84 Confessions 1

84 Confessions 1
I froze, my attention snapping to her. There was something in her eyes—a sorrow so profound it made my chest ache. This wasn’t a story she had rehearsed for manipulation. This was real.

“My grandparents, my mother, my brothers—they all died in that war,” she said, her voice trembling. “Our home was torched, and they burned to death because we fell under the protection of a weaker mafia boss. The Bianchis and the Alessandros came together to annihilate the Rodriguez family. Along with them, most of us lost everything.”

I stared at her, speechless. Her words hit like a punch to the gut, and I felt the weight of her pain settle in the room.
“I was six years old,” she continued, tears streaming freely down her face now. “My father, his brother, and I were the only ones who survived. I can still hear the screams, smell the smoke… I’ll never forget it.”

Her voice cracked, and she took a shuddering breath. “Our Alpha had no quarrels. Neither did the neighboring Alphas. But your family and the Bianchis… they wanted more. They wanted territory. And for what? To prove a point? To feed their greed?” Her voice rose, trembling with anger and grief. “Somberg would have thrived without them. But instead, they left it in ashes. Lives were lost for nothing. When the war ended, the Bianchis and Alessandros retreated, but by then, the damage was done.”

Her words hung in the air like smoke, choking me. I wanted to speak, but no words came. What could I say?

Tears welled in her eyes, and her voice grew softer, as if reliving the moment was draining her. “My father and his brother swore that no one would ever suffer like that again. They had a vision—one that seemed impossible. A world without mob wars. A world where packs could thrive without fear. They knew it would take time. They knew it would take sacrifice. But they believed it could be done.”

I listened in stunned silence as she coughed, a harsh, wet sound that made my stomach tighten. Blood stained her lips, and I felt a pang of alarm. She wiped it away with trembling fingers, her pale skin ghostly in the dim light.

Her eyes met mine, filled with a mix of pain and defiance. “That’s how the Nuovo Ordine clan began. Not from some distant land, as everyone thinks. It was born right here, in the ashes of Somberg. By people who had suffered too much and lost too much to let it happen again.”

She coughed again, and more blood came up. I watched helplessly as she smiled—a broken, haunting smile that chilled me to my core. Her teeth were stained red, her face gaunt and shadowed by dark circles. Yet she reached out, her hand trembling, and touched mine.

Her fingers were icy, but her gesture was warm. She brought my hand to her lips and kissed it gently, her smile unwavering despite the pain etched across her face.

“Forgive me, Theo,” she whispered, her voice trembling. Her words set off alarm bells in my head. My heart raced as I leaned forward, watching her closely. Had she figured me out? Had she sold me out? The tension in the air was suffocating.

Her eyes filled with tears as she continued. “I was sent to mark you thirty-seven years ago. My task was to get close to you, gain your trust, and leak the mafia’s secrets.” She hesitated, her voice breaking. “I believe your father suspected me from the beginning, but there was one thing no one accounted for.” Her lips trembled. “I fell in love with you.”

Her confession hit me like a thunderbolt, and I jumped to my feet, my voice rising in disbelief. “What are you saying?” My hands clenched into fists, my mind racing to process her words.

She looked up at me, her tears streaming freely. “Yes, Theo. I lied about being pregnant. I lied to trap you into marrying me. But then… then we got married, and I truly became pregnant. That’s when everything changed. You stole my heart, Theo. I went against my family by staying loyal to you. I defied them, and they hated me for it. My father and uncles warned me that you would leave me because the mob always stays within their circle, but I didn’t believe them. Not at first.” Her voice cracked, and she began to sob. “But then you asked for a divorce.”

Her words brought back a flood of memories, each one cutting deeper than the last. She wiped at her face, her hands trembling. “Even after that, I loved you. I knew your father forced you to divorce me to gain more territories and power. It made me furious. The mob had already taken everything from me, and now it had broken my home too.”

Her sobs grew louder as she continued. “So, I made a vow to bring the mob down. I fed my family false reports about you and your operations—nothing that could ever truly harm you. For years, while you led your family, I misled mine. I couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to you, even after you hurt me. I gave them just enough to keep them at bay, enough to survive in the impossible situation I was trapped in.”

My body stiffened as her words sank in. This wasn’t just a confession; it was a reckoning. She looked up at me, her eyes searching mine for something—understanding, forgiveness, maybe both.

“When your son Luca took over, I slowed my efforts even further. I didn’t want them to come after him, even after he threatened to kill my children. Even when your wife came after my life, I held back.” Her voice was barely above a whisper now, and her face was pale. “I never wanted to destroy your family. I only wanted to survive.”

She coughed violently, blood staining her lips again. I stared at her, my emotions a storm of anger, sadness, and confusion. How could I reconcile this woman—the woman who betrayed me—with the woman who claimed to have loved me all along?

“I’m dying, Theo,” she said softly, her voice carrying an eerie calmness. “I’m dying because I chose not to sell you out. I know you’re not angry at Luca; you love him too much for that. But I know you’ve figured out my secret.”

She took a shaky breath and continued. “My uncle is the leader of the Nuovo Ordine Clan. He plans to take out Luca so that Randy and Marco will inherit the businesses and territories. He believes that by doing so, the old mafia will fall apart, and the system will change.”

Her words hit me like a sledgehammer, and tears pricked at my eyes. My throat tightened as I tried to process what she had just told me. Her family had been behind it all. They were the architects of the chaos that had destroyed my friends, my son, and countless lives.

“Why are you telling me this now?” I asked, my voice strained. Deep down, I hoped for some small chance that she wasn’t tied to all of this, that her connection to the Nuovo Ordine Clan was a cruel coincidence. But her words left no room for doubt.

Her tears mirrored my own as she gazed at me, the weight of her confession etched into her face. “Because I want you to know the truth, even if it changes nothing. I never wanted this war. I never wanted to hurt you. But I also couldn’t escape who I was born to be.”