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Chapter 4

Author: Snow
The hospital room was chaos. Sophia was sobbing, pointing a trembling finger at me. "It was her! She did this! She's jealous! She ruined me!"

Vincent's face was a storm cloud. "Isabella. Apologize to her. Now."

"I need to examine her to determine what happened," I said, my voice cold, professional.

"No! I don't want her near me!" Sophia shrieked, clinging to Vincent. "I'm so scared, Vincent!"

The director called in Dr. Marco, a colleague who'd always been envious of my position. After a brief procedure, Marco held up a forceps. In its grip was a small, bloodied piece of gauze.

"Care to explain, Dr. Rossi?" Marco asked, his tone slick with faux concern. "A simple oversight? Or something more... personal?"

Vincent's eyes turned to ice. "You did this deliberately."

I was suspended, then fired. Vincent's doing, of course.

As I left the hospital, a crowd had gathered--egged on by a viral video of Sophia accusing me.

A former patient, whose boyfriend had discovered her surgery, broke through and slapped me hard across the face. "You incompetent bitch!"

Others joined in, spitting, throwing things. I was on the ground, covered in filth, when Vincent's car pulled up.

He shielded Sophia's eyes. "Don't look, darling. It's unpleasant." Then, to his bodyguard, "Bring her to Sophia's room when you're done."

Dragged into the private suite, I saw Vincent carefully arranging a blanket over Sophia. "There, my love. Are you comfortable?" The tenderness in his voice was a knife to my heart. It was everything I'd ever wanted from him.

Sophia saw me and erupted into fresh hysterics. "Vincent! Make her go away!"

Vincent held Sophia close, his gaze on me murderous. "I told you, Isabella. Behave, and you remain Mrs. Rossi. But you touched her. You crossed a line."

Sophia looked up, tears sparkling. "Can I... can I make it fair? Can she feel the shame I feel?"

Vincent didn't hesitate. "Of course." He turned to the bodyguard. "Get a doctor. Now."

My blood ran cold. "Vincent! I'm your wife!"

"An eye for an eye, Isabella," he said, his voice chillingly calm. "You should have thought of that."

I was forced onto a gurney. The doctor examined me, then looked nervously at Vincent. "Mr. Rossi... your wife... she's... physically fine. This procedure would be... purely symbolic, but deeply humiliating."

"Please, Vincent, don't do this!" I begged, the professional composure finally shattering.

He paused, but Sophia's wail--"I feel so violated! I'll never be the same!"--sealed my fate.

Vincent's resolve hardened. "She. Will. Pay." He pointed to the doctor. "Mark her. Do something that shows her failure. Now."

He marked me. A crude, painful brand low on my abdomen. Permanent. A declaration of 'imperfection'. Of 'failure'. A cruel mockery of my skill, and of his sick obsession. The humiliation was absolute.

Marco entered after, a vile smirk on his face. "The great Dr. Rossi. Marked as flawed." He made sure the wound would scar.

Later, thrown into a pitch-black, windowless storage room in the Rossi estate's basement, I curled into a ball. He knew about my claustrophobia. He knew.

"Vincent! It's too dark! Please!" I screamed, scratching at the heavy door until my nails bled.

Outside, I heard the temperature control beep. The air began to bite, turning frigid. Zero degrees. Five below. My breath misted. Hypothermia began to set in.

I heard Sophia's giggle. "Vincent, isn't she cold? Should I turn up the heat?"

His reply was a low murmur, followed by a kiss. "You're too kind, my love. Let her freeze. I have a vacation to plan for us."

The cold seared my bones. The sounds of their kisses echoed down the hall.

My vision began to dim. With my last ounce of strength, I spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor. "Vincent Rossi... I will never... forgive you."

Consciousness slipped away. Just before the darkness took me, I heard the distinct sound of the lock turning.

...

Vincent stood on the terrace of his Sicilian villa, a glass of whiskey in hand. The sunset was spectacular.

Sophia's laughter drifted from inside, bright and careless. He took a sip, the liquor smooth on his tongue.

His mind, unbidden, flickered to a different silence. To Isabella reading in his study, the lamp casting a quiet glow. To the steady, calm presence that had simply... always been there.

A strange restlessness seized him. He turned abruptly. "Luca!" he barked to his consigliere. "Find Isabella. Bring her to me. Now."

Luca nodded and vanished.

Vincent paced. He'd bring her back. She was his wife. The thought settled something in him.

It felt like only moments before Luca returned. He stood stiffly, his face ashen.

"Well?" Vincent demanded, a thread of impatience in his voice. "Where is she? At the Moretti estate? What do they want?"

Luca didn't answer. He couldn't meet Vincent's eyes. His hand trembled as he held out a single, crisp piece of paper.

Vincent stared at it. A document. Official.

"Luca?" Vincent's voice dropped, a cold knot tightening in his gut.

Luca's words were a hoarse, broken whisper. "I'm sorry, Vincent... We found her medical records... from a clinic in Switzerland..."

He swallowed, the sound loud in the tense silence.

"She didn't make it. The infection... from the... the marking... It was too much.

