Chapter 3

The guest house was warm.

Since Serena moved in, the carpets, curtains, and security lines had all been replaced. Even the medical kit beside the fireplace had been fully stocked.

In my own room, the flowers in the crystal vase had been dead for days. Dante, Matteo, and Adrian used to argue over who would replace them first. Now no one had noticed.

A hot drink sat on a silver tray brought by the staff, the rim of the cup spotless.

I sat near the sofa, the blood on my knees already dried, while the chill under my clothes refused to fade. Adrian’s care was clearly still there. It had simply been given to someone else.

Dante’s voice came from the next room, lazy and edged.

“What, feeling soft now? If you regret it, then coax Aria back properly. Don’t stand guard over Serena while refusing to let go.”

My hand slowly tightened against the side of the sofa.

Adrian answered quickly, his tone calm enough to leave no ripple.

“I don’t regret it.”

He said, “I just can’t let her run to Lorenzo and cry. Serena finally has a place in Vittori. She can’t be driven out again because of her.”

Dante gave a low laugh.

“You really do know how easy she is to coax.”

“She has always been like that.” Adrian’s voice was light, almost like he was discussing an investment. “Give her a little patience, sit with her for a few minutes, and she’ll think everything can go back to the way it was.”

As those words fell, even my breathing turned quiet. So the tenderness he had once given me was only his way of managing a problem.

Footsteps approached. Adrian came out of the next room and crouched in front of me, wiping the blood from my knees with cotton. His touch was still careful, his voice still gentle.

“Aria, from now on, I’ll stand with Serena.”

“She has no foundation here, and she has a child with her. The people in Vittori may seem to accept her, but they’re all waiting for her to make a mistake.” He looked up at me. “You’re different. You’re Lorenzo’s sister. If you want something, you can have anything.”

I had said things like that before. When I was angry, I had said I would throw them all out, and that one day I would find someone better than all of them. But they knew those were only words from a tantrum. Before, they would laugh and coax me. Now Adrian used them as his reason to leave.

“I never meant that.”

Just then, a boy rushed out from the end of the corridor, clutching the coffee pot from the silver tray.

“Bad woman! Don’t bully my mom!”

Scalding coffee flew toward me. I raised my arm to block it, and the liquid splashed over my arm and shoulder, the pain turning my vision black for a second.

A few drops landed on the boy’s hand, and he burst into tears at once.

The next second, the door was shoved open.

Matteo rushed in. Without seeing what had happened, he locked a hand around my throat and forced me back into the sofa.

His eyes looked murderous.

“Hurting Serena wasn’t enough?”

“Now you’re going after her adopted son too?”

I gripped his wrist as the pressure crushed the air from my chest, but I could not move him at all.

Matteo was the strongest fighter in Vittori. Years ago, when I wanted the championship prize from an underground boxing match, he fought through every round until his knuckles split and blood covered his ribs. After the final bell, he lifted me into his arms and carried me into the ring so I could claim the prize myself. He had also taken a bullet meant for me without hesitation.

Now that same hand was crushing my throat, and the man who had once bled for me looked at me as if I were someone he wished he had never protected.

Matteo gritted out, “Aria, I’m truly done with you.”