003: Ashes of Betrayal

ALESSANDRO’S POV

I stood motionless in the middle of the bloodstained VIP room, the echo of the gunshot still ringing faintly in my ears. The smell of gunpowder mixed with spilled whiskey and cheap perfume clung to everything. My eyes locked on Adriana where she pressed herself against the far wall like a cornered animal. Five years of hunting, five years of rage, and here she finally was. Right in front of me, breathing the same I breathed.

“Do you have any idea how long I have waited for this?” I said, my voice low and rough. “How many nights I dreamed of finding you again just so I could make you feel even a fraction of what you did to me?”

She did not move. Her hands trembled visibly at her sides, fingers twisting into the hem of that cheap black dress that barely covered her. The uniform hugged her body in all the wrong ways, cheap fabric stretched tight over curves I once worshipped in secret. Dark chocolate hair that used to fall like silk down her back now sat in a messy bun with loose strands sticking to her damp cheeks. Exhaustion sat heavy in her hazel eyes, those golden flecks I used to chase in sunlight now dulled by shadows and fear. She looked worn down, and ruined. Nothing like the quietly fierce woman who once made me believe I could escape this life.

And that sight made me furious.

I took a slow step forward, my shoes crunching over broken glass. “Look at you, Adriana. Working in a place like this. Dressed like a fucking whore for any man with money to grab at you. Is this really what you chose over me?”

Her breath hitched. Tears welled up fast and spilled over, tracing lines down her face. She tried to wipe them away but more followed. The sight should have brought me satisfaction. Instead it clawed at something deep in my chest that I thought had died long ago.

I laughed, but there was no humor in it. “After everything, this is who you became? The woman who swore she loved me. The woman who let me risk war between our families just to be with her. The woman who kissed me like I was her salvation the night before her wedding. Just for her to walk down the aisle the next day with Roman De Santis like our two years meant nothing.”

Memories surged forward whether I wanted them or not. The weight of that matching bracelet in my palm when I had it made for us. The way her eyes had softened when I clasped it on her wrist. And then that final night, the cold click of the clasp as she ripped it off and let it fall to the marble floor right after the ceremony. The tiny sound it made still haunted me. A sound so small yet it had carved out everything soft left inside me.

“You told me you never loved me,” I continued, my voice rising with every word. “You looked me dead in the eyes and said you had only been pretending. That I was just a game to you. Then you married a man from a rival syndicate and disappeared. I spent five whole years thinking of the best way to make you suffer.”

Adriana’s shoulders shook harder. She wrapped her arms around herself as if that could protect her from me. “Alessandro… please. Just let me explain.”

“Explain?” I stepped closer until only a few feet separated us. I could see the rapid rise and fall of her chest, the way her lips trembled. “There is nothing to explain. You destroyed me. You took the only real thing I had in this blood-soaked world and you crushed it. And now I find you here, letting strangers put their hands on you for money. Does it feel good, Adriana? Knowing you went from mafia princess to club whore?”

Fresh tears streamed down her face. She looked so small, so exhausted, and part of me hated it. Part of me wanted to pull her against my chest and demand answers. The rest of me wanted to punish her until she felt even a fraction of the emptiness she left behind. The contradiction burned like acid in my veins.

“Alessandro,” she whispered, fighting back more tears. “I didn’t know what I was doing back then. Please…”

There was silence.

Then I let out a chuckle. A deep, mocking chuckle. I clapped my hands, slowly and deliberately, like a sarcastic ovation.

“You conniving bitch,” I said. “Do you think I would fall for your endless lies? Do you think I would believe you when Vaelina already told me the truth?”

Her mouth opened to say something but it closed as quickly as possible.

“We are engaged, you know,” I said, watching her reaction carefully. “Vaelina and I. At least she knows loyalty. She understands what it means to stand beside a man instead of stabbing him in the back.”

Pain flashed raw across her features. Her face went pale, and she looked genuinely stricken for a moment. Good. Let it hurt. Let her feel what betrayal tasted like. I told myself the twist in my gut was only satisfaction.

“Let me go, Alessandro. Please. Or better still kill me.”

I leaned in closer, dropping my voice to a dangerous whisper. “No, killing you will make it easy.”

“What do you want with me, Alessandro?” She asked, her voice rising with anger.

I walked closer to her, my eyes fixed on hers. “I want you. I want you as my personal whore, because from today I own you.”

Her eyes widened in shock and disgust. The tears kept falling but fire sparked behind them now. She pushed off the wall, fists clenched at her sides.

“Keep your fucking offer to yourself, Alessandro,” she snapped, voice cracking yet steady enough to wound. “I would never do that.”

“I see. You do it for the money after all. I will triple your pay for each night.”

She scoffed, despite the tears falling down her cheeks. “Five years later and you are still the same possessive, obsessive man who cannot survive a single rejection. I would rather die than accept your disgusting offer.”

The words landed like bullets. Heat rushed through me, equal parts rage and something darker I refused to name. I stepped forward, my jaw tight, ready to fire back when her phone pinged loudly in the tense silence. She glanced down at the screen. In an instant, her face changed completely. The anger drained away and something far worse took over. Pure panic mixed with gut-wrenching sadness flooded her expression.

Her lips parted, color drained from her cheeks, and fresh tears spilled faster. Whatever that message said, it broke her more than anything I had thrown at her tonight.

She looked back up at me, eyes shining with pain and something close to hatred.

“I know you hate me for what I did five years ago,” Her voice shook but carried subtle anger. “I did what I did to save you. I don’t know what Vaelina and Rossi had told you, but you need to know the truth. And I hope you find out the truth soon.”

She didn’t wait for my reply. She turned and rushed toward the curtain, her heels crunching over broken glass. The velvet swung shut behind her with a soft whisper, leaving the room painfully empty.

I stood there surrounded by bloodstains and shattered bottles, chest rising and falling hard. My hands curled into fists at my sides. I had waited five years to destroy her, five years to make her feel the same emptiness she left me with. Yet the look on her face when she read that message unsettled me more than her sharp words ever could.

Why the fuck did seeing her that devastated twist something deep in my own chest?

I dragged a hand through my hair and cursed under my breath. She had run again. But this time I wouldn’t let her get far.