Marco gently ruffled Adriana's hair,the doting smile of a man sworn to her since before either of them could walk."Alright,alright.In my eyes,there will always only be you.That Gianna,or whatever name she's wearing this week,she's not worth one of your fingers."
Finally,Adriana smiled.She thought,at least someone in this world would always choose her without hesitation.The pact between the Castellanos and the Fontaines had been sealed in blood before she was old enough to understand it,and for once that chain felt like something warm instead of something binding.
But all of that vanished after she returned to the Castellano estate.
Marco met Gianna.
Within half a year,Gianna once again succeeded in taking away the person Adriana cherished most.
Marco even brought up postponing the blood-alliance pact himself,turning the Fontaine signet slowly on his finger as he said it."Gianna depends on me a great deal.If I go through with our pact now,I'm afraid she won't be able to handle it."
Her memories were cut short by the Donna's desperate cries echoing down the marble of the great hall."Gianna,come down.Let's talk this out.What are you doing on the windowsill?Do you want to scare your mother into the grave?"
Gianna was perched on the edge of the second-floor window.Her feet hadn't even crossed the railing,but her eyes were swollen like walnuts.Her hand fluttered to her collarbone,that small wounded gesture,a beat too fast.
"Mamma,didn't you hear what the Morettis sent word?They said they'd throw me down the stairs the same way it happened to Bianca."
"If I'm handed over to the Moretti Family,they'll tear me apart.Better to die here at home.It'll hurt less."
Salvatore,his face dark with fury,struck Adriana across the cheek.The crack of it silenced the room."This is all your doing.If you'd just agreed to stand in for Gianna under Moretti protection and take her punishment,would she even be sitting on that ledge?"
"Gianna is your sister.How can you be this cold?Do you want to watch her die?"His thumb worked against his right knuckle as he said it,the hand that had once closed over hers in a childhood promise,though neither of them named it now.
The blow was merciless.It left a red handprint blooming across Adriana's face.Yet the Donna only stared at her with resentment and disappointment,her fingers circling the heavy mourning ring round and round."If something happens to Gianna,I won't go on living either.Adriana,if you still refuse to take Gianna's punishment at the Moretti house,then don't call yourself a Castellano anymore.Don't consider me your mother."
If Salvatore's words were angry accusations,the Donna's were a sentence handed down before witnesses.
Anger,fear,despair,sorrow,all of it swirled inside Adriana at once.She trembled uncontrollably,feeling as if her heart was being crushed in a fist.
At that moment,Marco stepped forward.
He gently touched the red mark on her face,and the tenderness in his eyes almost made Adriana believe the world had rolled back to what it once was.
But his next words shattered her last shred of hope.
"Adriana,I'm begging you."His signet caught the light as his hand lingered against her cheek.
"If you're willing to take Gianna's punishment,I'll seal our pact the same day.I'll marry you immediately."
In that instant,Adriana understood that in the depths of extreme pain,a person can no longer even shed tears.
She looked around the room,at her so-called blood and the man bound to her by oath,and not a single one of them stood at her side.The silence that followed was the silence of omertàclosing over a thing that would never be spoken of again,the truth of what they were to her sealed away where no one would ever have to look at it.
Then Adriana laughed softly."Alright.I agree to go to the Moretti Family and stand in for Gianna's punishment.Five days from now."
Perhaps her smile cut too deep,because Marco frowned and instinctively reached for her hand.
But before he could touch her,Adriana brushed his hand aside.
The gesture was light,yet it landed on his skin like a searing flame,and something twisted in his chest.
"Adriana..."
Adriana didn't look at him.Her gaze swept calmly across every face in the room,and she went on."But all of you will agree to one condition first."
Salvatore's brow knotted in displeasure,his thumb dragging once more over that knuckle."It's a small favor for your own sister,and you're sitting here making terms?Adriana,since when did you become this calculating?"
Adriana's lips curled into a faint smile.
