The Mafia Princess’s Revenge Chapter 07
The instant the blade entered my chest, the pain blacked out my vision.
But only one thought filled my mind—I can’t die. Mama is waiting for me in Sicily. I just learned she’s alive. I haven’t even seen her face.
“Elisa!”
Multiple voices erupted at once.
Giulio reached me first, ripping off his suit jacket and pressing it hard against my chest.
Adriano kicked the interrogator to the ground.
Elio dropped to his knees to examine the wound—his hands instantly covered in blood.
“Operating room!”
“Now!”
And Nicola—Nicola held my hand.
“Elisa, look at me.”
His voice shook—truly shook—for the first time.
“Don’t close your eyes.”
Through the haze, I suddenly remembered being small.
Back then, it had only been a fever. These four men—who controlled the fates of countless people—had cleared their entire schedules and spent the whole night gathered around my bed.
Giulio promised to buy me an entire street’s worth of candy.
Adriano carried me back and forth across the room.
Elio coaxed me for half an hour just to get me to swallow one fever pill.
Nicola even said that as long as I opened my eyes, he’d give me anything I asked for.
They really had loved me once.
That’s why it hurt so much every time they chose Marta over me.
I looked at the four panicked faces before me.
My lips moved.
“I want…”
“…to find Mama…”
Then I lost consciousness completely.
…
When I woke again, three days had passed.
Thick bandages wrapped my chest. Elio stood beside the bed, dark circles bruising the skin beneath his eyes.
“The blade missed by two centimeters. Didn’t hit the heart. You were lucky.”
I said nothing.
“Elisa, you’re awake!”
A delighted voice came from beside me. My body went rigid.
Marta was sitting right there at my bedside—completely unharmed.
A beautiful dress. Flawless makeup. An elegantly wrapped jewelry box sat on the table next to her—as if the person who’d nearly died because of her three days ago was someone else entirely.
All four men were there too.
When Adriano saw me awake, he exhaled with visible relief.
But his next words made me want to laugh.
“Since Marta’s disappearance had nothing to do with you—why didn’t you just explain that from the start?”
I slowly turned my head toward him. “What?”
“You knew perfectly well you hadn’t kidnapped her, yet you refused to cooperate.”
Adriano frowned.
“If you’d just explained things clearly sooner, it wouldn’t have escalated to this.”
I stared at him for several seconds. The wound in my chest pulled with pain.
“I didn’t explain?”
The room went quiet.
“I did explain. I told you I’d never seen Marta. I told you the ring was left by the man who came to get me. I told you I wanted to go to Sicily because Sofia was still alive.”
I looked at Nicola. “You shoved my head underwater.”
Then at Giulio. “You let Adriano’s people interrogate me.”
Finally, at Elio. “And you injected me with drugs so I couldn’t even pass out.”
No one spoke.
I asked softly: “What more do you want me to explain?”
Adriano’s expression froze, piece by piece.
Nicola looked away.
Giulio was silent for several seconds.
“At the time, all the evidence pointed to you.”
That line again.
I wasn’t surprised in the slightest.
Then Marta’s eyes suddenly welled with tears.
“Elisa, please don’t blame them. It’s all my fault.”
She opened the box beside her. Inside lay a diamond necklace.
“I originally wanted to go to Mexico and bring you back myself. But on the way, I remembered you were finally coming home again—so I made a last-minute stop at the jewelry workshop in West Port to pick up this gift I’d had made for you.”
She sniffled. “If I’d come back sooner, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”
Giulio’s gaze toward her softened instantly.
“Marta, this isn’t your fault.”
Of course. Same as always. All Marta needed was a few tears.
And everyone would rush to make excuses for her. Giulio turned back to me.
“Marta was so worried about you, she even canceled her own birthday gala.”
“She’s been here at the hospital watching over you for three days. Let’s set aside what happened before. The least you can do is thank her.”
I almost thought I’d misheard. “Thank her? Thank Marta for not kidnapping herself?”
Giulio was visibly losing patience.
“This incident had nothing to do with her.”
“She’s already extended an olive branch. What more do you want?”
I looked at him.
“So I nearly died.”
“And in the end, I’m supposed to say thank you?”
Giulio’s face darkened.
“Elisa.”
“Stop making trouble.”
Elio frowned as well.
“You just had surgery. Don’t get worked up over this.”
I suddenly found it all deeply absurd.
“This?”
“Which part, exactly?”
I pointed at my right eye.
“The first time she said I poisoned her—you destroyed this eye.”
The room went instantly silent.
I looked at Adriano.
“She said I had her kidnapped—you threw me into Mexico for three years.”
Then at Giulio.
“She said I insulted her—you had my mouth sewn shut.”
Finally, at Nicola.
“And three days ago—she was only missing for a few hours. You didn’t even have evidence, and you nearly tortured me to death.”
Marta’s face finally shifted.
I didn’t stop.
“The person who insulted her wasn’t me.”
“The person who poisoned her wasn’t me.”
“The person who arranged her kidnapping wasn’t me.”
“I’ve been saying this for three years.”
My voice wasn’t loud.
But not a single person in the room spoke.
I stared at them.
For the first time, every word I’d held down for three years came out.
“Why?”
“Why is it that whenever Marta says a single word—”
“You’d rather believe her than believe me even once?”