Silvia never thought she'd cross paths with Lucia while she was fleeing.

"Silvia! Help me!"

Lucia's conspicuous appearance drew masked attackers.

Silvia reacted without thinking, stepping in to protect the woman Dante held closest. She was forced into a fight before she dropped when a gun butt struck the back of her head.

She woke up in a freezer. Her wrists were bound behind her. The surgical gown she wore offered no protection against the -4°F.

Her teeth rattled. Frost gathered along her lashes. Pain bloomed in her lower abdomen, steady and alarming, a warning from the life inside her.

Lucia sat next to her in a heavy down jacket, cradling a cup of hot coffee for warmth.

"You… planned this?"

Lucia turned to her. "I did. And what about it? Dante pressured you into the test, but he was wavering. I couldn't let a risk sit there. How long do you think that bastard can survive inside you?"

Silvia breathed out a cloud of white. "You're insane! That's his child!"

Lucia let out a soft laugh, her gaze sharp and poisonous. "If you're dead or the baby's gone, who's going to care whose it was? Your enemies did this. What does that have to do with me? I'm a victim, too."

With a bang, a shaped charge blew a hole in the freezer door, and the air filled with the stink of explosives.

"Don Valenti, their firepower's overwhelming. They've got a sniper suppressing us. We can only cover you long enough to go in and extract one person! If we delay, the police will arrive, and they'll kill the hostages!"

Dante charged in with his gun raised. He wore a ballistic vest, his presence hard and lethal. As soon as he saw what was inside, the master tactician lost his composure. Alarm crossed his face.

Lucia had taken off her down jacket. She coughed and crawled toward the exit, feigning weakness. "Dante, save me!"

"Don't be scared! I'm here."

Dante picked her up and headed out, soothing her as he moved.

Silvia lay there with her eyes half closed, her lips blue with cold, completely ignored.

Something stirred in Dante, and he turned back. "Sil—"

A soldato rushed up. "They've thrown incendiaries! The ventilation system's about to explode. Don Valenti, move! We can only carry one. We have to take one now!"

Firelight turned the freezer doors red as heat met the cold head-on. Life or death came down to Dante's call.

"Take Lucia first."

As he crossed the threshold, Dante looked back and called out, "Silvia! You've been trained for extreme cold survival. You once lay in the snow for three days and nights! Hold on for ten minutes.

"Reinforcements are coming!"

Then, he went, leaving Silvia behind in the dead end.

She braced herself against the steel shelving and gave a quiet, hollow laugh.

She'd gone through polar training for him. To be fit to protect him, she'd stayed prone on the Glacera ice fields for three full days and nearly lost two toes to frostbite.

But had Dante forgotten? She wasn't the younger version of herself in peak condition anymore. She was a pregnant woman, still weak from jumping off a building to survive.

A sudden warmth spread beneath Silvia, jolting her awake from her thoughts.

"My baby!"

She'd never known fear in the face of knives or fire. But the loss of that fragile life terrified her beyond anything else.

"Don't go! Please… Don't leave your mom!"

Silvia felt something separating from her body. Blood streamed down her thighs and froze quickly, staining the floor red.

This was the child she'd protected with her life!

The baby hadn't died during the hospital test. It hadn't died from the fall. It was dying because of its biological father's rational decision!

Silvia curled in on herself, trying to warm her belly, but nothing stopped the life from slipping away.

"Dante… You win."

She had no tears left. Frost clung to her cheeks.

In that moment, the Silvia who'd loved Dante for 20 years was gone, along with the child she'd never get to meet.

The reinforcements never showed up. Dante's promised ten minutes had turned into a full hour.

Just like Rosetta's death anniversary, he'd probably forgotten. While he was busy soothing Lucia, Silvia slipped his mind as well.

"Boss, this bitch looks like she's already dead!"

After the exchange of fire, the thugs assigned to watch Silvia returned.

"Stop talking and finish it! Ms. Pellini wants it to look like she froze to death by accident."

Footsteps approached. A military boot struck Silvia's shoulder hard. She didn't move.

The man lowered his guard and leaned down, reaching for her breath. "I'm freezing. She's bled that much. She's probably already…"

Silvia, who should've been long dead, suddenly opened her eyes.

With an audible crack, she forced her thumb bone out of joint and slipped free of the restraints. She seized the thug by the throat.

A butterfly knife slid from her sleeve and drove straight into his trachea. As he doubled over in pain, she used his momentum and slammed his head hard into the refrigeration pipe beside them.

Blood and bone burst outward. He never got a sound out before he went down.

"Fuck! This bitch was playing dead!"

The other man snapped to it and swung a steel bar.

Silvia had just miscarried. She could barely feel her lower body and couldn't dodge in time. She didn't retreat. She stepped in and took the blow.

Her forearm bone cracked, but she didn't slow. She slashed once, clean and decisive, and the man's throat opened.

Silvia coughed as she stripped a coat from the body and pulled it around herself. She dragged her numb legs forward, steadying herself against the wall as she made her way out.

Outside, the storm was violent, but the smell of wet grass told her she was still alive. She'd made it out.

The place was an abandoned logistics yard, overgrown and soaked through with mud. Her sight swam as she crawled through the sludge, moving on instinct.

A short distance away, the Cullinan's headlights pierced the rain as it approached at a slow crawl.

Was Dante coming back?

Silvia still let herself believe that if her life were at stake, he'd think twice. That he wouldn't leave her behind so ruthlessly.

The vehicle came to a stop, close enough for her to see the rear seat clearly. Dante had Lucia wrapped in a cashmere throw and was feeding her milk a sip at a time.

"Stop the car first. She might choke."

He took a handkerchief and wiped Lucia's cheek with careful patience.

Lucia spoke with practiced concern, "Dante, are we really not waiting for Silvia? She's still inside."

Dante replied in a calm, measured voice, "No. This area's remote, and the signal's poor. I've already contacted a nearby rescue team. They'll arrive shortly.

"Silvia has professional training. This kind of cold won't kill her. You're different. You've been shaken. You need to get treatment immediately."

After Lucia finished the last sip, Dante immediately spoke to the driver, "Drive! Take us home. Have the hospital director ready the anti-shock treatment and psychological intervention specialists."

"Si, Don Valenti."

Silvia lay sprawled in the mud, wanting to call out to tell him she was cold as well.

Her child was gone, her finger was broken, and she had fractured bones. She wasn't as indestructible as he thought. She was close to death.

Blood and foam filled her throat, leaving her unable to speak.

The luxury car's tires spun hard as it sped through standing water. As they departed, mud was thrown up and scattered in all directions.

A mass of black sludge mixed with grit and dead leaves splattered across Silvia's face. Some of it entered her mouth, rank and filthy. She coughed the mud and sand out, lay back, and stopped fighting.

Was it about to end like this?

She closed her eyes and let the heavy rain take her.

In the last moment before she lost consciousness, she heard the shriek of brakes and a rush of footsteps closing in.

Someone cried out, voice breaking, "Principessa!"