Serena's POV
Lola stood up, her stiletto heels clicking sharply and urgently against the smooth marble floor. She stalked toward me step by step, her gaze like a knife.
"Where is the protection fee, Serena?" Her tone was sickeningly sweet but as deadly as a viper. "I demand you pay up immediately."
She had no intention of letting this go, smugly bringing up old scores. Even the time she was locked in the syndicate's holding cell for maxing out my card and spent the whole night crying had somehow become a badge of honor for her to flaunt.
She pulled a cigarette from her designer bag, lit it, and leaned in, blowing a thick cloud of smoke directly into my face. Through the acrid haze, she smiled arrogantly, acting as if she possessed a death-immunity card bestowed by Cassio himself.
I didn't hesitate.
I shot to my feet, raised my hand, and slapped her across the face with everything I had. The crisp smack echoed through the suddenly dead-silent room.
Lola shrieked and stumbled backward, dropping her cigarette. Sparks flew, burning a scorch mark into the pristine white tablecloth.
Cassio roared, a deep bellow exploding from deep within his chest. Infuriated that I dared to strike his mistress in public, he flew into a rage and immediately signaled his enforcers to intervene.
Two massive goons lunged at me. Their rough, calloused hands clamped down on my collarbones like iron vises, their thumbs digging deeply into the hollows of my shoulders. The pain forced a sharp gasp from my lips.
They forcefully shoved me back into the chair, pinning me heavily against the mahogany backrest.
I glared at Cassio, my chest heaving.
"Why do you get to trample on the very bottom line of loyalty," I said, my voice trembling but filled with suppressed rage, "while I don't even have the right to fight back?"
My heart was as cold as frost, a murderous intent surging beneath the surface.
It was the ultimate irony. The Greco family had only managed to become the top syndicate in the city within three short years because I had secretly mobilized my family's massive power to clear their obstacles.
Originally, at tonight's birthday dinner, I had planned to reveal my true identity.
I was going to tell him the truth: that I am the heiress of the Falcone family, the descendant of the most powerful, cold-blooded mafia empire on the East Coast.
I even intended to bring him into my family's inner circle and introduce him to my father—the supreme mafia don.
I never expected him to design such a despicable betrayal.
But in those three hours of lonely waiting, a monumental shift had occurred within me.
Before my phone died, I sent one last encrypted message, ordering my syndicate's legal advisory team to immediately draft the severance papers.
"Cassio, do you really plan to let me walk out of here in such disgrace?" I asked, my voice terrifyingly calm and flat.
Cassio sneered, casually adjusting his gold cufflinks.
"Serena, this humiliation is exactly what I designed," he admitted smugly, a flash of cruel satisfaction in his eyes. "It's meant to put a pathetic commoner right back where she belongs."
Taking advantage of the goons pinning me down, Lola stepped forward, her face twisted in rage.
She clenched her fist and punched me hard in the jaw.
My head snapped back, my vision blurring for a second as the coppery taste of blood flooded my mouth.
Before I could recover, Lola violently grabbed my hair. A sharp pain shot through my scalp as she forced my head up, making me look directly at her.
She gave me a choice.
"You can either be thrown into the syndicate's underground cells and let the men have their fun with you," her hot, foul breath hit my face, "or you can crawl out that door on your knees like a dog."
I balled my hands into tight fists, focusing so hard that even the searing pain in my scalp felt distant.
I looked straight at Cassio, completely ignoring Lola as if she were nothing but a buzzing fly.
I made a cold vow, my voice low and icy.
"When the Greco family is reduced to ashes, Cassio," I said, barely above a whisper, "the blood of every single one of your men will be on your hands."
Lola let out a grating, fake laugh, giving my hair one last vicious tug before letting go.
The surrounding socialites and mob bosses joined in her mockery, their laughter echoing off the marble walls, sneering at me as if I were a delusional heroine in some cheap romance novel.
"Is she having a psychotic break?" one of the capos by the bar sneered.
Infuriated by my unyielding attitude, Cassio grabbed a half-eaten plate of steak from the table and hurled it at me with a curse.
The heavy ceramic plate slammed into my shoulder and shattered. Scalding grease and black pepper sauce slid across my exposed skin, adding another filthy stain to my already ruined dress.
"Stop bluffing, you crazy bitch! Pay your debt!" he roared.
Taking the cue, the restaurant manager approached with a dozen heavily armed thugs. He expertly racked the slide of his pistol, the crisp click cutting through the crowd's laughter as he coldly asked how I intended to settle the bill.
The goons loosened their grip on me slightly, allowing me to stand. I scanned the hostile crowd, my eyes slowly sweeping across the sea of betrayal.
I locked eyes with a legitimate businessman who used to work with the Greco family.
Ignoring the guns pointed at me, I walked straight toward him.
The man shrank back into the leather booth, terrified that I would ask him for money and draw Cassio's wrath.
"Relax," I said in a low voice dripping with utter contempt. "I just want to borrow your phone to call my family so they can bring the money."
The room erupted into roaring laughter once again.
"An ordinary family is going to pay off a mafia debt?" someone from the crowd mocked loudly.
Lola pointed her perfectly manicured finger at the trembling businessman.
"Give her the phone," she ordered.
She turned to me with a cold smirk and announced, "You have thirty minutes, Serena."
Pointing toward the bar, she threatened that if the money didn't arrive by then, that fat, sleazy capo would publicly humiliate me and strip me bare.
The capo slowly licked his lips, taking a step forward with the excited gleam of a beast staring down dying prey.
