Chapter 4

"The account has been cut."

The next morning, the hospital called.

The Valenti family stopped paying. They kicked my father out of the private ICU. Dumped him in a general ward.

I ran like a madwoman to the Valenti family's private casino suite.

The door swung open.

The room was thick with cigar smoke. Heads of several families were playing poker.

Julian was leaning back on a leather sofa.

Seraphina was lying with her head in his lap.

He was reading the Bible to her flat stomach in that magnetic voice of his.

The room went silent.

"Learned your lesson?" Julian didn't even look up. He turned a page. "Kneel."

I walked to the sofa. And I dropped. Straight onto the marble floor.

"I pushed her. I was jealous. I was crazy. I admit it."

I stared into his eyes, my voice shaking. "Please, turn the account back on. My dad is dying in the general ward."

Julian smiled.

Seraphina just snorted. "Not good enough. Do it again."

I didn't hesitate.

Thud.

My forehead hit the floor. Hard. Once. Twice.

The skin broke. Blood trickled down my face.

"Still not enough." Seraphina threw a pen and a document at my face. "Sign it. Smear it with your blood. Make it official. Write it down, black and white, that you attempted to murder the Valenti heir."

I picked up the pen. My hand was shaking too much to write. I forced the humiliating words onto the page.

I bit my finger and pressed my bloody thumbprint on it.

I held the paper up to them with both hands.

"Now? Can you turn the account back on now?"

Seraphina handed the confession to a guard. Her eyes darted around.

"This is boring." She pointed to Julian's spotless leather shoes. "His shoes are dirty. Your clothes look absorbent. Don't you love him? Crawl over there and clean his shoes. I'd love to see that."

I froze.

I looked up at Julian.

When I was eighteen, we got jumped by thugs in Brooklyn.

He shielded me with his body and took three knife slashes to the back. He told me then, No one will ever touch you.

Now, he just sat there, smoking his cigar, watching me be humiliated without saying a word.

Fine. Just fine.

I took a deep breath and crawled over like a dog.

I used my own sleeve to wipe his shining shoes. Over and over.

The room erupted in laughter.

They pointed at me like I was the punchline to a great joke.

I heard nothing. All I could think about was the line on my father's heart monitor.

I stayed like that from noon until evening.

The crowd in the room changed.

Someone whispered, "Did you hear? Some big shot from Sicily is in town."

"All the Dons went to the airport to greet him. Even the mayor had to show up. It was a huge deal."

I was numb. Cold on the floor. What did that have to do with me?

I just needed the money.

I crawled over and grabbed Julian's pant leg.

"It's getting dark… Julian, the account? Please…"

CRASH!

The main doors to the suite were thrown open.

My friend stumbled in and collapsed next to me.

Her face was streaked with tears. Her voice was hoarse from screaming.

"Alessia! Stop! Stop begging!"

She held me, sobbing. "Alessia! Your dad… he's gone! They pulled the plug! They couldn't save him!"

Boom.

The last thread in my mind snapped.

The cross I clutched in my pocket felt ice-cold.

Ten years of my life.

Ten years of love.

The fire that had burned in my heart for a decade was finally extinguished.

Julian frowned.

He kicked my hand away. His face was filled with irritation.

"Alessia, you're getting more pathetic by the day. Now you're using your own father's death to lie?"

He brushed off his pants. "You'd even make up a death to get out of a little punishment. I already had them turn the account back on."

I collapsed onto the floor.

The blood on my face was dry. I wasn't crying. I had no expression at all.

I just stared at him.

"My dad is really dead."

The whole club went dead silent.

Even the music stopped.

Just then, the deafening roar of engines tore through the night outside.

A symphony of screeching tires.

The suite doors were kicked open by two rows of men armed with automatic weapons.

They aimed at everyone in the room.

A tall figure strode in. He was backlit by the hallway light.

He was radiating pure violence. He wasn't wearing the cheap, bloody leather jacket anymore. He was in a perfectly tailored, black cashmere coat.

It was Caspian.

He moved like a god of death. He pushed everyone aside and walked straight to me.

He dropped to one knee.

He saw the blood on my forehead. The raw skin on my knees. The murder in his eyes could have burned the room to the ground.

He didn't say a word. He just pulled my broken body into his arms.

"Take me home," I whispered. I used my last bit of strength to grip his coat. "Caspian, take me away."

He swept me up into his arms and turned to leave.

Julian shot to his feet.

He roared like a cornered animal. "A low-life cage fighter dares to storm my territory? Who the hell do you think you are! Take them down!"

Caspian stopped.

He didn't turn around. But his voice slammed into every person in that room. Cold as a death sentence.

"In three days. At the funeral. Every breathing Valenti will be on their knees at my father-in-law's grave. If one of you is missing... I will bury you alive in the concrete of the East River."