He Married His Enemy’s Daughter, So I Left the Mafia Family Chapter 01
Five years ago, Adrian Moretti and I dismantled one of the Rossi Family’s most important trade routes, and I personally made sure Don Vittorio Rossi, the man responsible for my father’s death, would never have a chance to rebuild his power.
But when the operation was over, Adrian insisted on sparing Vittorio’s only daughter, Selena Rossi.
To force me to agree, he even pressed a gun to his own chest and told me that if I was determined to kill her, I would have to kill him first.
Afterward, he brought Selena back to the Moretti Family’s safe house in Lake Forest.
From that day on, the entire Family made a point of reminding me that I was not one of them.
No matter how far Selena had fallen, she was still a Don’s own daughter.
And I was just Natalie Carter.
A woman with no Italian blood, a dead father, and no chance of ever being truly accepted into the Family’s inner circle.
The elders called her “Miss Rossi” right in front of me, while I was nothing more than “that Carter girl.”
At dinner, Selena sat at Adrian’s right hand while I was placed at the far end of the table.
At Family gatherings, if I spoke one sentence too many, someone would coldly remind me, “This is a Family matter.”
Adrian never defended me.
Not once.
There was a time I held a knife to Selena’s throat, and Adrian immediately pressed the muzzle of his gun against my chest.
Another time, I smashed the medication she’d sent to my room, and Adrian locked me in the large cold-storage room behind the compound during the coldest days of a Chicago winter so I could “learn the rules.”
And now, Selena was hiding behind him with a positive pregnancy test in her hand, pretending to be terrified.
Adrian immediately stepped in front of her, shielding her completely with his body.
Watching him, I suddenly didn’t want to fight anymore.
…
I pulled my father’s old revolver from my waist.
Right in front of Adrian, I ejected five rounds, left one in the cylinder, then pressed the barrel to my temple.
“Adrian, let’s make a bet.”
His expression darkened instantly.
“Russian roulette. One bullet, six chambers. Five empty clicks and you let me go. After that, I’m done with you and the Morettis. If it fires before then, I die here. Call it my gift to your baby.”
Adrian frowned and moved another half step in front of Selena.
“You’re out of your mind!”
I smiled and pulled the trigger for the first time.
Click.
Empty.
“Natalie, have you completely lost it?!”
I didn’t answer.
Second pull.
Click.
Third.
Click.
Fourth.
Click.
The entire living room went silent except for the dry click of the revolver.
When I pulled the trigger for the fifth time, Adrian finally roared my name and lunged at me, tackling me to the floor.
“Natalie!”
The moment I fell, my hands instinctively flew to protect my lower abdomen.
The pain I expected never came because Adrian had twisted beneath me, using his own body to cushion my fall as he held me tightly.
Click.
The fifth chamber was empty too.
His chest rose and fell violently, and there was a kind of fear in his eyes I hadn’t seen in years.
“Enough, Natalie. Why does it always have to come to this with us?”
I stared at him, struck by how absurd the question was.
Who exactly had pushed us this far?
The day my father, Daniel Carter, was killed by the Rossi Family, Adrian had held me outside Mount Carmel Cemetery and promised me he would destroy the Rossis completely.
We infiltrated Detroit together and spent more than a year getting our hands on the list of their core members.
But in the end, the man my father had personally raised changed sides again and again for the daughter of his enemy.
I had just opened my mouth when Selena’s tearful voice came from behind us.
“Adrian… my stomach hurts. The baby… all this must have frightened the baby…”
Selena clutched her stomach and sank to the floor as tears instantly streamed down her face.
Adrian’s body went rigid.
He glanced at the revolver lying on the floor, then looked at me. Seconds ago, he’d been terrified that I might actually pull the trigger and die. Now that fear vanished, replaced completely by anger.
“Natalie, you were bluffing?”
He grabbed me by the collar and hauled me off the floor.
“There weren’t any bullets in that gun, were there?”
I didn’t explain.
He took my silence as an admission.
Adrian shoved me away, and the only thing left in his eyes was disgust.
“You knew Selena was pregnant, and you still pulled a stunt like that just to scare her? Do you think being Daniel’s daughter means you can do whatever the hell you like around the Morettis? Don’t forget, you’re a Carter. Not a Moretti.”
That last sentence hit harder than any slap could have.
Not one of the Family guards standing nearby spoke up for me.
Some of them weren’t even trying to hide the contempt in their eyes, as if Adrian’s treatment of me was perfectly reasonable.
Because that was what they had always believed.
I was only a woman they allowed to live there, never someone they considered one of the Morettis.
Selena was the woman they believed truly belonged beside Adrian.
After all, the Rossi name could still rally plenty of people behind her.
Adrian scooped Selena into his arms and carried her toward the door, soothing her as he went.
“Don’t be scared. It was empty. I’m taking you to hospital now.”
I lay on the floor and watched them leave.
Then a dull, dragging ache suddenly twisted through my lower abdomen.
I reached out and picked up the revolver.
If I pulled the trigger one more time, the single bullet I’d left inside would fire.
This was the last gun my father had left me.
Five empty chambers in a row. Maybe that was his final way of protecting me.
I stared up at the ceiling and whispered,
“Adrian, I won the bet. It’s time for me to leave.”
