The Woman He Bought Was Mafia Heiress

Every year on Dante Moretti's birthday, they played a game. Whoever drew the ace of spades could order anyone to do one thing. The first year, Sofia Cavarro poured red wine over my head. She was the Cavarro family's precious princess, and no one had ever dared to cross her. So that night, she smiled and told me to kneel and lick the wine off the tips of Dante's shoes. The second year, she hung a price tag reading "three million dollars" around my neck and let everyone guess whether Dante's purchase of me had been worth it. Dante sat on the sofa with his glass of wine, watching them jeer with a smile. Because everyone knew I was the woman he'd bought at an auction seven years ago. And I loved him, so I endured it, time after time. This year, Sofia drew the ace of spades again. She didn't make me kneel. She didn't give me a new punishment. She simply handed me a ring and told me to put it on her finger myself. That was how I found out. In one month, Dante was going to marry her. For the first time in seven years, I asked to leave. Dante laughed. "Elena, have you forgotten? I paid for you. "No matter who I marry, it doesn't change the fact that you belong to me." He was certain I had no family, nowhere to go. He was certain that as long as he didn't let me go, I would never be able to leave his side. But three days later, twenty black sedans surrounded the Moretti estate. The man who made the entire Sicilian Mafia tremble stormed in and knocked Dante to the floor with a single punch. He held up the price tag, his eyes red. "My precious daughter, the one I've spent twelve years searching for... "How could she have ended up here, a slave for seven years?" Chapter 1 The moment Sofia flipped over the last card, the ballroom went silent for a beat. Ace of spades. The next second, everyone laughed. "Sofia's picking the dare again." "Elena, you're done for this year." I clenched the fabric of my skirt. The first year, she'd poured red wine over my head and made me kneel at Dante's feet while everyone laughed. Dante had watched the whole time with his glass in hand and only draped his jacket over me after the game was over. "Don't cry. Sofia just likes to have fun." So I forgave him. The second year, Sofia had someone bring a silver chain with a small black tag dangling from it. $3,000,000. The price Dante had paid for me. And she demanded that I wear it for life and never take it off. I looked to Dante for help. He just smiled, picked up the tag, and straightened the silver chain around my neck. "Looks nice. Keep it on. It's proof that I own you." I took it off once, in secret. When Dante found out, he gave me ten lashes as punishment, and I never dared take it off again. Even now, it still rested against my collarbone. "Something simple this year." Sofia pushed a black velvet box in front of me. Inside was an emerald ring. I recognized it instantly. In the main hall of the estate, Dante's mother wore the same ring in her portrait from when she was young. I had once asked Dante if it was the wedding ring reserved for the woman who became Mrs. Moretti. He'd taken my hand and smiled. "You like it?" I had always believed that was a hint. But now Sofia picked up the ring and turned it slowly under the light. "You recognize it?" She glanced at the price tag on my chest. "I was surprised too, when Dante gave it to me last night. "After all, the Moretti ring isn't something you earn by sleeping with him for a few years." A few people snickered. She acted as if she'd just realized she'd said too much and held out her left hand. "Sorry. I forgot that you know Dante best, so you should be the one to put it on for me." I looked at Dante. He was leaning back on the sofa. He didn't stop her. "What does this mean?" I asked. Dante finally set down his glass. "Sofia and I are getting married next month." Congratulations erupted across the ballroom. Sofia waggled her fingers, smiling prettily. "Dante even confirmed the size himself." Last night. Last night, he had still been sleeping in my bed. He'd kissed my eyelids before he left. I didn't know how I managed to pick up the ring. As I slid it past her knuckle, she leaned in close to my ear. "Gently. "I'll be wearing this for the rest of my life." The emerald finally settled at the base of her ring finger. And the black three-million-dollar tag on my chest tapped softly against my collarbone. One was the ring that symbolized Mrs. Moretti. The other was the price Dante had paid for me. So that was the difference between us. After the party, I went to Dante's study. "Since you're getting married, it's time for me to leave." Dante frowned. "Why would you leave? You're staying right here." "Sofia is going to be your wife." "So what?" He genuinely didn't understand. I looked at him for a long time. "Dante, let me go." He laughed, opened a drawer, and tossed the auction contract from seven years ago in front of me. "Elena, have you forgotten? I paid for you. "No matter who I marry, it doesn't change the fact that you belong to me." He touched my face. His hand