A woman who makes her living selling fish is pulled into the criminal underworld, where she discovers a talent for power and survival. As she climbs from the market stalls toward the top of a mafia empire, she must decide how much of herself she is willing to sacrifice to rule.
Tina raised her hand to slap her face. Before her hand could land, I held Ethan with one arm and caught Tina's wrist tightly with my free Who told you I'm a servant? I'm their mother.
Bullying kids in front of their mother comes with a price. I shoved hard, throwing off the balance. Tina screeched as she crashed onto the muddy floor, her expensive silk gown instantly covered in foul You damned trash!
Just wait, I'll find out who you are and destroy you! I didn't even bother looking back. Holding Ethan and leading Sylvia, I walked off the Grimaldi grounds. I held burning Ethan tight, running all the way to the town's public hospital.
I emptied my hard-earned savings, paying off the steep emergency and admission fees on the spot. To give him full care, I left Sylvia with old Mabel for a few days. For seven days and nights, I barely closed my eyes, wiping Ethan down with cold towels to bring his fever down,
feeding him broth spoonful by spoonful. A week later, his fever finally broke. The only issue was, he refused to say a single word. Remembering Tina calling him a mute, I held him closer.
On the day of his discharge, I carried medicine in one hand and Ethan in the other back to my rented Sylvia flew out to meet us, and the two kids held each other, weeping Old Mabel pulled me aside, staring at my empty savings box, sighing. Brianna, take my advice.
Send these kids back to the Grimaldi family and make that old hag pay back the hospital bills. You can't afford to raise them alone. At the word send them back, both children froze. Sylvia turned deathly pale. Ethan