Tessa’s POV

I woke up to the sound of laughter. For a few seconds, I honestly thought I was still at the hospital.

Then Amy’s extra sugary voice drifted through, reminding me that I was back at my own home.

I bit down on my lip and forced myself upright. The ache flared so sharply I saw white at the edges of my vision.

I didn’t even get the door fully open before the smell of fresh bread and melting butter hit me.

Silas was in the kitchen, stirring something on the stove. Amy sat at the table, smiling at him.

“Morning,” Amy smiled as soon as she spotted me, “Silas made me breakfast. Join us?”

I said nothing. Just turned around and headed straight for the bathroom.

Behind me, Amy’s voice floated out—sweet but intentionally loud. “Silas, do you think Tessa’s mad you stayed with me all night?”

“Don’t mind her. She just woke up,” he casually said.

I shut the bathroom door and faced the mirror.

God, I looked exhausted.

I’d barely splashed water on my face when the door burst open. Amy slipped inside and shut it firmly behind her.

“I’m almost done,” I said, toothbrush in hand. “If you don’t mind—”

Gone was the innocent, soft-voiced girl she played in front of Silas. Amy arched a brow, her smile wiped clean. “Drop the act, Tessa. If you think looking fragile is going to make Silas pity you, cut it out.”

I paused mid-brush, rinsed my mouth, put everything away, then turned to her calmly.

“I’m fine with him taking care of you,” I said. “Just don’t stand here making empty threats.”

For a moment, she actually looked thrown—surprised, suspicious. But she recovered fast, stepping closer.

“Aren’t you curious,” she murmured, “Why Silas has never seen you as anything more than a tool?”

I didn’t reply. I just looked her dead in the eyes.

“You might be his girlfriend,” she continued, “but we both know that’s just a prettier title for doing his errands. Silas doesn’t need an assistant. He needs a proper lover, someone like me. Someone you’ll never be—no matter how hard you try.”

I brushed past her, bumping her shoulder deliberately. “Then so be it. I can’t become you. You can’t become me. And who knows—maybe one day Silas gets tired of playing caretaker to a fragile doll. What will you do then?”

“You—!” Amy shoved me hard into the wall. “Don’t be so arrogant, Tessa. You won’t stay Silas’s girlfriend for long.”

I only smirked, straightened, and walked out.

Silas was loading dishes into the washer. “What took you so long in there?”

“Nothing,” I said, already turning toward the bedroom.

“I’m heading to the casino today,” he called after me. “Amy’s coming too. Do you need a ride?”

“No. I’ll go later. I have personal errands to handle first.”

…

Silas usually did business at his casino—but the casino was just the surface.

Behind the glitz and poker tables, his reach extended far deeper. Drug trades. Arms deals. Laundered money. He practically ran half of New York’s underground.

To the world, I was his secretary. His only trusted assistant. But nearly no one in the group knew I was his girlfriend.

I used to wonder why he never said it out loud—why he didn’t introduce me as anything more than “the assistant.”

He said to me then, “Who would take you seriously if I called you my girlfriend?”

And I… believed him.

Back then, it made sense. If I was just his girlfriend, people would stop seeing what else I could be. And I was more than that. I had to be.

Over the years, I learned how to move like him. How to deal like him. I negotiated trades, sat through meetings with cartel leaders, memorized the books, knew when to smile and when to threaten.

In business, I was his sharpest weapon.

At home, I was soft, sweet—his girlfriend.

I thought I could be everything to Silas.

Except… I overlooked one thing.

Amy.

She’d always been there, lingering at the edges. Silas’s childhood sweetheart. Raised in the same neighborhood. Came from a mafia family, too—but hated it. Silas told me once that Amy ran away from her family, only to get kidnapped by their rivals.

PTSD. Nightmares.

Since then, everyone treated Amy like a porcelain doll—too fragile to confront, too broken to upset.

I didn’t saw Amy as a threat at first. To me, Silas treated her more like a sister than a lover.

But time passed. And the whispers started.

People called her the future Mrs. Vale. They asked when Silas was going to marry her.

I asked him once if he’d heard the rumors—if he’d ever bother to shut them down.

He just laughed, ruffled my hair like I was a kid. “Don’t mind them,” he said. “You know I love you. That’s enough.”

Looking back now, I should’ve known better.

Silas never meant to clear those rumors.

