Chapter 2

Heat stung my eyes. I fought back the bitterness and forced a brittle smile.

"So what you're saying is, you want me to look at your child with another woman every day, as a constant reminder of your betrayal?"

"I can't do that, Rafael. I'm sorry."

The moment the words left my mouth, his furious roar erupted from the receiver.

"Fine, Alessia. Remember every word you said tonight. And don't you dare come crying back to me!"

"What man in the Five Families doesn't have women on the side? I'm giving you the child Nina bears. I've shown you all the respect you're owed. If you can live with it, put on the damn wedding dress. If you can't, go back to your estate and rot for all I care!"

The line went dead. The suite's floor-to-ceiling windows reflected my pale, shattered image.

Presidential Suite 2031. This used to be our favorite place.

He had kissed every inch of me on this very French bed, telling me I was his only faith.

This suite had witnessed our most savage, desperate passion after every family war, on every night steeped in the scent of blood.

Now, I was the only one left standing in the ruins.

I wiped away a tear and had a car take me back to the Valentino estate, where I knocked on the sandalwood door of my father's study.

My father sat in his leather armchair, a cigar between his fingers. "Alessia, Rafael just called. He said you were being emotional and called off the alliance?"

"The Mancini family is our most important ally. This marriage is not a bargaining chip for you to throw around just because you're in a temper."

I took a deep breath, forcing the tremor out of my voice.

"His club dancer is pregnant."

My father blew a ring of smoke, his eyes cold. "Some gutter trash. Get rid of her."

"I'm not giving up the alliance. I'm just changing the groom. You know him, Giovanni Russo."

My father's hand froze mid-flick of his cigar ash. A look of profound shock crossed his weathered face.

"Giovanni? The head of the Russo family? Are you insane? You two have been at each other's throats since you were children. He almost pushed you off a cliff in Sicily!"

I let out a small laugh, trying to make my voice sound light.

"That's why I want to marry him. So I can make his life a living hell."

That night, the gash from the broken vase throbbed with a dull ache. I curled up on the cold bed and waited for dawn.

The next morning, I drove to the penthouse apartment by Central Park to retrieve my things.

It was the home we had prepared for our new life together. Downstairs, Rafael's ostentatious Aston Martin was parked brazenly in my private spot.

I pushed the door open, only to be met with a wall of oil paintings, all done by Rafael's own hand.

But the woman in the paintings wasn't me. It was Nina.

Sun-drenched Sicily, the azure Amalfi Coast, the ancient Roman Colosseum.

All the places we had once marked with blood and fervent kisses were now merely her backdrop.

I knew Rafael was a gifted painter. I had begged him for years, but he had never once shown me.

"Baby, I'm the heir to the family now."

"My hands are for holding a gun, not some useless paintbrush."

So for all these years, no matter how beautiful I was, he had never captured a single trace of me on canvas.

But now, Nina was his exception.

It wasn't that he had no time for painting. He just had no time for me.

Besides the paintings, there was a photograph. They stood before that wall of art, Nina stroking her flat stomach, her smile a picture of fragile shyness.

The sound of the door opening made them both turn. Their eyes met my icy stare.

Nina fell to her knees before me, wrapping her arms around my waist as she sobbed and begged.

"Miss Alessia, please forgive me. I was just scared to be alone out there. Please don't be angry with me."

"I only wanted the baby to feel his father's warmth... I swear, as soon as he's born, I won't try to take your place..."

Before I could step back, Rafael strode over.

He pulled Nina behind him, shielding her as he looked down at me, his eyes filled with impatience.

The air grew thick with a suffocating tension.

"Alessia, I've already found the person who drugged me. He won't live to see next month in New York."

"Nina is innocent in this. She was forced into it. You shouldn't have taken it out on her and thrown her out. I'll let what you did slide this time. Apologize, and we can put this behind us."