Chapter 2

"Take off your ring."

Aurelio's cold voice cut through my thoughts.

He was looking at the diamond on my ring finger, the one he'd put there on our wedding day.

I didn't dare hesitate. I slipped it off and handed it to him.

He took it and tossed it into the trash without a second look.

"Seeing that ring will upset Marilyn."

My gaze dropped to the ring in the trash, and a dull ache settled in my chest.

Aurelio had designed that ring himself for our wedding.

The words "Forever yours, forever mine" were engraved inside the band in Italian.

Now it lay in the trash, buried under napkins soaked in liquor and filthy vomit.

The ring was gone, but a pale line still circled my finger.

Marilyn eyed the mark on my finger jealously and suddenly spoke up.

"Adele, I heard your father's been in a coma in the hospital forever, and you've been taking care of him the whole time. That must be so hard. If I were the one in a coma, I'd want to die right away so I wouldn't be a burden on anyone."

It sounded like sympathy, but she was really wishing my father dead.

I shot to my feet and glared at her.

"How dare you!"

Marilyn flinched at how fast I moved and huddled against Aurelio.

Lately, Marilyn had been making little comments like that. They sounded like she was taking my side, but every time, they made Aurelio hate me a little more.

This was the first time she'd ever mentioned my father, and she'd gone so far as to wish him dead.

After the Silvestri family lost everything, my mother died, and my father was left with heart and lung failure, kept alive on a ventilator in the hospital.

My father was the only family I had left.

No one had the right to wish my father dead.

"Sit down and apologize to Marilyn."

Aurelio looked up at me, his emerald green eyes ice cold.

But this time, I didn't do as I was told. I pointed straight at Marilyn in anger.

"She wished my father dead. She should apologize to me."

As I pointed, my hand accidentally knocked over a bottle on the table.

The liquor splashed all over Marilyn's legs.

Her eyes darted around. Then they rolled back, and she threw her head back, gasping as if she couldn't breathe.

I could tell at once that she was faking, but Aurelio bought it.

"Enough, Adele! You know how easily Marilyn gets scared, and you still pull a stunt like this? Are you really that jealous of her?"

Then he scooped Marilyn up and rushed her to the hospital.

I went after him to explain, but Raymond blocked my way.

He stood in front of me like a mountain.

"The Don says you can't leave. As punishment for scaring Ms. Shaw, you have to drink everything on that table."

The table was covered in cocktails of every color—30 glasses in all.

They'd been poured for 30 of his men to celebrate a successful deal. Now I had to drink them all by myself.

I took a deep breath and walked over.

Aurelio had punished me like this plenty of times for crossing Marilyn. If I refused, they would keep me there until I gave in.

I picked up a Bloody Mary and tipped it back.

But all I could think about was the first time I met Aurelio.

After my family lost everything, we couldn't afford my father's huge medical bills. I begged everyone I knew for help, and every one of them threw me out.

I worked four jobs a day and slept two hours a night. At my lowest, I sold my blood three times in one month.

One night at the bar, a customer offered me a €100 tip to down a Bloody Mary. I had the glass to my lips when a man in a custom black suit stopped me.

Aurelio took the glass from my hand and drained it. I never forgot his handsome face in that dim light.

He said, "Tell me your name. As long as I'm around, you'll never have to force down another drop."

I believed him. I believed him for a long time.

But now, for another woman, he'd broken his word.

Soon my stomach started to burn. The cocktails felt like poison going down.

I picked up a Blue Hawaiian and tipped it back as tears slid down my face.

When we were dating, Aurelio spoiled me rotten.

He knew I loved the sun, so he walked away from an arms deal worth tens of millions of euros and flew me to Hawaii to lie on the beach.

One Christmas, he gave me a private jet and flew me to Antarctica to see the southern lights.

Back then, every woman in Italy envied me.

Now here I was at the bar, forcing myself to drink one cocktail after another.

Raymond looked like he couldn't stand to watch. He handed me a glass of ice water and said quietly, "Donna, you can slow down. There's no rush."

I pushed the water away and kept tipping back glass after glass.

All the love I'd ever had for Aurelio went down my throat with the liquor, burning all the way into my soul.

This is my last act of love for you, Aurelio.

When I'd finished all 30 cocktails, I doubled over and threw up.

My head was spinning. It felt as if someone were twisting my stomach.

But I forced myself to pull it together and walked to the door.

I was going to the hospital to tell my father I didn't love Aurelio anymore.

I was going to take my father and leave this place forever.