The Lords Weakness

The Scars She Hid From The World

REGINA MCBRIDE

The heavy iron gates of the Wilderness Correction Camp groaned as they released me after three years of state-sponsored hell. I stood on the dirt road, clutching a plastic bag that held my entire life, waiting for the family that claimed they sent me there for "rehab." My brother, Brady, picked me up in a luxury SUV only to throw me out onto a deserted highway in the middle of a brewing storm. He told me I was a "public relations nightmare" and that the rain might finally wash the "stink" of the camp off me. He drove away, leaving me to limp miles through the mud on a snapped ankle. When I finally dragged myself to our family estate, my mother didn't offer a hug; she gasped in horror because my muddy clothes were ruining her Italian marble. They didn't give me my old room back. Instead, they banished me to a moldy gardener’s shack and hired a "babysitter" to make sure I didn't embarrass them further. My sister, Kaleigh, stood there in white cashmere, pretending to cry while clinging to her fiancé, Ambrose—the man who had once been mine. They all treated me like a volatile junkie, refusing to acknowledge that Kaleigh was the one who planted the drugs in my bag three years ago. They wanted to believe I was broken so they wouldn't have to feel guilty about the "wellness retreat" that was actually a torture chamber. I sat in the dark of that shed, feeling the cooling gel on the cigarette burns that covered my arms, and realized they had made a fatal mistake. They thought they had erased me, but I had returned with a roadmap of scars and a hidden satellite phone. At dinner, I didn't beg for their love. I simply rolled up my sleeves and showed them the price of their silence. As the wine spilled and the lies crumbled, I sent a single text to the only person I trusted: "I'm in. Let them simmer." The hunt was finally on.

Modern Revenge Scheming

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"Let go of me! Where are you taking me? Someone, please help me!" Sophie screamed, struggling against the men who had stormed into the café and dragged her out without warning.

"The boss just wants to have a chat with you, so relax," Marco said calmly, signalling the guards to shove her into the backseat of the SUV.

"Who the hell is your boss that he had to send his dogs to kidnap me?" Sophie didn't stop fighting. She kicked, screamed, and thrashed even inside the moving vehicle, her voice echoing with desperation.

Sophie Turner had always been a quiet girl. She kept to herself, avoided trouble, and never caused scenes. Her soft smile could brighten even the dullest customer's day at the café; some were so taken by her charm they tipped more than they paid.

For the past two months, she had been pulling extra shifts, trying to scrape together money for her mother's surgery. She hadn't been home in weeks, sleeping instead at the hospital to stay close to her mother.

Her mother...

The thought suddenly tightened her chest with panic. Fear began to override her anger, softening her voice.

"Please, let me go. I have a sick mother in the hospital. I'm the only one she has," Sophie pleaded, her voice breaking.

"Miss Turner, relax. You will see your mom again. My boss doesn't bite... at least not right away," Marco replied with a smirk that barely masked his amusement.

Marco was Luca Moretti's right-hand man, the most feared mafia boss in all of St. Louis. He knew every detail of Luca's operations, sometimes even before Luca made a move. They had been together long before Luca inherited the empire from his father. To strangers, they could almost pass as brothers.

Moretti's Estate

"We are here," Marco said, stepping out of the car. "You can come out now, Miss."

"Where are we?" Sophie asked as she stepped down, her eyes darting around the massive property.

The Moretti estate was expansive, more like a kingdom than a home. A collection of mansions surrounded by high gates and silence. Luca had inherited it, along with a vast network of power and blood, after his father was assassinated by a rival mafia boss.

At least that was what they thought at the time.

"Boss, we are back," Marco announced as he ushered Sophie into the office.

Luca looked up from his desk. For a long moment, he just stared, unable to believe she was finally standing in front of him.

"Sit," he commanded.

Luca Moretti was a man of shadows, ruthless, possessive, and cold. The loss of his father, shot right in front of him, had hardened what was left of his heart. The same bullet that killed his father had struck him too.

But what he remembered most about that day wasn't the pain.

It was her.

He had been watching a woman on the beach through binoculars when his father came up behind him to discuss a business deal. The shot had come out of nowhere, piercing through his father before hitting him.

Six years had passed, but he never forgot the face of the angel who had appeared in his scope that day. A week ago, driving past a café, he had seen her again, alive, real. Sophie Turner.

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