Chapter 4

The day before I left was our sixth anniversary.

The standoff in the parking garage was a dangerous gamble, and I had won.

My tears had worked. He thought his rebellious little canary just needed a softer cage.

He had no idea that every one of his "tender" acts was just paving the way for my escape.

The phone rang while I was pressing an ice pack to the laser-burned skin on my shoulder. It was Colter.

"The yacht club. Eight o'clock tonight." His voice was a strained attempt at warmth, laced with command. "It's our anniversary, Zora. Let's start over."

There it was. His next move.

He was going to use the place where we began to end my rebellion.

A romantic gesture to complete my taming.

I sneered internally, but my voice was hesitant and fragile, like a girl who was still upset but wanted to make up.

"...Okay."

The yacht, named Zora's Dream, was once the start of my six-year fantasy.

Tonight, it would be the tombstone for this nightmare.

I got to the marina early.

As soon as I stepped onto the deck, I heard it. A woman's muffled moans from the cabin, mixed with Colter's low laugh.

I froze.

I slipped off my heels and walked down the cabin stairs barefoot, a ghost on the ship.

I was so quiet I couldn't even hear my own heartbeat.

The master bedroom door was ajar. The voices inside were clear.

"Darling, is this really for me?" It was Mia's voice, syrupy and disbelieving.

"Of course," Colter chuckled, his tone indulgent. "It's the Giordano family sigil. Wear it, and you're the lady of the house."

I looked through the crack in the door.

Mia was naked, wrapped around Colter like a snake.

And Colter was fastening a necklace around her neck.

The Donna's sigil. A rose-gold chain and a heart of black obsidian. Passed down for generations. His mother was meant to place it around my neck on our wedding day.

Just as I was about to turn away, Mia rolled over, her back to me.

My blood ran cold.

On her left shoulder blade was a blooming black rose tattoo.

An exact copy of the one I used to have.

The mark of the future Donna. Colter had designed it himself.

He'd told me it was a brand on my soul. Unique. Irreplaceable.

He wasn't just fucking a dancer. He was grooming my replacement. A younger, more obedient model. A cheap imitation.

I didn't cry. I didn't feel rage.

There was just a huge, cold void where my heart used to be.

I turned and left the marina, silent as a ghost, as if I had never been there at all.

At ten p.m., Colter came home, smelling of sea salt and satisfaction.

"Where were you?!" He shoved the bedroom door open, a predator returning from a failed hunt. "I waited for you on the yacht for three hours!"

I turned from the vanity, a silk robe perfectly draped over my body. My face was a mask of confusion and hurt.

"My phone died, Colter. It won't turn on." I pointed to the phone on the table—the one I had personally destroyed.

He picked it up suspiciously and tried it. It was dead. His expression softened. "So what did you do all day?"

"I was at the spa," I said softly, meeting his eyes, a layer of moisture welling up in mine. "For our anniversary tonight. I wanted to surprise you. I was there for six hours."

He didn't know I was at a discrete clinic, having that humiliating black rose tattoo burned from my skin, centimeter by painful centimeter.

A pain far deeper than any bullet.

"I'm sorry, darling." I stepped toward him and gently adjusted his tie, looking up at him with the submissive gaze he loved. "To make it up to you, can we go to St. Patrick's Cathedral tomorrow? I want to pray for the family. And for our future."

My gentleness disarmed him completely.

Suspicion turned into the arrogance of a man back in control.

He pulled me in by the waist, his eyes cloudy. He pressed a cold kiss to my forehead. "As long as you're a good girl, we can go wherever you want."

I leaned into his embrace, ignoring the fire on my shoulder. My heart was a dead, silent thing.

The next morning, at ten, the black armored motorcade stopped outside the cathedral.

"I'll wait here," Colter said from the back seat, not even looking up from his ledger. His tone left no room for argument. "Be quick."

He didn't even bother to open my door. He thought his canary was back in her cage for good.

"Okay."

I pushed the door open. The cold New York wind whipped through my coat.

I walked up the cathedral steps, one by one.

Each step was a farewell to a rotten life.

At the heavy bronze doors, I glanced back. One last time.

I couldn't see him through the tinted, bulletproof glass, but I knew he was there. Watching.

Goodbye, Colter.

And goodbye to the fool who loved you for six years.

I turned and disappeared into the shadows of the church.

An hour later, thirty thousand feet in the air.

In the lavatory of a private jet, I pulled the SIM card from a hidden seam in my wallet. Six years of his sweet lies and my bitter foolishness in it.

I snapped it in half, dropped it into the toilet, and flushed.

The vortex took it all away.

I looked up at the stranger in the mirror—Ariana Rossi.

I dialed the number.

"Tell Lorenzo Falcone," I said, my voice cold as steel, "His weapon has arrived."