Second Life: The Mafia Wife’s Cold Awakening Chapter 08

Second Life: The Mafia Wife’s Cold Awakening Chapter 08

Chapter 8 Cold Justice

Word of Lucian’s death hit Liliana fast.

Terrified out of her wits, she packed her bags overnight, desperate to flee the city under cover of dark.

But she didn’t even make it to the train station before my men hauled her back.

When she was thrown in front of me, she folded instantly-knees cracking against the floor, forehead grinding into the cold stone. A mess of tears, snot, and hysterical pleading.

“Mrs. Ashford! I was wrong-so wrong! Please! Have mercy!” She was sobbing, snot and tears everywhere. Nothing like the smug little princess she used to be. “It was Lucian! He made me! Everything-he forced my hand! You have to believe me-I’m a victim too!”

“A victim.” I walked up to her, looking down at her like she was dirt on my shoe. “Let’s review. You told Mia to drug me. You staged your own kidnapping so the Don would be defenseless. You came to my hospital bed and accused me of adultery the same day I lost my child.” I held her eyes. “I’ve got every card you played, Liliana. Every last one. And you expect me to believe you’re some poor victim?”

“No! That’s not true!” Her head whipped back and forth, voice shaking. “Lucian planned everything! He told me exactly what to do-I just obeyed! Please, have mercy! Just this once! I swear I’ll never-”

“Mercy?” A sharp, icy laugh escaped me. “Who showed me mercy? Who showed mercy to the baby in my womb?”

I crouched down. Met those wet, pathetic eyes. Said it slow so every word landed. “You love playing the wounded little dove. Fine. Let’s see how you like it. Every ounce of pain I suffered in my last life-you’re about to feel it.”

I waved my hand, signaling the guards. “Take her to the dock’s freezing warehouse. Give her one cup of water a day, no food. Let her rot in there and reflect on her sins.

“No! God, no!” Her scream was pure terror. “Please! Just kill me! Put a bullet in my head!”

I didn’t answer.

The guards hauled her up and dragged her out. Her screams grew distant, echoing through the halls until they finally faded into nothingness.

I visited her every single day.

Watched the hysterics burn out. Watched the silence creep in.

Watched her lips go purple. The sores blooming across her fingers and toes.

Watched the hunger and the cold eat her alive, piece by piece.

She begged me to end her life countless times, but I refused every single time.

I wanted her alive. Breathing. Feeling every second as the cold and the hopelessness ate her piece by piece.

A week passed like this.

I came back to the freezer one last time.

Liliana was nothing but skin and bones now, her eyes cloudy, her breath so faint it was barely there.

She saw me. Lifted her head an inch. Used the last spark in her body to rasp, “Kill me… please… just kill me…”

I looked down at her. Flat. “So pain finally makes sense to you? When my baby and I froze to death in this very spot-it was a hundred times worse.”

I pulled a pistol from my coat. Chambered a round.

“But I’m bored now.”

I aimed at the center of her forehead and pulled the trigger.

Staring at her lifeless body, my heart finally settled into complete, total calm.