My Second Marriage with the Mafia Kingpin novel Chapter 534

Chapter 534: Why is she here?

"Ghost."

Red whispered the name from the front passenger seat as though saying it too loudly might make the revelation real.

He turned toward Khan.

Khan gave him a sidelong glance before returning his attention to the road. His hands remained firmly wrapped around the steering wheel.

"Ghost," he echoed, glancing into the rearview mirror. "She... she’s Ghost."

In the back seat, Ashley paused halfway through turning a page.

"Correction." She lifted her gaze and met Khan’s through the mirror.

"I’m not Ghost. Ghost is me." Her lips curved faintly. "There’s a difference."

Ghost hadn’t created Ashley Di Carpio.

Ashley Di Carpio had created Ghost.

Red twisted around in his seat. "How?"

Ashley raised a brow.

"How did you become Ghost?" he pressed. "Was it your idea? Did someone teach you?"

Ever since leaving the secret floor, Red and Khan had been unusually quiet. Ashley had assumed they were still processing the revelation.

Apparently, they had merely been holding back their questions.

Ashley glanced down at the document in her hands. "I didn’t want Marshal giving me more work."

Khan’s brows drew together.

Red stared at her. "That doesn’t make sense. Becoming Ghost gave you more work."

"It did," Ashley agreed. "But tell me—did Marshal ever order Ghost around?"

Red opened his mouth, only to stop.

"Did Dominion?" she continued. "Did anyone in the underground ever force Ghost to accept a job?"

"That’s because no one knew how to contact Ghost," Red argued.

"Exactly." Ashley leaned back against her seat. "When you work for someone like Marshal, you never show him everything you can do. The moment he realizes how useful you are, he’ll keep finding more ways to use you."

Her voice remained calm, almost indifferent. "So, I gave him enough to keep me alive—but never enough to make me indispensable."

Silence filled the car.

Red slowly faced forward, but his gaze remained unfocused.

Now that Ashley had explained it, her decision made perfect sense.

People could easily look at the woman she had become and wonder why someone so capable had never simply walked away from the Di Carpios.

But Ashley hadn’t always been this woman.

She had been a child conditioned to seek their approval. She had spent years believing that if she remained obedient, worked hard, and made herself useful, the family she called her own would eventually recognize her worth.

She hadn’t created Ghost because she was ready to escape them.

She had created Ghost because some part of her already knew she needed a place where Marshal couldn’t reach her.

"So that’s how Ghost was born," Red murmured.

"Mhm." Ashley lowered her gaze to the document again. "I started accepting small jobs without revealing my identity. I helped one person, disappeared, then showed up in someone else’s business."

She flipped the page. "Sometimes I worked for people who were enemies. Sometimes I ruined the work I had previously helped create."

Red looked back at her.

Ashley shrugged.

"I had to make sure no one found a pattern. Ghost couldn’t appear loyal to any person, organization, or country."

Ghost had no master, no permanent ally, and no identity anyone could threaten.

Red studied her with a faint frown.

She spoke so casually about becoming one of the most feared figures in the underground, as though she were explaining how she had picked up a harmless hobby.

Khan drew a deep breath. "We’ll get Memphis."

Ashley’s eyes rose from the document.

"Of course we will."

There wasn’t a hint of doubt in her answer.

"The problem is that we still don’t know what he wants," she continued. "We also haven’t confirmed whether he was responsible for Isabella’s disappearance."

She closed the document and turned toward the window.

"Or Raka’s abduction." The scenery outside blurred past, reflected faintly against the glass. "Then there are the child abductions being blamed on Ghost."

Red’s expression shifted.

"Now that you mention it..." He frowned. "While you were taking control of Black Dragon Corporation, Master was investigating those abductions."

At the time, Red hadn’t understood Lucian’s interest.

Ghost was more than capable of protecting their own reputation. Even after becoming Dominion’s ally, Ghost’s problems weren’t necessarily Dominion’s responsibility.

Yet Lucian had quietly poured resources into the investigation.

Red shut his eyes briefly.

Of course.

Lucian hadn’t been protecting an ally.

He had been protecting his wife.

"How did I miss every single sign?" Red muttered bitterly.

"The accusation itself doesn’t concern me," Ashley said.

Red looked back at her. "You’re being accused of abducting children."

"I’ve been accused of worse."

The casualness of her answer made Red’s face twitch.

Ashley kept her attention on the passing scenery.

"What concerns me is why they chose Ghost," she continued. "Are they simply using a feared name because it makes the story believable? Or do they know there’s a person behind Ghost they need to keep occupied?"

Khan’s gaze sharpened. "You think the accusations are a distraction."

"It’s possible." Ashley drummed her fingers against the closed document. "If the authorities believe Ghost is responsible, they’ll use their resources to hunt me. Meanwhile, I’ll be forced to waste time protecting my identity and clearing my name."

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