When I came back from the bathroom, Arianna was surrounded by a pack of drunken predators.
“Look at this little ballerina playing dress up,” the fat one slurred, his cheap suit straining across his gut as he reached for her with stubby fingers. A fake Rolex glinted on his wrist–classic wannabe mobster trash. “How much for the full performance, sweetheart?”
Arianna recoiled in terror, but that only made them circle closer like sharks smelling blood.
“She can’t even scream! Perfect–we’ll teach her some new moves!”
Something primal and violent exploded in my chest. I grabbed a heavy brass candlestick from the table and brought it down on the fat bastard’s skull with everything I had.
CRACK!
“Back the fuck off!”
Blood gushed down his face as he staggered backward, his crew barely catching him before he face planted on the marble floor.
When his vision cleared, pure hatred burned in his beady eyes. “You crazy bitch! Tear her apart!”
They swarmed me like rabid dogs. live against one–I didn’t stand a chance. Within seconds they had me dragged in front of their bleeding boss.
“Nobody draws blood on me and lives,” he spat, grabbing the same candlestick I’d used. “Let’s see how you like it.”
CRACK!
White–hot pain exploded through my skull. Blood poured down my face, warm and metallic, as my knees buckled.
The restaurant erupted–customers shrieking and stampeding for the exits, chairs crashing, crystal shattering on the floor.
The fat man threw the candlestick aside and started unbuttoning his shirt as he stalked toward Arianna like a predator.
‘Don’t… please don’t…” I gasped through the agony, memories of my parents‘ mutilated corpses flashing behind my eyes.
I tried crawling toward her, but one of his thugs kicked me in the ribs so hard I felt something crack.
This one’s not bad either,” he leered, yanking at my hair. “We’ll have ourselves a real party tonight.”
Arianna’s face went white with terror. She reached for me desperately, but the fat man backhanded her to the ground.
ust as he grabbed her ankle, she squeezed her eyes shut and braced for the worst.
Then a gunshot split the air.
BANG!
Everyone froze like statues.
Massimo strode through the chaos like death itself, his expression glacially calm but murder burning in those dark eyes.
He knelt beside Arianna with impossible gentleness, stroking her hair like she was made of spun glass. “Shh, cara mia. I’m here now.”
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Mi scusi, You Chose White Swan, 1 Became Black Queen
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Chapter 4
She clung to his arm, tears streaming down her face, while a squadron of his soldiers in Armani suits materialized from nowhere to surround the attackers.
“Get her out of here,” Massimo ordered quietly. “Make sure she’s safe.”
After Arianna was whisked away, the fat man collapsed to his knees, blubbering and begging like the pathetic coward he was
But Massimo ignored him completely, stepping on his hand as he walked straight toward me.
For one delusional second, I thought my husband had come to save me.
Instead, cold steel pressed against my forehead.
“How long have you known about Arianna?”
The accusation hit me like a physical blow. He actually thought I’d planned this. That I’d sent these animals to assault his precious angel
“Massimo, I was protecting her-”
BANG!
Fire tore through my right thigh as the bullet shattered bone and muscle. I screamed until my throat was raw, blood pooling beneath
me on the expensive tile.
“Try again.”
He turned to the fat man with predatory focus. “Your turn. What really happened here?”
The bastard’s eyes darted frantically before he pointed a trembling finger at me,
“It was all her idea, Mr. Ducati! She paid us to rough up your girl! Said if we taught her a lesson, you’d bring us into your
organization!”
“You lying piece of shit!” I choked out.
But Massimo’s hand was already around my throat, squeezing just hard enough to make breathing a struggle.
“Isabella,” he said with deadly calm, “today you learn what happens to people who threaten what’s mine.”
He looked at the attackers with cold calculation. “She’s yours. Do whatever you want with her. Consider your debt to me paid in full.”
The words hit me like ice water. Even now, even after everything, I’d somehow believed there was still something human left in him.
“No! Massimo, please! I’m your wife!”
“Much obliged, boss,” the fat man grinned, already reaching for his belt. “We’ll make sure she gets the message.”
They fell on me like vultures, tearing at my clothes while blood seeped from the gunshot wound. I fought with everything I had left,
but I was already broken.
“You’re a monster!” I screamed at the doorway where Massimo’s silhouette had paused. “A fucking animal!”
He walked away without looking back.
I prayed the head wound would kill me. Death would be merciful compared to this.
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Mi scusi You Chose White Swan, I Became Black Queen
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Chapter 4
“Well, well,” the fat man panted as he pinned me down. “Looks like the ice queen’s still pure as snow. This is our lucky night, boys”
Through the hare of agony and humiliation, I remembered our wedding day. Massimo taking my hand from my father’s with what I’d thought was tenderness. Me believing that was the start of our love story.
What a fucking joke. What a pathetic, naive little girl I’d been.
By the time dawn broke, Massimo’s men finally entered to clean up the mess.
You can leave now,” one of them told my attackers.
The fat man zipped up his pants and flicked a business card onto my battered body. “Call me when you want round two, princess.”
After they left, the guard respectfully looked away while draping my torn dress over my nakedness.
“Ma’am, do you need medical attention?”
Right. The hole in my skull, the bullet in my leg, the internal bleeding. But what did any of that matter now?
I dragged myself upright, pulled on what remained of my clothes, and called the only person left who gave a damn about me.
“Vincenzo?” My voice was barely a whisper. “I need to disappear. Tonight. Can you erase every trace that Isabella Ducati ever
existed?”
On the other end of the line, Vincenzo’s laughter was dark and satisfied.
“Of course, my princess.”