He probably liked them. He probably liked her.

And me? God, I was such a fool… I believed him for far too long.

Tessa’s POV

Before long, a loud bang echoed from outside the bedroom door.

I opened the door—there was no one in the Living room.

Then another sharp crack came from Silas’s study.

I approached quietly. The door wasn’t fully closed. Through the gap, I saw Amy rummaging through Silas’s desk, flipping frantically through drawers.

My gut twisted. Silas’s study was forbidden territory for literally everyone—so why was Amy in here now?

I reacted before I could think this through. I pushed the door open. “What the hell are you doing in here?”

Amy’s face drained instantly. She froze, a document still clutched in her hand. She quickly hid it behind her back. “Silas… Silas asked me to find a file he needed for the casino.”

I walked toward her, not buying a second of it. “Is that so?”

In one swift motion, I grabbed the document from behind her back and tore it out of her hands. “Did Silas tell you? Or did you come in here to snoop?”

I barely had time to glance at the paper before Silas’s voice thundered behind us. “What the hell are you two doing in here?”

Amy jumped in before I could speak. “I caught Tessa sneaking around, so I came in to confront her.”

I stared at her, stunned by the audacity.

“I—” I started, but Silas didn’t let me finish.

He strode forward, yanked the document from my hand, and took three seconds—no more—to scan it.

When he looked up, his eyes were cold. Condemning. As if I were already dead.

“What were you trying to do with this?” he demanded.

“I didn’t—Amy was the one going through your things. I just—”

Silas stepped in, grabbed the collar of my shirt, and squeezed hard. The pressure cut off my air. My fingers clawed at his wrist.

“Tessa,” he hissed, “have I not made my rule clear all these years? You never enter this room. Ever. And now you trespass—and try to frame Amy? She is my family.”

She was your family. And I was nothing.

I forced myself to breathe, to fight for it, even as stars danced in my vision. Why was I protecting his secrets when he couldn’t trust me with a single truth?

Then suddenly—he released me.

I fell to the floor hard. Pain exploded through the wound on my abdomen, but I didn’t make a sound.

Silas looked down at me with pure condescension. “If you ever want to become my equal—if you think you still deserve to be Donna of Vale—then learn to handle things properly.”

He turned to his bodyguard. “Jake. Take Tessa to the basement.”

The basement—Silas’s favorite place to lock away prisoners for “quiet reflection.”

“Six hours,” he added. “Then let her out.”

With that, he took Amy’s hand and walked out.

I stayed on the floor for a long moment, feeling the sharp sting across my belly, the deeper one inside my chest. But I didn’t show any of it.

I stayed still. Calm. Empty.

What Silas had just done— it killed whatever pieces of my heart remained for him.

Starting today, whatever happened to Silas Vale was no concern of mine anymore.

…

“Miss Tessa, the six hours are up. You may leave.” Jake opened the door and gave a small bow.

As soon as I left the basement, I moved quickly—got dressed, grabbed my things, and slipped out.

First stop: the bank. I wired everything I had to my brother, then closed the account without a second glance.

Next, I visited a handful of local contacts—people I’d helped Silas broker deals with over the years. I told them I wouldn’t be following through anymore, that I was stepping away from Silas’s group.

A few were surprised. Some even asked where I was heading next.

“What group are you moving to?”

“We can redirect the deal, just let us know.”

I smiled, noncommittal. “I’ll probably start something of my own. Don’t worry, I’ll keep you posted.”

Turns out, years of being Silas’s behind-the-scenes fixer had its perks.

Maybe I could start my own thing. Maybe I’d even become a little mafia boss myself.

The thought made me laugh quietly as I strolled down the street—until pain ripped through my side, sharp and blinding.

I froze. Pulled back my jacket.

Blood. A thick, dark bloom seeping through the bandage on my abdomen.

The wound had probably reopened after Amy shoved me in the bathroom. And I remembered what the doctor told me before I left, “If you see any bleeding, you need to come back immediately. There’s a risk of infection.”

I pressed a shaking palm over the gauze and pulled out my phone.

For a second, I hesitated—call a cab or… Silas?

Tessa’s POV

The casino wasn’t far. He could get here faster than anyone.

But after what happened in his study… would he even bother answering?

I caught myself overthinking something so trivial. If he didn’t pick up, I’d simply call a cab. After all, I called Silas out of convenience, not out of expectation.

