Chapter 3

They escorted me home and locked me inside.

The first thing I did was find my passport and medical license and shove them into a bag.

An international organization had emailed me a month ago, asking if I'd be willing to work in Africa as a field doctor.

At the time, I was so caught up in the excitement of his proposal that I'd buried the email in my drafts without a second thought.

There was no reason to ignore it anymore.

When I opened the email and accepted the offer, a sharp pain shot through my chest.

I sucked in a breath, set down my phone, and pulled open my collar. The skin around my old bullet wound was red and swollen, with blood and pus leaking from it.

Despite being a doctor, I had ignored every warning sign of infection and forced myself out of the hospital for the wedding.

Now that I was thinking clearly, I could see how badly infected the wound was.

Even my body seemed to be telling me to leave.

I reached for my medical kit and went looking for rubbing alcohol.

An Instagram notification lit up my phone.

Julia had tagged me in a group photo from the wedding.

"Sofia, thank you for letting me live my dream, even if only for a moment."

In the photo, Leonardo held Julia in his arms.

She beamed up at him as the long train of my wedding dress trailed across the floor.

That was my wedding dress.

The pain in my chest sharpened.

I pressed a hand over the wound and forced a smile.

Then I liked the post.

I put down the phone and forced myself up to look for antibiotics.

I searched every cabinet, but there was not a single pill in the room.

I headed for the basement storage room.

But Marco Bellini, one of Leonardo's men, blocked my way.

"I'm sorry, Sofia. The Don ordered us not to let you leave."

I looked at him coldly.

"He has no right to lock me up. My wound is badly infected, and I need medicine from the storage room."

I shoved past him and went straight to the elevator's facial scanner.

It rejected me every time.

I stood there, stunned.

Marco approached, displeasure flickering in his eyes.

"Sofia, the Don just ordered someone to remove your profile from the facial-recognition system. Only the Donna has unrestricted access to the Rizzo estate. You haven't married the Don yet, so you don't have that privilege. Please go back to your room."

I bit my lip and took a deep breath.

"Can't you see? I need that medicine now! I could die without it."

Marco hesitated, then took out his phone and called Leonardo.

It rang for a long time before Leonardo answered. Marco explained that my wound was infected and that I urgently needed medicine.

I had thought Leonardo would at least listen to reason with my life on the line.

But after hearing Marco's report, he sneered, "A minute ago, she was willing to do anything to get out. Now she actually asks for help? Julia posted that photo to cheer her up, and Sofia gave it a sarcastic like just to upset her. Julia's been crying for over an hour! Give her the medicine when she's ready to admit she was wrong."

He hung up.