My 108 Overprotective Mafia Dads

I was abandoned five days after I was born.

But for some reason, my biological mother left me on the doorstep of a local criminal organization in Ravenwood City.

To survive, even while still in my swaddling clothes, I instinctively cried Dad when a group of hardened criminals glared down at me.

The rough men instantly frowned.

"Maybe... maybe we should keep this kid?"

From then on, I gained 108 dads.

But our home was truly a den of outlawsevery single one of them was on the most wanted list.

So, to avoid causing trouble for my dads, I lived a low-key life for over a decade.

That was until high school, when I encountered school bullying.

Tiffany, the queen bee, and her cronies cornered me in the restroom, splashing me with cold water, tearing my clothes, and even filming me with her phone.

"Why are you staring, you scholarship student? How dare you glare at me?!"

But they hit me so hard that I grabbed her and we fell from the third floor.

When I woke up, the teacher in the nurse's office was scolding me.

"She hit you, so you tried to kill her? Is that it? You're absolutely vicious! Call your parents immediately! I want to see how your parents raised you!"

My hair stood on end. I meekly asked,

"Ms. Davison, are you sure you want to call my parents?"

As soon as the words left my mouth, a sharp slap echoed. Mr. Albright, Tiffany's father, struck me across the face, his eyes burning with menacing fury.

"You brat! You will call your parents to apologize to me!"

I was instantly knocked to the ground, half my face throbbing with pain.

Ms. Davison, however, acted as if she hadn't seen a thing. She immediately fawned over Mr. Albright, nodding and bowing.

"Mr. Albright, please rest assured, the school will handle this very seriously and show no leniency!"

She turned to me, yelling directly into my face.

"Stella! Look what you've done to Tiffany! Call your parents right away to pay for her medical expenses!"

I hung my head, my nails digging deep into my palms.

A metallic taste of blood spread in my mouth.

"No, it was Tiffany. She was the one who first cornered me in the restroom, splashed me with cold water, and tore my clothes. I just..."

But I couldn't finish my sentence.

Tiffany started to cry weakly from her hospital bed.

"Dad! She's lying! I was just passing by, and Stella suddenly went crazy and pushed me down the stairs... She's just a scholarship student, jealous that our family has money. She's always hated me!"

"It was clearly you..." I immediately retorted.

But Ms. Davison didn't give me a chance to speak.

"Shut up, Stella! The facts are clearyou deliberately hurt her!"

She grabbed me and dragged me out of the medical room.

Roughly pulling out my phone, Ms. Davison slapped it against my face.

"I don't want to hear your nonsense! Now, immediately! Call your parents! Tell them to get over here and pay up!"

Suddenly, the gaze of various teachers and students in the hallway focused on me, a mix of curiosity and schadenfreude.

But I clutched the cold phone, staring at the bustling contact list, yet I couldn't bring myself to make the call.

I had 108 dads.

But Dad 1 was a syndicate boss, Dad 3 smuggled weapons, Dad 15 lent out high-interest loans, and Dad 78 ran an illegal casino...

Though they always loved to give me black cards and then pat my head, saying:

"Stella, don't stir up trouble out there, but if anything happens, always come to us. If anyone lays a finger on you, Dad 1 will make their whole family disappear from the face of the earth."

"Right, anyone who dares to make you suffer, Dad 3 will come for them with a pair of knives!"

But they were all Ravenwood City's most wanted criminals.

A shiver ran through me.

I remembered them always leaving early and coming home late, their bodies covered in knife scars and the smell of blood, grumbling about running into the cops again that day.

I remembered the news channels constantly featuring their wanted posters.

I couldn't risk putting them in danger.

Looking up again, I tried one last struggle.

"Ms. Davison, my dads... they're all working out of town, very far away, they can't come."

"Could we... I'll write an apology, I'll apologize publicly, I'll accept a disciplinary record, anything. Just please don't call them, okay?"

Ms. Davison let out a sneer.

