Elara POV
Julian did not accept my surrender.
His jaw clenched, a muscle fluttering under his skin. He hated when I made him look like a weak protector in front of his men—even though the room was now empty of everyone but the three of us.
"I said deal," Julian commanded, his voice slicing through the thick air. "Elara, new chips, new game. Now. "
I stared at him, a cold disbelief settling in my stomach. He wanted to drag this out; he wanted to pretend he was being fair after I had already been stripped bare once tonight.
I reached for the deck of cards in the center of the table, my fingers stiff and cold. I shuffled the deck, the crisp snap of the cards filling the charged silence. I dealt a single card to the three of us. Julian shoved a fresh stack of chips in front of me with a flick of his wrist. A bribe. A leash.
"It is my turn to speak," I said.
Julian leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his broad chest.
"Never have I ever buried my mother and father alone in the freezing rain," I said, my voice steady despite the painful lump in my throat.
The air left the room. Natalia froze, her smirk faltering.
"Never have I ever dug a grave with a broken shovel in the freezing rain because I could not afford a proper one," I continued.
Natalia rolled her eyes, recovering her sneer. She picked up her glass of champagne and took a delicate sip.
"Never have I ever viewed the northern lights from a private jet," Natalia countered, her voice dripping with arrogance. She looked at me. "Never have I ever had a celestial star registered in my name by the Romano Syndicate."
She smiled at me—a vicious, triumphant smile.
"Never have I ever sat at the right hand of the Don during the underworld summits."
She was flaunting the life that rightfully belonged to me. She was weaponizing the power and protection of my own bloodline against me.
I looked at Julian, the brother who had abandoned me in a safe house for three years.
"Never have I ever had a family," I said.
The words hung in the air, heavy and final.
Natalia froze, her smile vanishing.
By the rules of the game, she had to drink the penalty shot of whiskey sitting in front of her. She had a family. She had my family.
She reached for the glass, her face pale with sudden fury.
Before her fingers could touch the crystal, Julian's large hand shot out. He grabbed the glass and slammed it down on the table so hard the liquor splashed over the rim.
His face was dark with a Boss's fury.
He stood up, his chair scraping violently against the floor. He rounded the table, his leather shoes silent on the marble, and his hand closed around my upper arm—the grip of a Don removing a problem, not a brother pulling aside a sibling.
He dragged me out of the VIP lounge. I stumbled over my own feet as he pulled me into the dimly lit hallway. He slammed the heavy mahogany door shut behind us, cutting off Natalia's outraged gasp.
He pinned me against the wall. The smell of his expensive cologne and acrid tobacco filled my senses.
"You think you are clever, Elara?" Julian hissed, his face inches from mine.
I tried to pull my arm away, but he held me firmly in place.
"Does playing the tragic victim in front of my soldiers make you look strong?" he demanded. "You are manipulating their sympathies."
"I am telling the truth," I said, my voice shaking with suppressed anger.
"You are disgracing the Romano name," he snapped.
"What name?" I fired back, pushing against his chest. "You never gave me your name."
Julian's eyes narrowed.
"Three years, Julian," I said, the memories flooding back and choking me. I remembered the day he found me. I weighed barely a hundred pounds. I was starving and grieving. He descended on my rural town like a dark savior in a fleet of black SUVs. He told me I was a Romano. He brought me to the towering skyline of New York.
And then he shoved me into a suburban house with barred windows and armed guards.
"Three years in lockdown because Natalia threatened to slit her wrists if I set foot in the estate," I said, the tears I'd held back all night finally spilling over my eyelashes.
Julian looked away, his jaw rigid.
"Mother sneaks past your guards just to see me," I cried. "Matriarch Carmela has to hide like a fugitive to visit her own biological daughter. She brings me black-market credit cards. She promises me she will manage Natalia's moods. But nothing changes."
"Is that what this is about?" Julian asked, his voice turning to ice. "Access to the estate's wealth? A seat at the table?"
I stared at him, the very foundation of my hope crumbling beneath me.
He did not understand me at all.
He never had.
"Go back inside," Julian ordered, releasing my arm and stepping back to straighten the lapels of his suit jacket. His face returned to the calm, controlled mask of a Don. "We will discuss this later."
He turned and walked back toward the VIP lounge, leaving me alone in the dark hallway with salt drying on my cheeks and a cold realization settling into my bones.
There would be no later. There never was.
I did not go back inside. I walked straight out of the casino, hailed a cab, and returned to the safe house alone.
The next morning, the safe house was sealed in an unnerving quiet. I pulled out my phone and confirmed the timetable I'd found earlier. The freight train left at four in the morning. Cash only. No cameras. No passenger manifest.
Then I dialed Julian's number. He answered on the second ring.
"Your little birthday stunt sent Mother to the hospital," Julian's voice came through the speaker, laced with venom.
My breath caught in my throat.
"Natalia had a panic attack because of what you said," he continued. "Mother tried to calm her down, and her blood pressure spiked. She's in the ICU."
"I am leaving," I said, my voice a hollow thing.
Julian let out a harsh breath.
"I refuse to see you today," he said coldly. "Stay in the safe house and think about what you have done."
The line went dead.
I stared at the phone in my hand, waiting for the grief or the rage to surface. Neither came. The last thread connecting me to Julian Romano—fragile, frayed, and held together only by my own desperate hope—had just been severed. And somehow, I felt nothing at all.
I dropped the phone on the bed and walked over to the small nightstand. I picked up the weathered, framed photograph of my adoptive parents. They were smiling, standing in front of our old wooden cabin with dirt on their hands.
Tears of profound grief and sudden clarity filled my eyes.
They were my only family.
And I was going back to them—even if I had to claw my way out of this gilded cage with my bare hands.
