Burned By Him, I Ruled Business World

Chapter 3

The basement heat had already spiked beyond 104°F. Every breath felt like inhaling molten shards, tearing through my lungs. I ripped off my coat, which was soaked through with sweat and blood. Ignoring the rough fabric, I wrapped the screaming newborn tightly against my chest.

I forced myself upright, dragging my blood-soaked body toward the corner. There, built into the wall, was a top-grade climate-controlled bulletproof safe used for the family's classified files.

With shaking, blood-smeared fingers, I entered a long, intricate code on the keypad, the only password known to Gabriel and me, our wedding anniversary.

I still remembered that day. He had reserved the entire white chapel on Sicelion Isle just for me. Even with sniper positions not fully cleared, he insisted on leading me down the aisle himself.

The moment a bullet shattered the stained-glass window, he pulled me into his arms without hesitation, shielding me completely. His white suit was torn and soaked with blood from flying glass. The priest collapsed in terror.

Yet Gabriel only tightened his grip on my hand and finished the vows word for word. "In life or death, I'll never forsake you."

Back then, everyone said the Don of the Moretti family had gone mad. He had risked everything for one woman. But after Elena arrived, he sealed that chapel off, claiming the systems were outdated and needed refurbishment.

I only found out later that Elena had complained she didn't like the bells there. Thinking back now, it felt almost grotesquely ironic.

The heavy vault door swung open, releasing a wave of icy air. Without a second thought, I swept the piles of bearer gold bars and key asset files out, letting them slam onto the floor.

A small silver baby spoon tumbled out. I froze for a heartbeat. It had been handmade by Gabriel himself. On the back of the handle, a tiny engraving read: To our son.

"To our son?" Those words had softened me more times than I could count. I once believed that a man who could awkwardly anticipate a baby's arrival might eventually change. But in truth, expectation and love were never the same thing.

Gently, I laid my son onto the soft velvet lining inside the vault. He must have felt the sudden drop in temperature. His cries weakened, and he lay still, watching me with those heterochromatic eyes.

I lowered my head, my gaze falling on the ring on my finger, a pink diamond marking the mafia matriarch. Gabriel had personally seized it for me at an auction.

He had once said, "My wife's belongings don't require anyone's approval."

That night, I wore it in full view of everyone, like a chosen victor. But now, inside this collapsing safe room, it looked pathetic and almost ridiculous.

I tightened my grip on the ring and pulled with force. The band snagged on my knuckle, tearing the skin open. My fingers jerked, and it slipped free, rolling down my thigh and sinking into the blood pooled beneath me.

I picked up the blood-soaked ring and sealed it, along with that faint flicker of new life, inside the temperature-controlled chamber.

"Beep! Oxygen system online, eight-hour supply."

At the automated voice, I exhaled slowly. May God keep my son alive and see him through this.

Behind me, the bulletproof door let out a piercing metallic scream as extreme heat tried to eat through it. The seam had already begun to drip dark red molten metal. I refused to end here—burned, disgraced, and nothing more. Not even if hope was thin.

My eyes locked onto the far end of the basement. There was a derelict rear wall there, beyond it a pitch-black underground river running all the way out to the sea beyond the cliff. Beside that wall stood a long-abandoned natural gas pipeline.

I scavenged every fire-resistant material I could find to protect the temperature chamber, my body clad in nothing but a thin layer of clothing.

After I finished everything, I seized a heavy wrench from the ground. Grinding my teeth until my jaw throbbed, I swung it like a lunatic at the rusted shut-off valve on the gas line.

Once, twice, the impact split my palm open, blood spraying with every strike. Each blow dragged Gabriel's face through my mind.

I recalled the Gabriel who had stayed at my bedside for three days and nights when I burned with fever and slipped in and out of consciousness, the Gabriel who had personally wiped my sweat and fed me medicine, and the Gabriel who had drawn his gun and shattered a Council of Elders member's kneecap just for calling me "unfit to be the matriarch".

He had said, "Whether Sofia is worthy or not is my decision alone."

And yet that same Gabriel, after Elena appeared, had made me back down again and again, asking me to be understanding, to be gracious, to not cause trouble.

He said Elena had lost her parents. He said she had no one left. He said I was already his wife and should not compete with a pitiful woman.

But I was a human too. I could feel pain as well.

Bang! The valve tore free at last. High-pressure gas erupted with a violent, hissing roar. I stumbled back against the rear wall and shut my eyes, calculating the gas levels.

The moment the gas touched the advancing flame outside, I cast one final glance toward the temperature chamber. The underground river was cold enough to kill an adult in under 10 minutes. If I went in with my son, he wouldn't stand any chance.

Leaving him there was the only chance. Even if Gabriel would hate me forever, he would still protect his son at any cost.

I clutched my head and used every last ounce of strength to smash through the fragile rear wall. In the instant of a thunderous explosion, the entire basement was consumed by hellfire. A shockwave of flame and force slammed into my back.

In weightless darkness, I dropped straight into the freezing underground river below.

'Gabriel, see you in hell!' I thought to myself.