My Don Mistook Survival for Greed Chapter 02

My Don Mistook Survival for Greed Chapter 02

But crying was nothing. I couldn’t afford to waste any electricity or time.

I turned off the light.

The world sank into darkness.

When one couldn’t see, his other senses kicked into high gear.

I could smell the dampness clinging to the basement walls.

I could hear rats gnawing at wood from the next room.

I buried my face in my covers.

Just like when I was a kid.

No matter how bad it hurt, I cried it out and then fell asleep.

Sleep made me forget the cruel jokes fate played on me.

Then the hurt went away.

…

But good dreams always get shattered by the alarm clock.

I couldn’t just pack up and move across the country or leave Chicago like some fairy tale princess after a breakup.

I had an unfinished degree at UIC.

And jobs with paychecks I hadn’t collected yet.

Even if I dropped everything and ran, those fucking debt collectors would still track me down. Chicago was big, but there was nowhere for me to run.

After I pulled myself together.

I just had to tell myself to be tough, and keep going through the same old routine day after day.

It was just that Dante’s announcement blew up big the day before.

The rich Don boy set off enough fireworks to light up half the city at Navy Pier.

Everyone knew Dante had a new girlfriend now.

Some people passed by me, keeping their voices low as they gossiped.

“Didn’t young Don Caruso make a whole big scene chasing that no-name girl? Six months and he’s already moved on?”

“Who knows?”

“Makes sense. They were never from the same world anyway.”

“Right! This isn’t some fairy tale. Why would a Mafia heir pick a slum girl over a socialite from his own class?”

“Cinderella was at least nobility. Renee has nothing…”

I coughed.

One of the gossiping girls spotted me, tugged her friend’s sleeve, and made a face to shut her up.

Silence.

But suddenly Jason—Dante’s childhood friend and the Caruso Family’s youngest Capo—cut in.

“You’re right. She thinks she’s Cinderella. How cute.”

Jason had hated me even when I was with Dante.

He called me a gold digger.

Said I was only after Dante’s money and the Caruso Family’s power.

He had a lot to do with Dante and I breaking up.

It made perfect sense for him to kick me when I was down.

I tried to avoid the unnecessary drama.

But he blocked my way into the classroom.

Leaning against the wall, he sneered.

“You should feel guilty!”

I shook my head.

I tried to walk around him, but he blocked me again.

“No? Renee, you reek of money! You spent three thousand dollars of Dante’s. If you really didn’t go after him for his money, pay it back.”

Jason’s words came at me aggressive.

It took me right back to when I was a kid, cornered at the school gate of Alley Town full of feral brats, getting hounded for money.

Getting picked on over and over taught me one thing.

If I flinched, they hit harder.

I gotta be tough.

I lifted my head, met Jason’s eyes.

“I will pay it back.”

Jason just kept mocking me.

“With what? You’re a nothing, an…”

Orphan.

He didn’t say the word out loud.

Because besides my teacher, only Dante knew about that.

I’d accidentally let it slip when I was talking to Dante.

Dante promised me he’d keep it a secret.

But he told someone anyway.

Liar.

And that wasn’t the only thing he lied about.

I should’ve known better than to believe his bullshit about protecting me.

The money was indeed a loan from him.

And I was definitely going to pay it back.

And I would pay it back.

I was working my ass off.

Earning it back dollar by dollar.

I’d already paid off most of it.

One day it’d all be gone.

I was about to talk back to Jason when a familiar voice cut in.

“Leave her alone.”

It was Dante.

Dante.

I didn’t even have to turn around to picture what he looked like.

Reckless, carefree, didn’t give a fuck about anything.

That effortless cool only a second-generation mafioso could pull off.

Something I could never envy enough.

But right after, a crisp feminine voice.

“Let it go, Jason.”

Bright. Graceful.

Celina.

She stepped forward.

Held her head high.

Walked past me with the most elegant poise.

I could feel the expensive, soft Max Mara cashmere of her coat brush against my arm.

Radiant.

Just like you’d expect a girl raised rich in Lincoln Park to be.

My boring plain white T-shirt clung to me, screaming my poverty.

The contrast was brutal.

Nobody said it out loud, but half the room was thinking it.

Dante followed right behind Celina, and brushed right past me.

Handsome man, beautiful woman.

Matching family background and status.

Even more perfect together than they looked in the photos.

I stared at their sweet, retreating backs, and a spark of unwillingness flickered in my chest.

Dante and I used to look that way too, didn’t we?

But whether I was bitter or not, I had to get to work. I sighed and walked into the bar behind me.

This was a high-end bar, and the tips the customers left were just as generous.

Only with money could I survive.

Only when I survived did I get to grieve broken hearts.

Those gossipy girls from earlier had already gone inside.

The second I walked in, every eye in the bar turned to me.

Scandal traveled faster than light.

I forced a stiff smile, put on my uniform under everyone’s teasing glances, and started working.