He Shamed Me At Proposal, I Took His Mafia Empire

Chapter 2

The people around us began to laugh, as if they had heard the funniest joke in the world. Countless contemptuous eyes turned toward me.

Someone grew bold enough to speak, "Miss Harper, you crawled out of the slums and became the matriarch of the Atwell family. That is already more than you could ever ask for. Don't be so greedy."

I looked at the man who had spoken.

It was Dean Walsh, one of the senior lieutenants in the family.

He had followed Victor for 8 years. He had once treated me with deep respect. But now, his smile was full of condescending mockery.

I suddenly laughed.

I lifted my left arm. A jagged scar stood out across it.

"Dean, do you remember who took a bullet for you at the dockside warehouse 3 years ago?"

Dean's smile froze on his face, but I had no intention of letting him off.

"That day, men from the Frost family cornered you in the warehouse. You had three bullets in you, and everyone said you wouldn't live to see sunset. I refused to give up. I drove to the docks alone and dragged you out of a pile of bodies. A bullet punched through the car window and hit my left arm. I was in so much pain I could barely hold the wheel, but I still got you to the hospital. You kept asking me in the car, 'Miss Harper, am I going to die?' I told you, 'Not while I'm here.'"

As I spoke, Dean slowly lowered his head. Cold sweat broke out across his forehead.

I turned to the man who had laughed the loudest.

It was Anthony Price, the chief lawyer of the family.

"The year before last, the Federal Crime Bureau suddenly came to audit the family accounts. Anthony, you knelt in my study and sobbed, saying your wife had cancer and your daughter was still in school. You said you couldn't be locked up. That day, the agents found three sets of sloppy falsified ledgers in your office. I stepped forward and said I had made them, and that they had nothing to do with you. The agents read me my rights, took me in, and questioned me for 48 straight hours. I didn't say one word against you or the family."

Anthony stopped laughing and shut his mouth.

I looked over everyone present.

The people who had been laughing just moments ago all lowered their heads and looked away.

Once, these people had owed me countless favors. They had been grateful for everything I had done. They had respected me and followed my lead.

But the moment Victor's attitude changed, every one of them turned with it and began to look down on me.

"Enough." Victor stepped forward and grabbed my wrist. "Everyone knows what you have done for the family. No one can shake your position as matriarch, but..."

"What about you?" I cut him off and stared straight into his eyes. "Do you really think that is what I care about?"

He was silent for a few seconds before giving his answer.

"Yes. When we first met, you were just a pole dancer at a bar. What better choice did you have than staying with me?"

I looked at his serious expression and suddenly felt all the strength drain from my body. The pain in my chest was so sharp it almost made me dizzy.

10 years ago, my mother was seriously ill. The crushing medical bills nearly suffocated me, and I had no choice but to walk into an underground strip club.

In clothes that barely covered me, I trembled as I stepped onto the stage.

The music was deafening. The flashing lights stabbed at my eyes until I could barely keep them open. The men below the stage whistled and stripped me bare with their stares.

I humiliated myself the first time I performed. I slipped on the pole and fell hard. My knee hit the stage, and my face twisted in pain.

Laughter broke out below me. A liquor bottle smashed near my feet, sending shards everywhere.

But I got up quickly and kept dancing with a smile, even through the pain.

I had to keep going. My mother was still struggling in the hospital.

My clumsy performance earned me only 50 dollars that night.

I clutched the crumpled bills in my hand, so anxious my head spun. Tears kept sliding down my face.

It wasn't even enough for one night of my mother's treatment.

Then a man in a black suit invited me to a VIP lounge.

Under the dim lights, a handsome man in an expensive dark gray custom suit sat at the center of the sofa. The bottle of liquor in front of him alone was worth more than my life.

He studied my face quietly for a long time. Then his thin lips curved into a faint smile, and his long, elegant fingers pushed a blank check toward me.

"Be my woman. From now on, you won't have to suffer through life at the bottom anymore."

That was the first time I met Victor.

I gripped the check and looked at him desperately. "Why did you choose me?"

He leaned slightly forward, pinched my chin with his fingertips, and dropped a light kiss on my lips.

"Even while you were dancing to please men, your eyes remained sharp and steady, like a hunter ready to draw a gun and fight back at any moment. I admire women like you."

From that day on, I stayed close by Victor's side.

I started from nothing. I learned to drive, to take apart and reassemble guns, and to handle deals at the negotiation table.

Victor would wrap an arm around my waist, rest his chin on my shoulder, and press his warm lips to my cheek.

"Adele, you don't have to be so hard on yourself. I can protect you for the rest of your life."

I would smile and push him away, then keep studying the business documents in front of me. My tone was always serious.

"I don't want to hide behind you forever. I want to become capable enough to truly stand beside you."

I spent 10 years becoming the woman I was today.

But Victor erased everything I had done so easily.

When I said nothing, he released my wrist and raised a hand to smooth the wrinkles in his suit.

"In all of Ravenport, no one but me can give you this kind of status and life. From now on, I won't have only you. You need to learn to accept that. When you have thought it through, contact me yourself."

He turned and left. Every senior member and subordinate of the family followed him out.

The vast garden emptied in an instant.

I lowered my head and looked at the rose petals scattered across the ground, crushed under passing feet.

My eyes were sore and swollen, but no more tears would come. Only my heart hurt so badly I could hardly stand.

Victor had been right about one thing. 10 years ago, I had nothing. I had been like those rose petals on the ground, something anyone could crush underfoot.

But 10 years later, I was no longer that cornered girl with nowhere to go.

I wiped the blood from my arm, turned around, and slowly walked back to the villa. Along the way, the servants lowered their heads, afraid to meet my eyes.

I opened my phone and sent a text to a plain-looking secure number.

Adele: I'll take your proposal.

The reply came very quickly.

Secure Number: In 3 days, we'll send a car to pick you up on time.