From Mob Princess to Mugshot Photographer novel Chapter 28

**TITLE: Storm Behind Sleeps by George Orwell 28**

**Chapter 1**

The moment they erased my memories,
all traces of my past vanished like smoke in the wind.
I no longer remembered my fiancé—the Underboss who had meticulously molded me into his ideal assassin.
I forgot the girl I had rescued, who, in a cruel twist of fate, stole everything I held dear.
The shadowy organization known as the Cleaners, “Red Spider Lily,” became a mere whisper in my mind.

I had staged my own death, vanishing from the world I once knew.
Now, I found myself managing a dusty little bookshop nestled on a quiet street in Sicily, far from the chaos of my former life.
People assumed I was merely sulking, hiding away and throwing a fit,
that eventually, I would tire of this charade and return to him, to the life I had left behind.

But one fateful evening, as the sun dipped below the horizon and no customers wandered into my shop,
the atmosphere shifted.
From the shadows that lingered between the towering shelves, a few men emerged, having been concealed there all along.
The one in front spoke in a low, menacing tone,
“Three years. Why haven’t you responded to a single call from Mr. Corsaro? You know he wiped out the entire Commission for you?”

My heart raced, and I froze, the book still clutched in my hand.
“Sorry… I had my memory wiped. Who’s Mr. Corsaro?”

The temperature in the room plummeted.
A strange tightness gripped my chest, and without a second thought, I glanced toward the window.
Across the street, partially obscured by the dimming light, a tall figure stood, utterly still,
his gaze fixed on me, unblinking.

It was Dante Corsaro, the man I had caught with Sienna on the morning of our wedding.
In that moment, I couldn’t locate him; I assumed the Commission had dispatched him on some urgent assignment.
Instead, I found him on the terrace, locked in a kiss with the girl I had saved—Sienna Graves.

Fueled by rage, I approached him, my intention clear.
I aimed for his throat, desperate to reclaim what was lost.

**Chapter 1**

I had my fingers wrapped around his pulse when Sienna intervened, shoving me into the pool.
The impact sent my head crashing against the tile, and everything turned icy.
Right.
Everyone I cared for seemed to gravitate toward her.

Five years prior, I had pulled Sienna from the clutches of a trafficking route in Southeast Asia.
She was nothing more than cargo then, a mere fifteen-year-old.
Yet I chose to keep her, to call her my sister.
I taught her the ins and outs of intel, brought her into my crew, and secured her a role in logistics—the safest position we had.

She was a ray of sunshine, always smiling like a flower that had been nurtured and protected for years.
After every brutal job, she would have hot meals waiting for us, her warmth a stark contrast to the cold world we inhabited.
The men in my crew—hardened killers who showed no fear—transformed in her presence, treating her like precious gold.

“Finally got a real woman around here,” they would say, right in front of me, as if to rub salt in my wounds.
Now, the man I had spent a decade with was doing the same thing.

When I regained consciousness in the medical wing, Dante was there, his expression unreadable.
He didn’t bother to ask if I was alright.
“Vesper. Don’t blow this up. Sienna was just fooling around… If it bothers you, I’ll keep my distance.”

“You brought her into this. She has no one else. She’s been through enough. Don’t complicate things further.”
I stared at the scar on his collarbone, a reminder of the bullet he had taken for me three years prior.
A bitter laugh escaped me.
“You scared I’ll handle her myself?”

His expression hardened, his grip on my wrist tightening painfully.
He didn’t respond, his silence more telling than words.
“I know you’re angry. But we don’t air our grievances within the family. You know the rules.”

“Drop it. We’ll postpone the wedding by a week. I don’t want the crew gossiping.”
I pulled my hand away, my gaze drifting into the encroaching darkness outside.
He opened his mouth to speak, but at that moment, his burner phone buzzed sharply, cutting through the tension.

I am a killer. My eyes are trained to notice every detail.
I saw Sienna’s name flash across the screen, the text revealing her distress—she was spooked, heart racing.
Dante’s demeanor shifted, his voice softening.
“Got a new mark. I need to check it out myself. Rest up.”
And just like that, he was gone, moving with urgency, as if the weight of the world rested on his shoulders.

I remained in that medical bed, staring blankly at my phone.
An advertisement flickered to life:
[Memory Encoding. Start Over. New Life. New You.]

Mercy has never been my forte.
When something breaks, I throw it away without a second thought.
So, I thought Dante and those ten years we shared could go straight to hell.
I walked out of the Rebirth Project lab, my mind feeling like a blank slate.

Nothing remained.
Fragments of my past were locked away behind walls I couldn’t scale.
I was aware of their existence, but I felt no inclination to uncover them.
Memory work requires two sessions—seventy-two hours between each. After that, they seal it away for good.

Even if my mind was hazy, my body instinctively found its way back to the safehouse.
The iris scan cleared, and the door clicked open.
Inside, voices erupted—loud and jubilant.
“Eastern Europe job went smooth as butter. Sienna pulled it off!
Girl’s a goddamn star!”

As I stepped into the living room, the atmosphere shifted instantly.
Everyone froze, their smiles faltering.
Dante rose to his feet, his expression darkening at my presence.
“Your head still messed up?”

I pressed my fingers against the lump on my skull, cold against the pain.
“I could be bleeding out on this floor, and you still wouldn’t dare touch her.”

The room fell into an oppressive silence.
Lana, a longtime ally with whom I had shared countless jobs, interjected, her cheerful demeanor attempting to bridge the gap.
“Vesper, we’re glad to have you back. We’re throwing a party for Sienna. Her intel led to a clean takedown. The Big Boss sent his personal congratulations.”

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