Chapter 7 - It ends with them.

Alessia

─ ∘❉∘ ─

I scrambled to my feet, heart pounding so loud I couldn’t hear anything else.

I blinked at him, eyes wide, breath caught in my throat. I didn’t know what to do with my hands, with my body, with the heat crawling up my neck like I’d been branded.

I had never been kissed before, not by love and definitely not like that.

He cocked his head slightly, like he was admiring a painting that didn’t impress him much.

“You really thought you could talk shit and walk away?” he murmured.

His eyes flicked down to my lips, my swollen, bitten lips and then right back up to my eyes, smug as hell.

“Now you’re tainted by the inbred clown prince of Liguria. Wonder what that says about you.”

Tears stung my eyes before I even knew they were there. Hot, sudden, blinding. I turned on instinct, didn’t look back, didn’t breathe, just ran.

Their laughter still echoed behind me, but it sounded far away like it was underwater.

I ran through the sand, past the fire pit, the music, the bodies. I didn’t care where. I just needed to be gone. My breath came in uneven bursts like I couldn’t get enough air.

My chest locked. My throat burned. Panic bloomed wide across my ribs.

I staggered up the beach and into the dark, past the edge of the lights, tripping through gravel, seaweed and grass. My hands were shaking as I pulled out my phone, fingers barely working.

I hit Salvatore’s name.

It rang once, “Alessia?” he called, “What’s wrong?”

I couldn’t speak. My mouth cracked open uselessly and nothing came out.

“Alessia—?” he called my name louder now.

“I—” my voice broke. I pressed a hand over my mouth and sucked in a ragged breath, like I could trap the panic inside and force it back down.

“Alessia. Talk to me.”

“Can you come get me?” I finally choked out.

There was silence on the line for half a second. Then he asked, “Where are you?”

I looked around wildly, rocks, ocean somewhere behind me. I had no idea.

“I… I don’t know.” I hated the way my voice sounded, small and scared, like I’d just woken up from a nightmare.

“Alessia, listen to me,” Salvatore’s voice dropped, the tone he only used when things were serious. “Open your phone. Send me your location. Right now.”

My fingers shook so badly I almost dropped the phone but I did it. I opened the map, hit the share button, and sent it. A little blue dot flickered on the screen.

“I got it,” he said a second later, “Stay where you are. I’m coming.”

The call ended, the screen went dark and I was alone.

I dropped to the ground hard, my legs just gave out. The sand was cold, or maybe I was. I didn’t know the difference anymore.

And then the tears came.

Ugly, gasping sobs that ripped straight out of my chest, the kind I couldn’t hide, couldn’t swallow. My face crumpled before I could stop it. My hands covered my mouth, but it didn’t matter. It just spilled out.

And all I could think about through the nausea clawing up my throat was the kiss.

That kiss.

My first kiss.

He took it. He stole it. Right there in front of everyone. In front of people laughing. People watching. People who didn’t stop him. People who clapped.

He didn’t care that it had been my first or not. He didn’t care that I was shaking. He didn’t care about anything except proving a point that he could shut me up. That he could humiliate me in front of all his little friends and no one would lift a finger to stop him.

And that’s what he’d do again over and over, for the rest of my life.

Because that kiss wasn’t a kiss. It was a preview of what marriage to Rino would be like.

It would be a lifetime of being pinned in place, silent, obedient, used when he wanted, paraded when he felt like it, ignored when he was bored.

Property.

That’s all I’d be.

A thing with his last name stamped across it. A ring on my finger like a noose around my throat.

My lips still tingled. They felt bruised. I wiped at my face with the backs of my hands, but the tears just kept coming.

I hated him. I hated the way he touched me. I hated the sound of his laugh. I hated the way his fingers had dug into my scalp and made me feel small, like nothing I said or did mattered.

He saw it as his right.

Because in our world, women were just collateral and I was already his.

Even if my body hadn’t been taken yet...

My future already had.

Headlights cut across the beach road. I saw the familiar black car long before it stopped, Salvatore.

The passenger door popped open with a hard click. I wiped my face quickly, smudging the tears, not hiding them. I got in and slammed the door shut without looking at him.

The second it closed, he pulled away, “What happened?”

I stared straight ahead, trying to slow my breathing.

“Alessia.”

I didn’t answer.

He slammed a hand against the steering wheel, “Talk to me. What the hell happened down there?”

My throat burned, but no words came out. Because if I told him, if I said it out loud, it wouldn’t just be my problem anymore. It’d become a Capone problem. A political mess. A scandal. Salvatore would lose his mind and put a bullet between Rino’s eyes before the sun came up. Then his father would retaliate, and the whole mafia world would bleed because of what happened on a beach.

Because of me.

