Fake Death, Real Exorcist, Don Never Forgot Chapter 05
Grey said that five years ago, after the charity gala, Lysandra had indeed been confined inside the villa for seven days.
But during those seven days, Donovano never stepped foot inside.
Instead, he boarded a private ship under heavy security and spent the night digging through every property transfer the Voss family had made over the years, along with every business deal between Voss and Visconti.
Because on the night of the gala, Lysandra had said to his face,
“I hate you. You became Don, and you still refused to marry me. So I’m going to destroy what you love most.”
She hadn’t married my brother out of spite.
The Voss family had chosen Renaldi long ago, a young capo they could use. Through him, they planted spy after spy inside Visconti businesses.
Donovano kept Lysandra locked down because he didn’t have all the evidence yet.
Grey said Donovano was afraid that if I learned the truth, I would warn my brother first and ruin his plan.
Donovano had thought the thing Lysandra wanted to destroy was the Visconti empire.
He never imagined she meant his wife.
He carried a burned body out of the fire and broke down on his knees, sobbing.
I didn’t know if I could believe him.
Then Renaldi’s message came in.
[I heard Grey may have found you.]
[If he shows up and starts telling you some tragic love story about Visconti, don’t believe him.]
[Lysandra was working for Voss. That part is true.]
[But Donovano didn’t keep her in that villa only to uncover the truth.]
[He still loved her.]
A sharp little pain pierced my chest.
Renaldi’s next message appeared.
[Before I left the country five years ago, Lysandra wrote me a letter by hand. She said the man she loved most in this life was Donovano.]
[But Donovano had fallen in love with someone else, and it hurt her more than she could bear.]
[She said if Donovano stayed single for five years for her, she would forgive him.]
[He found the letter.]
[After that, he stopped treating her like an enemy. He let her leave the villa and put her in another house under Visconti protection.]
My breathing stalled.
Renaldi continued.
[After that, Voss and Visconti went to war. The two families became sworn enemies. Visconti nearly wiped Voss off the map.]
[Lysandra went to Donovano and begged him.]
[She said she knew a spell that could call a soul back. She wanted to find you and make Donovano choose again.]
[To see who mattered more. Dead Serafina, or living Lysandra.]
I froze completely.
[The soul-calling spell… was her idea?]
[Yes.]
I stared at that single word until my eyes burned.
[Donovano summoned my soul just so he could choose between Lysandra and me again?]
[Yes.]
I closed my eyes. So I had become an offering on the altar of their love.
It made me sick.
Cassian lay quietly across my lap and suddenly asked, “Mom, are they bad people?”
I looked down at him and said softly, “Yes.”
Renaldi was silent for a moment.
Then his next message came.
[You can’t stay in Los Angeles anymore. If Grey found you, then Donovano knows you’re alive. I’ll come get you.]
I typed: [I can’t run.]
If Donovano had truly gone this insane, he would chase me to the edge of the earth.
And I refused to spend the rest of my life hiding, dragging Cassian through fear with me.
Better to go back.
Better to end this for good.
Renaldi demanded: [You want to go back to Visconti?]
[No. I’m going back to Visconti, but I am no longer Visconti.]
The debt from five years ago was rotten to the core.
This time, I would collect every cent of it.