My Family Sold Me To The Don. Too Bad He Was My Dog All Along Chapter 01
My brother Seamus Romano drugged me and dragged me onto Don Enzo Lombardi’s yacht.
I just smiled and said, “You can drop me off here. I’m home.”
They all thought I was out of my mind on the drugs.
“Luciana, we can’t pay the Russians. Only the Don can save us now.”
“Don Enzo likes ’em feisty. One night with him, and our debt disappears.”
“Once I get that waiver and you do your part for the Don, I’ll be rich.”
My family—the people I trusted most—shoved me into the penthouse suite while the drugs were still in my system.
Nobody saw me close my eyes. Nobody caught the grin I couldn’t hide.
And nobody knew that the “merciless Don Enzo” they kept talking about had been on his knees in front of me seven years ago, begging me to show him how the game worked.
Tonight, they handed me to him themselves.
Tomorrow, there’d be a few extra bodies floating in the harbor.
…
When I came to, the drugs still hadn’t fully worn off. My head felt like it was stuffed with lead.
I looked up and saw my wrists cuffed to the headboard with leather straps, biting into my skin.
The horn blared. The floor beneath me hummed and swayed. The yacht had already left the dock.
From outside the door, Seamus’s voice came through, shaking with excitement.
“Mom, it’s done. Don Enzo’s people took delivery themselves. He’s interested.”
Delivery.
He called me delivery.
But I was still too weak to do anything about it. Limp arms, foggy brain. Couldn’t even make a fist.
Eileen’s voice followed, urgent and groveling.
“When does he sign off on the debt release? We can’t carry this past Christmas.”
“Relax. Once Don Enzo gets a taste, the waiver’s just the start. He might even hand us a few smuggling routes for free.”
Seamus’s laugh cut through the door like broken glass.
“Besides, look at Luciana’s face. She’s lucky Don Enzo even looks at trash like her.”
That made me laugh.
Seven years ago, I found Enzo digging through a dumpster behind a parking garage, scraping cold pizza off the box. I pulled him up.
I built his family’s entire financial infrastructure in one night.
The first offshore wire transfer that laundered three generations of dirty money came from my personal account.
And Seamus thinks I’m the one punching above my weight?
“Alright, enough.” Eileen lowered her voice. “Did you give her enough? If she wakes up halfway, she’ll kill you.”
“Don’t worry. Don Enzo’s people said the dose lasts another hour. We’re fine.”
“Good. Last thing we need is her making a scene.”
“She was always a handful. Remember when she was six, tried to poison you? Now we hand her a way out and she still can’t appreciate it.”
Seamus had always been picky about food. I gave him the biggest piece of chicken off my plate, and he choked on it. Eileen decided I’d tried to poison him.
For six years after that, she fed me canned soup and stale bread. Said I was paying off my sins.
Now she’s using that same story to put me in a mob Don’s bed without a second thought.
The drugs were seventy percent gone.
My fingers could make a fist now.
The conversation outside kept going. Seamus was coaching Eileen on how to cozy up to Don Enzo’s men. Slick and sharp.
But he didn’t know the man who took possession worked off my payroll.
He didn’t know Enzo had spent seven years searching every state in the country for me.
He also didn’t know the last guy who stared at my photo too long at a dinner party got committed to a psychiatric facility. He’s still there.
And my own brother was about to hand me over to that madman, thinking he’d get paid for it.
I closed my eyes. The smirk was almost impossible to hold back.
The door swung open.
“Luciana. You up?”
Seamus poked his head in, all smiles.
“Don’s back in half an hour. Get changed.”
A black leather dress hit me in the chest.
He stood over me, talking like he was ordering a maid around.
“Don’t blame me. The family’s drowning. You do this, I’ll buy you whatever you want. Deal?”
“So… you sold me.”
My voice came out barely above a whisper.
He flinched for a second.
“It’s not like that. I’m setting you up. Half the women in the city would kill to be in your spot.”
Eileen stepped in, unbuttoning my shirt. Her fingers grazed my collarbone. She was shaking.
But she was more scared of being poor.
“Sweetheart, just help your mother out. Romano family can’t go under. I can’t go back to that basement apartment. Just listen—”
“Enough.” Seamus checked his Rolex and turned away. “Don’t drag this out, Ma. Get her ready. I’ll go check on Don Enzo’s status.”
He walked out. Leather soles on teak. Thud. Thud. Thud.
I watched his back and counted.
One. Two. Three.
From the suite door to the railing at the end of the deck. Seventeen steps.
When Enzo stepped onto this boat, Seamus would learn.
Seventeen steps could also be the distance from the edge to the bottom of the harbor.
I sat up and grabbed the black leather dress.
Not bad.
Wearing it to see Enzo felt ceremonial.
Seven years is a long time.
He’d be happy to see me.
Probably lose his goddamn mind.