Chapter 4

During a mob war that wiped out my family, my mother sold our only heirloom: a ruby necklace.

Her last wish before she died was for me to get it back.

When Arthur learned about it, he called on every contact he had in Europe's underworld and finally paid a fortune to buy it back.

I'd cried when he gave it to me. I told him I didn't know how I'd ever repay him.

He wiped the blood from the barrel of his gun. His voice was calm, but his eyes burned with obsessive love. "Then give me your life in return.

"Elena, I want to marry you."

He fastened the cross necklace around my neck himself. My mother's last keepsake became his pledge to marry me.

Now he said, "I gave you that necklace because you were going to be my Donna. You want a divorce? Then you aren't mine anymore. What makes you think you can take it?

"You don't think you're still worth thirty million dollars, do you?"

His words stripped away the pride I'd carried as the daughter of a mob family.

I swallowed back a sob.

"Thirty million. I'll find a way to earn it and pay you back..."

"I don't want your money!" Arthur snapped. "Do you really think that's what this is about?

"...You're the one turning your back on this family, and on the necklace, too. I'll keep it for someone who actually wants to be my Donna."

He yanked Bella to his side by the wrist and roughly hung the ruby necklace around her neck.

Just as he'd done for me when he proposed six years ago.

But when Arthur wasn't looking, Bella mouthed something at me.

"A dead woman's junk. Bad luck."

Blood rushed to my head, and I lunged at her to grab the necklace.

"If it's bad luck to you, then give it back!"

The moment I touched Bella's shoulder, she screamed and fell onto the cold marble floor.

The necklace struck the corner of the table, shattering the ruby.

My mind went blank, and so did Arthur's.

Bella held up her scratched, bleeding arm and sobbed.

"Arthur, it hurts..."

Arthur came to his senses and shoved me hard.

"Elena, you've lost your mind! That was the only thing your mother left you, and you don't even care, as long as you get to hurt Bella!"

My stomach struck the arm of the couch as I fell to the floor. A strange, pulling pain spread through my lower belly.

I trembled as I tried to explain through the cramps. "I didn't push her. Bella fell on purpose and smashed the necklace..."

"Enough!" Veins bulged in Arthur's neck. He slammed his gun onto the coffee table. "You attack her, then blame her for what you did. If you hadn't lunged at her, the necklace wouldn't have..."

Sheer terror crossed his face, and in the same instant, I heard his thoughts.

What do I do? The necklace she cares about most is broken.

Now I have nothing to make her stay.

No... I can't just let my sweetheart leave me.

Then Arthur seized me and dragged me off the floor.

Before I could react, he hauled me to the dark, flooded cell beneath the estate and threw me inside.

"You hurt Bella, and you're not thinking straight. You can stay in here for a day. Cool off in the dark!"

The pain in my stomach kept getting worse, as though something inside me were tearing loose.

I felt warm blood seep from between my legs, and panic seized me.