Snatched Two Husbands, But They Both Remember the Fire Chapter 09

Snatched Two Husbands, But They Both Remember the Fire Chapter 09

Sophia disappeared for two weeks.

No crying. No visiting. No anything. Quiet.

Not good. A snake stays still right before it bites.

“Think she’s really crazy?” Alessia asked.

“No. Crazy people aren’t this quiet. She’s waiting.”

“For what?”

“That’s the scary part.”

Rocco and Luca went from three fights a day to one. Not because they got along. Just busy.

Rocco gave up his streets, his docks. He was out all day. Sometimes I’d see light in his room late. Smoke coming out the window.

Luca wrote to his dad. Got an answer the next day. Thick pages. He sat in the library for hours. Then started calling people. All night.

And then-things started showing up. Wine. Cigars. Art. Old things. Each had a card. Just one word: *Got

it.*

People choosing sides. Luca’s dad’s people. Alexander’s side.

My side.

“You don’t have to do this,” I said one night.

“You needed this last time,” he said. “I won’t let the same thing happen.”

“I didn’t die-”

“You did. Right in front of me.”

His eyes went red.

“This time, no one touches you.

I didn’t say anything. Just held him.

The estate got a rhythm.

Mornings, Luca made breakfast. Not great at it. Eggs broke. Coffee sometimes burned. But he tried.

Rocco was never there. Said he’d rather sleep. But there was always coffee on the counter. Already drunk.

And crumbs on a plate.

Like a stray cat. Eat and run. Like he was never there.

“Does he come every morning?” I asked Alessia.

She nodded.

“Every day. Leaves before Luca gets there.”

“He knows,” I said.

Luca knew everything.

First evidence against Mama Ross showed up.

Old stuff. Money moved through fake companies. Emails to other families. Recordings.

In everyone’s mailboxes overnight. No one knew how. But everyone knew who.

Alexander.

Didn’t say anything. Just let it appear.

Then waited.

Mama Ross answered fast.

Three days. Headlines everywhere.

“CATALINA ROSA. TWO HUSBANDS. ONE BIG MESS.”

“MAFIA PRINCESS LIVING IN SIN.”

“INSIDER: WILD PARTIES. NO SHAME.”

And a picture of me in my backyard. In my pajamas.

From inside my house.

Someone on the inside.

“Alessia. Everyone. Background checks. Everyone.”

‘Did it. New gardener. Works for Mama Ross’s old maid. Perfect resume. Too perfect.”

‘Where is he?”

‘Gone. Room empty. No fingerprints.”

Gone.

She wanted me to know. She could get to me.

Next day. More evidence. Not Mama Ross. Sophia.

Money for Mama Ross. Letters to other families. Things she said.

“Alexander’s seat should be mine.”

“My mother deserved to be Don’s wife. Not that dead woman.

“They’ll pay.”

Recordings. Letters. Witnesses.

This time, the Families got loud.

They could handle stealing. They could handle fighting. But an outsider woman who never held a gun wanting Don’s seat?

No.

Mama Ross called Alexander. Didn’t pick up.

Called me. Didn’t pick up.

Called the house. Alessia answered.

“What?”

“Let her wait.”

Twenty minutes. Phone again.

“Pick up.” I took it. “Mama Ross. Late night. You want dinner?”

Five seconds.

Then her voice. Not nice. Not sweet. Not “I could crush you if I wanted.”

Quiet. Flat. Pulled from between her teeth.

“What do you want?”

“What do I want? You and your daughter gone. From New York. From America. From my brother’s sight.”

“No.”

“Then talking’s done.”

“Wait-”

Her voice cracked.

“Sophia… what she said… she didn’t mean-‘

“Mama Ross. You and I both know she meant every word. You want her on the Don’s seat. You want to run things through her. You think when my father died, everything became yours.”

Nothing.

“You’re wrong. It was never yours. It’s not yours now. It won’t be.”

Her breathing changed. Fast. Hard.

Then-a sound I never heard from her.

A sob.

Mama Ross was crying.

I hung up.