Chapter 5
Chapte
Chapter 5
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He leaned in, his grip tightening. “Do you know why you’re still weak?” he asked, his voice deceptively calm.
I forced myself to meet his gaze. “Enlighten me.”
His fingers pressed harder against my throat. “Because you still have something left of that woman you used to be. The wife. The mother.” His eyes darkened. “And until you kill her, you’ll never be ready.”
He let go. I dropped to my knees, coughing, but I understood his message.
I had to stop hesitating.
Because hesitation had killed my daughter.
I gritted my teeth and pushed myself up. “I’ll be ready.”
Darius studied me for a long moment. Then, he smirked. “Let’s hope so.”
The first real test came a week later.
Darius handed me a gun. “A man stole from me,” he said, nodding toward the room behind him. “He thought he could betray me and live.”
I stared at the gun. Then at the door.
This was it. The line between what I had been and what I was becoming.
Darius tilted his head. “Hesitation means death.”
I didn’t hesitate.
I walked into the room.
The man was tied to a chair, blood pooling beneath him. He looked up, his eyes pleading. “Please…”
I pulled the trigger.
No hesitation.
No regret.
When I turned back to Darius, my hands steady, he grinned. “Now, you’re ready.”
Weeks passed, and with each one, I became something else.
I learned to fight like a killer.
I learned to manipulate like a queen.
I learned that in this world, power wasn’t just about money or strength.
Chapter 5
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It was about control.
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Darius watched me closely, testing me at every turn. “What’s your endgame, Valeria?” he asked one night, pouring himself a drink.
I met his gaze. “Lorenzo.”
His smirk widened. “You want to kill him?”
“No.” I leaned forward, my voice steady. “I want to take everything from him. His power. His empire. His peace.”
Darius chuckled, swirling his whiskey. “Now that, I can help with.”
By the time a month had passed, I wasn’t just surviving in the underworld.
I was thriving.
Ronan leaned against the bar, watching me with an amused look. “Never thought I’d see Lorenzo De Luca’s widow running the underworld.”
I smirked, swirling the drink in my hand. “Then you’re not looking close enough.”
Darius sat across from me, his dark eyes gleaming. “You’ve come far.” “But not far enough,” I said. “Not yet.”
Darius’s lips curled into a dangerous smile. “Then let’s change that.” Because I wasn’t just coming back for revenge.
I was coming back to rule.
12:26 Sun, 2 Mar
