The Mafia’s Lost Daughter Came Home. Then She Tore the Family Apart. Chapter 01
“Family DNA confirms it,” the lawyer said, sliding the report across the table. “Miss Reese, You’re the real daughter of the Don Moretti. Chicago’s own lost princess.”
I stared at the paper, full of doubt.
Eighteen years in a trailer outside Amarillo, and now a stranger in a thousand-dollar suit was telling me my real last name.
Three days later, the man walked me through the front doors of the Moretti estate.
The place was packed with suits packing heat. And yet, smack in the middle of it all, one woman stopped me cold.
Or rather, a baby. The XXL version.
She was sucking on the bottle like a toddler. Wearing a onesie tailored to fit her grown body. Custom-made.
The same girl who had been in my spot for twenty years.
Three brothers flanked her like she was made of glass. Watching her. Not me.
Nobody said my name.
That night, my new bedsheets were shredded on the floor. Chiara stood over them holding scissors.
“Baby girl was playing snow,” she said, blinking up at me. “It’s snowing in here now.”
The cut edges were straight. Deliberate. They were a declaration of war.
My mother, Donna Moretti, rounded the corner and stopped at the sight of Chiara’s face crumpling.
“What did you do to her?”
She didn’t ask what happened. She didn’t ask if I was okay. Her eyes were already fixed on Chiara’s trembling lip.
Enzo, the eldest, stepped in front of the ‘baby’ before I could even open my mouth.
“She’s still a child, Reese.” His voice had the calm of a man never once told no.
“Fighting with a child. That’s low, even for you.”
A child. Yet twenty years old? And they were all saying it with a straight face?
I didn’t argue. I didn’t cry. I just turned, grabbed the mop bucket from the utility closet, and swung.
The icy water hit Chiara square in the chest. Her high-pitched scream shattered the silence of the hallway.
Enzo lunged, his fist raised. He was fast, but I’d spent my life fighting for scraps in Texas. I was faster.
I kicked him flying backward.
Splash. He hit the indoor pool with a massive, undignified thud.
I smirked, looking down at him. “Are you all losing your minds at the same time? If you want me gone, just say the word. “
Then my gaze moved to my mother and my other frozen brothers.
“Otherwise, keep it up and I’ll knock every last one of you senseless.”
…
November water still cold enough to numb. Skin of ice already forming at the pool’s edge.
His suit soaked through and dragged him down for a second before he came up gasping, lips going blue.
Chiara started shrieking.
“Big brother Enzo! He fell in the water, he fell in the water!” She yanked her skirt back, keeping the spray off her shoes.
My mother’s hand flew to her chest. “You little devil! First day back and you’re already trying to start a war!”
I flicked water off my sleeve.
“I’m just teaching him some manners, that’s what. Grown man can’t tell right from wrong? His skull’s just for decoration?”
Down the hallway, someone shouted. Marco and Leo.
Chiara launched herself at them. As she passed me, she aimed a kick at my knee.
Pathetic little trick.
I didn’t step back. I met her foot with mine and ground it down hard.
“Ah—!”
She screamed, dropping to the stone, clutching her foot. “Marco, it hurts, my foot, she stomped my foot!”
Marco caught her, then turned and swung his open hand at my face.
“Trailer trash,” he said. “I’ll teach you some respect myself.”
I didn’t answer.
I just sidestepped the slap, caught his wrist, and twisted it back against the joint.
The sound of the bone popping echoed in the foyer.
Marco’s knee buckled and he dropped to the ground, cradling his useless hand.
I patted his cheek. “Well, look at that. Didn’t need to kneel for me, Marco. We don’t do that around here anymore.”
Leo backed away, pointing at me. “You’re insane! Somebody get her tied up!”
Four guards burst through the archway, batons drawn and eyes locked on me.