Four Orphan Girls Raised To Be The Mafia Heir’s Wife. And I Only Wanted His Empire. Chapter 05
The Auction
The Kain family hosts a charity gala every year. Black tie. Five-figure entry. Every powerful mafia family in the city shows up to write checks and trade favors under crystal chandeliers.
This year, one of Piper’s paintings is selected as the final auction piece. A large canvas called Nebula. Dark blues and silvers swirling together like a sky that’s forgotten how to be bright.
Starting bid: one hundred thousand.
The paddles go up. The numbers climb. And then a voice from the back of the room calls out three million dollars.
The entire ballroom goes silent.
Every head turns. The winning bidder is a young man standing alone near the exit. He’s wearing a suit that doesn’t fit right. His hair is slicked back with too much gel, stiff and desperate-looking. He’s shaking, but his hand is raised high.
Daniel.
The room buzzes with whispers. People assume it’s a Kain family move. A power play to boost Piper’s profile before the engagement announcement. In mafia world, everything is strategy.
Alistair plays along perfectly. He wraps his arm around Piper’s shoulders on stage, pulls her close, tells the crowd she’s the pride of the family. His smile is warm and public and completely fake.
Victoria nods from the front row, satisfied. She even says a few words about Piper’s talent, hints that a “special announcement” might be coming soon.
Piper stands there under the spotlight, pale as paper. She doesn’t smile. She doesn’t speak. Her eyes keep darting toward the exit.
After the gala ends, I see her slip into the corridor. I follow at a distance.
Daniel is waiting at the far end of the hallway. He grabs both her hands the second she’s close enough.
“Piper, I did it.” His voice cracks with emotion. “I sold my parents’ house. Borrowed from every relative, every friend I have. Three million. I wanted to prove to them that I’m serious. That I can take care of you.”
Piper stares at him. Tears roll down her face one by one. Her lips tremble but nothing comes out.
He sold everything. Emptied his entire life to buy a painting she made. To prove himself to a family that will never, ever let him in.
Then I hear the click of heels behind me.
Camille rounds the corner with a pack of photographers trailing her like dogs. Flashes explode. The hallway turns white.
Piper flinches. Daniel freezes, his hands still wrapped around hers.
Camille leans against the wall, arms crossed, smiling like she’s watching a show.
“Well, well. Isn’t this the future Mrs. Kain? Sneaking around with a broke little painter?”
Her voice carries, sharp and theatrical. Every camera is rolling.
“I heard he sold everything he owned just to buy your painting. How romantic. How pathetic.” She tilts her head toward the ballroom. “Alistair, honey, come see what your little sister’s been up to.”
Alistair appears in the doorway. His face is stone cold.
The next morning, it’s everywhere.
[Kain family’s adopted daughter caught in secret affair with penniless artist.]
[Desperate art student accused of exploiting ties to powerful family.]
Daniel is expelled from the academy within a week. One phone call from the Kain family, and every gallery that ever showed his work cuts ties overnight.
His reputation, his career, his future. Gone.
No one crosses this family and keeps their life intact.
And Piper?
She locks herself in her room. Doesn’t eat. Doesn’t paint. Doesn’t speak.
Three days later, Victoria sends her away. Some relative none of us have ever heard of, in some town none of us can find on a map. No address. No way to reach her.
But before she leaves, she catches me in the hallway. She’s so thin, and her collarbone juts out like a blade. Her eyes are hollow.
“It was Harper,” she whispers.
I go still.
“Harper told Camille everything. About Daniel. His address, his phone number, his class schedule. She gave her all of it.”
Her voice is flat. Empty.
“In exchange, Camille promised Harper protection. That she wouldn’t end up like Maisie or me. And that she’d push Victoria to choose her.”
I look down the hall. Harper is in the sitting room with Victoria, learning how to arrange white roses in a crystal vase. She’s smiling. Soft. Graceful. As if she doesn’t have blood on her hands.
My stomach turns cold.
Two girls gone. Both destroyed by the same one, the same family.
And the third one is climbing over their bodies to get to the top.