Isabella POV

The adrenaline from stealing Damien's G-Wagon carried me straight to Elysium, the only neutral ground left in New York. The VIP lounge was dimly lit, smelling of expensive cigars, aged bourbon, and secrets.

I paced the Persian rug, spilling the chaotic nightmare of the past twenty-four hours to my best friend, Brianna Hayes.

"You kneed him?" Brianna asked, her eyes wide as she handed me a glass of neat bourbon. "Bella, he's a Falcone Soldier. Are you insane?"

Before I could answer, the heavy mahogany doors swung open. Chloe Abbott stood there, looking sickeningly fragile in a plain white sundress.

Brianna stepped forward, her voice like ice. "Who let you in?"

Chloe ignored her. She walked straight toward me and dropped to her knees on the expensive rug. "Isabella, I had to come," she whimpered, her eyes wide and brimming with tears. "Julian didn't want me to leave the hospital, but I had to apologize. We never meant to hurt you. He just... he cares about me so much, and we couldn't fight our feelings."

It was a masterclass in manipulation. An apology wrapped in a gloating smirk, designed to twist the knife deeper.

"Get off my floor, you pathetic snake," I sneered, looking down at her. "I hope you and Julian choke on your perfect love."

"Isabella!"

The furious roar echoed through the lounge. Julian Falcone stormed in, his eyes blazing. He took in the scene instantly-his fragile mistress trembling on the floor, and me standing over her like a tyrant.

"Are you completely out of your mind?" he snapped, rushing to pull Chloe up into his arms. "She came here to apologize, and you treat her like trash? You are acting like a spoiled brat!"

The sheer injustice of it-the man who had humiliated me, defending the woman he cheated with-snapped the last thread of my restraint. I hurled my crystal bourbon glass at the wall behind them.

It shattered with a violent crash, amber liquid and glass raining down. Chloe let out a theatrical shriek and collapsed into Julian's chest, perfectly fainting.

Julian scooped her up, his jaw tight. He looked at me, his eyes filled with absolute disgust. "You're bitter and cruel, Bella. We're done."

He carried her out without looking back. As the heavy doors clicked shut, the ten years I had spent loving him simply evaporated. There was no heartbreak left. Only a freezing, absolute void.

It was past ten when I finally unlocked the door to my penthouse overlooking Central Park. The apartment was pitch black, the only light coming from the silver moonlight spilling through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

I kicked off my heels, the silence wrapping around my exhausted body. I thought I had won a night of peace. I thought I was safe in my own sanctuary.

Then, a red ember flared in the darkest corner of the living room.

The sharp scent of dark tobacco and an aggressive, masculine musk hit my senses a second before a deep, gravelly voice shattered the silence.

"Did you enjoy your little joyride, moglie mia(my wife)?"

Damien Moretti stepped out of the shadows, swallowing the moonlight. He wore only dark dress pants. His bare, heavily muscled chest was a canvas of lethal scars, gleaming in the dim light. He looked like an apex predator who had patiently waited for the prey to lock itself inside his cage.

I froze, my pulse roaring in my ears. "How did you get in here?" I demanded, my voice trembling despite my best efforts.

Damien slowly crushed his cigarette into a crystal tray. He closed the distance between us with slow, deliberate steps, his dark eyes pinning me in place with an authority that felt far too heavy for a mere subordinate.

"Tonight, principessa(princess), is our wedding night."

Isabella POV

"Tonight, principessa(princess), is our wedding night."

His words hung in the silver moonlight, heavy and suffocating. The sheer audacity of it snapped the last thread of my sanity. I was Isabella Blanchard. I had just lost ten years of my life to a cheating coward, and I refused to be claimed as a consolation prize by a mere Soldier.

"Get out of my apartment," I hissed, my voice shaking with pure venom.

Damien didn't blink. He took another slow, deliberate step toward the bedroom hallway.

"I said get out!" I grabbed the heavy crystal ashtray from the coffee table and hurled it at his head.

