The Viper Stepmother’s Mafia Justice Chapter 15
The Battle for the Children
Isabella lost Leo. So she turned to the softer target.
Mia.
It started at bedtime. Isabella sat on Mia’s bed and told stories.
“You kicked so hard before you were born,” she whispered, stroking Mia’s hair. “Your father talked to my belly every night. After you were born, you grabbed my finger and wouldn’t let go.”
Mia listened. Quiet.
Every detail sounded real. Every memory came from a life before me.
I learned later that while Dominic and I talked in the study that night, Mia had been right outside the door. Bare feet on cold marble. One cracked door.
My voice carried through the gap.
“She’s lying. We need proof.”
Dominic’s answer was calm. Measured. “If we scare her, she will run. Then her handler disappears.”
“So we wait?”
“We watch. We wait.”
Outside, Mia’s small fists tightened. Shadow pressed against her side.
Then she made a decision far too big for five.
The next morning, breakfast looked normal.
I sat at the head. Dominic beside me.
Leo watched Mia from across the table. Isabella entered quietly and lowered her head.
Then Mia put down her fork.
She slid off her chair. Walked past Leo. Past Dominic. Past me. Straight to Isabella.
Then she lifted both arms.
“Mommy.”
The room went silent.
Leo’s fork stopped midair. Dominic’s cup paused at his lips.
My hand reached for Mia. Then stopped.
Isabella’s eyes filled with tears. She pulled Mia onto her lap.
“My baby. My sweet girl.”
My hand dropped to the table.
The next morning, Mia sat beside Isabella again.
She smiled when Isabella called her baby.
I had to let it happen.
Isabella took her to tea with Vegas society wives.
Mia wore a white dress with tiny pearl buttons. Isabella brushed her curls in front of a mirror.
“Red is too harsh for little girls,” Isabella said. “White makes you look like an angel.”
Mia looked at her reflection and nodded.
I stood in the doorway. Shadow sat at my feet, eyes on Mia.
Isabella smiled at me through the mirror.
“Children need softness, Sloane. Not knives. Not alarms. Not blood.”
Mia lowered her eyes. She played obedient too well.
So I stepped back.
Day by day, I became the woman in the hallway.
That night, Dominic found me on the terrace. Whiskey in my hand. Untouched.
He leaned against the doorframe.
“So this is where the Viper hides?”
I didn’t turn.
“You beat your stepmother bloody,” he said. “You dumped caviar on Elena. Nonna demanded prayer. You brought whiskey.”
He stepped closer. “New York feared your name. Now one fake-dead woman makes you vanish?”
The glass nearly cracked in my hand.
“Careful,” I said.
“There she is.”
Later, I learned what Mia did while I was drowning in doubt.
She waited for Isabella’s shower.
Then she climbed onto the bed.
Isabella’s phone lay on the nightstand. Leo had given Mia a tiny backup phone.
The screen lit up. Encrypted calls. Hidden names. One number repeated again and again.
Mia photographed the call log.
Then the shower stopped. The bathroom handle turned.
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