Married To The Mob Queen

The lingering pain on my neck still felt like countless threads tightening around it, suffocating me. I suddenly opened my eyes; blinding sunlight streamed through the curtains, landing on the familiar desk. This was not the underworld, but the room I had lived in for more than ten years. I raised my hand to my neck—no scars, just warm skin. The calendar on the desk showed the date: two days before my brother Sawyer Evans and Coco Adams' wedding. Had I been reborn? The thought had barely formed when the door was thrown open. Sawyer burst in, panicked, clutching a bulging backpack. "Neil, I can't marry Coco. That woman is a curse; if I marry her, I'll end up dead sooner or later!" His voice trembled, his eyes full of fear. I looked at him, and the memory of him strangling me to death in my previous life suddenly flooded my mind. It was precisely because he didn't want to marry Coco and feared retaliation from the Adams clan that he lured me to an abandoned warehouse and ended my life himself. Because this can help him escape from the wedding by pretending "himself" had been killed. "Then what do you want to do?" I swallowed the hatred in my heart, trying to keep my voice steady. "I'm leaving, taking Wendy with me. I've already taken the family's savings. I need you to handle our parents!" Sawyer said this as he was about to rush out the door. "If you leave, what will Mom and Dad do? The Adams clan won't let our family go." I grabbed his arm, my voice deliberately urgent. Sawyer shook off my hand, his face full of selfishness. "That's not my problem. I can't risk my own life!" Seeing his heartless expression, I took a deep breath. "Sawyer, don't leave. I'll marry Coco in your place." The moment I said this, Sawyer froze, disbelief filling his eyes. Just then, Mom and Dad heard the noise and came in. When Mom learned of my decision, she immediately burst into tears. "Neil, she won't let anyone push her around. You're going to get the short end of the stick if you go there." Dad frowned and stayed silent for a long moment before speaking. "Will this really protect our family? And what if the Adams clan finds out?" "As long as we stage a ruse and pretend that 'Neil Evans' is dead, no one will suspect that the man marrying her isn't the real Sawyer Evans." I had already thought through the plan, speaking confidently. Sawyer immediately nodded in agreement upon hearing this. "Right, let's do it! Neil, I owe you once!" The fear on his face vanished instantly, leaving only relief. That very night, Sawyer took the family savings and his girlfriend, Wendy, and quietly left home. I stood by the window, watching their retreating figures, feeling not a trace of emotion. In this life, I will not only survive, but also protect my parents, and above all, shield the woman who died for me in my previous life.