"Working out of town? No wonder you turned out to be such a shameless child! And they can't come?"

"Tiffany's medical exams, her emotional distress compensationthat's a lot of money. Can a kid like you pay for it? Call them quickly, don't waste my time!"

She looked at me with utter contempt.

"How much money? I can..." I was about to say I could pay for it myself, as my dads had given me black cards I hadn't even touched.

But Mr. Albright emerged and immediately handed Ms. Davison a bank card.

"Ms. Davison, here's fifty thousand. It's a donation for the school."

"My demand is simple: get her parents here to compensate us and admit guilt."

"Otherwise, I'll just call the police! I'll charge her with aggravated assault! Once she has a criminal record, she can forget about ever going to college!"

Upon seeing the bank card, Ms. Davison's eyes instantly lit up. She turned to me, her tone becoming incredibly stern.

"Stella, did you hear that? This is your last chance!"

"Either call your working-class parents now to pay and apologize!"

"Or get a criminal record and forget about ever going to college for the rest of your life!"

Criminal record...

Those two words felt like needles piercing my mind.

I couldn't have a criminal record.

I still wanted to go to college, to earn money and support my dads in their old age.

Looking at that bank card, looking at Ms. Davison's snobbish, ugly face.

Tears instantly welled up in my eyes. My trembling fingers finally lit up my phone screen.

"Ms. Davison, please don't! Don't call the police. I'll call my parents."

My hand trembled as I tapped "Dad 1" at the top of my contacts.

Although he was a syndicate boss, he was still the most "normal" among all my dads.

I hoped, I hoped he could pretend to be an ordinary person and get through this.

"Beep beep..." The call was answered the moment it went through.

Dad 1's warm, smiling voice came from the receiver: "Stella?"

"Dad 1," I said, pressing my lips together. "The teacher wants me to ask you to come to school. I..."

"Go to school?" He instantly sounded excited. "Oh, is my daughter winning another award? This is the first time you've asked me to come get a certificate! Wait up, I'm coming now!"

"No..."

A pang of sadness hit me. I was about to say no.

But then, a clear gunshot suddenly rang out from the other end of the line.

Followed by a strange man's scream and a series of dull thuds.

I froze instantly.

I faintly heard a very soft "clean it up."

Childhood memories flooded back. Dad 1 always came home with blood on him, but he would lie and say it was ketchup.

His breathing seemed a little unsteady, but when he spoke to me again, his voice was still gentle.

"No... what, sweetie?"

Thinking about whether he was doing something dangerous, whether he was hurt, my heart pounded.

The words on the tip of my tongue hardened into:

"N-nothing... it's fine. I can get the award myself. You're busy, I'm hanging up."

"Hey! You didn't even say anything, why are you hanging up!"

Hearing this, Ms. Davison shouted and reached for my phone.

I instinctively dodged, quickly ending the call.

But the next second: "Slap!"

Another harsh slap landed on my face.

Ms. Davison's face was distorted with rage. "You've caused such big trouble and you're still trying to hide it from your parents!"

Mr. Albright slammed his hand against the wall, pointing at my nose and yelling:

"Don't think you're getting away with this by hiding it from adults! I'm telling you, in this part of Ravenwood City, I'm the local big shot! I have connections at the police department! If you dare touch my daughter, I'll make your whole family of working-class nobodies disappear in a minute!"

Tiffany limped out, mocking me:

"You're so pathetic you don't even dare call your parents. I bet your family is too poor to put food on the table, right? So where did you get the guts to push me? So ridiculous!"

I lowered my head, my voice as faint as a mosquito's hum:

"My dads really can't come... I'm sorry, Tiffany. It was my fault, I shouldn't have pushed you."

"I can bow down and apologize to you in front of the whole school, be your errand girl for a year, or you can hit me back. Just please don't call the police, okay? I don't want to get expelled..."

Tiffany scoffed contemptuously, but Mr. Albright roared and reached for my phone.

"You're trying to negotiate now?"

