It was a long time before Adriana could bring herself to stand. She moved slowly, gathering her things in the hush of a house that had stopped feeling like hers. The wardrobe held everything she'd prepared for the baby—tiny garments, little shoes, and the patchwork quilt her mother had sewn back in the old country, stitch by stitch, with hands that knew prayer better than thread. She was taking all of it with her.
But the moment she opened the wardrobe doors, her blood ran cold.
Everything inside had been ransacked. The clothes were gone. Every last piece.
She went straight downstairs and found the housekeeper, an old associate who'd served the Moretti estate since before the war. Her voice came out trembling and ice-cold.
"Where are my things?"
The woman's eyes darted away. She stammered, wouldn't lift her head, and glanced toward the garden against her own will, the way people did when they'd been ordered to stay silent and couldn't hold the weight of it.
Adriana's stomach dropped. She followed the faint sounds of laughter across the lawn, and what she saw made her vision blur red.
Vanessa stood on the grass, cooing at the dog at her feet. The dog was wearing the baby clothes Adriana had prepared for her child.
The patchwork quilt her mother had sewn was cut to ribbons. One piece had been tied around the dog's neck as a drool bib.
And the charm her mother had blessed at the chapel, pressed into Adriana's palm for protection the day she crossed the ocean into this Family, was clamped between the dog's teeth, being torn apart.
Vanessa giggled, scratching behind the dog's ears.
"Little Maddie is such a good girl! You look so pretty in your new outfit!"
"Good dog, Maddie."
Maddie.
That name. It was the pet name Lorenzo used for her alone. His word. He used to hold her close and murmur it against her ear, in the dark, when the Family and its blood and its omertà couldn't reach the bed they shared.
Adriana's fists clenched so tight her knuckles went white. The rage crawled up her spine like something alive.
Every ounce of fury she had swallowed, every humiliation she had endured in silence—it all shattered at once.
She crossed the distance in three strides and slapped Vanessa across the face.
The crack rang out, sharp and clean, and for one heartbeat the whole garden went still, as if even the birds knew a line had been crossed.
"Adriana Falcone, have you lost your mind?!"
Vanessa clutched her cheek and shrieked, tears spilling instantly. Her answer had come a beat too fast, her ruined smile twitching too wide before the sobs caught up to it.
Lorenzo came out of the study at the commotion, moving with the contained heaviness of a man others rose for. The first thing he saw was Vanessa, sobbing, hand pressed to her face.
The moment she spotted him, she threw herself into his arms, trembling.
"Lorenzo! She hit me—and she hurt little Maddie!"
His expression darkened. "Adriana, you—"
Adriana's voice tore out of her, hoarse and shaking.
"How dare you let her touch my things!"
Lorenzo's face turned to stone. "Your things? A pile of rags and scraps. Vanessa letting the dog wear them was more than they deserved."
Adriana's chest heaved. Her eyes burned as she lunged past him toward the dog, desperate to save the charm her mother had blessed.
Before she could reach it, the dog bared its teeth and launched at her, snarling, sinking its jaws into her calf. White-hot pain shot through her leg. Its front paws clawed at her knees, scrambling upward toward her stomach.
In that instant, Adriana forgot the pain. She summoned every ounce of strength she had and kicked the dog away.
It yelped, tumbled across the grass, and curled into a whimpering ball.
Blood seeped from the wound on Adriana's calf. Warm liquid trickled down her shin. A sharp cramp seized her lower abdomen, and she doubled over, unable to move.
"Adriana!"
Lorenzo hadn't expected her to actually fight a dog for that charm. Seeing her crumpled on the ground, his mind emptied of everything but alarm. The heir who weighed men's lives without blinking rose to his feet and started toward her.
He hadn't taken a single step before Vanessa grabbed his arm, wailing.
"Lorenzo! Maddie's mouth is bleeding—what's wrong with her? Is she going to die?!"
His hand froze in midair. His gaze drifted to the dog whimpering on the ground. He hesitated for one long moment, the gold signet ring loose and unturned on his finger, then steadied Vanessa on her feet.
"Don't be scared."
He picked up the dog, took Vanessa by the arm, and walked out the front door without looking back. No soldier at the gate moved to stop him. No one ever did.
Adriana watched him go. She bit down on her lip until she tasted iron, refusing to let herself cry. She told herself over and over that he wasn't worth it. He wasn't worth a single tear.
She staggered upright, called a car, and went to the hospital alone.
The moment she walked through the emergency doors, everything she'd been holding together finally gave way. Her vision went black, and she collapsed.
When she opened her eyes again, it was the next day. Her wound had been bandaged. She was cleared to leave.
