The Don’s Fallen Queen Chapter 04

The Don’s Fallen Queen Chapter 04

The banquet hall was packed with men. Almost every single one of them had paid for me before.

“Gentlemen,” Roxanne said slowly, “she bought her freedom for ten million dollars. Same rules as always. Anyone willing to outbid her gets to keep her here.”

Silence settled over the room.

These men weren’t good people, but tradition was tradition. When a girl earned enough to buy her freedom, nobody stopped her from leaving.

I moved quietly between the tables, thanking them one by one.

Just a little longer, and I’d finally be out of this place.

But right as I reached the end of the long table, Elena suddenly burst into the hall.

She collapsed to her knees in front of me, crying so hard she could barely speak.

“Sierra, please… please…” she sobbed. “Dante only took me in because he pitied me. I swear I’m not trying to compete with you.”

Tears streamed down her face as she clutched at my skirt desperately.

“Please don’t send me back there. I’d rather die.”

Dante rushed in moments later. The second he saw me, he walked over and slapped me across the face hard enough to make my ears ring.

“You threatened her again?” he roared. “You never fucking learn, do you?”

His breathing was uneven with rage.

“Fine. If one of you belongs in this place… maybe it was always supposed to be you.”

He pulled a black card from his pocket and handed it to Roxanne.

“Fifteen million. She stays.”

His cold gaze dragged across me.

“She’s everyone’s favorite anyway. There’s no place better for her than this club.”

Ten million had already been everything I had. I couldn’t come up with more.

Roxanne looked at me with something close to pity.

“I’ll send your money back to your room,” she said softly.

My fingernails dug into my palms.

“No,” I said quietly. “I’m raising the bid.”

One by one, I removed every piece of jewelry I was wearing and placed them onto the table.

The jewelry he once gave me. The emerald cufflinks that symbolized my place as his wife. Everything.

Dante narrowed his eyes.

“You’re throwing away Moretti family heirlooms?” His voice turned icy.

“You’ve completely lost your mind.”

“Add up to twenty million,” he said coldly. “Unless you kneel in front of Elena, apologize to her, and welcome her into our home on your knees…”

His gaze darkened.

“You are never leaving this club.”

The room went dead silent.

Everyone could see it. I had no choice left except surrender.

I bit down hard on my lip until blood spread across my tongue.

“…Sierra,” Roxanne whispered carefully, “maybe you should leave for now. Some things aren’t worth this.”

“No,” I said calmly. “I still have another option.”

I slowly lifted my eyes.

“I choose the Hot Air Balloon.”

Roxanne sucked in a sharp breath.

Dante blinked once before laughing outright.

“You lose your mind?” he mocked. “You’re talking crazy now.”

The Hot Air Balloon was the oldest ritual in the club.

A woman dressed in nothing but silk climbed into a suspended balloon basket and danced while the flames slowly consumed it. Anyone who completed the performance earned twenty million dollars.

But nobody had ever actually collected the money.

Because nobody ever survived.

Roxanne’s voice trembled slightly.

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.”

The money transferred within minutes.

Roxanne walked over and whispered something into Dante’s ear.

His grip tightened violently around the black card as his jaw clenched.

“She actually paid for it?” he said hoarsely.

Roxanne lowered her eyes.

“Every cent came from Sierra.”

Outside, fireworks exploded across the sky.

Dante looked up instinctively and saw a slender figure wrapped in silk slowly rising into the air, swaying like a rose moments away from burning apart.

Someone approached him holding a champagne glass.

“Don, I need to meet your wife,” the man said. “My father asked me to pay his respects to the woman who walked alone into enemy territory to secure advantages for our family.”

“Move.”

Dante didn’t hear a single word.