And none of them would ask how I felt. None of them would care about what it did to me. Papà would be disappointed. Mamma would cry and call me reckless. Everyone would talk. I’d be the girl who let a Lombardi get too close.

So I did the only thing I could.

I swallowed the truth.

And I lied.

“They made fun of me,” I whispered.

Salvatore blinked, “What?”

I swallowed, “His friends, all of them. They were playing some stupid game and they started making fun of me, of how I talk, of being American. It got ugly.”

He let out a sharp scoff, dragging a hand down his face. “Christ, Alessia.”

I turned to him slowly, eyes glassy, my breath catching as I tried to keep the tears down. “You think that’s nothing?”

“You’re crying over that?” he said. “Over a bunch of spoiled kids laughing at you on the beach?”

I didn’t answer.

“You’re a Capone,” he snapped. “You think our name was built on soft feelings? On running away and sobbing?”

He kept going.

“You let them rattle you, embarrass you. And now you expect me to what? Storm the beach because you couldn’t handle being teased?”

I wasn’t teased. I was kissed without consent and thrown to the ground like trash.

But I didn’t say it.

I just turned my face back toward the window, jaw clenched so tight it ached.

Beside me, Salvatore muttered something under his breath and slammed the gearstick harder than he needed to.

“I thought you had thicker skin than this,” he said. “You wanna survive in this family? You better grow it fast.”

And just like that, I wasn’t a sister anymore. I was a soldier who failed the test.

By the time we pulled up to the Lombardi villa, the tears had dried on my cheeks, but my throat still burned like I'd swallowed broken glass.

Salvatore didn’t say a word as I opened the door and stepped out.

I stepped inside through the side entrance, my heels slipping against the marble as I crossed the cool hallway.

I just pushed open the heavy door to the guest corridor, turned right, and saw her.

Isabella.

She was coming out of her room, long hair swept to one side, a book in one hand and a cup of tea in the other. Her face lit up when she saw me then immediately shifted.

“Alessia?”

That was all it took. I ran and threw myself into her arms before I could think better of it. Her tea spilled and the book dropped, her arms wrapped around me without question.

“Stellina,” she breathed, stroking the back of my head as I broke apart in her arms, “what happened to you?”

I shook my head, pressing my face into her shoulder. My body trembled as I clung to her like a child, like I hadn’t been told minutes ago that Capones weren’t allowed to break.

She ran a hand over the back of my head, gently untangling her fingers from the messy strands of my hair.

“You’re shaking,” she said softly, guiding me into her room. “Come. Sit. Talk to me.”

Isabella shut the bedroom door behind us and led me to the edge of the bed like she was afraid I’d collapse if she let go.

I stared down at my lap. My fingers wouldn’t stop trembling.

Isabella knelt in front of me, resting her hands on my knees. “Alessia,” she said again, “Look at me.”

I did. Slowly.

Her face was open, patient. There was no judgment in her expression, just concern.

“Tell me what happened,” she said. “From the beginning.”

I opened my mouth and the words just spilled out. I told her everything. Every sick little moment that went down with Rino. The way he kissed me without asking. The way they all laughed after. The way I hit the ground.

Isabella’s hands shot out and grabbed mine, squeezing so tight it almost hurt, but I didn’t pull away. I was crying again, ugly, the kind of crying that leaves your ribs sore and your throat wrecked.

Her eyes fluttered shut for a second, jaw clenched like she was forcing herself not to scream, not to explode, not to become the storm she clearly wanted to be.

I looked down at my trembling hands, “I hate him, Isa. I hate Rino Lombardi. And I’m supposed to marry him. How can I do it?” My throat burned. “How can I look at him and pretend? How am I supposed to survive this without losing myself completely?”

“You don’t have to pretend with me,” she said softly.

I blinked fast, swallowing hard. “But I have to with everyone else, don’t I?”

Her mouth pressed into a tight line. “You shouldn’t have to marry a man who hurts you.”

“But I will,” I choked out. “Because this isn’t about love or choice, Isa. It’s about honor. And I’m going to die.”

She let out a quiet laugh. “You won’t die. Look at me, I’m still breathing, aren’t I?” Her brows knit together. “Salvatore and I were like this too. I was eighteen. He was twenty when they married us.”

I turned my head sharply. “And look how that turned out,” I bit out. “Not the most comforting example, Isa.”

She sighed, caressing my hands, “He was the Capone heir. Everyone said it was an honor. A blessing. They dressed me in lace and pearls and told me I was lucky to be loved by a lion.”

I scoffed under my breath. “Salvatore is not a lion. He’s just an asshole.”

Isabella gave a bitter smile, her eyes drifting somewhere far away. “I should’ve known back then… when a lion bites, he doesn’t nibble, he tears off pieces of you.”

