Elena Rossi POV:

I kept my fingers pinched on the screen, zooming in further on the face of the Patek Philippe watch. Right near the three o'clock mark, there was a deep, jagged scratch on the sapphire crystal.

My thumb hovered over the digital flaw. I remembered the exact moment that scratch was made. We had been side-swiped by a drunk driver in the rain. Before the airbags even deployed, I had thrown my body across the center console, wrapping my arms around Dante to shield him from the shattering glass. The watch had scraped violently against the exposed metal of the door frame as I pulled his arm inward.

I exited the zoomed view. I stared at Sofia’s caption again. *To my forever King.*

My face was completely blank. I double-tapped the center of the image. A large white heart popped up on the screen, registering my burner account’s like on her photo.

A second later, a banner notification dropped down from the top of my screen. An iMessage from Dante.

*This conference in DC is endless. The food here is garbage. I'm craving your linguine. Miss you.*

I looked at the message. Then I looked back at Sofia’s photo. The location tag on her post was clearly marked: *Brooklyn, New York.*

My stomach gave a hollow, sickening lurch, but my hands were entirely steady. I opened his message.

*Take care of yourself. Stay safe. Come home soon,* I typed.

I hit send. I dropped the phone onto the plush velvet sofa as if it were coated in toxic sludge.

I turned on my heel and walked into the massive mahogany library. I bypassed the shiny new first editions and went straight to the bottom shelf in the darkest corner. I pulled out a heavy, worn copy of Dante’s *Divine Comedy*.

I opened the book to the middle. Tucked between the yellowed pages was a folded, glossy brochure. I pulled it out and smoothed it flat on the desk. It was a travel poster for the Gold Coast of Australia. The edges were frayed. I had kept this piece of paper since I was ten years old, sitting in my fourth foster home, staring at the bright blue ocean and dreaming of a place where the sun was warm and nobody knew my name.

I folded the brochure carefully and slid it into the inner pocket of my jeans.

I left the library and walked into the master bedroom. Behind a massive oil painting of the Amalfi coast sat a steel wall safe.

I punched in the code: Dante’s birthdate. The heavy metal door clicked and swung open.

Inside, stacks of crisp, newly minted hundred-dollar bills were neatly piled next to velvet boxes of jewelry. Dante left this here for my "allowance." I knew better than to touch the new bills. The Vitiello family tracked serial numbers. If I spent a single hundred-dollar bill from those stacks, Dante’s men would have my location in ten minutes.

I bypassed the cash and reached into the very back of the safe. I pulled out a velvet pouch containing two solid gold bars. They were heavy, cold, and entirely untraceable.

I carried the gold into the walk-in closet. I grabbed a heavy, dark winter coat from the back of the rack. I brought it to the bed, grabbed a small sewing kit from my vanity, and took a pair of surgical scissors to the inner lining of the coat.

I sliced the fabric open, slipped the two gold bars deep into the insulation, and threaded a needle with thick black thread.

I began to sew the lining back together. My hands moved quickly, a skill born out of necessity when I had to mend my own clothes to avoid looking like trash at school.

I pulled the thread tight. The needle slipped, plunging deep into the pad of my index finger.

I hissed, pulling my hand back. A bright bead of dark red blood welled up on my skin. I stared at it. I didn't get up to find a bandage. I pressed my bleeding finger directly against the dark fabric of the coat, smearing the blood into the wool until the cut stopped bleeding.

I stood up and walked over to the paper calendar hanging on the back of the closet door. I picked up a thick black marker and drew a heavy, violent 'X' over today's date.

Day 13. The countdown had officially begun.

A sharp chime echoed through the apartment. The private elevator had arrived.

I shoved the winter coat into the very back of the closet, throwing a pile of dry-cleaning bags over it. I grabbed a microfiber cloth from the nightstand and started wiping down the polished wood, my breathing perfectly even.

The front door opened. Heavy, hurried footsteps crossed the foyer.

"Elena?" Marco called out.

I walked out of the bedroom, the cloth still in my hand. Marco stood in the living room, holding two massive, high-end shopping bags from a luxury health store.

When Marco looked at me, his eyes softened with a look of profound, uncomfortable pity. It made my skin crawl.

"Dante is stuck in Washington," Marco said, his voice tight. "He won't make it back tonight. He asked me to bring you these. Vitamins, imported teas. He said you've been looking pale."

I put the cloth down and walked over. I took the bags from his hands, forcing a soft, gentle smile onto my face. I played the role of the perfect, naive girl.

"Thank you, Marco," I said softly. "Tell him I appreciate it. And tell him not to work too hard."

Marco opened his mouth. His jaw flexed. He looked like he wanted to say something, to warn me, to apologize for the fact that his boss was currently in a hotel room in Brooklyn with another woman. But his loyalty to the family won.

He swallowed hard, nodded curtly, and turned away. "Have a good night, Elena."

The moment the heavy front door clicked shut, the smile fell from my face like shattered glass.

