in the doorway, looking dangerous, furious, and very much alive. I looked at my shaking hands, then at the man I had once hated. This time, I wasn't going to run. I was going to make sure Dillon and Bianca lost everything.

Action Billionaire Fantasy

After They’re Gone

Chapter 3

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