Inherited lies as a Mafia bride

Chapter 4:The Catch.

Elena's POV.

After Melissa had left. I tried to shake off the unease, carefully setting the planner on the table and returning to the kitchen. I reheated the food I had meant to eat earlier, but my appetite had already faded.

Minutes ticked by. Then half an hour. I ended up unboxing Melissa’s presents on the couch, trying not to think about how oddly giddy she had been tonight. Her happiness hadn’t felt normal. It carried a strange tension, like she was hiding something.

Realizing I was still in my graduation dress and worn out, I decided to call it a night and leave the rest of the gifts for tomorrow.

It was nearly forty minutes when my phone rang. Picking it up, I smiled when I saw Mom flash across the screen. But that smile vanished the moment her voice came through.

“Elly,” she said, her voice was uneven and rushed with panic.

“Mom? What’s wrong?”

“It’s Melissa,” came the answer, breathless. “She’s…” she paused as she sniffled

Impatience flared. My chest clenched.

“What did Lissa do, Ma,” I asked, my voice laced with worry.

“Lissa was in an accident”

And just as quickly as I wanted an answer, those words barely made sense to me because a single thought echoed loudly.

She had just been here.

I slumped back against the cushions, my legs suddenly weak. "It must’ve been a mistake,” a voice inside me screamed. It has to be. She had just been here. I could still smell her perfume, could still see her teasing smile, and the way she held out her present to me. Barely forty minutes had passed how is it possible. The word 'accident' played through my head on repeat. I sat there, frozen for a moment, the shock keeping me still, but panic quickly took over, forcing my body to respond.

“Mum, I’m on my way. What do you mean Lissa was in an accident? She was just in my room forty minutes ago,” I said, my voice trembling, forcing myself off the couch.

I heard my mom's muffled sobs on the other end of the call, choked with tears

“Elly, your sister is really in a bad state. I can't reach your father, I don't know what to do, please, just hurry to the hospital, she's….” My mother paused, likely hearing someone approach.

“Mrs Whitmore,” a male voice interrupted.

“Doctor please, tell me what happened to Lissa. Is she okay? How did the surgery go? Can I see her? Will she…..” she paused to catch her breath.

But the doctor took the opening. “Your daughter is in….” was all I heard.

And then, a c***k. A sickening thud echoed through the line, making me jolt.

I could hear the sound of the phone hitting the ground. “Mom?” I whispered. But all I heard was dead air.

The call went flat.

I didn't think twice, I grabbed my stuff and rushed out through the door in my dress. My heart racing.

The thirty-minute drive to Brooklyn felt like an eternity. When I stopped at red lights, I felt more anxious and all I could do was grip my wheel tightly, feeling my knuckles ache and every second ticking away.

When I finally pulled up in the hospital's parking lot, I barely had time to stop before jumping out of the car.

My hands shook as I slammed the door and rushed toward the entrance, not even noticing the people staring at me.

As I stepped inside, I was hit by the overbearing sterile smell. My chest tightened as I made my way to the front desk. "Whitmore.” I blurted “My sister, Melissa Whitmore. She was just brought in."

The receptionist's face showed sympathy, but her voice was short. "Down the hall, waiting room on the left."

I followed her directions and found my mother hunched in a chair in the waiting room, her face buried in her hands and shoulders shaking.

Rushing to her side, I asked the question that had been on my mind, “Mum, what happened? Is Lissa…?”

She looked up, her eyes hollow from the sobs.

“Elly… your sister is in a coma.”

The sharp words felt like a punch to the gut. Everything else she said was drowned out by the deafening ring in my ears. I staggered backward as the weight of her words sank in.

“I don’t understand…” my voice cracked, “She was just with me. Lissa was fine. Even in a good mood,” I said, recollecting our time spent together, still in disbelief

“She even left smiling….” I trailed, whispering to myself and recalling the image of her leaving figure, and just like that, the only thing I missed that day came into frame. “holding a velvet little box.” l added

But just with that little detail, I got a reaction from mum that was totally foreign. And instantly, I knew there was something about that box that she wasn't telling me.

My mother’s lips pressed together, and for a moment she couldn’t meet my eyes. Then, nodded slowly but painfully.

“She came to tell you something.”

“What?” I asked, the words barely escaped my lips. “What was she going to say?”

“I told her not today. I told her to wait until after your graduation. To just let you have your moment. I told her not to ruin it for you.”

My throat tightened.

“Mom… tell me what?”

She closed her eyes like she could erase the moment before it left her mouth.

“She was going to tell you she’s engaged.”

A pause.

“To Nico .”

I gave her a confused look. “Nico who?”

She glanced up, almost absently. “Nico De Luca,” she whispered

And then it hit me

Nico

Nico De Luca

The billionaire.

The man who moved in circles so elite that the Whitmores looked like middle-class dreamers.

This was terrifying because suddenly, I knew there was a catch.

A big one.

And it was coming for us.