Chapter 2

The polished marble floor reflected the bruises covering my body. Around me, hushed whispers stung like a thousand needles.

"Just look at Bella. Hard to believe the Don used to treat her like a queen."

"She's just the late Don's adopted daughter. How could she ever compare to Ms. Laurent? Theo's heart has always belonged to Eve."

"I heard she spent three days locked in the basement. Anyone would've broken. Of course she caved."

The whispers drifted past me. My heart had gone numb long ago. Their words no longer had the power to hurt.

Eve nestled against Theo and gently tugged at his sleeve. "Theo, please don't blame Bella." Her voice was soft and trembling. "I know she didn't mean it. Maybe I upset her somehow. It must've been my fault. That's why she punished me."

When she finished speaking, she glanced at me timidly, as though she were terrified of me.

Theo stroked her hair, his eyes full of tenderness as he murmured words of comfort.

When he turned to me, the warmth vanished, replaced by biting cold.

He closed the distance in two strides, seized my chin, and forced my face up.

Pain shot through my jaw. The movement tugged at old injuries, sending a dull ache through the two ribs that had once been broken.

"You heard Eve. After everything she's done to defend you, you still won't stop going after her. Bella, you're petty enough to make me sick."

I looked into the eyes I'd traced with my fingertips countless nights before. For the first time, they felt like a stranger.

Five years ago, I honored my adopted father's dying wish and helped Theo secure his place.

To everyone else, I was nothing more than his most trusted second-in-command. No one knew that behind closed doors, he'd taken my hand, asked me to sign a five-year secret marriage agreement. He convinced me with an earnestness that bordered on obsession.

"Bella, enemies are watching us. I can't make our marriage public; it would put a target on your back. Give me five years. "When the time comes, I'll give you the grandest wedding New York has ever seen. We'll never have to hide again."

Back then, he really had loved me with everything he had.

Once, at the docks, a bullet grazed my arm, carving a deep gash that left my sleeve soaked in blood.

Theo cancelled an overseas negotiation that same night and stayed by my bedside until dawn, patiently cleaning and bandaging my wound himself.

When my anemia acted up, he had an entire section of his private estate planted with iron-rich berries. Every morning, he personally handed me a freshly made juice. When someone dared whisper that I wasn't worthy of him, their business was wiped out before the next sunrise.

He kept me away from public events and negotiated with rival families. He faced every scheme, every threat, and every bullet meant for me all by himself.

On our first anniversary, he held me on the terrace and ran his fingers through my hair. "Bella, I need to hide you to keep you safe. If anyone dares lay a finger on you, I'll make them pay. As long as I'm alive, no one will hurt you."

I had been foolish enough to believe every word. Foolish enough to wait for a wedding that was never going to happen.

In the end, the one who hurt me the most was him.

The one who made me suffer more than anyone else was him.