Chapter 3

In suffocating silence, Alessandro looked me up and down. His eyes held mockery, disdain, and even disgust.

"Today's not April Fools' Day. You're not seriously claiming the kid is mine, are you?"

I felt all the blood in my body rush to my head.

"Isn't it?" My voice trembled.

"Come on, Cecilia. You're a stripper. You probably can't even remember which men you slept with three months ago!"

"You bastard, I only danced! During that time, you were the only one I was with!" I shoved him furiously.

He grabbed my flailing hands and said with forced patience, "Fine. When the baby's born, we'll do a paternity test. If it's mine, I'll have Cristina adopt him."

What? My child, the baby I'd carry for nine months, handed over to someone else to raise? And Alessandro looked so magnanimous about it, like I should be grateful!

Rage consumed me until I felt completely drained.

"You know what, Alessandro? I just didn't want my child to be illegitimate."

I stopped struggling and stormed out, slamming the door behind me.

"What do you expect me to do? I could never marry a stripper!"

Only when I could no longer hear Alessandro's damned voice did I pull out my phone and send the plan to a contact.

The second it went through, Cristina's voice came from behind me without warning, "Marco, grab this tramp!"

Before I could react, I was lifted off the ground. Cristina's man threw me down in front of her portrait, which hung nearly ten feet up the wall.

He grabbed my hair and forced me to look up at Cristina's image like I was bowing before a queen.

"Poor little thing. You dare provoke the future Madre of the Pushkin family again and again! Now, I'll teach you obedience!"

I laughed with contempt. The real poor little thing was still dreaming about becoming Madre.

My laughter set her off. She lifted her foot and stomped brutally on my hand. The sharp Prada heel sent pain shooting straight to my core.

"Think this is a game? This is mafia territory. The flowers in the backyard are fertilized with the blood and flesh of dead men!"

"Is that the best you've got?" I smiled without flinching.

"What?" She seemed unsure she'd heard me correctly.

"I said the future Madre of the Pushkin family is pretty pathetic."

I wrenched Marco's pinky back until it snapped. He screamed and released me. As I got to my feet, he swung at me.

I dodged smoothly and slipped behind him. Then, I wrapped my legs around his waist and locked my arm around his neck.

The six-foot-three Soldato collapsed under my rear naked choke. Cristina, who'd been staring in shock, finally remembered to reach for her gun.

But then, a massive explosion shook everything. The shockwave knocked us both down.

Half the mansion wall crumbled. Through the smoke, several men in black emerged.

The one-eyed man leading them carried a heavy machine gun. He snarled, "Take both women."

Cristina and I were roughly thrown over shoulders and tossed into a Hummer. Unlike my calm reaction, Cristina kept shrieking.

"Do you know who I am? Do you have a death wish?"

Someone slapped duct tape over her mouth.

The Hummer tore out of the neighborhood, and gunfire erupted behind us. Looking back, I saw Alessandro and his men in pursuit, firing wildly at the vehicle ahead.

The chase ended at the container yard by the docks. The men in black forced us out at gunpoint.

Seeing the situation, Alessandro didn't dare make any rash moves. "What's your problem with us?"

The one-eyed man replied, "Tell your punk crew to get the hell out of Chilego's underground gambling scene."

"You're with the Columbo family?"

"What do you think, kid?"

Alessandro went pale at the confirmation. "That's no problem."

"But we didn't come all this way for nothing. You can only take one. That's the rules." The one-eyed man's tone left no room for argument.

I watched Alessandro hesitate. Finally, his guilty gaze landed on me. "I choose the blonde."

He'd just sentenced me to death.

"Jesus, Alessandro! I'm carrying your child!" I collapsed to my knees, shaking my head and reaching for him.

This was the first time I'd broken down crying in front of him. It was also the first time I'd begged.

"Please, my baby already has a heartbeat!"

But all I heard was, "I'm sorry, Cecilia. Please forgive me."

The gunshot cracked through the air, and I went down. Blood slowly seeped out.

I watched Cristina run excitedly into his arms. They embraced, kissed, celebrated their survival and reunion, and then drove away until they disappeared from my sight.

"Principessa, get up. They're gone. How do we make them pay now?" The one-eyed man helped me up gently.

"Death isn't humiliation for the mafia. I want them destroyed and disgraced."

I stood and wiped off the honey mixed with red dye. My expression was blank as I stared in the direction they'd gone.

Our game was just beginning, Alessandro.