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Adriano

“Are you ready to go home?” I asked Amira, who gave me the brightest smile. Her happiness always made my heart feel lighter.

“Yes!” she said, running into my arms for a hug. “I’m ready to leave.”

I smiled and gently touched her hair. The time I spent with her showed me how special she was. This little girl had brought so much joy into my dark world.

“Can you two stop being so sweet and let’s go?” Azalea said with annoyance, carrying her small bag. “I’m tired of waiting.”

I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “I can smell jealousy in the air.”

“Jealousy?” she asked, sounding confused. “Are you talking about me?”

“Who else would I be talking about,” I smiled. “My dear wife.”

“I’m not jealous,” she said, walking toward the door. “If you two are finished, meet me outside.”

“Your sister is jealous, Amira,” I told the little girl. “We better go before she gets really mad at us.”

Amira giggled and took my hand. “Let’s go. I don’t want her to be angry with us.”

Our trip back to New York was full of laughter and stories. I told Amira many things about my life - some true, some made up to make her smile. After many hours of traveling, we finally arrived home.

“Welcome home, Master,” all the maids said as we walked into my mansion. “Welcome home, Madam.”

“Wow,” Amira said with wide eyes. “Is this really your house?”

“Yes,” I responded proudly. “And now it belongs to you too.”

“Really? This beautiful house is mine too?”

“Yes, sweetheart. This is your home now.”

“Are you sure about that?” a voice I knew too well said from behind us.

My blood froze. Slowly, I turned around, and there he was—the man I hated more than anyone in this world. My father. The man who destroyed my mother and ruined my childhood.

And standing beside him, with her poisonous smile, was the woman who had stolen everything from us.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked, my voice dripping with venom. “Answer me.”

“Is that how you greet your father, Adriano?” he said smoothly as he walked down the stairs. His voice was calm, but I could hear the arrogance beneath it.

Next to him, the mistress tilted her chin with that smug, victorious look. The same look I’d seen when I was just a boy—watching her push my mother into despair.

“You’re not my father,” I snapped, my chest heaving with rage. “Stop pretending to be something you’re not.”

My eyes turned red with rage. I tried to control myself because Amira and Azalea were watching.

They walked past me and sat on my expensive sofa like they owned the place. My blood boiled at the audacity.

“You can deny it all you want,” he stated, resting his cane across his lap. “But my blood runs through your veins. I gave you life.”

I laughed darkly. “You gave me nothing. My mother gave me life. You gave me scars.”

His eyes narrowed, but before he could respond, she leaned forward with a cruel smile. “Careful, Adriano. You’re talking to your father. Is this how you repay him? What kind of son spits in the face of the man who raised him?”

“Son?” I said quietly, my voice dangerous. “And who the hell are you supposed to be?”

“I am your mother,” she declared proudly.

“You?” I spat. “You’re nothing but a bitch. A home-wrecker. A murderer.”

Her face turned red with embarrassment and anger.

“If it wasn’t for him,” I pointed at my father, “do you think you would have the courage to step foot in my house? Do you think you could dare call yourself my mother?”

“Shut up!” Father yelled. “You bastard! How dare you speak to your mother like that!”

I was burning with rage. Every cell in my body wanted to pull out my gun and end her miserable life right there. But Amira was here, and I couldn’t let an innocent child see such violence.

I turned to face my scared servants who were still standing there.

“Who let them into my house? Who?”

“Sir,” my butler said nervously. “I was the one who let them in.”

“Why? Why did you allow these... things... into my home?”

“He said he was your father, sir. I thought—”

“Did I ever tell you he was my father?” I screamed. “You’re fired. All of you are fired.”

“Sir, please!” They all fell to their knees. “Give us another chance, sir. We’re sorry!”

I laughed, but there was no humor in it. It was taking everything I had not to show them my true, violent nature. “You should be grateful,” I said through clenched teeth, “that I’m letting you leave here alive.”

Azalea came to my side and took my hand, trying to calm me down. Even though I was still burning with anger, her touch helped a little.

“Matteo,” I called, and within a blink he was right in front of me.

“Yes, sir.”

“Throw them out of my house. If they resist, you know what to do.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do you really have to be so cruel?” my father asked. “I am your father, after all.”

