Chapter 8: The Queen In The Shadows.
1116 Words
POV: Aaliya
The rest of dinner passed in complete silence.
Only the occasional clink of cutlery against plates could be heard throughout the dining room. The maids moved carefully around us, afraid to make even the slightest mistake.
Honestly, I couldn't blame them.
Living with Rihito Rodriguez felt like living beside a ticking bomb.
One wrong word.
One wrong move.
And everything exploded.
I kept my eyes on my plate, refusing to acknowledge his presence even though I could practically feel his gaze landing on me every now and then.
The man was exhausting.
Earlier, he had nearly fired innocent workers simply because I hadn't informed him about where I was.
As if he had the right.
As if I owed him an explanation.
The thought alone irritated me.
The moment I finished eating, I gently placed my spoon down and stood up from my seat.
"I'm going to my room."
As expected, he didn't respond.
Not that I cared.
Without waiting for permission, I turned around and headed upstairs.
The moment I entered my room, I closed the door behind me and leaned against it heavily.
A long breath escaped my lips.
Finally.
Peace.
The silence of the room immediately relaxed my tense muscles.
Today had been one of the longest days of my life.
I walked toward the large window overlooking the mansion grounds and pulled out my phone.
After making sure nobody was nearby, I dialed a familiar number.
The call connected after the first ring.
"Boss."
My expression instantly changed.
The exhausted wife disappeared.
The gang leader remained.
"Report."
"Everything has been handled."
"Handled how?" I asked coldly.
"The evidence has been removed. Nobody will connect today's operation back to us."
"Good."
I stared out into the darkness while listening carefully.
"What about the shipment?"
"It arrived safely."
"And the traitor?"
There was a brief pause.
"He's still locked up."
My eyes narrowed slightly.
"Keep him there."
"Yes, boss."
"And make sure nobody discovers I was at the warehouse today."
"Understood."
The call ended shortly afterward.
I slowly lowered my phone before staring at my reflection in the glass.
Sometimes I wondered how long I could continue living two completely different lives.
During the day, I was simply Aaliya.
A chef.
A woman trying to survive.
A wife trapped in a forced marriage.
But beneath that identity...
I was something entirely different.
Closing my eyes, memories from earlier that afternoon replayed inside my head.
After leaving the mansion that morning, I never went anywhere near the restaurant.
Instead, I headed straight toward an abandoned industrial district located on the edge of the city.
To outsiders, the place looked deserted.
Broken windows.
Rusting metal fences.
Empty warehouses.
Nobody would ever suspect what existed underneath.
The moment my car arrived, several armed guards immediately stepped forward.
The second they saw me, they lowered their heads.
"Boss."
I nodded once.
The massive warehouse doors opened slowly.
Inside, dozens of people were already waiting.
Some handled shipments.
Others monitored security cameras.
Several stood guard around the building.
The atmosphere was completely different from the mansion.
There, nobody looked down on me.
Nobody treated me as weak.
Nobody saw me as somebody to control.
The moment I entered, every conversation stopped.
Every eye followed me.
Not because they feared my family name.
But because they respected my authority.
I walked through the warehouse confidently while several members updated me on ongoing operations.
One shipment had arrived successfully.
Another deal was being negotiated.
A security issue had been discovered at one of our storage locations.
Everything required my approval.
Everything required my attention.
Being a gang leader wasn't glamorous.
It meant carrying responsibility.
It meant making decisions that affected everyone beneath me.
And sometimes...
It meant making difficult choices.
That afternoon, one of those choices stood waiting for me.
A man was kneeling inside the underground meeting room when I arrived.
His hands were tied.
His face was bruised.
Fear filled his eyes.
The moment he saw me enter, he immediately started begging.
"Boss, please!"
I remained silent.
"Please forgive me! I made a mistake!"
A mistake.
I almost laughed.
He had stolen money from the organization.
Not a small amount either.
Enough to put several operations at risk.
Enough to betray every person working under me.
I sat down calmly across from him.
The room became silent.
Everyone waited for my decision.
"How much?" I asked.
His face paled.
"I—"
"How much did you steal?"
He lowered his head.
The number he mentioned immediately made my jaw tighten.
The fool had taken far more than I expected.
"Why?"
His eyes filled with tears.
"My family needed help."
For a brief second, memories of my own past surfaced.
The suffering.
The poverty.
The desperation.
But sympathy couldn't change reality.
If I allowed one person to steal without consequences, others would follow.
Soon everything would fall apart.
Leadership wasn't about kindness.
It was about maintaining order.
I stood slowly.
The man immediately started crying harder.
"Boss, please!"
I looked directly into his eyes.
"You should have asked for help."
Then I turned toward my men.
"Handle it."
His desperate screams followed me as I left the room.
Even now, remembering it left an unpleasant feeling in my stomach.
Not because I regretted my decision.
Because I hated being forced to make those choices.
People always imagined leaders lived easy lives.
They never saw the burden that came with power.
The responsibility.
The sacrifices.
The loneliness.
A soft sigh escaped my lips.
Opening my eyes, I returned to the present.
The dark reflection staring back at me looked tired.
Very tired.
My entire body ached.
The argument with Rihito earlier hadn't helped either.
Thinking about him immediately irritated me again.
His cold attitude.
His controlling nature.
His ridiculous rules.
Everything about him annoyed me.
And yet...
A strange memory suddenly surfaced.
The night I fainted.
The concern in his eyes.
The urgency in his voice when he called the doctor.
The way he stayed beside my bed.
I frowned.
Why was I thinking about that?
Why was I even noticing those things?
Shaking my head quickly, I pushed those thoughts away.
No.
Getting attached to Rihito Rodriguez would be a mistake.
A dangerous mistake.
This marriage was temporary.
My goals existed long before he entered my life.
Revenge.
The truth about my mother's death.
Protecting the people who depended on me.
Those things mattered.
Not him.
I placed my phone on the bedside table and headed toward the bathroom.
Tomorrow would bring new problems.
New secrets.
New battles.
And if there was one thing life had taught me...
It was that nobody survived by letting their guard down.
- Writer
