The Mafia Princess Asked for a Beautiful Ashes Box Chapter 05

The Mafia Princess Asked for a Beautiful Ashes Box Chapter 05

The instant Dante heard me, he surged to his feet and struck me across the face.

The force sent me sprawling.

Pain twisted through my stomach, and my cheek burned. Tears sprang to my eyes before I could stop them.

Dante’s chest heaved. His expression was terrifying.

“You still have the nerve to lie? I’ve spent five years giving you chances. I kept telling myself that if you came home and told me where Mom’s keepsake was, I would forgive you.”

His bloodied hand curled into a fist.

“But what did you do instead? You don’t deserve the Russo name, Nina. And you sure as hell don’t deserve to be my sister!”

His eyes were red with fury and disappointment. For once, the composed Don had completely lost control.

My heart plummeted into an abyss.

The taste of blood rose in my throat. It took every ounce of strength I had to force it back down.

“What if I’m really dying?” I choked out.

“Stop playing the victim.”

Dante stared at me in disgust. Blood dripped from the shards clenched in his palm.

“Even if you die, I won’t shed a single tear for you.”

“Okay.”

I clenched my hands and struggled unsteadily to my feet.

In that moment, I finally understood.

I was going to die anyway.

Who had wronged whom and who owed what no longer mattered.

If Dante needed to believe I had done it all, then fine. I had done it.

Soon, I would see Mom again. I would ask her to forgive me herself.

With a bitter smile, I turned and walked out of the pawnshop.

Dante shouted after me, “Where the hell are you going? Will you only be satisfied once you’ve driven me to my grave?”

I didn’t look back.

“You don’t have to die,” I said. “I will.”

For the next two days, Dante didn’t contact me.

He sent the shattered figurine to a restorer, only to learn that it was too badly damaged to ever be made whole again.

The sight of the ruined pieces left him shaking with rage.

On the first day, he publicly disowned me.

Standing before the press with a face like stone, he announced, “From this moment on, Nina Russo is no longer my responsibility. I don’t care where she works or what she sells. Even if she sells her own body, I won’t interfere. No one is to mention her name in my presence again. The very sound of it makes me sick.”

The announcement stunned the media. Dante moved just as ruthlessly behind the scenes, cutting me out of the Russo family trust and every official family record.

On the second day, he took Mia to the Russo family cemetery.

Before our relatives and the senior members of the family, he gave her the Russo name and proclaimed her the family’s Principessa.

One of the older capos couldn’t understand.

“Is this really necessary? Nina is your flesh and blood. If you abandon her completely and something happens to her, what then?”

Dante pressed his lips into a hard line and gave a mocking laugh.

“What could happen to her? I spent five years tightening the screws, and she’s still alive. Nina would never kill herself. She doesn’t have the guts. Besides, she knows she’d have to face Mom after what she did.”

Unfortunately, he was wrong again.

I thought our paths would never cross after that.

I never imagined the memorial shop owner would call Dante.

The man sounded one breath away from cursing him out.

“You’re Nina’s brother, aren’t you? She listed you as her emergency contact, so don’t pretend you don’t know her. Your sister ordered an urn from me and still hasn’t paid the balance. Do you people want it or not?”