Isabella POV

The darkness was a heavy blanket, suffocating and thick with the metallic stench of my own blood. The fire on my cheek had dulled to a throbbing, relentless agony. I lay on the freezing concrete of the cellar, waiting for my heart to give out.

Then, the heavy iron door opened again. It didn't groan this time; it swung silently, as if the hinges had been oiled by a ghost.

I couldn't move, but through the slit of my unswollen eye, I saw a man step into the dim light. He wasn't Marco, and he wasn't Dr. Russo. He moved with a lethal, soundless grace, blending into the shadows so perfectly he seemed born from them.

He knelt beside me. His eyes, cold and analytical, swept over my ruined face and my trembling, starved frame. He didn't ask questions. He didn't offer comfort. He simply slid his arms under me and lifted me from the pool of my own blood with effortless strength.

As my head lolled against his chest, the faint street light from outside caught the silver pin on his dark lapel. A griffin. The crest of the Moretti family.

Damien Moretti. The Ghost of Chicago.

Before the blackness finally pulled me under, I realized I hadn't been saved by an angel. I had been claimed by a monster far more dangerous than the ones who tried to kill me.

*

Three weeks later.

The winter morning was as bitter and gray as the stone facade of the Falcone estate. From the tinted window of the unassuming black sedan parked across the street, I watched my own memorial service unfold.

My cheek was bandaged, the wound stitched and healing into a jagged, permanent reminder of my naivety. But beneath the bandages, my mind had never been clearer. Damien Moretti had given me sanctuary, top-tier medical care, and most importantly, the truth about the Falcone's financial desperation. Now, it was time to use it.

Through the wrought-iron gates, I saw them.

Angelica Gallo stood near the entrance, draped in a perfectly tailored black velvet gown. Around her neck rested the "Tears of Sicily"-the seven-strand pearl necklace my mother had given me on my wedding day. Angelica was playing the role of the grieving confidante, soaking up the sympathetic murmurs of Chicago's elite.

A few feet away, Marco dabbed at his dry eyes with a silk handkerchief, his face a mask of practiced sorrow. And holding court in the center of the room was Donna Vittoria, accepting condolences with the regal dignity of a true Mafia Queen, her eyes gleaming with the anticipation of the De Luca trust funds that would soon save her crumbling empire.

"Are you ready, Miss De Luca?" Luca Bianchi's voice was a low rasp from the driver's seat. The Shadow had been my constant guard since he pulled me from the cellar.

"I've been ready since I bled on their floor," I replied, my voice steady.

I stepped out of the car. The biting wind whipped at my dark coat, but I felt no cold. I walked through the gates, past the oblivious Soldiers, and up the marble steps.

Inside the main hall, the string quartet faded into silence as Marco stepped up to the podium.

"Isabella was... the light of my life," Marco choked out, his voice echoing in the cavernous room. "Her tragic kidnapping has left a void in the Falcone family that can never be filled. We will not rest until the rival cowards who took her from us are brought to justice."

I pushed the heavy oak doors open. They hit the walls with a resounding crack.

Every head in the room snapped toward the entrance. The silence that followed was absolute, heavy enough to crush bone.

I walked down the center aisle. Hundreds of eyes locked onto me, then widened in horror as they took in the angry, red scar slashing across my pale cheek.

Angelica's face drained of all color. She took a stumbling step back, her hand flying to her throat. Marco froze at the podium, his mouth hanging open as if he were staring at a corpse clawing its way out of a grave.

I ignored the gasps and the frantic whispers. I kept my eyes fixed on the matriarch.

I stopped directly in front of Donna Vittoria. The older woman's hands gripped her cane so tightly her knuckles were white. The arrogant gleam in her eyes had shattered into pure, unadulterated terror.

I let a slow, humorless smile touch my lips. I turned my head slightly, locking eyes with the trembling mistress.

"Dressing up in mourning for me is a very creative touch, Angelica," I said, my voice carrying effortlessly through the dead-silent hall. "But those pearls looked much better on me."

I turned back to my grandmother, my tone dripping with venomous sweetness.