was still gentle. "I never said I didn't want you." That was the moment I finally understood. He would give Sofia the wedding, the ring, and his last name. What he would give me was a lifetime as his property. Chapter 2 Seven years ago, the first time I saw Dante was in an underground auction hall beneath the port of Palermo. Back then, the only thing I knew was my name: Elena. My earlier memories were nothing but the sea, gunshots, and a hand shoving me into a car. After that, I was passed from one person to the next. No one asked where I'd come from. They only asked what I was worth. So when Dante paid three million dollars for me, I thought I was just getting a new owner. The handler shoved me toward him. "Mr. Moretti, your merchandise." Dante's expression turned cold. "She has a name." He unclasped the restraints from my wrists and draped his jacket over my shoulders. "What's your name?" "Elena." "If anyone ever calls you anything else, tell me." Back at the estate, someone laughed and called me the slave Dante had bought. By the next day, that person had vanished from the Moretti household. I had a fever for three days. Dante kept the doctor at the estate and stayed by my bedside himself. I asked him, "Why are you so good to me?" He said, "I paid that money to get you out of that place, not to keep you as a slave." That one sentence made me fall in love with him, little by little. He taught me to ride and shoot. I was afraid of thunder, so he left the light on all night. Every time he came home from a Mafia shootout, he came to find me first. I truly believed that the three million dollars had bought my freedom, not me. Until the second birthday game. Sofia clasped the price tag around my neck and demanded I wear it for life. I was humiliated, but Dante just smiled and said, "It's proof that I own you." A few months later, at a banquet, someone stared at my tag and asked, "Moretti really paid three million?" The person next to him laughed. "Of course. She was the priciest lot at the auction that day." In that moment, I felt like I was back on the auction block. Back at the estate, I took the silver chain off. The next day, Sofia noticed. "The rule says you wear it for life." She smiled. "Can someone in the Moretti household just ignore the rules?" Everyone turned to Dante. One word from him and the whole thing would've blown over. But he was quiet for a moment. "Rules are rules." Sofia smiled immediately. "Don't worry. It's only ten lashes." The soft whip never broke the skin or drew blood, but it drove the pain deeper and deeper into my flesh. After the first stroke, I could still stand. After the fifth, my hands were shaking badly. I looked up at Dante. His expression was dark, but he never told them to stop. After the tenth, my knees gave out, and he was the first to scoop me into his arms. That night, the pain was so bad I couldn't turn over in bed. Dante applied the ointment himself. I cried and asked him, "You said I wasn't a slave. But when she made me wear the tag, you didn't stop her. When I took it off, you punished me. Dante, what am I to you?" He was quiet for a long time, then leaned down and kissed my tears away. "Not a slave. Not some woman on the side. "Once I've taken care of the family's business, I'll marry you." He pressed his forehead against mine. "Elena, I will only ever have one wife." In the end, he clasped the price tag back around my neck. "When I marry you, I'll take it off myself." That one sentence made me stay. But now, the one wearing the Moretti wedding ring was the same Sofia who had laughed with Dante while deciding how to punish me. I stood in front of the mirror, looking at the three-million-dollar tag on my chest, and realized that those ten lashes hadn't hurt as much as this moment did. Every humiliation I had endured, I had endured only because I believed he would give me a future. But there had never been a place for me in his future. Chapter 3 I tried to escape twice. The first time, I asked Marco for help. He was Dante's driver. When he'd been punished once, I had spoken up for him. Everyone at the estate called me "Dante's woman." He was the only one who called me by my name. He was quiet for a long time, then agreed to get me out. But we hadn't even been on the road ten minutes before Dante's men surrounded us. He lifted me out of the car. "Come back with me." His voice was terrifyingly calm. Marco was dragged from the driver's seat and pinned to the ground by the bodyguards. "Anyone who betrays the Moretti family knows the consequences." I stepped in front of Marco. "I forced him to take me! Dante, please don't." It was the first time I had ever begged him. He pried my fingers away one by one. "Put her in the car." A gunshot cracked behind me, and Marco crumpled at the side of the road. I threw myself back toward him, but Dante locked his arm around my waist. "Next time someone helps you run, this is what happens." I went numb. A living, breathing person had just died because he tried to help me. Back at the estate, Dante wiped the blood from my hands. "Don't look at