Chapter 2

"Let her have her fun?"

I stared at the man in the warm firelight. It was like I was seeing him for the first time.

The water was at my thighs. Thousands of icy needles stabbing into my bones.

"Nico!" My eyes burned with tears. I screamed through the glass. "You know I'm afraid of water!"

I was eight years old.

A rival family. They locked me and my mother in a car. Pushed us into the river.

Black water flooded the car. My mother smashed the window. Pushed me out.

She never came back up.

A locked space. Cold, deep water.

It's my deepest fear.

Nico was the only person I had ever told.

Three years ago, he was a nobody. Hunted by his own family. He was hiding out in a South Side safe house, bleeding.

I stayed with him all night while his fever raged.

He held my hand. Kissed it. Swore to me. "Alessia, as long as I'm alive, I'll protect you from everything you fear."

And now?

He was turning my greatest fear into a joke. Just to please another woman.

Isabella heard me. She just laughed harder.

"Did you hear that, Alessia? Nico said to learn your place."

She turned to the crowd. Raised her glass high.

"Everyone! Let's raise the stakes!" she announced. "Thirty minutes!"

"If Alessia is on her knees, crying and begging Nico within thirty minutes, I lose!"

"If she holds out, I'll break open that case of vintage from my father's cellar. A bottle for everyone!"

She paused. Looked back at me with contempt.

"That's real top-shelf stuff. Not the cheap swill from her pathetic little vineyard!"

The shore erupted in cheers.

"Hahaha! That's our Isabella!"

"A girl from a worthless winery, thinking she could marry into the Falconetti family?"

"What does she have that Nico would want? Other than being good with numbers?"

The insults rained down.

My fingers were numb. I couldn't feel them.

The water was still rising. It was at my waist.

"Nico!" I used the last of my strength. I hit the glass. "Last chance. Open the door!"

Nico finally turned.

No guilt in his eyes. Just annoyance. He was pissed I wasn't playing the game.

He stalked to the edge of the dock. Looked down at me.

"Alessia, stop being so dramatic."

His voice was a cold reprimand. Like I was the one being unreasonable.

"Isabella was spoiled rotten. She just wants you to bend a little. It's good for our families' alliance! Just play along!"

He watched me shiver in the ice water. His tone softened, but it was dripping with arrogance.

"You're the best at handling family crises, right? You'll work for three days straight just to win some turf. You can't handle this? I know you're scared. But you're strong. You won't die. Don't make this hard for me. Just give in. I'll get you out."

I stood frozen in the water.

My broken reflection stared back at me.

Then, my stiff lips pulled into a smile.

For three years, I blocked assassins for him. I cleared his path. I eliminated his obstacles.

My skills. My work. My blood and sweat.

Now, he was using it all as an excuse. An excuse to ignore my pain while he favored another woman.

Even my survival was now an inconvenience.

My silence, my bitter smile, it set Isabella off.

She hated that I wouldn't break.

"Still not begging?"

She sneered and snapped her fingers.

A bodyguard rolled a massive industrial spotlight forward.

CLICK.

A blinding light hit the glass. Pinned me in its glare.

In the cold light, my wet dress clung to my skin. My purple lips, my shaking body, all exposed.

I felt like a circus animal. Stripped naked for the crowd.

The shore erupted in a new wave of excited, vulgar shouts.

Isabella loved it.

She walked closer, heels clicking. She brought the key to her lips.

It was connected to the boathouse intercom. Only she and I could hear.

"You know why I chose water, Alessia?"

Her voice was low.

She laughed. A sick, twisted sound. She was about to deliver the final, cruelest blow.

"I know it's your biggest fear. Nico told me."