2026-03-07 15:14:06“Mom… are you here?” Leo Moretti’s voice was barely a whisper, but it carried across the empty hallway. The grand Moretti estate, usually warm and alive with laughter and staff, was eerily silent. He pushed open the door to his mother’s office.
“Mom?”No answer.
Leo frowned. The papers on her desk were scattered. A vase lay shattered on the floor. Glass glinted under the moonlight streaming through the window. His mother’s chair was tipped over, and a chair leg had broken.
His heart pounded. Something was wrong.
He stepped closer. The scent hit him first. A coppery, metallic smell. He froze.
Her body.His mother.
She was slumped over her desk, a deep wound in her chest. Her favorite silk blouse soaked red.
“Mom!” Leo rushed to her, dropping to his knees. His hands trembled as he shook her. Her eyes… lifeless, stared past him.
“No… no… this can’t be happening,” he muttered.
A sound made him turn. The door creaked.
“You shouldn’t have come in, Leo.”
It was a low, calm voice. His uncle Luca. He leaned casually against the doorframe, arms crossed, a faint smile playing on his lips.
“Luca… what happened?” Leo demanded. “Who… who did this?”
Luca’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “You tell me, nephew. You were the last one arguing with her, weren’t you?”
Leo’s heart froze. “I… what are you saying?”
“I’m saying,” Luca’s voice was soft, almost teasing, “that everyone will see it the same way. You… lost control. You were angry. People saw you leave the room first. Convenient, isn’t it?”
Leo shook his head, disbelief clouding his thoughts. “No… this isn’t true. You… you’re lying!”
“Am I?” Luca stepped closer, hands clasped behind his back. “The police will decide. I just make sure the evidence is… convincing.”
Leo felt a chill run down his spine. He wanted to speak, but words failed him. Anger, shock, fear… it all mixed into one heavy lump in his chest.
“You… you won’t get away with this,” Leo whispered, trembling.
Luca chuckled. “Get away with what, Leo? She’s gone. You… well, you’ll take the fall.”
“No!” Leo’s voice cracked. “I didn’t… I would never… I would never—”
Luca’s hand brushed lightly against Leo’s shoulder. “Calm down. It’s easier if you accept it now.”
Leo yanked his hand away. “You… you’re insane.”
Luca’s smile deepened. “Maybe. But smart. Smarter than you give me credit for.”
Leo’s thoughts raced. He needed to think. He needed a plan. But nothing made sense. His mother… dead. His uncle… standing there, calm as if he had just delivered a dinner invitation.
The faint sound of sirens in the distance made Leo jump.
“The police… they’ll come soon. They’ll know…”
“They’ll know what, Leo?” Luca’s voice was soft, almost mocking. “That you were alone in the house with her? That you left in a rage? That your fingerprints are on the knife?”
Leo’s mind refused to accept it. “I… I didn’t touch anything! I swear! You… you can’t do this!”
Luca tilted his head. “I already did.”
The first police car screeched into the driveway. Headlights cut through the darkness of the estate. Officers jumped out, guns drawn.
“Sir! Step back! Hands where we can see them!” one shouted.
Leo froze. He opened his mouth to explain. But what could he say? How could he prove he didn’t…?
Luca’s hand rested lightly on the doorframe. “I’d start talking, Leo,” he said. “Your version won’t matter if you don’t.”
Two officers approached, flashlights scanning the room.
They froze as they saw Leo kneeling next to his mother’s body.
“Sir… what happened here?” one asked.
Leo wanted to speak. He wanted to scream. He wanted to tell them the truth. But the words caught in his throat.
“They… they’re saying I…” he stammered.
“Step back!” the other officer barked. “Do not touch anything!”
Luca stepped forward slowly. “He was here when we found her,” Luca said, voice calm, almost soothing. “He… he was upset. Angry. Maybe he… lost control.”
Leo’s head snapped to Luca. “You… you framed me!”
“Maybe,” Luca said softly. “Or maybe it just looks that way. Either way… the story will stick.”