"Give me your parents' numberI'll talk to them myself!"

Ms. Davison immediately chimed in: "Stella, give Mr. Albright your phone to call! Don't resist, you need to show an attitude of wanting to solve the problem!"

The man lunged forward to snatch it, but I clung to my phone, backing away repeatedly.

Finally, I stumbled and fell awkwardly to my knees.

My knees hit the cold tile floor, making tears stream down my face from the pain. But I kept bowing, begging:

"...Please, please don't involve my dads. Tiffany, please, I'll do all the apologizing and making amends I just mentioned, you can hit me back, just please don't call my parents, okay?!"

Dull thuds echoed on the floor as I bowed repeatedly until blood smeared my forehead. Only then did a look of triumphant pleasure appear on Tiffany's face.

Stopping her dad, she raised her voice: "Alright then, just apologizing in public isn't enough. Tomorrow, you'll have to bow one hundred times, touching your forehead to the ground, until I'm satisfied! Only then will I not call the police."

"Okay." Clenching my fists, I agreed to all her conditions.

My heart bled with humiliation, but I felt it was worth it, as long as my dads weren't implicated.

But that evening, when I returned to the small apartment Dad 2 rented for me, wearing a baseball cap and feeling exhausted.

I saw three men bustling around in the kitchen, cooking. It was Dad 66, Dad 79, and Dad 93.

Seeing me return, they immediately gathered around me happily.

"Stella's home!"

At the dining table, Dad 66 smiled and pinched my cheek.

"Stella, I heard you're getting an award at school? Why didn't you let one of us go get it for you? By my calculations, it should be my turn, right?"

Dad 79 skillfully massaged my shoulders, refuting him: "Nonsense, it's my turn!"

Dad 93 pushed a bowl of soup in front of me: "Drink up, it's good for your brain. You'll get into a great college."

My nose stung, and I almost cried.

But I forced a smile and explained: "It's just a small award, no need to trouble yourselves. I'll call you for the big awards next time."

"Alright, we won't argue. You eat first, sweetie."

They excitedly served me food. As I was eating, Dad 66 suddenly looked serious and answered a phone call.

I faintly heard a few words.

"That shipment... being watched again... jumped into the river... damn, this money is really hard to earn..."

Instantly, my heart tightened again.

Fearing they would be arrested, I took a deep breath and put down my fork.

"Dads, could you... in the future... stop doing that kind of work? I'm grown up nowI'll get into a good college and support you."

"So, could you get some stable jobs?"

The three big men froze simultaneously, then, overcome with emotion, they hugged each other and cried, promising they would.

Two hours later, the three of them gave me a few more instructions, left me three black cards, and then left in a hurry.

I stood at the door, watching them disappear down the hallway, my eyes stinging.

"Remember to change jobs!"

"We know!"

But the moment the door closed, Dad 66 looked at his brothers beside him, puzzled.

"Strange, our daughter doesn't like my nuclear submarine development...?"

The other two also looked bewildered.

And as I closed the door, I looked at the "My Family (108)" group chat on my phone. The messages were already 999+.

My dads were all asking:

"Is Stella tired from studying today?"

"Do you have enough money? Don't skimpI have plenty of money!"

My eyes welled up again. I sniffed and finally typed a line in the chat box.

"I'm fine, everyone. Don't worry. Dads, you're busy with work, please also pay attention to safety."

Send.

The next second, staring at the constantly popping up messages of concern on the screen, I made up my mind.

I would never cause my dads any more trouble.

Stella, you must hold on.

Everything will be fine after the SAT.

At the school assembly on Monday, a sea of students filled the field below. I knelt on the ground, mechanically confessing.

"It was because I harbored resentment that I pushed Tiffany down the stairs... I was jealous of her, I am a wicked person..."

My voice echoed across the sports field, but every word felt like a knife slicing my throat.

Tiffany sat in a wheelchair, pushed to the very front by several classmates, watching me triumphantly. Her eyes were filled with excitement as I knelt, bowing repeatedly and apologizing.

