My Second Marriage with the Mafia Kingpin novel Chapter 453

Chapter 453: Came Here On My Own

"Then my entire family—my wife and my children—were shot dead inside our home."

Red almost choked on his cigarette. His eyes widened as he slowly turned toward Charm.

He would be lying if he said he hadn’t assumed Charm was just another corrupt cop—a policeman who had crossed the Di Carpios and ended up here because of it.

But this...

This wasn’t what Red had expected.

If anything, he wished his first assumption had been true.

Charm let out a hollow laugh as he stared at the polluted sky.

There were no tears in his eyes. Yet beneath his calm expression, the grief and regret he carried were impossible to hide.

"To make a long story short, I was framed," he said. "They claimed I murdered my family in a fit of rage. Everyone painted me as some abusive husband who beat his wife to death before killing his own children so he could start over."

He exhaled heavily before continuing. "When my life fell apart, I knew something wasn’t right."

Every piece of evidence pointed to him. Even his fellow officers believed he had done it.

Some of his own neighbors gave statements about incidents that had never even happened.

"So I ran."

Before they could officially charge him with a crime he hadn’t committed, Charm fled to uncover the truth himself.

Deep down, he already knew who was behind it.

Not long before everything happened, he had dismantled one of the biggest criminal operations in his district. He had arrested countless members of the syndicate and exposed the officers protecting them.

People had warned him, but he simply hadn’t listened.

Then, while searching for justice for his family—and for himself—he ended up here.

"They should’ve killed me," Charm said quietly. "Instead, they brought me here."

A bitter smile crossed his face.

"It took me a long time to understand why they chose to keep me alive."

Because if he were being honest... death would’ve been far kinder than living in this place.

Charm let out another slow breath before looking down at Red. For a while, he simply studied the young man.

Red reminded him far too much of himself.

"When I first came here, I was just like you," Charm admitted. "Although, I didn’t ask people if they wanted to kill those fuckers."

He laughed bitterly. "I convinced them to start a coup, though. And because of that stupid belief of mine... the people who followed me paid the price."

None of them had died.

Not the men who had tried escaping alongside him.

Instead... they had been kept alive.

Alive through endless torture.

"That’s why Caspi can’t speak anymore." Charm’s voice remained steady despite the memories. "They cut out his tongue."

He nodded toward the older man. "And Old Fool lost one of his eyes."

His gaze drifted through the warehouse.

"They kept every one of them alive, so I’d have to see what my decisions cost... every single day."

They had actually been the lucky ones. At least they survived.

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