MAFIA'S BRIDE 🥺😚

Episode 4- MY EXISTENCE WAS A LIE?!

“Sit.”

Kai didn’t raise his voice.

He didn’t need to.

The single word froze me in place.

The breakfast table looked ridiculously grand for something so horrifyingly normal.

Black marble. Silver cutlery. Fresh flowers. Sunlight pouring through massive windows like this was some peaceful family morning instead of the beginning of my mental collapse.

I slowly sat down.

A maid placed pancakes in front of me with trembling hands before disappearing immediately.

Kai sipped his coffee across from me while Dimitri and Zar stood behind him like armed decorations.

“You asked yesterday why you are here,” Kai said calmly. “So listen carefully and don’t interrupt every five seconds.”

I stared at him.

My head still hurt from the accident.

Or maybe from him.

“You are an orphan,” he continued. “But you were never abandoned.”

My fingers froze around the fork.

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“No.” I laughed nervously. “No, I definitely didn’t hear you correctly.”

Kai leaned back slightly in his chair, expression unreadable.

“Your parents did not abandon you, Kiara. They were killed.”

Everything inside me stopped.

The room.

The air.

Even the stupid ticking clock somewhere behind me.

Killed?

My throat tightened.

For one horrible second I thought I might cry.

But the tears never came.

Because the thing was—

I already believed I was an orphan my entire life.

So technically… nothing changed.

And yet somehow everything did.

“You’re lying,” I whispered.

Kai ignored that completely.

“You were born into the Rossi family. Old money. Powerful connections. Family friends of the Moretti.”

“The what?”

“When you were little, your parents were murdered. To keep you alive, your identity disappeared with them. You were placed in an orphanage discreetly while being monitored and protected by the Moretti family until your eighteenth birthday.”

I blinked at him.

Monitored?

Protected?

Excuse me?!

“I was being watched grow up in an orphanage?” I asked slowly.

“Yes.”

“That is horrifying.”

Dimitri coughed into his fist like he was hiding a laugh.

Kai continued drinking his coffee like we were discussing stock markets instead of my destroyed existence.

“Why wait until I turned eighteen?”

“Because before eighteen you were legally a Rossi.”

“And now?”

His dark eyes lifted to mine.

“Now you are legally eligible for marriage under the contract.”

I stared at him.

“The what?!”

“The marriage contract.”

“No, I heard the words. I just rejected them spiritually.”

Kai placed the coffee cup down with a soft clink.

“Several centuries ago, contracts were created between the Rossi and Moretti bloodlines. The firstborn Rossi daughter would marry the Moretti heir.”

I actually laughed.

Not because it was funny.

Because WHAT ELSE WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?

“That’s insane.Nonsense.Stupid.It doesn't happen that way.”

“It is tradition.”

“It is medieval and Nonsense.”

“It is binding.”

I pushed away from the table slightly.

“No. Absolutely not. People don’t just— arrange human beings like furniture!”

Kai’s gaze sharpened.

“The Moretti family did not spend years protecting you out of pity, humanity, or friendship.”

My stomach twisted.

“Then why?!”

His voice turned colder.

“They secured their future daughter-in-law.”

Silence crashed over the table.

I looked between him, Dimitri, and Zar.

Nobody looked shocked.

Nobody looked confused.

Which meant—

They all knew.

I was the only i***t sitting here finding out my life belonged in a psychological thriller.

My chest felt tight.

“Who even are the Moretti?” I asked quietly.

Kai didn’t answer immediately.

And somehow that scared me more.

Finally, he spoke.

“The family who protected you.”

A chill crawled down my spine.

I swallowed hard.

“And the heir?” I asked carefully. “Who is the Moretti heir?”

Kai looked directly into my eyes.

Then calmly picked up his coffee again.

"The heir ... We can discuss it later."

I sat feeling the weight of silence pressing harder than the chandeliers above.

Kai didn’t look at me at first. He just turned a page in the document in his hand, calm like nothing in the world could shake him.

Then he spoke.

“You understand what I told you earlier?”

I frowned slightly. “That I’m… part of the Moretti bloodline?”

A faint pause.

