Chapter 4

Matteo's POV

"Cut the crap! Where the hell did you chase Luca off to?" Daniela cut me off.

I shook my head. "I don't know."

She spat the words through gritted teeth. "Matteo, you'd better pray you really don't know. Because if you're lying, I will destroy you."

She stormed out, working her phone until she finally tracked down Luca's location.

"Round up some guys and bring him along!" she snapped.

With my feet bound tight, I lay trapped in the backseat of Daniela's car. She was behind the wheel, the gas pedal pinned to the floor.

In three years of marriage, she had always been ruthlessly calm. This was the first time I'd ever seen her lose control.

When we reached the docks, Luca was dangling from a crane above a boat, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Dani! What took you so long? I'm so scared! Please save me!"

"Luca!" Daniela called out, her voice taut with panic.

She turned a murderous glare on her rival, Giovanni Rossi. "Let him go. I'll trade you my husband, plus two territories and ten storefronts."

Giovanni's scarred face split into a sly grin. "Deal."

As they slowly hoisted me up, Daniela held Luca tight in her arms, murmuring soothing words in his ear.

By the time I reached the top of the crane, she had already turned her back on me, walking away with the man she loved.

Once again, I watched her retreating back—only this time, Luca was at her side.

Giovanni lit a cigarette and cast a sidelong glance up at me. "Do it."

A red-hot branding iron slammed against my skin. I couldn't hold back the shriek that tore out of me.

"Just kill me!"

He shook his head. "Killing you quick wouldn't settle the score for my dead brothers. I'd rather take my time breaking you. I want everyone in the underworld to see that Daniela isn't untouchable."

I thrashed and writhed, but the iron found me over and over, searing my flesh until the pain choked the screams right out of my throat.

After what felt like an eternity of burning, just as I was about to black out, they finally lowered me down.

But I'd barely caught my breath when a sharp, stinging pain shot through my wrist. Giovanni had actually taken a knife to it, slicing it open, then shoving my hand into the sea.

Blood swirled into the dark sea, staining it red.

They pinned me down and wrenched my head toward my wrist, forcing me to watch my own life drain away.

And then, somehow, a laugh escaped me.

I wondered, "Daniela, if I died right here, would you find another human shield for your precious Luca? Or would you just marry him?"

Either way, it was none of my business anymore.

My consciousness began to blur. Just before I slipped away for good, Daniela's men finally showed up—late, as always.

I heard the muffled back-and-forth of a negotiation, and then I was hauled into an ambulance.

Inside, Daniela's men were playing cards at full volume, laughing without a care in the world. The noise was the only thing keeping me from going under.

Through the haze, I caught one of them talking. "Man, Ms. Falcone really treasures Mr. Bianchi. She wasn't even going to retaliate, but the second she saw the scratch on his wrist, she lost it and wiped every last one of them off the map herself."

"Hey, did you hear?" another chimed in. "For Mr. Bianchi's sake, Ms. Falcone's planning to wash her hands of the underworld."

…

When I woke again after being dragged back from the brink, the System told me I had six hours left.

All at once, what Daniela's men had said in the ambulance came back to me.

Daniela was walking away from the underworld—all because Luca had scraped his wrist.

I looked down at the gauze wrapped around my wrists, then at the countless scars covering my body, and let out a bitter laugh.

Something I had failed to achieve in three years of trying had just happened effortlessly.

Except I wasn't the one who'd completed the mission.

With four hours left on the clock, I ignored the hospital staff's protests, dragged my broken body out of bed, and headed back to the villa.

Before I left for good, I just wanted to look at that photo one last time.

But by the time I finally limped my way back, the yard was a wreck, and the house had been stripped bare.

The guest bedroom had been turned upside down.

Everything in the drawers was gone.

I scrambled to call Daniela. When she picked up, she didn't even try to hide her annoyance. "I'm going legit. I'm liquidating all my real estate. Once the cash is cleaned, I'll buy a new place. Find somewhere else to stay for now. Once Luca's settled down, we're getting a divorce."

I forced my mouth open, my voice shaking. "But the things in my bedroom drawer—"

She didn't even let me finish. "Matteo, don't push your luck! Luca got hurt because of you. I already went above and beyond by sending my men to save you. What, do you expect me to buy you a house just to store whatever garbage you keep in your drawers?"