"Nonna, thank you for throwing such a lovely party in my honor. But I'm afraid your plans to inherit my estate will have to be postponed." I leaned in closer, ensuring every word was a nail in their coffin. "As you can see, I'm not quite dead yet."

Isabella POV

Three weeks had passed since I walked into my own funeral and shattered the Falcone family's pathetic illusion. In that time, Damien Moretti had proven to be exactly what he promised: a ruthless, impenetrable shield. Today, I was attending the memorial of Enzo Moretti, a prominent Capo, not as a broken victim, but as the heir to the De Luca fortune and the personal guest of the Ghost of Chicago.

The black sedan Damien provided pulled up to the wrought-iron gates of the Moretti estate on the Gold Coast. Before my heels even touched the pavement, a woman draped in ostentatious black lace hurried toward me.

Donna Eleonora Moretti.

Years ago, when my engagement to her son Angelo was broken off in favor of the Falcones, she had looked at me with thinly veiled disdain. Now, she gripped my hands, her heavy diamond rings biting into my skin.

"Isabella, cara mia(my dear)," she cooed, her face contorted into a mask of practiced sorrow. "To see you shining like a diamond after such a terrible ordeal... it is a miracle. You belong with us, where you will be truly cherished."

I stared into her eyes. There was no sympathy there, only a ravenous hunger for the De Luca wealth and the power my new proximity to Damien represented. The Falcones had taught me a brutal lesson: every smile in our world concealed a blade aimed at your heart.

"Thank you, Donna Eleonora," I replied, my voice perfectly polite, perfectly hollow. I gently but firmly extracted my hands from hers. She and her son were instantly added to my list of liabilities.

Inside the cavernous main hall, the air was thick with the scent of lilies and expensive cologne. After paying my respects to the grieving family, I felt a presence beside me.

"Izzy." Angelo Moretti’s voice was pitched low, dripping with a manufactured intimacy. He leaned in, smelling of scotch and desperation. "Seeing you here... it brings back so many memories of when we were young. I never stopped thinking about what we could have been."

I offered a noncommittal hum, my gaze sweeping the room. That was when I spotted her.

Standing near a marble pillar was a young woman in a dress far too tight and bright for a memorial. Genevieve 'Vivi' Russo. She was glaring at us, her painted lips pressed into a furious, bloodless line.

Beside me, Angelo shifted. In the briefest pause of his monologue, he shot a glance over my shoulder. It lasted barely two seconds—a look that started as a frantic plea for patience and instantly hardened into an irritated warning.

I almost laughed. It was the exact same look Marco used to give Angelica when I wasn't looking. Angelo thought he was playing a brilliant game, but to me, he was just another fool dancing on a trapdoor.

Twenty minutes later, seeking a reprieve from the suffocating crowd, I found myself in a dimly lit, mahogany-paneled library. Angelo had followed me like a stray dog. Genevieve hovered near the doorway, sulking, while Angelo’s cousin, Sofia Moretti, sat quietly in a leather armchair, observing the room with sharp, intelligent eyes.

A family Associate approached us. "Can I get you anything to drink, Miss De Luca?"

Before I could answer, Angelo puffed out his chest. "An Old Fashioned. Single ice sphere, with a toasted orange peel. She loves that flavor." He beamed at me, desperate to prove his devotion in front of his cousin.

I didn't look at him. Instead, I turned my gaze to the doorway, letting my eyes rest coldly on his mistress. "I believe Miss Russo might need a drink as well," I told the Associate smoothly.

Angelo panicked. Without thinking, the words tumbled out of his mouth. "Get her a Bee's Knees. Just use the moonshine from the backyard stash, heavy on the honey. She can't handle the good stuff."

The silence that crashed down on the library was deafening.

Sofia’s eyebrows shot up toward her hairline. A man did not know the highly specific, unrefined liquor preferences of a random guest unless he was intimately acquainted with her late-night habits.

The blood drained from Angelo’s face, then rushed back in a violent, guilty flush. "I... I think I heard Isabella mention it once," he stammered, the lie so pathetic it hung in the air like a bad smell.