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Chapter 8- The Shadow king
Leo was sitting on the edge of his bunk when Marcus walked into the cell with a worried look on his face.Marcus shut the cell door behind him and lowered his voice, “You’ve got a problem.”Leo looked up calmly.“In this place, that’s not surprising.”Marcus shook his head,“No, this one is different. It’s Officer Briggs.”Leo frowned slightly, “The tall one with the scar on his chin?”Marcus nodded. “That’s the one.”Leo leaned back against the wall. “What about him?”Marcus crossed his arms.“He’s been watching you. Not the normal kind of watching either. The kind where someone is waiting for the right moment to make your life miserable.”Leo thought for a moment, “That means someone told him to.”Marcus sighed, “You’re thinking of Luca again.”Leo shrugged, “My uncle likes to remove problems quietly.”Marcus rubbed his face, “Well, Officer Briggs is definitely trying something. I saw him roughing up an inmate earlier just because the guy looked at him wrong.”“Good,” Leo’s expression
Chapter 7- Hidden Heir
Leo was sitting on the lower bunk when Marcus returned from the prison library that afternoon.Marcus tossed a thin book onto the small metal table between them and stretched his back.“You ever notice how prison days feel slow but somehow the weeks disappear?” he asked.Leo looked up from where he had been quietly sharpening a piece of pencil against the edge of the table.“That’s because most people stop thinking about tomorrow,” Leo replied. “When people stop planning, time stops meaning anything.”Marcus sat down and stared at him, “You think too much.”Leo smirked faintly, “That’s how I stayed alive outside.”Marcus leaned back against the wall, “Well, out there you had money, guards, and a big family name. In here you’ve got a mattress and a toilet.”Leo opened his mouth to reply, but at that moment a guard’s voice echoed through the hallway.“Mail call!”Several inmates stepped toward their cell doors. Marcus looked surprised, “You getting letters already?”Leo frowned, “I don
Chapter 6- First Taste Of Power
Leo woke up before the morning bell.For a few seconds he just stared at the cracked ceiling above his bunk while the quiet sounds of the prison slowly filled the air. Somewhere down the hallway someone was coughing. Another inmate was muttering in his sleep. Metal clanged in the distance as guards began unlocking other cell blocks.Marcus shifted on the lower bunk and looked up, “You’re awake already?”Leo rubbed his eyes. “Couldn’t sleep much.”Marcus chuckled quietly. “That happens your first weeks here. Your brain is still trying to understand that this place is real.”Leo climbed down from the bunk and stretched his shoulders.“It’s real,” he said calmly. “I accepted that already.”Marcus watched him carefully, “You’re adjusting faster than most people.”“You don’t survive in my world by being slow,” Leo walked to the bars and looked out at the hallway.Marcus smiled slightly. “Your world is gone, Leo.”Leo didn’t respond immediately, after a moment he said quietly, “Then I’ll bu
Chapter 5– Learning the Game 2
The sound of boots on concrete echoed through the cold, dimly lit prison hallways. Leo leaned against the bars of his cell, staring at the mess of prisoners who were scattered throughout the yard. He had been here for a few days now, just enough time to start observing, to start understanding the game he would need to play in order to survive.Everything inside the prison had its own rules, its own hierarchy. And right now, Leo was at the bottom of it.The guards, dressed in dark blue uniforms, patrolled the yards and hallways with an air of disinterest, as if they were used to the noise, the violence, the chaos. They didn’t care about the inmates unless they caused trouble. And that, Leo quickly learned, was the first rule. Trouble meant attention. Attention meant punishment.But Leo wasn’t interested in attracting attention. Not yet. He was watching. He was learning.“Hey, new guy!” someone shouted from across the yard. Leo turned his head slowly.A tall man with tattoos crawling up
Chapter 4- Learning The Game
Leo didn’t realize how heavy chains could feel until the prison transport van began to move.The metal cuffs around his wrists were tight, and the thick chain connecting them clinked every time the vehicle hit a bump on the road. Across from him sat three other prisoners, all silent, all watching him in a way that made the air inside the van feel uncomfortable.One of them finally spoke.“So you’re the rich boy.”Leo slowly raised his eyes.The man speaking had a shaved head and a crooked nose that looked like it had been broken more than once.“Depends on who’s asking,” Leo leaned back slightly.The man smirked.“I saw you on the news. Mafia prince who killed his mommy,” The other prisoners chuckled.Leo didn’t react.Another man sitting beside the shaved-head prisoner leaned forward and studied Leo more carefully.“You don’t look like a killer.”Leo shrugged lightly, “Looks can be wrong.”“Yeah, they can. But prison doesn’t care who you are outside,” The shaved-head man laughed.Leo
Chapter 3- The Courtroom
The courtroom was already full when Luca Deluca slowly walked toward the witness stand, and the quiet murmurs of reporters and spectators faded the moment people realized who he was.Cameras flashed from the back of the room as journalists leaned forward eagerly, knowing that the testimony of the powerful DeLuca family patriarch would likely decide the fate of the trial.Leo sat at the defense table with his hands resting on the polished wood, the cold metal cuffs around his wrists reminding him that he was no longer the respected heir of a powerful family but merely a defendant accused of murdering his own mother.He watched his uncle approach the stand with calm, measured steps.The man didn’t look nervous.He didn’t hesitate.And most painfully of all, he didn’t even glance at Leo.The bailiff raised a Bible toward him and spoke in a firm voice. “Place your hand on the Bible.”Luca did so without hesitation.“Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the trut
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