My half sister always had a habit of disappearing.
Every single time my fiancé Apollo's men found her and brought her back, Agatha would cry, play the victim, and tell him I was the one behind it.
The ninth time she vanished, Apollo finally snapped.
I still remembered the look in his eyes that night. Cold. Deadly. The kind of look that made grown men lower their heads and pray not to become his next target.
Apollo Riccio. The ruthless Don of De Sangue. The powerful CEO of Riccio Group. The man everyone feared.
He had me dragged to an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city.
I didn't understand what was happening until I saw the coffin waiting in the middle of the concrete floor.
My blood turned cold.
“No...” I whispered, shaking my head. “Apollo, what are you doing?”
He stood in front of me with one hand in his pocket while the other lazily spun the ring on his finger. The warehouse lights carved sharp shadows across his features, making him look less like a man and more like the devil himself.
“This is your last chance, Elarisse.” His voice was dangerously low. “Tell me where the fuck Agatha is.”
“I d-don't know!” Tears blurred my vision. “I swear I don't know.”
Apollo laughed coldly. “Still lying to me?”
He gave a slight nod.
The next second, his men grabbed me.
I screamed, kicked, and struggled until every muscle ached, but nobody listened.
The coffin lid opened and the moment I saw what was inside, nausea rose violently in my throat.
Maggots writhed across the filthy interior. Rats crawled over rotting wood, their tiny red eyes reflecting the dim warehouse lights.
“No! No, Apollo!”
I completely lost control.
He knew.
God, he knew! He knew I was terrified of rats and maggots. He knew I couldn't even look at one without panicking and yet he didn't blink.
“PUT HER IN.”
The men obeyed immediately.
I fought so hard my nails split against their arms, but what could I do against trained soldiers?
Nothing—absolutely nothing!
The lid slammed shut and darkness swallowed me whole.
I heard the lock click then something brushed against my ankle.
A rat.
A scream tore from my throat. Another crawled across my leg while maggots squirmed against my skin. The air inside the coffin felt suffocating. My chest tightened painfully as panic crashed through me.
I pounded desperately against the lid.
“Apollo!!!” My voice cracked. “Please! Please let me out!”
My heart was racing.
I had been born with severe hypoglycemia. Ever since I was a child, my blood sugar could drop without warning. If it wasn't treated immediately, I could lose consciousness or even die.
Did he forget that?
Or did he simply not care anymore?
“Apollo!” I screamed again. “I'm telling the truth! I don't know where she is!”
Outside the coffin, his voice came through calmly.
Almost casually.
“You think I'm stupid?”
I sobbed as my fists slammed against the wood.
“Apollo, please!”
“Agatha's missing because of you.” His voice turned even colder. “So stop wasting my fucking time and tell me where she is.”
“I don't know!” I cried. “I swear to God, I don't know!”
For several more minutes, he ignored every plea.
The rats kept moving around me. One crawled across my stomach, nearly driving me insane.
Then, through the panic, I suddenly remembered something.
A location.
A photo Agatha had posted on Instagram two days earlier. With the last bit of strength I had left, I screamed, “I remember something!”
“Talk.”
“The abandoned textile factory on the outskirts of North City! The basement storage room. That's where she was being held a few days ago!”
The warehouse fell quiet and a few seconds later, I heard footsteps.
Apollo was leaving but before he walked away, he gave one final order.
“Don't let her out.”
My heart stopped. “What?!”
“If she's telling the truth, I'll call.”
Then he was gone and just like that. He left me inside the coffin with the rats and maggots.
...
Half an hour later, someone finally opened it.
Fresh air rushed into my lungs, but I couldn't even move. My body was drenched in sweat. My heart felt as if it were being ripped apart from the inside.
I passed out before anyone could pull me completely out.
When I woke up the next morning, fever burned through my body.
I lay in bed staring at the ceiling while memories of Apollo replayed over and over in my mind like a cruel joke.
Because once upon a time, Apollo had loved me.
Or at least I thought he did.
Apollo had been my father's closest friend despite being much older than me. Back then, I was a sick little girl who spent more time in hospital rooms than anywhere else, yet I followed him everywhere and invented countless excuses to visit the Riccio estate.
Whenever I lost my appetite, rare delicacies from private auctions and exclusive imports appeared at my doorstep. If I casually mentioned liking a designer dress, it would be waiting in my bedroom the next morning. Money meant nothing to Apollo, not when it came to me.
My father used to laugh whenever he saw us together.
“At this rate, Apollo's going to steal you away and make you his wife.”
I always denied it yet my face would turn bright red every single time because even then, I loved him.
I loved him so much.
When I turned eighteen, Apollo gave me a confession nobody in the city could forget.
Every major building owned by the Riccio family lit up with my name. Hundreds of black helicopters crossed the night sky carrying the De Sangue insignia while giant holographic projections illuminated the city skyline.
One sentence dominated the darkness.
“Elarisse, marry me.”
The entire city watched.
The entire underworld watched.
Aboard his private superyacht, surrounded by armed guards and the most powerful figures in the criminal world, Apollo wrapped his arms around me from behind.
His chin rested against my shoulder.
“Baby, say yes.”
Tears filled my eyes while he pressed a kiss against my temple and slipped a diamond ring onto my finger.
“I'll take care of you for the rest of my life.” His arms tightened around me. “In this life, the next one, and every fucking life after that.”
The city lights glittered across the black ocean while helicopters circled overhead like loyal sentinels.
And with tears running down my face, I nodded.
But less than eight months after our engagement, everything fell apart.
The Redd family went bankrupt. Years of pressure, debt, and humiliation crushed my father until his health deteriorated so quickly that even the doctors couldn't stop it.
On the day he died, Apollo stood beside his hospital bed. My father's hand trembled as he grabbed Apollo's wrist.
“A-apollo... t-take care of Elara...”
He struggled for breath before continuing, “And don't ever... don't ever let anyone hurt her.”
Apollo's jaw tightened. For a moment, he looked exactly like the man I fell in love with.
“You have my word. I'll protect her.”
My father passed away a few hours later.
After the funeral, I moved into the Riccio estate.
Back then, everyone in Chicago knew how much Apollo Riccio adored me. How much he spoiled me as if I were the most precious thing in his world.
At least, that's what everyone believed.
Until Agatha Redd appeared.
