Isabella POV
I didn't wait for Sarah to announce me. I pushed past the secretary's desk and shoved open the heavy oak doors.
Damien’s office was a shrine to absolute power. A massive mahogany desk sat like an altar in the center of the room, backed by floor-to-ceiling bulletproof windows that kept the sprawling city of New York firmly beneath his polished shoes. The air was thick with the suffocating scent of expensive leather, Cuban cigars, and aged whiskey—the undeniable aroma of violence and unquestioned authority.
Damien didn't even look up from the shipping manifests. "I told you to leave the ledgers with Marcus."
I walked toward the desk, my legs trembling so violently I feared my knees would shatter. The white-hot agony in my lower abdomen was blinding, but I forced myself to stand tall. I placed the heavy leather-bound ledgers on the edge of his desk, and right on top of them, I laid the unassuming blue folder.
He finally raised his head, his dark, deep-set eyes narrowing with chilling irritation. "What new tantrum is this, Isabella? If you want a higher allowance or another diamond to soothe your pride after last night, speak to Marcus. I am busy."
"I don't want your money, Damien," I said. My voice shook, betraying the physical pain tearing through my body, but the resolve beneath it was made of iron. "I just want to breathe. I want an annulment. I am leaving."
The silence that followed was absolute, heavy enough to crush bone.
Damien leaned back in his leather chair, his gaze turning into a physical weight. He didn't see a woman in agony; he didn't see the deathly pallor of my skin or the way I clutched my side. He saw a piece of property stepping out of line. A disruption to his impending business merger. A direct challenge to the Dark Don.
"You are a Trevino," he said, his voice dropping to a lethal, silken whisper. He stood up, moving with that terrifying, predatory grace, and stopped inches from me. "You exist to solidify my alliances. You do not get to leave."
He picked up the blue folder, pulling out the meticulously drafted agreement I had spent nights crying over. Without breaking eye contact, he reached for the heavy gold lighter on his desk.
*Click.*
The flame flickered, reflecting in his cold, dead eyes. He touched it to the corner of the paper.
I watched, paralyzed by a fresh wave of stabbing pain, as my freedom caught fire. He held the document until the flames licked dangerously close to his fingers, his expression entirely blank, before dropping the burning remains into a heavy crystal ashtray. We both watched it curl and blacken until it was nothing but a pile of useless ash.
"This farce is over," he declared, brushing a speck of soot from his tailored vest. "Go home. Prepare for Friday's dinner. And never challenge my authority again."
He turned his back to me, returning to his paperwork, dismissing my very existence.
I clutched my stomach, the physical agony mirroring the ashes in the tray. "I have another copy," I whispered, the words barely audible over the roaring in my ears.
He didn't even pause his writing.
I stumbled out of the office, the heavy oak doors clicking shut behind me like a vault. The black-and-white marble hallway spun violently. The suspected appendicitis tore through my right side with the force of a serrated knife, finally breaking my remaining strength.
My knees buckled. I slid down the freezing wall, gasping for air, the cold stone biting through my wool coat. I was entirely alone in a fortress of monsters. If I stayed, I would die here—either from this ruptured illness or from the slow, suffocating death of being Damien Trevino's collateral.
With trembling, clammy hands, I pulled my phone from my pocket. I scrolled through the contacts, my vision blurring. My thumb hovered over Eleanor Trevino’s name—the woman who had orchestrated this hell. I swiped past it with a surge of cold hatred.
I needed an ally on the inside. The only Trevino who despised the Don's cruelty as much as I did.
I pressed call on Caden Trevino's number.
It rang twice before his voice, softer and far less dangerous than his brother's, answered. "Izzy? Are you alright? You sound—"
"Caden," I gasped, pressing my forehead against the cold marble to stay conscious. "I need a favor. A very important one."
