Blood Phoenix ：My Fiancé Sold Me To My Eighteen Mafia Fathers Chapter 10
One year later.
Under my rule, the Moretti family didn’t clean up. We evolved.
Moretti Enterprises — on paper, the largest private holding company on the East Coast. Real estate. Private equity. The ports. Half the mayor’s office. Senators on speed dial.
Under the paper? We’re still Cosa Nostra. Still the top of the food chain. Just wearing better suits now.
I became the youngest Donna this city has ever seen. The most feared one, too.
My eighteen dads swapped their leather jackets for hand-stitched Brioni suits. Cuban cigars instead of cigarettes. Boardrooms instead of back alleys.
The blood’s still on their hands. It’s just under manicured nails now.
Today’s my wedding day.
In the bridal suite, Papa personally lifted the family tiara onto my head — a Moretti heirloom, three generations old, one of the largest emerald-cut diamonds in the country at its center.
He looked at me in the mirror. White gown. Cathedral-length veil. His eyes went red.
The seventeen uncles behind him were an absolute mess. Grown men. Killers. Bawling like babies.
“My baby girl… look at her, boys, look at her —”
“That Conti punk better treat her right! He steps out of line, I’ll wipe his whole family off the map — I swear to God —”
I laughed and turned around. Wrapped my arms around Papa.
“Papa. Stop crying. I’m getting married. Not getting whacked.”
The cathedral bells rang.
I walked down the aisle on Papa’s arm. Every pew filled with black suits. Every guest packing. The seventeen uncles lined the front row, six-shooters holstered under their tuxedos, ready to make anyone who breathed wrong disappear.
At the altar stood Lorenzo Conti.
Underboss to the Conti family. Heir apparent. The other most powerful name on the East Coast.
He looks soft. Speaks softly. But underneath — steel. Real steel. He stood by me through every ugly boardroom knife fight this past year. Every hostile takeover. Every enemy that thought a young Donna would be easy pickings.
Julian used to play gentle. Lorenzo is gentle — and lethal, when he needs to be. He doesn’t want me small. He wants me exactly as I am. Thorns and blood and phoenix all.
Outside the cathedral, the massive wrought-iron gates were locked down tight. Two of our men on either side. Nobody in, nobody out.
But past the gates, clinging to the bars — a beggar. One leg missing. Rags for clothes. Eyes red and wet.
Julian.
From that far away, he watched me walk down the aisle. Watched me smile like nothing ever hurt me. Watched Papa place my hand in Lorenzo’s under the eyes of the entire Moretti family.
He collapsed against the gate. Sobbing into his hands. Ragged. Broken.
Nobody was going to feel sorry for him. Not one soul on this earth.
Inside, the priest’s voice filled the nave.
I looked at Lorenzo. My eyes were clear. And I said my vows.
“For a long time, I thought soft words were a mask. Love was a trap. Meaning it — worth nothing at all.”
“Because someone I trusted threw me into hell with his own hands.”
“You taught me different. Real love doesn’t ask me to shrink.”
“You let me be exactly who I am. Sharp edges and blood and all — and you still open your arms.”
Lorenzo’s eyes went soft. Bottomless soft.
He stepped in. Cupped my face. Kissed me — reverent, careful, like I was a relic.
“Thank you for trusting me, Donna.”
That night, the rooftop of Moretti Tower.
The whole city lit up for me. Half an hour of fireworks. Every skyline in Manhattan going gold and red for the Moretti bride.
Behind us, my eighteen dads were pounding whiskey at a long table, roaring with laughter. Loud enough to wake the dead.
I leaned into Lorenzo’s shoulder. The wind pulled at my veil. The fireworks bloomed and fell across the dark.
“What are you thinking about?”
Lorenzo’s arm slid around my waist. His voice was low.
I turned. Looked at him. Then looked back at those eighteen loud, ridiculous, deadly men who would burn the world to the ground for me.
I smiled with my whole face. My voice came out soft.
“I finally have a family I never have to guard against.”
Because in this world? A Moretti never leaves the family. And the family never leaves you.
Blood in. Blood out.
Forever.