His eyes lifted at last. Dark, steady.

“No.” he said.

My fingers tightened. “Then what?”

Kai closed the file slowly. “That you are not something the world gets to approach freely.”

“That sounds like I’m a prisoner.”

A small exhale left him. Almost amusement. “No. Prisoners are locked away because they are powerless.”

I stared at him. “And me?”

“You are restricted because you are valuable.”

My heartbeat slowed. “That doesn’t sound comforting.”

“It’s not meant to comfort you.”

Silence stretched.

I whispered, “So everyone will treat me like I’m… untouchable?”

Kai stood up then, finally walking toward me. His shoes echoed against the floor.

“Not untouchable,” he corrected. “Protected.”

I looked up at him. “From what?”

His gaze sharpened slightly.

“From everything that thinks it can use you to reach me.”

My breath caught. “So I’m just… a shield?”

Kai tilted his head. “No.”

A pause.

“You are the reason the shield exists.”

I didn’t know what to say to that.

He leaned closer just slightly, voice lower now.

“In this world, Kiara… people don’t survive because they are strong.”

My throat tightened. “Then how do they survive?”

Kai’s eyes darkened.

“Because someone stronger decided they would.”

A silence fell again.

Then I asked quietly, “And you decided that for me?”

For the first time, something almost human flickered in his expression.

“Yes,” he said simply.

I swallowed. “Why?”

Kai’s voice dropped, firm and final.

“Because you are mine to protect… whether you understand it or not.”

“And who are you in all of this…?” I asked slowly, already sensing I was about to regret the question.

He didn’t blink. “The heir you are supposed to marry.”

Silence.

My brain paused.

Then rebooted.

“Okay—what?” I shot up so fast my chair screeched backwards. “The WHAT?”

He leaned back like we were discussing the weather. “The Moretti heir. The one you were promised to. My wife.”

“…Wife?” I repeated, voice cracking. “Me? Him? No. Absolutely not.”

“I’m not your wife,” I snapped immediately.

“You are, Kiara,” he said simply, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I pointed at myself. “I think I would remember signing up for a lifelong commitment with… you.”

“You did sign,” he replied.

My mouth opened, then closed. “I—what?”

His gaze stayed steady. “When you turned eighteen, the marriage contract had to be validated. When you left the orphanage, the sister there gave you documents to sign. You thought they were release papers.”

My stomach dropped a little.

“They weren’t,” he continued. “They were binding agreements. Marriage certificate included.”

I stared at him. “That’s illegal. That’s… that’s not how anything works.”

“In your world,” he said mildly, “maybe.”

I laughed once—sharp, disbelieving. “This is insane. There’s no way—”

“There is,” he cut in. “And you already did it.”

The room felt smaller.

I swallowed. “So you’re telling me I was tricked into marriage… and you’re just casually announcing it over breakfast?”

He tilted his head. “Lunch.”

“That is NOT the point!”

He exhaled slowly, like I was the one being dramatic.

“And the accident,” he added.

I froze. “What accident?”

“The one that brought you into our custody,” he said. “It wasn’t an accident.”

My heart slowed.

He continued anyway, calm as ever. “It was staged. From the outside it looked like a hit-and-run. But it was planned so no one would question your identity. If you arrived any other way, people would investigate. Rumors would spread. But a girl ‘found’ after an accident? No one asks too many questions.”

I felt my hands go cold. “So I was… used as a cover story?”

“Protected,” he corrected.

“That is not comforting!”

He leaned forward slightly. “And the men who attacked you that night? They were part of it. Actors.”

I blinked.

Once.

Twice.

Then I grabbed the table. “So let me get this straight… I was hit by a fake car, rescued from fake criminals, signed fake documents, and now you’re telling me I’m in a legal fake marriage?”

He nodded once. “ No. It's a real marriage. Just it is you were not informed before. ”

A long silence followed.

I glared at him. “Don’t look at me like that. You basically kidnapped me into a corporate marriage .”

“I didn’t kidnap you.”

“You orchestrated my entire life!”

He considered that. “Strategically guided.”

I buried my face in my hands. “Oh my God.”