Below, the murmurs converged into a buzzing noise.

"I heard her family is really poor, she's here on a scholarship."

"Such a wicked mind, jealous of rich people, I guess."

"Look at her pathetic, poor self, she deserves it."

"A kid with a mother who didn't raise her, no upbringing at all."

All the malicious words felt like needles pricking my flesh, a bone-chilling pain.

But I was already numb.

After finishing, I slowly bent at the waist.

"Thud."

The first bow, my forehead hitting the cold podium.

...

Fifty bows, one hundred bows, I bowed again and again, my forehead going from numb to agonizing pain, then to a warm stickiness.

Blood streamed down my brow, blurring my vision, plunging everything into darkness.

The ground was covered in crimson blood.

The confession finished, I walked off the stage, my face covered in blood.

The crowd parted for me as if I were carrying a plague.

Tiffany, surrounded by her cronies, deliberately walked past me.

She spoke in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft: "Ugh, some people are just born pathetic. Just an apology won't cut it, will it? From now on, when you see me, call me 'Grandma,' got it?"

Clenching my fists, my nails dug deep into my flesh. I said nothing.

I just silently returned to my seat, took out a wet wipe, and tried hard to wipe the red words off my desk.

But the paint had already seeped into the wood grain, making it more smudged with every wipe, like ugly scars.

The entire day, I was surrounded by malice. Until the dismissal bell rang, I couldn't hold it in anymore and rushed out of the classroom.

Afraid to use the main entrance, I took a detour through the secluded alley behind the school.

But after only a few steps, Tiffany and her three cronies were blocking the alley entrance.

She stood up from her wheelchair, stretched her limbs, and walked toward me step by step.

"Didn't you say you'd be my errand girl? The boss hasn't left yet, and you're running off so fast. Are you playing games with me, Stella?"

"Sorry, you didn't call me..."

"Whether I call you or not, you're supposed to be my dog!"

Tiffany took out her phone, aiming the camera at my disheveled face.

"Come on, apologize again. Say, 'I, Stella, am a worthless piece of trash, I shouldn't have forgotten to be Tiffany Albright's dog.'"

I bit my lip, motionless.

Tiffany became more energized, directly starting a new round of torment.

Cold mineral water poured over my head, my soaked school uniform was torn, and lipstick was smeared haphazardly across my face.

Tiffany held up her phone, laughing wildly.

"Come on, smile. Say 'Thank you, Tiffany, for the lesson,' otherwise I'll call the police and let your disgraceful dads have a good chat at the police station, hmm?"

My mind buzzed. I stared at her, disbelieving. Did Tiffany know about their situation?

But I couldn't risk it. I could only endure my constant trembling, repeating her words in a hoarse voice.

"Thank you, Tiffany, for the lesson."

It wasn't until I had said it dozens of times that Tiffany finally smiled, satisfied, kicked me, and left.

"Wouldn't it have been easier if you were this obedient earlier? From now on, come here every day after school and wait for me, got it? Whatever I want you to do, you have to do it!"

"Okay." She left with her cronies.

Instantly, I was alone in the alley.

I don't know how long passed, but I slowly crouched down.

On the ground, a soaked math test, with a bright red "100" score, was particularly glaring.

Desperately fighting back the welling tears, I reached out to pick up my mud-stained books and test papers.

However, just as I looked up.

At the alley entrance, four or five men had appeared.

Leading them was Dad

And behind him followed four or five other dads.

At this moment, their faces were dark and grim, all staring intently at me without saying a word.

The air in the alley seemed to solidify.

After a long silence, Dad 1 crouched down, his rough fingers wiping away the bloodstains on my face.

"Who did this?"

I turned my face away, not daring to meet the anger in his eyes, and whispered,

"No... I just fell."

"Fell?"

Dad 5 snatched the mud-stained math textbook from the ground, pointing at the dirty shoe prints on it, and roared:

"This is 'fell'? This is being stomped to death!"

