CHAPTER 1

Isabella’s POV

“It’s time you pay your debt as De Marino to this family.”

My father’s voice cut through the heavy silence like a blade, and for a moment I couldn’t breathe.

I stood frozen in front of his desk, the smell of leather and cigars burning my nose, as his words sank in. He didn’t look at me as a daughter. He looked at me as currency to trade with.

“What debt?” My voice shook, thin and brittle.

He leaned back in his chair, eyes dark and unyielding, the lines of power etched deep into his face. “You’ve lived under my roof. Carried my name. Been protected by my power. It’s time you give something back. You will marry Leonardo Ricci.”

The world tilted beneath me. I gripped the arm of the chair in front of me to steady myself, but it didn’t stop the wave of nausea.

“Leonardo Ricci?” The name scraped out of my throat, raw and panicked. “You can’t be serious.”

“I’ve never been more serious,” he replied coldly. “The arrangement is done. Soon, the engagement will be announced, and you will stand at his side as his wife.”

My blood turned to ice.

Leonardo Ricci? The name alone carried weight, whispered in fear across dinner tables and back rooms. Stories about the blood on his hands, the coldness in his heart, the way even his allies spoke of him with caution. A man both feared and untouchable. A monster.

And my father wanted to hand me over to him.

I shook my head, words tumbling out in a rush. “No. I can’t. You can’t make me do this.”

His gaze snapped to mine, sharp as a knife. “You will. Because your feelings and choices doesn’t matter here.What matters is survival. What matters is power. And with Ricci on our side, no one dares touch us.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat, rage and despair tangling inside me. “You’re trading me like I’m nothing.”

“You are not nothing,” he snapped, standing abruptly. His chair scraped against the floor, echoing in the cavernous office. “You are a De Marino. And that means your life is not yours,it belongs to the family. You’ll do your duty, just as I’ve done mine.”

My knees threatened to give way, but I forced myself to stand tall, refusing to show him weakness. “And if I say no?”

For the first time, his lips curled in something between a sneer and a smile. He walked around the desk, slow and deliberate, until he loomed over me. His hand clamped onto my chin, forcing me to look at him. His eyes, dark and merciless, bore into mine.

“Then you will lose everything,” he said softly, the menace in his tone colder than any shout. “Your position. Your safety. Even your brother-Dante. Do not think for a second I won’t strip it all away. Do you understand me, Isabella?”

Tears burned the back of my eyes, but I blinked them away. I would not let him see me break. “Yes, Father,” I whispered, the words tasting like poison on my tongue.

His grip tightened once before releasing me, dismissing me with the flick of his hand. “Tomorrow you will meet him. Prepare yourself. The engagement will follow swiftly after.”

Tomorrow. The word landed like a death knell. I was being sent to meet the man who would become my husband. A man whispered about in shadows. A man even enemies feared.

Leonardo Ricci.

I turned on unsteady legs, the weight of my father’s decree crushing me. As I walked out, I heard him sit back down, the scratch of his lighter and the smell of fresh smoke curling into the air. He was done with me. I was dismissed, like a soldier ordered to war.

The hallway felt endless as I stumbled into it, my chest heaving. My hand dragged along the cold iron railing for balance, though nothing could steady the storm inside me.

Memories clawed at me—Dante being sent away to America years without warning, and since then I haven’t heard from him, his absence like a wound that never healed. I knew what Father’s word meant. Once spoken, it was law. And just like Dante, I had no choice.

By the time I reached my room, my legs trembled beneath me. I slammed the door shut, locking it as though that could keep the world out. My reflection in the mirror caught my wide eyes, pale skin, lips trembling. I didn’t look like a woman. I looked like prey.

“No, I can’t do this.” The word slipped from my lips, broken and weak.

But my father’s voice still rang in my ears. “It’s time to pay your debt. You will marry Leonardo Ricci.”

My chest tightened. Tomorrow I would see him—the man everyone feared, the man even other bosses called a monster. Tomorrow I’d be expected to stand before him as if I wasn’t terrified, as if I hadn’t already been sold.

My hands shook as I gripped the dresser, staring into the mirror at a girl I barely recognized. Pale. Trembling. Trapped.

I wanted to scream, to fight, to run. But there was no escape. Not from my father. Not from Ricci.

The decisions had been made.

And tomorrow, I would face the devil himself.