The Red thread a mafia love story

The rain fell in merciless, freezing sheets, washing away the dirt on the fresh graves of Elias’s parents. Ten-year-old Elias stood frozen, his small body shaking violently. He was drowning in his father’s oversized black trench coat, his face pale as marble, and his dark hair plastered to his forehead by the storm. Just days ago, his life had been filled with warmth. Now, he was surrounded by monsters. "Why?" Elias whispered, looking up at his aunt and uncle with raw, broken eyes. "Why are you being so mean? Mommy and Daddy always helped you. We were just... we were just celebrating. We were so happy." Images of the golden days flashed through his mind, making the cold rain feel even sharper. He remembered his mother’s soft laughter as she baked his favorite strawberry cakes, the way his father would lift him onto his shoulders to look at the stars, and how their home was always filled with music, warmth, and light. They used to invite the whole family over for holidays, giving Uncle Raymond and Aunt Beatrice expensive gifts, always paying off their debts when they were broke. His parents had loved them. They had trusted them. "Don't you dare bring up their memory, you ungrateful parasite!" Aunt Beatrice snarled, her face contorting with pure malice. "You want to talk about that night? Tell everyone what you did! Tell them how you murdered them!" "I didn't do anything!" Elias sobbed, the horrific memories crashing over him like a tidal wave. "The storm was so bad... the truck didn't have its headlights on!" "You begged them to drive out in a thunderstorm just to get your favorite toys!" Uncle Raymond roared, stepping forward to tower over the boy. "Your father couldn't see through the downpour. When that semi-truck hydroplaned across the highway, it smashed straight into the driver's side! The metal crushed your father instantly. Your mother spent her last agonizing breaths screaming, using her own body as a shield to pin you down under the seat so you wouldn't get crushed by the collapsing roof!" "They died in a burning, twisted wreck because of your selfishness!" Beatrice shrieked, her voice cutting through the thunder. "The firefighters had to cut their bodies out of the shredded steel. And you? You crawled out of the shattered back window without a single broken bone! You traded their lives for yours!" Elias fell to his knees in the thick mud, covering his ears as the horrific details tore through his soul. "No! Mommy told me she loved me! She told me to be brave! I tried to pull her out, I tried!" "You didn't try hard enough," Raymond sneered. He reached down, violently grabbing the collar of the oversized coat and ripping it off Elias's shivering shoulders, leaving him in just a thin shirt. "Your father’s wealth, their beautiful house, the inheritance—it’s all ours now. It's compensation for the curse you've brought upon our family name." "You are a curse! You swallowed your own parents!" Beatrice screamed, kicking wet mud onto his thin trousers. "Look at you, a pathetic little jinx. We won't let you ruin our lives next." Elias looked around the circle of his extended family, crying out for anyone to save him. "Auntie Sarah? Cousin Leo? Please, don't let them do this! Remember the holidays we spent together? Please!" But his family stood like statues under their dry umbrellas. Some looked away in shame, but most just stared with cold, greedy eyes, already thinking about how Raymond would divide his parents' massive fortune. His cousins turned their backs, completely erasing the golden days of their childhood friendship. To them, Elias wasn't a grieving child; he was just an unwanted burden. Raymond grabbed Elias by the arm, dragging him ruthlessly across the wet grass and throwing him through the cemetery gates. "Never show your face near us again," Raymond warned, his voice cold as ice. "From this day on, you have no family." The heavy iron gates slammed shut with a sickening, metallic CLANG, and the padlock clicked into place. Elias pressed his muddy hands against the cold bars, watching his entire bloodline walk away into the darkness, leaving him entirely alone in the freezing, endless rain.