“My father is dead,” I said coldly. “So get out.”

He stayed silent for a while before speaking. “Who are they?”

I was shocked by his question. Why was he asking about them?

“Why do you want to know?”

“Come here, little girl,” he called to Amira, who had peeked her head out. I knew exactly what he was trying to do.

He wanted to manipulate an innocent child because he couldn’t control me anymore.

“Azalea, take her to your room,” I ordered. “Right now.”

Azalea quickly grabbed her sister’s hand and ran upstairs.

After we were alone, I turned around and faced those pests.

“So tell me,” I said, walking toward them with fury in my eyes. “What do you really want here?”

“I’m worried about you,” he muttered, trying to sound caring. If I was still a little boy, maybe I would have believed him. But I knew exactly who this man really was.

“Worried?” I laughed bitterly. “Is that why you brought this whore to my house?”

“She is your mother,” he said firmly. “I don’t understand why you hate us so much.”

“You know exactly why I hate you, and you still had the nerve to come here. Are you trying to make me kill you?”

I smiled cruelly, enjoying the fear I saw in their eyes. “Get out before I do something you’ll never forget.”

I started to walk away, but his next words stopped me cold.

“Your mother’s death anniversary is coming soon,” he said quietly. “That’s why I’m here.”

My heart clenched with pain and anger. “Since when do you care about my mother?”

“You know how much I loved her, son.”

“Are you kidding me?” I exploded. “You loved her? Then why did you marry this bitch and drive my mother to kill herself?”

Her face tightened with fury, but she tried to mask it. Then she sneered, before saying. “Your mother was never strong enough for him. She couldn’t keep his love, but I could. She was too weak to satisfy him—too weak to hold this family together. I did what she couldn’t.”

The world went red.

In a blink, I had her throat in my hand, squeezing and lifting her from the sofa. My grip tightened as her eyes widened with panic.

“Say that again,” I growled, my voice guttural, inhuman. “Say it again, and I swear I’ll snap your neck.”

“Don’t hurt her! Let her go!” my father screamed, which made me even angrier. He was protecting his mistress instead of caring about what she said about my dead mother.

“You dare protect her? After everything she did to my mother? After what you did?”

Her eyes rolled back as I squeezed tighter. She was choking, struggling to breathe.

Her hands clawed at mine, her face turning red as she gasped for air. “Please... I... I’m sorry...”

“You think I won’t kill you just because he’s here?” I whispered into her ear, grinning as she struggled. “You’re wrong. The only reason you’re still breathing is because my wife is here. I won’t let her see me drenched in your blood.”

“Please... I’m sorry...”

“Stop, son, or I’ll call for your wife to see this.”

“If that’s how you want it,” I said coldly, shoving her to the floor like the trash she was. She collapsed, coughing and gasping, her body shaking.

I looked down at her with disgust. “Get out of my house before I change my mind.”

My father’s face twisted with rage. “That nobody girl... she’s your wife? You married that lowly creature?”

The way he said it made my blood surge hotter. “Nobody? She’s worth more than both of you combined. She’s a thousand times more of a woman than that whore you parade as your wife.”

“How dare you!” he shouted, slamming his cane on the ground. “I want you to divorce her. Now!”

“On what grounds?” I asked, stepping closer to him.

“Because I am your father,” he hissed. “And I decide what’s best for you.”

I smiled coldly. “My father is dead.” I snapped my fingers. “Matteo.”

“Yes, sir,” Matteo said, appearing instantly at my side.

“Throw them out. Don’t be gentle about it.”

“You can’t do this to us!” my father shouted.

I was halfway up the stairs when I turned around one last time. “And Matteo? Burn everything they touched in my house. I don’t want any trace of them left here.”

“Yes, sir.”

I could hear my father screaming insults as I walked away, but I didn’t care. They had already taken my mother from me. They would never take my new family.

As I climbed the stairs to find my wife and Amira, I felt the old pain in my chest. The same pain that had lived there since I was a boy, watching my mother cry herself to death because of the man who was supposed to love her.

But now I had Azalea and Amira. They were my real family. And I would protect them from the monsters who destroyed my past.