She Returned: A Mafia Boss’s Nightmare
The man who swore he would burn the world down for me has been married to another woman for three years. I found out the day I was finally discharged from the Swiss clinic he'd sent me to.
I flew home to surprise him, only to discover my release was a year overdue. He had forged my medical reports, painting me as a fragile, broken thing just to keep me locked away while he built a new life.
His new wife, Isabella, hit me with her car. He defended her, calling me hysterical. She stole my art portfolio and claimed it as her own, and he forced me to take the blame to protect his family's reputation.
She even killed her own puppy to frame me. While I jumped into a freezing river to retrieve my father's medallion that she'd thrown in, he stood on the terrace pointing out a meteor shower to her.
The final betrayal came when Isabella faked her own kidnapping and named me as the culprit.
I didn't understand. This was Dante Moretti, the Devil of the East Coast, my guardian, the man who had sworn to be my shield. Why was he letting this woman destroy me piece by piece?
Believing I was the kidnapper, he had me tied to a helicopter, dragged across a field, and left me for dead. But I didn't die. I survived. Five years later, I have a new name, a new life, and a husband who loves me. And today, I just ran into Dante on the street. He looked at me like he'd seen a ghost.
Chapters
Share
Chapter 8
Elara POV:
The cemetery was quiet, the air heavy with the scent of damp earth and decaying leaves. It was the anniversary of my father's death.
"I'm better now, Dad," I whispered, tracing the cold, carved letters of his name. "I'm leaving. I'm going to start over."
I remembered Dante's promise, made at this very spot years ago. I'll come here with you, every year. You won't be alone.
I waited until nightfall, a silent vigil under a starless sky. The car I'd called was late. As I stood by the cemetery gates, a hand clamped over my mouth from behind. A sweet, cloying smell filled my nostrils, and the world went black.
I woke to darkness and pain. I was bound and gagged, shoved inside a rough burlap sack. Every time I struggled, a heavy boot slammed into my ribs, knocking the air from my lungs.
I was dragged across what felt like a field of rocks and gravel, the rough terrain tearing at my skin through the thin fabric of the sack.
Then I heard his voice. Dante's. And hers. Isabella's.
"Please, Dante, perhaps let them go?" Isabella's voice held a brittle, rehearsed tremor. "They were only hired hands."
Dante laughed, a cold, cruel sound that seemed to scrape the marrow from my bones. "This will be a lesson, Bella. A lesson to anyone who ever dares to cross my wife."
A horrifying clarity sliced through the pain. This was a setup.
"Tie her to the helicopter," Dante ordered his men.
My heart hammered against my ribs. No.
"Dante, isn't this a bit... much?" Isabella asked, her tone laced with the detached curiosity of a spectator.
"I know what I'm doing," he reassured her, his voice softening. "Just watch the kite fly."
The roar of helicopter blades filled the air, deafening me. Then, a violent lurch. My body was dragged across the ground, scraped raw over rocks and thorns until every nerve screamed.
The helicopter ascended. I was hoisted into the air, a broken puppet dangling from a string. I could feel the warm slickness of my own blood, a grotesque rain falling from my battered body.
Then, the sickening sensation of falling.
The drop wasn't high, but it was high enough. I felt bones snap, a blinding, white-hot pain exploding through me before the world started to fade.
The sack was ripped from my head.
My last conscious sight was of Dante, wrapping his arm protectively around Isabella's shoulders. He turned and walked away with her, leaving me broken and bleeding on the ground.
I tried to scream his name, but all that came out was a choked, bloody laugh-a sound that clawed its way out of my ruined lungs.