Chapter 8
Marcus spat a mouthful of blood onto the pristine floor, leaning heavily against the wall as he struggled to sit upright amidst the scattered sheet music. He looked at Nolan with a mixture of hatred and arrogant defiance.
"You were going to walk away from the families," Marcus rasped, his American accent thick with disdain. "You, the great Nolan Ashford, were going to give up your seat at the head of the table for a nobody. A civilian. You were going to break the alliance with the Wainwrights and run off with her."
"So you orchestrated the crash," Nolan deduced, his voice dropping into a lethal, quiet hum.
"We didn't have to!" Celeste interjected hysterically from the floor. "It was a real accident, Nolan! You drove your car off the coastal highway in the storm! When my father’s men pulled you from the wreckage, you were in a coma. And she... she was pregnant."
Mae gasped, covering her mouth with her hands as the missing years of her life snapped violently back into focus. "You told me he died," Mae wept, staring at Celeste. "You came to the hospital when I woke up. You told me Nolan was dead, and that his family would kill me and the baby if I didn't disappear."
"I was protecting the syndicate!" Celeste shouted, trying to justify her treason. "You didn't belong in our world! When Nolan woke up with amnesia, my father saw an opportunity to save the alliance. We told him we were engaged. We rebuilt his memory without you in it."
"And then you hired her as a maid," Nolan said, the pieces locking together into a horrifying, sickening picture. "Why? If you wanted her gone, why bring her into my house?"
"Keep your enemies close," Marcus sneered, wiping the blood from his chin. "My father wanted to keep an eye on the bastard child. If the kid ever started looking too much like an Ashford, we were going to make sure they both had a tragic accident. Having her scrub our floors was just a bonus."
Nolan slowly looked down at his own hands. The family signet ring, the tailored suit, the empire he had commanded for the last three years—it had all been built on a foundation of stolen memories and absolute betrayal. He looked at Mae, who was holding their daughter. Nora was staring at him, her bright blue eyes filled with innocent confusion.
The cold, calculating Mafia boss vanished entirely. What replaced it was a man whose soul had been violently returned to him, bringing with it a rage so profound it threatened to burn the entire estate to the ground.
Nolan walked slowly toward Marcus.
May you like
"Nolan, wait!" Marcus panicked, holding his hands up as he realized he had just confessed to stealing the Don's life. "We are allied families! You can't touch us without starting a war with the Wainwright commission!"
"I do not care about the commission," Nolan whispered.
