Chapter 6
My parents froze where they stood.
They instinctively turned to Luca.
The moment they saw his defeated expression, they finally
realized I hadn’t been lying.
My mother shoved Luca twice, her voice sharp and frantic.
You said everything would go smoothly!”
How did it end up like this?”
My father’s face turned pale.
Impossible!”
That drug took me forever to get.”
There’s no way anything could have gone wrong after taking it!”
I looked at him and smiled.
The person who gave you that drug was Hayes, wasn’t he?”
“He didn’t betray you.”
*But when he handed it over, I put a gun to his head and made him switch it.”
“What I drank wasn’t poison.”
“Just two vitamins.”
“Luckily, I knew the director of St. Catherine Medical Center.”
“He helped me put on this little act.”
The moment I finished speaking, my parents stumbled and collapsed onto the floor.
I didn’t want to waste another second on them.
I raised my hand toward the private guards standing nearby.
They immediately stepped forward and dragged all of them
toward the meeting room entrance.
Just before Luca was taken away, he suddenly struggled.
He lifted his head and looked at me.
Maren…”
I remember you weren’t like this before…”
“How did you become someone like this?”
The moment I heard those words, I let out a low laugh.
Then the laughter grew louder.
More broken.
More painful.
Tears slid down my face.
“Isn’t this exactly the monster you made me become, Luca?”
Their footsteps slowly faded into the distance.
When Nico walked toward me, he finally noticed my body trembling uncontrollably.
He didn’t say a word.
He simply stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me from behind.
Holding me tightly.
He didn’t try to comfort me.
He didn’t ask me to be strong.
He just stayed there.
The meeting room fell silent.
The only sounds left were my uneven breathing and Nico’s steady heartbeat.
After a long while, Nico finally spoke.
“Maren…”
Do you think you’ll ever forgive them?”
I looked up at him.
My voice was calm.
“I don’t have anything left inside me that can forgive anyone anymore.”
From that day on, I began wiping out every remaining trace of Luca’s power and influence.
Five years ago, Luca had faked his own death and vanished from the underworld.
He thought he could abandon every blood debt tied to the
Romano Family, leave everything behind with Ivy, and live, a quiet life.
But when he returned five years later…
It wasn’t because he had finally found his conscience.
It wasn’t because he wanted to make things right with me.
It was because he had nearly run out of money.
And what he wanted was the Romano Family empire I had protected for five years.
He had chosen the perfect moment to return.
He wanted to take everything I had built with my own hands.
But while Luca was gone, the entire balance of power in Port Vesper had changed.
For five years, he had hidden behind Ivy and stayed away from the underworld.
He was no longer part of the world he once ruled.
The old rules Luca relied on–power bought with fists, fear.
and personal loyalty–were meaningless now.
So, only one week later, Luca and the last remaining Romano
loyalists were surrounded by my people at the Port Vesper docks.
A private guard bowed and handed me an encrypted satellite. phone.
Through the receiver, I heard the sound of waves crashing against the shore.
Then came Luca’s furious voice.
Maren…”
I want to see you one last time.“.
didn’t refuse.
knew this was something we had to settle once and for all.
drove to the Vesper docks.
When I stepped out of the car, I saw Luca standing at the
edge of a shipping container.
Below him, the ocean churned violently.
His entire body was strapped with explosives.
Loose wires hung near his feet, swaying in the wind.
His suit was wrinkled beyond recognition.
His hair was a mess.
He looked nothing like the man who had once been the
feared Boss Luca Romano of Port Vesper.
I looked at him and let out a cold laugh.
“Say it.”
“What else do you have left to say?”