The Stray They Cast Out Five Years Ago Has Come Back Chapter 2

The whole slaughterhouse went dead silent.

Isabella froze. She couldn't believe the "broke little whore" from five years ago would dare speak to her that way.

The thugs started toward me, then stopped short. Something about me made them hesitate.

"You really can't stop putting on a show, can you? A whore who slept her way up, playing savior?

"What are you going to fight me with? Your connections? Your family name? Or that body God knows how many men have used?"

Isabella strode forward and snatched the lighter from Marco's arms before anyone could react.

I had won it on the street years ago and carved both our names into it myself.

The letters were crooked and the casing scratched, but it was his most treasured possession.

"Give it back!"

Marco lunged like a madman, and two thugs pinned him to the floor.

Isabella held the lighter to her nose and sniffed. Then she tossed it to the floor in disgust and ground her diamond-studded heel into it.

She lifted her foot, looked at the ruined lighter lying in the blood, and scoffed.

"Scrap metal from a garbage heap, and you treat it like treasure?

"My dog's toys are cleaner than that. Marco, you really are a fucking lowlife!"

Marco's eyes reddened. He tore free of the thugs and dropped to his knees, reaching for the lighter.

But she'd crushed his hand under her heel, leaving it a bloody mess. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't close his fingers.

Isabella waved a hand. A thug kicked Marco over.

"Ha. You cherish a piece of garbage some bitch left you.

"Once you're my dog, I can give you sports cars and mansions. If you want the Don's seat, I'll get you that too!"

Marco sat in the blood, cradling the lighter in his good hand. He trembled as he tried to wipe it clean.

I walked over and helped him up.

He looked up at me, his eyes full of pain and despair.

"I'm sorry, Chiara. I couldn't... protect it."

I shook my head, stood, and fixed Isabella with a hard stare.

"Your whole Leoni family is going to pay for that lighter."

My stare unnerved her, but her taunts only grew bolder.

"You want to settle accounts with the Leoni family? See if you can get out of here alive first!"

I ignored her and turned to Marco.

"Marco, tell me. How did they frame the Franco family?"

Marco hesitated, then shook his head bleakly.

"Chiara, you don't understand. You don't understand how Black City works. The rot goes too deep.

"This wasn't a simple turf war. The Leoni family used every dirty trick they could to make sure the Franco family never recovered.

"What we owe isn't money. It's a blood debt—one thirty million dollars couldn't begin to repay.

"You were gone five years without a trace. I don't blame you... but what can you possibly do?"

Isabella took a document from one of her thugs and slapped it against my face.

"Hear that, beggar? This is what the Franco family owes the Leoni family. Principal and interest, thirty million.

"Today is the deadline.

"If it isn't paid, everyone in the Franco family's other branches goes to feed the fish, and Marco Franco spends the rest of his life as my dog.

"If you're so capable, pay it for him.

"Can't? Then shut your filthy mouth and watch me lead him away on a leash!"

Marco caught my wrist, his voice thick with grief.

"Chiara, don't. You can't win against them."

I glanced down at the so-called "debt agreement."

Thirty million. To the person I was five years ago, it was an unimaginable number.

But now...

I pulled the paper away from my face, patted Marco's shoulder, and smiled as if it were nothing.

"Thirty million. That's all.

"No problem. I'll pay the Franco family's debt myself."