Dad 3 adjusted his glasses, his gaze behind the lenses as sharp as a knife.

"Stella, speak. Just tell us to blow up Ravenwood City and kill those people, and it's done?"

But I bit my lip hard.

I couldn't say anything.

Mr. Albright was rich and powerfulTiffany even said the Ravenwood City police listened to her family.

My dads were all wanted criminals. I couldn't risk putting them in jail.

I stubbornly shook my head, but tears welled up in my eyes against my will.

Time ticked by. Finally, Dad 1 sighed, gently holding my cold hand with an undeniable strength.

"Stella, do you remember that year when you were five, the chubby kid from the next street stole your candy, and you cried all night when you came home?"

"The next day, that chubby kid's whole family moved out of Ravenwood City."

"We dads aren't good people, but our family rule is: whoever touches you, dies!"

The wind in the alley instantly stilled.

Seeing my dads silently surrounding me, their eyes filled with suppressed rage and heartache.

All the grievances, fear, and humiliation of these past days instantly broke through my taut nerves.

"Dad"

I flung myself into Dad 1's arms, sobbing uncontrollably, stammering out everything that had happened:

"It was Tiffany... her dad is Mr. Albright, he owns mines... she said Ravenwood City was all her family's territory... she bullies me every day... today she even took a video..."

Dad 5's brand new phone was crushed in his hand with a "snap," the screen shattering!

"A mine owner, how dare he!"

"Damn that Mr. Albright! When I helped him get started back in the day, he was licking my boots!"

"He's lost his mind! How dare he touch our Stella!"

My dads' angry curses rose and fell, but I listened, stunned.

Dad 1 simply patted my back gently, then pulled out his phone and dialed a number, his voice cold as ice.

"Send out the word. All brothers, drop what you're doing."

"One hour. Everyone to Ravenwood City."

"Our daughter was bullied!"

The next morning, Dad 1 told me to go to school as usual.

I nodded, and went alone.

Sure enough, at the school gate, Tiffany was waiting beside that flashy luxury car.

Seeing me, she deliberately raised her voice, her face full of sarcasm: "Oh, isn't this the one who was on her knees bowing to me yesterday..."

But before she finished, I walked straight past her, my eyes calm, as if she were just thin air.

Tiffany froze instantly.

"Stella!" She rushed forward in a fit of rage, grabbing my backpack tightly.

"Did I tell you to leave? Didn't learn your lesson yesterday, did you? You worthless piece of trash!"

She raised her hand, ready to slap me.

"I gave you a chance"

But remembering Dad 1's words, I felt an unprecedented confidence inside me.

The next second, her wrist was caught firmly in mid-air by my hand.

Looking into her astonished eyes, I said each word coldly: "I said, let go."

"You little brat! You've lost your mind!"

But Mr. Albright angrily got out of his car and shoved me hard!

Staggering back a few steps, my back hit the school wall with a painful thud.

"You pathetic pauper! Still refusing to learn, are you?"

Mr. Albright grabbed my collar, spitting saliva on my face: "If I don't finish you off today, I'll take your damn name"

However, the next second.

"Rumble rumble" A tremendous roar filled the sky.

One, two, dozens of helicopters instantly darkened the sky, circling above the school.

Following that, came the heavy, dull thud of tracks grinding on asphalt.

One, two, three olive-green tanks, their cannons aimed squarely at the school entrance.

And countless media reporters, carrying long and short lenses, swarmed in, their camera flashes lighting up the scene.

Mr. Albright was frozen in place. Then, countless armored vehicles appeared, and figures descended from the helicopters.

One, two, ten, fifty...

Exactly one hundred and eight men emerged from various corners, forming an impenetrable human wall that completely surrounded him.

Then, in Mr. Albright's terrified eyes, one hundred and eight voices, like thunder, boomed across Ravenwood City:

"Dare to touch our daughter againjust try it!!!"