Bleeding For A Lie: His Cruel Betrayal

blood out of suits until my hands were permanently raw. I starved mysel

aled the cruel truth. Dante was the billionaire Don himself, and my s

e trash. He allowed his fiancée to frame me for theft, fired me, and

rogue soldiers to destroy me, I frantically

e gambler. Do not ev

to be brutally assaulted by the

used to whisper my name in the dark could be so merciless. I had

ly shattered, I typed

will you

. I never expected that days later, the untouchable Don would find my hidden l

pte

a

ges for the month to the underground collectors

bills with fingers raw from bleach, the city's untouc

fact that her billionaire fiancé-the Don himself-was en

ng the cracked linoleum with the sound of chipping ice. She carried the scen

lye, chlorine, and the s

pped from scrubbing blood and grease out of fine-wool suits. I did it all to service a fictitious $200,000 blood debt my boyfriend, Dante, supposedly owed to a ruthless

l with its French-white border scraping a faint 'hiss' agai

haping her red lips. "It is a source of great amusement to him, this charade of the

ed into ice water. A knot formed in my throat, but I shook m

o keep fierce. "My boyfriend works three jobs to survive. He is loyal, and he loves o

gh, mocking sound that made the

ugh the grime on the glass, I saw a bulletproof luxury SUV idling at the curb. Two large men i

he wal

k eyes held the cold, detached authority of a man who ruled the city's underworld. When he drew near, the laundromat owner, a man wh

said, his voice deep and commanding. "Why

n my lung

ew that voice. I knew the exact cadence, the rough edge of it,

desperate, broken man I had

I did not dare turn around. To turn around was to permi

d, walking over to him. She wrapped her arms around h

stomach lurch into a cold, empty space. He pulled

ood money to your account," he said casua

isse

e to listen as he tenderly compensated his Mafia Queen, right in fro

all sensation. The plastic handle of a heavy container of industrial detergent slid fr

t the tile was so jarring that I spun around

ng on me. There was no recognition in his gaze, only the

his voice devoid of any warmt

h, don't be too hard on her, Dante. This pathetic girl is working

rous shadow crossed his face. He looked at me-truly looked at me-and

in the car," he

eels clicking away until the

sheer force of his presence made the ai

front?" he asked, his tone sharp and a

d my eyes, but the paralysis o

I whispered, my voice crackin

ardened into a m

gne, a scent I once loved, now felt like a violation. "You will maintain absolute silence about my i

rushed out from the back room, sweating profusely

aze fixed on me. "Withhold her fin

ror of the Don a palpable thing that

ia," the boss sn

e and walked out the door

na. His hand rested on the small of her back before they drove away, leaving me with nothing

a text from the collectors: "Tomorrow. Midnight. Don't be late.