His Immortal Wife Returns No Mercy for the HeavensChapter 1
When I returned to the crew from the road, all I found of my master was a heap of ruined flesh.
Every bone in his body was gone. My senior brothers and sisters were nowhere to be found.
Donna Vittoria sat before his corpse, her aged voice calling out to me.
"Nara, your master traded his life for every protégé's place in the Valente family. You should go report to the Commission stronghold too."
Only then did I learn the truth. Aldric Valente, the Boss of All Bosses, had needed the Original Oaths to legitimize his wife's position at the head of the syndicate. He'd chosen my master, the one who held them all as neutral custodian, the one whose word every family head trusted.
In exchange for allowing every protégé of the Castellano crew to be made, he had ripped every bone and sinew from my master's body.
I've had a flaw for as long as I can remember. I don't cry. I don't laugh. The whole crew called me cold-blooded.
Now, staring at the mangled remains of the man who had saved my life and raised me as his own daughter, I was still calm.
"Donna Vittoria, did Master agree to this willingly?"
Her eyes reddened instantly.
"Aldric Valente is the last true power in this world. What he says goes. We never had a choice."
I gave a quiet "oh."
"If Master didn't agree to it willingly, then Aldric Valente deserves to die."
Donna Vittoria seized my arm, her voice tight with worry. "Nara, before your master drew his last breath, he told all of you to take care of yourselves. Don't throw your life away picking a fight with the Boss of All Bosses."
I pulled my wrist free, lifted my gaze toward the Valente compound on the hill, and smiled faintly.
"Donna Vittoria, Master said not to fight him. He never said anything about killing him."
——
I turned and walked back to my courtyard. Without a word, I dropped to my knees and began digging through the soil beneath the old fig tree with my bare hands.
Before long, a black-handled stiletto caked in dirt saw daylight again. Mietitore. The Reaper. My father's blade, broken once and reforged by a child who didn't yet know what she was reclaiming.
Donna Vittoria rushed after me and snatched the blade from my grip, tears brimming in her eyes.
"Nara, I know you want to avenge your master."