My heart clenched but I didn’t ask questions. I didn’t have to.

She kept going, “You know what I used to dream about before him? I wanted to write novels. Travel the world. Learn new languages. I wanted to fall in love with a man who wrote poetry, or built homes, or played the piano. Something stupid and soft, from this life.”

Her eyes found mine again, glassy and full of something that looked a lot like grief.

“But this world doesn’t give a damn what girls want.”

Tears stung at my eyes again. Isabella reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. Her touch was so gentle it made me want to sob.

“When your father made that match, when I first heard Rino's name, I hoped, I prayed, really hard that he’d be different. That you’d escape it. That maybe… he’d love you soft enough to leave you whole but he won’t. And you won’t be whole again after this. I’m not going to lie to you like my mother did to me. I won’t hand you fairy tales while they feed you to wolves.”

Her eyes dropped to our hands, fingers threaded tight.

“because when I look at you, and I don’t see my sister-in-law. I see a little sister. I see the girl I used to be before this life wore me down,” she looked back up at me, “And it kills me to see them do it to you too.”

I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out.

“You know how this world works, right?” Isabella asked gently.

I nodded.

“Your father's honor is stitched into your spine, Alessia. His legacy lives in your choices. His promises live in your vows. And the weight of all that, that cost, it doesn’t fall on your brother. It falls on you. You pay for his alliances with your body. Your heart. Your future.”

My chin wobbled. I didn’t want it. I didn’t want any of it.

“And if you think it gets easier after the wedding, it doesn’t. It just gets quieter. You learn to smile through bruises and bite your tongue until it bleeds. You figure out when to speak, when to moan, when to vanish. You don’t stop hurting. You just get better at hiding it.”

The sob hit me before I could stop it. I shook my head, crying harder now.

“They’ll take your name. They might even try to take your body. But don’t you ever let them take your soul. Do you understand me?” Her voice cracked, just slightly. “They can’t steal that unless you give it to them. So don’t. Don’t ever give them your hope.”

She exhaled, slow and long, as if she’d been holding that in for years.

“I never did. I kept mine,” she whispered, “I’m waiting for my sons to grow up. I know one day they’ll have the strength to stand against their father. And when they do...” her eyes flicked toward the door, “It ends with them.”

I looked at her, my throat thick, “It’ll be too late for us,” I said quietly.

She smiled sadly, “Yeah, but Vincenzo won’t trade his daughter for alliances. And Adriano won’t sell a woman off to settle a blood debt. Maybe we don’t get to leave... but we’ll leave this world a little softer for the girls who come after.”

I swallowed hard, blinking away my tears, “I don’t want to marry him,” I whispered.

She didn’t try to lie. She didn’t offer false hope.

She just pulled me into her arms and held me, “I know,” she murmured into my hair, “I know, my sweet girl… I know.”

We stayed like that for a long time, I hadn’t realized how long I’d gone without being held. I pressed my face into her shoulder and let it all spill out.

When I finally pulled back, my cheeks were wet and my voice barely worked. “Do you think he’ll hurt me more?”

Her fingers brushed the tears off my face with a kind of reverence, as if she hated every drop.

“I think Rino Lombardi is exactly what this world made him,” she said gently. “And I think it doesn’t matter whether he hurts you on purpose or by accident, it’ll still hurt.”

I looked down at my lap, hating how small I felt.

Isabella reached out and tilted my chin up, “Your father loves you, Alessia. More than he knows how to show. I’ve seen it. Even when you don’t feel it, it’s there. And if you tell him what happened, if you tell him the truth, he will listen.”

I blinked, unsure if I believed her.

“He’s many things, your father,” she went on, “but he is still a Capone. And no man, not even Rino Lombardi, gets to touch a Capone daughter without honor, not before vows. What Rino did, it goes against everything your father stands for. It spits on his pride.”

She paused, looking into my eyes.

“You still have time. Rino isn’t your husband yet. This isn’t sealed. If you stay silent, they’ll think you’ve accepted it. But if you speak now, if you make him see, it might change something.”

I looked away, “I’m scared.”

“I know you’re scared. You have every right to be. But silence will cost more than your fear ever will. I know, because I paid that price. I paid it with my voice, my body, my dreams.”

I looked at her, and she looked like every woman who’d ever wanted to scream but had to whisper instead.

“I’m still paying for it,” she said.

Tears burned behind my eyes. “What if he doesn’t believe me?”

Isabella gave a sad smile. “Then say it anyway. Say it with your spine straight and your voice loud. Because if you don’t stand for yourself now, there won’t be a self left to protect later.”

And in the silence that followed, I realized something.

I couldn’t stop what was coming but maybe, I didn’t have to go quietly.