Under Sofia’s piercing, analytical stare, Angelo practically vibrated with nervous energy. Muttering a fractured excuse about needing to check on his mother, he turned and practically fled the room.

I took a slow breath, letting the silence stretch. I didn't need to say a word; Angelo had just handed me the rope to hang him with. I turned my attention to Sofia, calculating exactly how to use her impeccable reputation to finish what her idiot cousin had just started.

Isabella POV

I let the silence in the library stretch for a moment longer before turning my attention back to Sofia.

"I apologize for my cousin's... abrupt departure," Sofia murmured, her sharp eyes studying me with a newfound intensity.

I offered a tight, graceful smile. "It's quite alright. However, it reminds me that Angelo and I have pending matters regarding the De Luca asset transfers in our betrothal contract." I paused, letting a shadow of proper concern cross my face. "I need to speak with him immediately, but it would be highly inappropriate for me to enter his private office alone, especially during a memorial. Out of rispetto(respect) for your family's protocol, could you perhaps ask Nonna Caterina to assign two of her trusted ladies to accompany me? Just to serve as witnesses and prevent any... misunderstandings."

Sofia nodded approvingly, clearly appreciating my adherence to tradition. "A wise and respectful request, Isabella. Wait here."

Twenty minutes later, I was walking down the quiet, carpeted corridor of the East Wing, flanked by Sofia and two of Nonna Caterina's most senior housekeepers, Maria and Francesca.

As we approached Angelo's heavy oak door, his Associate, Sal, paled drastically. "Miss De Luca! Ladies!" Sal stammered, his voice unnaturally loud as he stepped in front of the door. "Mr. Moretti is on a highly confidential conference call—"

He didn't need to finish. Through the thick wood, Genevieve Russo's grating, greedy laugh echoed clearly.

"Oh, baby," she purred, her voice muffled but unmistakable. "Once we get our hands on the De Luca shipping routes, the entire Chicago bootlegging operation is ours."

Maria and Francesca exchanged a dark, horrified look. Then came Angelo's arrogant reply.

"Exactly. That scarred bitch is nothing but a stepping stone. Damien thinks he runs everything, but he'll soon find out that with the De Luca wealth behind me, I am the true future of the Moretti family."

The trap snapped shut perfectly.

I let out a choked gasp, my hand flying to my mouth. I forced tears to well in my eyes, staring at the door with a mask of absolute, shattered devastation.

"Isabella..." Sofia whispered, her face pale with shock.

I didn't wait. I turned on my heel and fled down the corridor, a perfectly executed picture of a brokenhearted maiden unable to bear the betrayal. Inside, my blood sang with cold, vicious triumph.

I burst into the main hall, ignoring the stares of the mourners, and threw myself directly into the arms of my grandmother, Nonna Sofia De Luca.

"Nonna!" I cried, my voice trembling loud enough to silence the entire room. "I will not do it! A daughter of De Luca will never marry a traitor who plots to steal our legacy while bedding a whore!"

The hall went dead silent. The string quartet stopped abruptly. Nonna Sofia's eyes turned as cold as a Sicilian winter. She didn't speak, but her lethal gaze locked onto Nonna Caterina Moretti. The unspoken pressure in the room was suffocating.

Maria and Francesca hurried in moments later, looking breathless and grim. Under Nonna Caterina's furious command, they repeated every treasonous word they had heard outside the office.

The matriarch's face turned a mottled red. Angelo's father, Donatello Moretti, dropped to his knees on the marble floor in immediate, terrified submission.

His mother, Donna Eleonora, however, panicked. "It's a lie!" she shrieked, pointing a trembling finger. "That tramp seduced my boy! He didn't mean—"

"Silence, Eleonora!" Nonna Caterina roared, her voice cracking like a whip across the cavernous room. "Your son has stained the Moretti name with his disonore(dishonor)!"

She turned to the heavily armed Soldiers standing by the doors, her eyes blazing with a ruthless, unforgiving light.

"Bring Angelo and that woman to me. Now."