Shelley shrugged, “Although I don’t want to admit it, jos is too fierce.”


    Vivian looked puzzled.


    Shelley exined to her, “jos called me and threatened that if I didn’te to the hospital to apany you, he would twist my head.”


    Pretending to cry, Shelleyined to Vivian, “You see, isn’t he very fierce?”


    “Too fierce,” Vivian nodded in agreement, joking, “He should have said that if you didn’te to the hospital, he would tie you up, and use a knife to cut pieces of your flesh one by one.”


    Shelley was startled, immediately moving three feet away from her, “You’re too scary.”


    Vivian smiled, “Did I scare you?”


    “Indeed,” Shelley patted her chest, saying, “It’s only been a few days since west met, how did you be so brutal?”


    “It’s not that I became brutal, it’s that I suddenly understood a truth.”


    “What truth?”


    “No one will refrain from harming you because you are weak; on the contrary, the weaker you are, the more likely someone will bully you,” Vivian said.


    Shelley’s mouth fell open.


    What shocked her was not Vivian’s words, but Vivian’s expression, that mature, indifferent, and even peaceful expression, as if blood could no longer make her tremble, and fear would no longer be an obstacle to her progress.


    Shelley sat nkly in the small chair next to Vivian’s bed, “What on earth happened? I heard you were attacked. Are you alright, Vivian?”


    “I killed someone,” Vivian said calmly.


    Shelley felt something was off, reaching out and holding her hand.


    Only when she held Vivian’s hand did Shelley realize what was hidden beneath Vivian’s calm and indifferent surface-a trembling hand, a soul quivering with fear.


    She wasn’t unafraid, she simply concealed her fear, forcing herself to grow.


    “Vivian…”


    “Don’tfort me, Shelley, I don’t needfort,” Vivian rejected thefort she hadn’t yet expressed, “I killed a person, I had a nightmare about killingst night, I am afraid, I can’t help but recall that moment.”


    “I plunged the dagger deeply into the person’s body, I wanted to stab his heart. The first thrust didn’t go well, I pulled the dagger out, then stabbed again, still not getting it right, I pulled it out and stabbed again…”


    “Don’t say anymore, Vivian!” Shelley stood up suddenly, in her haste her shin knocked against the small chair, the chair and the floor scraped against each other, emitting a sharp sound that pierced her eardrums and heart.


    “I’m not trying to frighten you,” Vivian’s eyes were wide and bright, “I just want to tell you how gratifying it is to control someone’s fate. They all love it. I also… love it.”


    “No, Vivian, having power is one thing, ying with lives is another,” Shelley grabbed Vivian, as if shaking her awake, “Let the guilty go to hell, hurting innocent people will only plunge you deeper into nightmares. Wake up!”


    “Who’s innocent? The Mafia is a cradle of sin, it’s filth, and whoever enters can’t leave cleanly,” Vivian roared.


    “Who isn’t innocent? You, me, Luzia, the girls of the Mafia, which one of us isn’t innocent?” Shelley yelled back with the same intensity, even overpowering Vivian’s questioning, “We’re all ythings, tools for fathers, brothers, and the family. We are forced to ept a stranger as our husband, bing his appendage, and bearing children for him, bing a tool for reproduction.”


    “But what have we done wrong, Vivian?” Shelley’s eyes reddened, her chest heaving with intense emotions.


    She sat back at the edge of Vivian’s bed, staring at the chair pushed away by her, tears falling one by one.


    “We are all waiting for you to be strong, Vivian.” Silence spread in the ward for a long time before Shelley spoke again, “You can be strong, resilient, confident, but please don’t discard your kindness, innocence, andpassion. These beautiful virtues are absent in the men of the Mafia.”


    “You can do what they can do, and you can do what they can’t. Who has more ability, that’s how it’spared.”


    The long silence did not free Vivian from her predicament, her mind filled with the man she had stabbed to death. She enjoyed the thrill of controlling life and death, yet feared ending a life in her hands. These twopletely different emotions tore her soul in half, attacking each other, rejecting each other.


    She couldn’t contain the smile on her lips, nor the tears that fell. She was truly on the brink of madness.


    Vivian coveredher face and wept, “I’m sorry, Shelley, I really don’t know what to do.”


    “I know, I know,” Shelley embraced her, repeating “I know” continuously. She looked out the window, where the world was vast and the sunlight was brilliant, but this morning in the ward was in shadow, with no sunlight able toe in.


    So Shelley’s mood also turned into the shadow where sunlight couldn’t reach, heavy and cold, “Do you know why I like jos so much?”


    Vivian shook her head, her voice filled with tears, “Why?”


    “Because I also killed someone, when I was thirteen,” Shelley’s eyes never left the sunlight outside the window, as if she wouldn’t be swallowed by darkness this way, “I was kidnapped.”


    This was a verymon story in the Mafia; they were important family members in the Mafia, and the family protected them, while enemies nned to abduct them. Shelley was taken in a nned car ident by the Bratva. Along with her, her ssmates and the injured driver who were in the same car heading home were also taken.


    The Bratva didn’t act themselves; they hired several international mercenaries, speaking with British ents, demanding ransom from the family, confusing the family and causing Shelley to remain unretrieved.


    The second day of the abduction, these despicable mercenaries raped her ssmate.


    The third day…


    The fourth day…


    The memories were too distant, Shelley couldn’t even remember which day it was. She only remembered her ssmate being dragged out of the warehouse countless times, the wailing and crying sounding like they wanted to tear the roof off. She cowered in a corner of the warehouse, pleading for these cruel and filthy mercenaries to forget her existence.Exclusive content ? by N?(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.


    But nightmares never arrivete; one day, the person being dragged out of the warehouse became her.


    To this day, Shelley remembered the disgusting sensation of crawling creatures licking her skin. The thought that what happened to her ssmate would soon be reyed on her made her break down. She screamed, kicked, and bit like a madwoman, blood oozing from her sharp teeth, flooding her mouth, making her retch.


    The driver, injured in the ident and left without timely medical treatment, had festering wounds exposed to the dirty environment, and on the second day of being imprisoned, he developed a high fever. It was already a testament to his strong will that he could hold on until this day.


    Shelley didn’t know where he got the strength, but just as she was about to be dragged out of the warehouse, the driver pounced on her like a leopard, shielding her beneath him.