me like that." He frowned. "Marco was just a driver. I'll get you a new one." All at once, something inside me went cold. He didn't understand why Marco couldn't simply be "replaced." I used to believe Dante hurt people because he loved me too much. Now I understood that the moment I stepped out of line, he would kill everyone who was kind to me and tell me it was love. The second time, I didn't ask anyone for help. I memorized the guards' shift schedule, memorized which door had the fewest people posted at night. And I got the spare key from Dante. At the predawn shift change, I went down through the wine cellar behind the kitchen. My fingers had just touched the door bolt when Sofia's laugh came from behind me. She didn't try to stop me. She only said, "So one dead driver wasn't enough." I shoved the door open and ran. Less than two minutes later, I was caught again. When I saw Sofia standing nearby, I knew she had tipped them off. Dante stared at me for a long time, then grabbed the silver chain on my chest and yanked me back. The chain dug into my throat. I could barely breathe. "Elena, you need to be punished this time. No food or water for three days." I was locked in a room with a thin silver chain fastened around my ankle. Watching Dante walk away, I understood that I couldn't fight him head-on anymore. I needed the person who wanted me gone the most to be the one to send me out. Chapter 4 From that day on, I stopped fighting. Everyone assumed I had finally accepted my fate, and the guards outside my door grew fewer by the day. Only Sofia grew more and more uneasy. The day she came for her dress fitting, I went out of my way to compliment her. She eyed me with suspicion. "What are you up to?" I looked at the wedding ring on her hand and needled her. "You'll be Mrs. Moretti. "And I'll still be in Dante's bed. Who do you think he loves more, you or me?" Sofia's face changed, and she turned to leave. I called after her, "Mrs. Moretti, I have no interest in coming between you two. But he won't let me go. As long as I'm still here, are you really his only Mrs. Moretti?" Late that night, she gave me a new key and arranged a car. "Leave and never come back." I took the key. Of course I didn't believe she had suddenly turned kind. I had simply been waiting for this moment. The more she wanted me gone, the better my chance of actually getting out. The car pulled smoothly out of the estate. Before long, a black SUV appeared in the rearview mirror. It didn't force us off the road. Instead, it rammed our rear again and again until the driver lost control and the car went off the mountain road. When I came to, the driver was no longer moving, and the front of the car had started to catch fire. Sofia had never intended to let me leave alive. If I called Dante right now, the second I dialed, he would come. He would hold me, bandage my wounds, and lock me in an even more secure room. Going soft had already gotten Marco killed once. This was my best chance to get away. Since Sofia wanted me dead, I would use her plan to truly "die" and vanish from Dante's world. I left my phone, jacket, and blood-soaked scarf in the car, then dragged my injured leg into the drainage ditch beside the highway. Moments later, an explosion erupted behind me. The fire swallowed the entire car. Sofia's people had watched it burn with their own eyes, and Dante's men would find my phone and bloodstains. They would all believe I had died in the wreck. I braced myself against the guardrail and kept walking. After a few dozen yards, a row of unfamiliar black sedans pulled over ahead of me. The door of the center car opened. A broad-shouldered, powerfully built man stepped out quickly, a woman close behind him. The moment they saw me, they both froze. Tears spilled from the woman's eyes, and she rushed toward me, almost throwing herself at me. "Oh, my poor daughter... You've suffered so much." "Daughter?" My whole body went rigid. The man's gaze locked onto the black price tag on my chest. "Don't be afraid. We're not with the Morettis." Before I could ask who they were, everything went black. When I woke, I was already in the car. The man asked only one question, his face dark with fury. "Who put that on you?" "Dante Moretti." He was silent for a few seconds, then said grimly to the driver, "Back to the Moretti estate." Twenty minutes later, twenty black sedans blocked the estate gates. Dante had clearly heard about the crash, but he hadn't taken it seriously. He assumed I was playing another trick. He'd told Sofia, "Third time now. She never learns. When they catch her, she's yours to deal with." Seeing the two of them chatting so casually, the man who claimed to be my father slammed his fist into Dante's face. A second time. A third. Every Moretti guard raised a gun, but not one dared step forward. The man seized Dante by the collar. He held up the black price tag, his eyes red, and roared at Dante. "My precious daughter, the one I've spent twelve years searching for... "How could she have ended up here, a slave for seven years? "You killed my daughter."