He didn't even flinch. His large hand shot out, catching the heavy crystal mid-air with terrifying ease. Before I could grab anything else, he closed the distance. I lunged at him, my nails clawing at his chest, my teeth bared. "You're nothing but my father's dog!" I screamed, thrashing wildly.

Damien didn't strike back. He simply caught my wrists in one massive hand and used his body weight to press me down onto the velvet sofa. He was an immovable mountain of muscle and heat, pinning me completely.

I gasped for air, my chest heaving against his.

He reached up, his rough thumb brushing the corner of my eye. "You cried for that Falcone at Elysium," he said, his voice a low, dangerous rumble. "I saw it. That was the last time. From tonight on, your tears belong only to me."

I froze, my heart hammering against my ribs. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a black velvet box. I turned my face away, expecting a cheap ring, but when the lid snapped open, the breath left my lungs.

Resting on the dark velvet was the "Eternal Love" pink diamond necklace. It had vanished from a Sotheby's auction months ago-the exact necklace Julian had tried to bid on for me before backing out because the price was astronomical.

"How..." I stammered, staring at the flawless stones. "Is this blood money? Did you kill a rival Don for this?"

Damien didn't answer. He pulled me up slightly, his large hands surprisingly gentle as he fastened the cold diamonds around my neck. It felt like a beautiful, heavy shackle. Before I could demand an answer, his hand tangled in my hair, tilting my head back.

His mouth crashed down on mine. It wasn't a kiss; it was a punishment, a brand of absolute ownership that tasted of dark tobacco and danger. When he finally pulled away, I was dizzy, my lips swollen.

"Do you want to fulfill your duties as Mrs. Moretti tonight?" he whispered hoarsely against my mouth.

I squeezed my eyes shut, the fight draining out of me. He stood up, leaving me trembling on the sofa, the diamonds burning against my skin.

The next morning, the bright sunlight did nothing to chase away the chill in my bones. I woke up in my bed, alone, but the moment I opened my eyes, I saw him.

Damien was sitting on the armchair in the corner of my bedroom, fully dressed in a crisp black shirt and slacks, watching me.

"Get out," I snapped, throwing off the silk covers. I marched toward the bathroom, my bare feet hitting the cold hardwood floor.

In a flash, he was out of the chair. He scooped me up into his arms before I could protest and dropped me back onto the mattress. "You run cold. Don't walk barefoot."

"Don't touch me!" I yelled, scrambling back against the headboard. "What else do you know, my personal Soldier?"

His dark eyes darkened further. "I know you never dry your hair after a shower. I know you're hot-tempered but soft-hearted. I know you eat junk food at two in the morning because your sleep schedule is a mess." He leaned in closer, his voice dropping to a whisper. "And I know you like to hide under the covers in the dead of night, holding your mother's old photo, crying silently."

A cold wave of terror washed over me. He had stripped away every layer of my privacy. He wasn't just a bodyguard; he was a ghost who had been haunting my every move. Unable to bear his piercing gaze, I shoved past him and fled the bedroom.

Ten minutes later, I sat rigidly on the living room sofa, glaring at the dining table. A steaming bowl of my favorite seafood porridge sat there, the aroma filling the room.

"Eat," Damien commanded from the kitchen counter.

"I'm not hungry," I lied, crossing my arms.

Damien stared at me with deadpan calm. "Fine. I'll have my men throw it all away."

Just as he stepped forward, my stomach let out a loud, treacherous growl. My cheeks burned with humiliation. Damien stopped. Without a word, he walked over, picked me up like a misbehaving child, and deposited me firmly into the dining chair.

I grabbed the silver spoon, my pride demanding a final stand. "I'm only eating because you begged me!"

Damien held my gaze, a flicker of something unreadable passing through his deep, Sicilian eyes. "Yes, principessa(princess)," he murmured smoothly, taking the seat opposite mine. "I begged you."

The clinking of my spoon against the porcelain was the only sound in the penthouse, wrapping us in a suffocating, tense silence.