I carried the two expensive shopping bags straight into the kitchen. I opened the cabinet under the sink, stepped on the pedal of the trash can, and dumped the hundreds of dollars' worth of supplements directly into the garbage.

"Tainted with another woman's perfume, this trash will only dirty my hands."

Elena Rossi POV:

At six o'clock the next morning, the electronic lock on the front door clicked open.

I had been awake all night, staring at the ceiling, listening to the hum of the city traffic below. The moment I heard the heavy thud of the door closing, I squeezed my eyes shut, slowed my breathing to a deep, rhythmic pace, and turned onto my side.

Footsteps moved across the hardwood floor, growing louder as they approached the master bedroom. The door pushed open, letting in a draft of cold hallway air.

The mattress dipped under Dante’s heavy weight. The moment he leaned over me, the scent hit my nose.

It wasn't his usual cold cedar. Beneath the smell of stale scotch and rain, there was an aggressive, sweet, cloying floral scent. Tom Ford's Rose Prick. Sofia’s signature perfume.

My stomach violently seized. The smell was so concentrated it felt like a physical assault. My throat tightened, and a wave of pure, physiological nausea washed over me. During the fire, when Dante had been blinded by the smoke, I had navigated us out of the burning building entirely by smell, avoiding the chemical fumes. My senses were razor-sharp. I could smell her on his skin, in his hair, on the fabric of his suit.

Dante leaned down, his cold lips pressing against the bare skin of my neck. His hand slid over my waist, pulling me flush against his chest.

I couldn't suppress the gag reflex. I jerked forward, tearing myself out of his grip, and clamped a hand over my mouth, gasping for air.

Dante froze, his arm suspended in the air. His heavy brows slammed together, a flash of dark irritation crossing his face. "Elena?"

I curled into a ball, clutching my stomach, forcing my breathing to sound ragged and pained. "I'm sorry," I wheezed, keeping my face buried in the pillows. "My stomach... I've been sick all night. The cramps are terrible."

The irritation in Dante's eyes instantly melted away. In its place came that familiar, arrogant, condescending pity. He loved it when I was weak. He loved it when I was fragile, because it reminded him that he was my savior.

He reached out and stroked my tangled hair. The smell of the rose perfume on his wrist made my eyes water, which only made my performance more convincing.

"You don't take care of yourself when I'm not here," Dante scolded gently, his deep voice rumbling in his chest.

I peaked up at him through my eyelashes. "I couldn't sleep. The bed feels too empty when you're in Washington."

A slow, profoundly satisfied smile spread across his handsome face. His ego fed on my supposed dependence.

Dante stood up and shrugged off his suit jacket. He tossed the garment onto the floor, the heavy fabric pooling on the rug. He reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out a sleek, heavy piece of metal.

He tossed it onto the nightstand. It landed with a sharp clack. An unlimited Vitiello family black card.

"Go to Fifth Avenue today," Dante ordered, loosening his tie. "Buy yourself some new clothes. Stop walking around looking like a charity case. You represent me."

I stared at the black card resting on the mahogany wood. A cold, sharp thrill shot down my spine.

I looked up at him, softening my eyes, playing the grateful, obedient pet. "Thank you, Dante."

He grunted in acknowledgment and walked into the master bathroom. A few seconds later, the heavy rush of the rainfall showerhead echoed through the room.

The second the water hit the tiles, my fragile demeanor vanished. My spine snapped straight. My eyes went dead.

I threw off the covers, grabbed my phone from under the pillow, and snatched the black card off the nightstand. My hands moved with frantic precision. I snapped a high-resolution photo of the front of the card. I flipped it over and snapped a photo of the back, capturing the CVV code and the signature strip.

I opened the encrypted email application I had installed on my burner partition. I attached the two photos and typed in a complex, alphanumeric address—a contact on the dark web who specialized in high-volume money laundering for syndicate families. I hit send.

The progress bar filled up. *Message Sent.*

I shoved the phone back under the pillow and placed the black card exactly where Dante had dropped it. I threw myself back under the covers just as the water shut off.

Dante walked out of the bathroom a minute later, a towel slung low around his hips. Water dripped from his dark hair, tracing the violent, muscular lines of his chest.

He walked to the foot of the bed and looked down at me. "Tomorrow night, there is a charity auction at the Waldorf. You will accompany me."

My heart stalled. A public event. Dozens of cameras, hundreds of rival family members, and the absolute certainty that Isabella and Sofia would be there. It was a massive risk to my countdown. It was a variable I hadn't planned for.

But I kept my face perfectly smooth. I nodded slowly. "Of course. Whatever you want."

Dante walked into the closet to dress. When he emerged, wearing a fresh, charcoal suit, he paused at the bedroom door. He didn't look back at me.

"And Elena," his voice dropped to a lethal, warning whisper. "Don't ever ask Marco about my schedule in Washington again."

The door slammed shut behind him.

I sat up slowly. I reached out and picked up the black card, my thumb tracing the raised numbers. A slow, dark smirk curved my lips.

"Since you think this can buy off seven years, I'll wipe your arrogance clean."