Dark Romance: A Cruel Obsession

Vivian was not surprised at all. In the tradition of the Mafia, unlike boys who were born as natural fighters, girls were merely tools for their families to form alliances. Girls could be gifts from the family to anyone, except they couldn’t be the heirs of their fathers.

“It’s so unfair!” Vivian clenched her fists, but she was helpless about it.

Feeling the same injustice and also clenching her fists was Shelley. “My father has chosen a husband for me, Festus of the Roscente family.”

Luzia once joked that her father would marry her off to a sixty-year-old man from the Roscente family. Unfortunately, she turned out to be right. Fortunately, Festus was 29 this year, still thirty years away from sixty.

But Shelley couldn’t be happy. “Father said our first son will become his heir, and the Roscente family, including Festus himself, has agreed.”

“I don’t understand. Everyone can be my father’s heir, why can’t I?” Shelley gritted her teeth, growling softly. She was unwilling. “For the sake of my father’s heir, I have to marry a man I don’t love. I refuse. I won’t!”

Vivian saw the redness in her eyes, her straight lips bitten by her own teeth, a drop of blood oozing out.

Vivian couldn’t quite describe what she was feeling. She knew that Shelley liked Alajos, but she married Alajos, and Shelley lost the chance to be with her beloved.

Deep down, Vivian felt a mix of complexity and sadness, but she was not sorry at all. If she had a choice, she wouldn’t want to marry Alajos like a gift sent out by her father.

At that moment, Vivian smelled a similar scent of sorrow from Shelley.

“Because we are girls,” Vivian handed the answer she had received to Shelley.

“No.” Shelley shook her head, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Being girls is not our fault, not being recognized as heirs by our fathers is not our fault. The fault lies with the rules of this world.”

“Girls can only be tools for alliances, used by fathers and brothers to ingratiate themselves with other families. This is wrong!” Shelley suddenly stood up, tightly gripping Vivian’s hand. “Boys can, why can’t we?”

Shelley’s actions startled Vivian, causing her to take a step back involuntarily. Her hand trembled slightly, and her voice followed suit. “Can’t what?”

“Why can’t we be heirs?” Shelley asked decisively, not waiting for Vivian’s weak response. She gave herself a firm answer. “Girls can also wield power, girls can also determine the life and death of others!”

“No, no!” This idea was too crazy. Vivian looked at Shelley as if she were looking at a madwoman. “The rules of the Mafia cannot be broken.”

“Nothing is unbreakable,” Shelley held tightly to Vivian’s hand. “Let us together…”

“No!” Vivian shook off Shelley’s hand. She did it too forcefully and felt a wave of dizziness, a nauseating feeling rising up. “I can’t do it.”

“Don’t you hate it?” Shelley approached her. “Being sent to marry in Houston like an object by Bryson, being possessed like private property by Alajos, being imprisoned and crippled like a bird in a cage, never to be free in life. Are you really okay with that?”

“I…”

“Aren’t you friends with Luzia? Have you seen her tears?” Shelley’s questions forced Vivian to keep backing away. “Six years ago, for the control of the Houston port, Luzia was given to Paavo by her uncle Kamden. She lost the chance to marry John. Today, she has been given to your brother Joseph by her cousin Alajos. Do you not understand how miserable her life will be from now on? Don’t you want to save her?”

“That’s too hard!” Vivian held onto the swing set, struggling to endure the rising nausea in her stomach. “Why don’t you think about how naive your words are? Who are we? We are girls, abandoned by our families from birth. We have no money, no power, no followers. If we were to leave the protection of the family, the Bratva would kidnap us and use us to extort our families.”

“And the boys? They are raised as heirs from childhood, the family teaches them to fight, teaches them business. They have guns, power, and numerous followers. They could easily kill us with a snap of their fingers.”

Shelley stared at Vivian, her chest heaving violently, seemingly not yet free from her earlier frenzy. But Vivian’s words did succeed in pouring cold water on her, forcing her to calm down a bit.

Vivian clutched her chest, not wanting to stay with Shelleyanymore. She felt a slight ache in her lower abdomen.

Was she about to have her period?

Vivian froze, suddenly realizing something terrifying.

It had been over two months since she married Alajos, and she hadn’t had a period. Was it a hormonal imbalance, or…

No, no, no!

Before that answer could surface, Vivian vetoed it herself, insisting it must be just a hormonal imbalance. Her periods had always been irregular, occasionally causing abdominal pain.

But did menstrual pain feel like this?

Vivian’s eyes revealed a hint of confusion. Perhaps it was dark enough not to notice, or Shelley’s own emotional turmoil had preoccupied her, but she didn’t pick up on Vivian’s odd behavior.

Vivian felt relieved that she managed to compose herself quickly, leaving Shelley behind and stumbling back to the banquet hall along the cobblestone path.

Fortunately, the abdominal pain didn’t last long, which allowed Vivian to breathe a sigh of relief. However, once she relaxed, her stomach, which had gone without food all night, began to grumble.Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.

As she walked towards the dessert table, Vivian glanced around the banquet hall and noticed the absence of Joseph and Luzia. She furrowed her brow, a little worried.

Not paying attention as she walked, Vivian bumped into Alajos, who had been waiting for her, and hit her forehead against his solid chest, causing a slight headache.

Vivian’s clumsy gesture pleased Alajos. His voice contained a smile, “I haven’t seen you all night. Where did you disappear to?”

“You were discussing business, and I couldn’t understand a word,” Vivian complained softly as she picked up a pastry with a fork.

Realizing how dangerous it was to be alone in the courtyard, Vivian naturally couldn’t tell Alajos the truth. She didn’t want to be scolded.

“I’m very hungry, I feel like…” The greasy smell of sausages reached her, and the familiar nausea hit her hard. Vivian couldn’t cover it up and immediately put her hand over her mouth, retching.

Oh no!

Vivian handed the plate to Alajos and pushed through the crowd towards the restroom.

Having hardly eaten anything that night, she only managed to bring up acidic water. Weakly leaning on the toilet, she saw stars.

Then, a pair of strong arms reached out from behind, lifting her up and holding her close, a warm towel covering her pale face. Vivian began to recover a bit.