I sold my soul to the Mafia Lord

~HELENA~

Blood doesn't wash out of silk as easily as they tell you in dry-cleaning commercials.

I stared down at my hands, at the red flaking around my manicured nails.

For six years, my hands had been steady. Steady while arranging lilies in crystal vases. Steady while tying Julian’s silk ties before board meetings. Steady while nodding politely at charity galas when his friends looked at me like I was nothing more than an expensive house accessory.

Now, those same hands were covered in Chloe’s blood.

"Helena! Look at what you’ve done, you stupid bitch!"

Julian’s voice tore through the silence of our penthouse master suite. He was on his knees beside the bed pressing a silk throw pillow against the side of Chloe’s face.

Chloe. That was my best friend since college. The woman who had held my hair back when I was sick and had stood as my maid of honor, was sobbing hysterically, clutching her bruised jaw and bleeding lip.

"I didn't mean it, Helena," Chloe choked out, her voice muffled behind the blood-stained pillow. Tears streaked her mascara down her pale cheeks. "It just... it happened! We were going to tell you—"

"Shut the hell up." My voice didn't sound like mine. It wasn't the soft, pleasing tone Julian had trained me to use in polite company. It was hollow and cold.

"You're fucking crazy!" Julian yelled, scrambling to his feet and pointing a trembling finger at me. His pristine tailored shirt was unbuttoned and his hair disheveled. The combined scent of her expensive perfume and his designer cologne was thick enough to make me gag. "Look at yourself. You attacked her. You've lost your goddamn mind!"

"I came home early to surprise you," I nearly whispered, staring straight into his eyes. "I brought your favorite wine. I walked into our bedroom... and I saw you."

"We were talking, for fuck's sake." Julian flushed, a ugly red crawling up his neck, but he didn't lower his finger. "You lost your head and jumped her."

"You were on top of her!" My voice finally cracked. "Six years. I gave you six years of my life. I shrunk myself so you could look big. I gave up my career, my friends, my whole life to be the good little wife for you and your family. And this is how you repay me? In our bed?"

"You didn't give up anything." Julian sneered, stepping between me and the door, his eyes darting toward the hallway. "You were nothing before I married you, Helena. Just a pretty little nobody with a middle-class degree. I gave you luxury and status.

"And she gave you what?" I snapped, turning my gaze to Chloe, who whimpered and shrank back against the headboard. "My life? Did you want my life so badly, Chloe?"

"Helena, please..." Chloe sobbed, clutching her bruised throat where I had pinned her against the vanity mirror before the glass shattered. "Julian said you two were over... he said you were sleeping in separate rooms..."

"Is that what he told you?" I let out a dry, bitter laugh that vibrated with madness. "And you believed him while taking my clothes out of the closet?"

"That's enough!" Julian exploded, grabbing my wrist and twisting it hard. "You're going to pay for this. You think you can just march into my house and assault a guest? You're done, Helena. You hear me? You're fucking done."

"Let go of me," I seethed.

"No. You're going to sit right here until the police arrive."

"I said let go of me!"

I drove my heel down onto his foot, hard. Julian yelped, his grip slipping, and before he could recover, I slammed my palm into his jaw. He stumbled backward, crashing against the nightstand, sending a lamp shattering to the floor.

Before I could reach the door, red and blue lights strobed wildly across the bedroom ceiling through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Sirens wailed, coming to a halt on the street below.

"They're here," Julian panted from the floor, wiping a smear of blood from his own lip, a vile, triumphant smirk stretching across his face. "My father already called the commissioner. You're going away for a long time, Helena. You have no money, no connections, and no family that can save you from us."

"Julian, don't..." Chloe whimpered, but Julian ignored her, stepping back to let the boots of the officers echo down the private elevator hallway.

The bedroom door burst open and four armed officers flooded the room, guns drawn.

"Hands where we can see them! On the floor! Now!"

I didn't drop to my knees. I stood tall in the center of the ruined room, my silk blouse torn at the shoulder, my knuckles bruised and bloody, staring down the barrels of four handguns.

An officer slammed me down against the hardwood floor, pulling my arms roughly behind my back. The cold steel of the cuffs bit deep into my wrists as they locked around.

They hauled me to my feet. As they dragged me toward the door, I didn't look at Chloe crying on the bed. I didn't look at the shattered glass or the spilled wine.

I stopped right in front of Julian.

A demonic smile crossed his face as he leaned in close so the officers couldn't hear, his breath hot against my ear. "You should have stayed the quiet little housewife, Helena. Now you're just a convict."

I looked straight into his terrified, arrogant eyes, feeling the last piece of my soft, innocent soul snap forever.

I leaned in and my lips parted to release a venomous statement.

"I'm going to take everything you love, Julian. Starting with your life."