Isabella POV

The clinking of my spoon against the porcelain was suddenly shattered by the sharp buzzing of my phone on the marble counter. The caller ID flashed: Arthur Blanchard.

I hesitated, a naive, pathetic part of me hoping my father was calling to check on my well-being after the disastrous wedding fallout. I answered, bringing the phone to my ear.

"You will go to Julian Falcone, get on your knees, and beg for his forgiveness."

No greeting. Just a command forged in absolute ice.

"He cheated on me, Father," I whispered, my knuckles turning white. "He humiliated me."

"I don't care if he fucked half of New York!" Arthur roared, his voice vibrating with rage. "You cost us a fifty-million-dollar alliance! Do you have any idea what you've done to my reputation?"

In the background, I heard the sickeningly sweet voice of my step-sister, Sophia. "Daddy, please don't let her upset your heart. I'll talk to the Falcones for you..."

"Listen to your sister," Arthur sneered, the contempt in his voice slicing through my chest like a scalpel. "What do you have besides that face, Isabella? Will your medical degree pay back fifty million dollars? Will your pathetic acting dreams secure our status? You are useless." He paused, letting the venom sink in. "Without the Falcone heir, do you really think any respectable man in this city will touch a publicly discarded woman?"

Click. The line went dead.

I sat frozen, the phone slipping from my trembling fingers. The last fragile illusion I held about my family shattered into dust. I wasn't a daughter. I was a pawn, a defective product that had failed to secure a transaction.

Before the tears of humiliation could fall, the sharp chime of the penthouse doorbell echoed through the room.

Damien stood up. His movements were fluid, silent, and lethal. He walked to the entryway and pulled open the heavy ebony door.

Standing in the hallway, holding a massive bouquet of red roses and wearing a sickeningly confident smirk, was Julian Falcone. He had come to collect his property. But the moment his eyes landed on the towering wall of muscle blocking the entrance, his smirk vanished, replaced by an ugly scowl.

"Move," Julian snapped, trying to shove past him.

Damien didn't yield a single inch. He looked down at Julian with deadpan calm, an immovable mountain of dark menace.

Julian's arrogance flared. He pointed a manicured finger at Damien's chest. "A dog kept by the Blanchards dares to block my path?"

The sheer audacity of his words, colliding with the fresh, bleeding wound my father had just inflicted, ignited a blinding, reckless rage inside me. I marched toward the door, my heels clicking sharply against the marble floor.

"He's my man, you have no right to lecture him!" I hissed, my voice trembling with pure fury.

Julian's eyes widened in shock, but before he could utter a single word, I grabbed the edge of the heavy ebony door and slammed it shut with all my strength.

Crack.

The thick wood connected violently with Julian's face, followed by a muffled yelp of pain from the hallway. But in that split second before the door clicked shut, I saw something else. I saw Julian flinch-not from the impact of the door, but from the suffocating, terrifyingly dark aura suddenly radiating from Damien. It was a suffocating pressure, the kind of absolute authority Julian had only ever seen in his own father, the Don of the Falcone family.

I turned around, the adrenaline rapidly draining from my veins, leaving me hollow and exhausted. I just wanted to retreat to my bedroom and lock the world away.

But as I stepped toward my doorway, Damien moved.

In a blink, he closed the distance, crowding me against the white doorframe. His massive chest caged me in, the scent of dark tobacco and danger wrapping around me. Before I could utter a word of protest, his hand tangled in my hair, tilting my head up, and his mouth crashed down on mine.

It was a kiss of absolute possession, a predatory claim that devoured the air from my lungs. It burned with dark heat, demanding my surrender, branding me as his.

When he finally pulled back, my knees were weak, my chest heaving against his solid torso. He rested his forehead against mine, his deep Sicilian eyes locking onto my soul.

"That's for defending what's mine, principessa(princess)," he murmured, his voice a dark, gravelly rumble. His rough thumb brushed over my swollen lower lip, sealing my fate. "Be a good wife, Mrs. Moretti."