"Isabella... she's gone."
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  • Cut by the Don   Chapter 9

    The silence in my command center was absolute after I powered down the screens. The ghost of Vincent's sobs seemed to linger in the air, a phantom sound of a shattered man. A part of me, the ghost of the woman I once was, trembled at the finality of it. But Isabella Moretti stood firm, her heart encased in ice.My grandfather found me there, staring at the blank monitors. "It is done, ‘cara’," he said, his voice a low rumble. "His power is broken. His allies are gone. He is a ghost in his own ruin.""He is a cornered animal," I corrected, turning to face him. My voice was calm, but a familiar, cold vigilance had taken root in my spine. "And cornered animals are unpredictable. We cannot assume he will simply fade away."My grandfather's eyes, sharp and old, held a grudging respect. "You have learned your lessons well. But to continue this hunt… it changes the hunter, Isabella.""I am already changed," I said, my hand instinctively moving to the raised scar on my abdomen, hidden beneath

  • Cut by the Don   Chapter 8

    I watched his ruin not with glee, but with the cold focus of a pathologist observing a terminal disease run its course.The storm of rage had passed. It left behind a stagnant, toxic silence. That silence seemed to seep through the surveillance feeds. It filled the safe house. It chilled my bones.The cameras we had strategically placed in his villa—a final, invasive layer of my revenge—showed a ghost now. A ghost haunting the ruins of his own life.He was no longer the impeccably dressed Don. He was a hollowed-out man in a rumpled suit. The same one he'd worn for three days. He paced the vast, empty rooms. The echoes of his own footsteps were his only company. A lonely king in a deserted castle.I saw him pause by the grand piano I never learned to play. A wedding gift from his mother. His fingers, once so capable of bestowing both cruelty and fleeting tenderness, hovered over the keys. They did not press down. The silence remained unbroken.He picked up a book I had left on a side t

  • Cut by the Don   Chapter 7

    I watched his rage from the eye of my own hurricane.His anger was a predictable, chaotic force.And like any force, it could be channeled. It could be weaponized.It was time to give it a target. To let him tear himself apart on the traps I set."He's tearing the city apart looking for Marco and Sophia." Luca's voice crackled over the secure line. My grandfather's network of eyes and ears was proving more valuable than any weapon. "He's ignoring all other business. He's getting reckless. He almost shot a bartender for no reason.""Good." I said, tracing a finger over a detailed city map spread on the steel table. "Let's make him more so. It's time we fed the beast. Let him think he's the hunter."The plan was a layered trap. Each part was designed to bleed him in a different way. To take another piece of his sanity.The first part involved Sophia. We knew Vincent would find her eventually. We just needed to control the how and the when. She was a loose thread. I wanted her snipped.

  • Cut by the Don   Chapter 6

    His world did not end quietly.I made sure of that.It exploded.I watched it all from the command center we'd established in the safe house. It was a symphony of destruction, and I was the conductor. Screens flickered around me. Live feeds from hidden cameras. Financial data streams ticking down. Encrypted communication lines buzzing with frantic activity.The first sign of impact was a sharp, high-pitched financial alert. A massive, coordinated freeze on Rossi Holdings' primary accounts. I allowed myself a thin, cold smile. The first domino had fallen. Precisely on schedule.Marco stood beside me, a silent sentinel. His presence was a constant, prickling reminder that my salvation was built on a foundation of manipulation. "The regulators moved in faster than anticipated," he observed, his eyes scanning the data. "Your evidence package was... exceptionally persuasive. They couldn't ignore it.""It was meant to be," I replied, my voice flat, devoid of triumph. I had built Vincent's le

  • Cut by the Don   Chapter 5

    The lock turned.A heavy, mechanical clunk.It shattered the frozen silence of my prison.I was fused to the concrete. My skin ripped. A hot, sharp pain.Strong hands hauled me up. I cried out. My legs were useless.Marco stood over me. A silhouette against the dim light. His face was a mask of clinical detachment."Get the blanket." His voice was a command to someone unseen. "Don't let her fall asleep. Hypothermia is setting in."They wrapped me in rough wool. The friction was agony. I was a bundle of broken nerves.He didn't take me to my room. My old life was over.We moved through a hidden door in the paneling. A passage I never knew existed. Dust filled my lungs. I choked.We descended in a service elevator. It groaned in protest. Down, down, into the earth.An unmarked van waited in an underground garage. Its engine was a low growl in the gloom."Where?" The word was a raw scrape in my throat. A final, feeble demand."Somewhere he won't look." Marco bundled me inside. The van's w

  • Cut by the Don   Chapter 4

    The hospital room was chaos. Sophia was sobbing, pointing a trembling finger at me. "It was her! She did this! She's jealous! She ruined me!"Vincent's face was a storm cloud. "Isabella. Apologize to her. Now.""I need to examine her to determine what happened," I said, my voice cold, professional."No! I don't want her near me!" Sophia shrieked, clinging to Vincent. "I'm so scared, Vincent!"The director called in Dr. Marco, a colleague who'd always been envious of my position. After a brief procedure, Marco held up a forceps. In its grip was a small, bloodied piece of gauze."Care to explain, Dr. Rossi?" Marco asked, his tone slick with faux concern. "A simple oversight? Or something more... personal?"Vincent's eyes turned to ice. "You did this deliberately."I was suspended, then fired. Vincent's doing, of course.As I left the hospital, a crowd had gathered--egged on by a viral video of Sophia accusing me. A former patient, whose boyfriend had discovered her surgery, broke throug

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