So I pressed his name.

Five rings.

Then—

“Have you reflected on your behavior earlier today?” Silas said calmly into the phone.

Something inside me shut down.

Suddenly, I had no desire to talk to him—not sure if it was desperation or realization settling in.

Silas’s tone sharpened when I didn’t answer quickly enough. “Jake said you left the house long before this call. Where did you go? What are you trying to do now?”

“Nothing.” The word caught in my throat before I forced the rest out. “I just wanted to let you know I won’t be going to the casino today.”

In the background, Amy’s voice drifted in. “Was Tessa mad at me?”

“This is between her and I,” Silas muttered. Then back into the phone: “Alright, if there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up. Don’t call me unless it’s an emergency.”

Click. The silence afterward was almost laughable.

I’d actually expected Silas to act like at least a friend. Ridiculous.

Maybe in his eyes, I had never been his equal—never good enough to count as family.

So of course he didn’t act like it.

I quickly called myself a cab.

When it pulled up and the driver saw me, his eyes widened. “Miss, are you okay? You look—God, you’re pale.”

“Please,” I whispered, my voice thin. “Take me to the nearest hospital.”

I nearly passed out in the backseat.

The pain in my side pulsed hot, then cold. Then hot again. Like fire and ice battling under my skin.

By the time they wheeled me into the ER, I could barely keep my eyes open. A doctor ran a few quick tests, frowning as he scrolled through the results.

“Miss,” he said, brows drawn tight. “You really should’ve taken better care of yourself. The stitches have torn open, and the wound looks infected.”

“Sorry,” I mumbled. “I didn’t think it was that serious.”

The doctor sighed and handed me a clipboard. “We’ll need to operate. Emergency surgery to remove the infected tissue. It’s standard. But we’ll need a signature—from you, or from someone responsible for you.”

I hesitated.

Tom was already in Italy, settling in.

“I’m alone,” I said quietly. “Can I just… sign it myself?”

The doctor looked at me for a moment, something unreadable in his expression. “No friends? Family? Partner? If you sign by yourself, who’s going to take care of you after the surgery?”

I smiled. “I’ll manage. I can take better care of myself this time.”

He paused, then handed me the clipboard.

I signed my name in one stroke. No hesitation.

Just get through the surgery, I told myself. Then walk out of this hospital. And leave Silas and New York City—for good.

…

The surgery went smoothly. The only downside? I had to stay in the hospital for at least three days.

Tom called a few times, checking in, asking when exactly I’d be arriving in Italy so he could get everything ready—housing, logistics, even food.

I didn’t want him to worry, so I kept it vague. Said something urgent had come up. That I needed to delay my flight to tonight or tomorrow morning.

“Are you sure everything’s okay, Tessa?” His voice shifted—soft, but serious. And whenever Tom got serious, I got nervous. He could always see straight through me.

“I’m fine, really.” I smiled, even though he couldn’t see it. I swallowed the pills the nurse had just left on my tray. “All that’s left is packing. I’ll be on the next flight to Italy today.”

Tom sighed. “Alright, sis. Just… tell me if anything goes wrong, okay? I hate thinking of you handling everything on your own.”

I promised him I would, and ended the call just as the doctor came in to check on me.

“The wound’s healing well,” he said, flipping through my chart. “I heard you’re planning to check out today—looks like you’re good to go.”

“Thanks, Doc.” I smiled, even though my side still throbbed beneath the bandages.

I signed all the discharge forms and gathered my things.

Back in the room, my phone started buzzing nonstop.

Silas. That was… unexpected. He hadn’t called in days.

And now—today—he suddenly decided to check in?

I picked up.

“Tessa, Jake said you haven’t been back to the house. Where have you been these past couple of days?” he asked. I could even hear a hint of nervousness in his tone.

I looked down at the hospital paperwork still clutched in my hand.

Then I made a decision.

“Come pick me up,” I said. “Oak Street. I’ll wait for you outside.”

“What are you doing—”

“I’ll tell you when you get here.”

Then I hung up.

I don’t even know why I asked Silas to come.

Was I hoping for pity? For guilt? Was I hoping he’d treat me better?

No. I don’t think it was any of that.

Maybe, deep down—despite everything—I just wanted a proper goodbye with him.

Since he called, why not say goodbye—especially since I’m leaving today anyway.