Chapter 3

When Roman walked into the sitting room, my bodyguards were standing outside the door.

He noticed them but didn't react. "Since when do you travel with so many men?"

"Since today."

"Because of me?"

"Because I'd rather stay alive."

Roman's eyes lingered on my face. My answer clearly put him on guard, but he didn't press me.

After my father died in my last life, I had mistaken his calm for maturity.

Now I knew better. He was calm because he saw everyone around him as pieces on a chessboard.

He did not ask me what was wrong like he normally would. Instead, he turned to Elio. "The Vieris made a smart move by sending you."

Elio said nothing. He only leaned against the wall nearest the door.

Roman went on. "If you get picked, they get an alliance for free. If you don't, they can ship you to the South District the next morning. Arianna, do you really understand what you chose?"

"Better than I used to."

Roman finally looked back at me. "Used to?"

He sat down and laced his fingers together. "Yesterday, you were still going over the wedding guest list with me. Today, you've replaced me. If you only wanted to end our engagement, there were plenty of ways to do it. You didn't have to tie yourself to a Vieri."

"And?"

"And that means you know something."

My stomach dropped.

Roman did not lean in. Instead, he leaned back.

He had already noticed the guards outside, and he knew about the gun beneath my skirt. He used to know better than anyone how my right shoulder tensed whenever I reached for one.

So he continued testing me in the gentlest voice he could manage. "Did someone tell you something? Or did your father find something?"

I picked up my glass and did not answer.

Elio did not speak for me either. He only stood off to the side, watching.

Roman's gaze shifted between us. He had clearly realized that the man everyone ignored was harder to read than the rumors made him out to be.

Roman still believed that whatever I had learned wouldn't be enough to change my feelings for him or destroy the alliance our families had already arranged.

"You're overthinking it."

"I hope so."

He stood, walked over, and reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. I stepped back instinctively, and the guards outside stepped forward at once.

Roman's hand froze in midair. For the first time, his composure cracked.

"You're afraid of me?"

"I just don't like being touched."

"You used to."

"People change."

Roman stared at me for a long moment before smiling. "All right."

Before he left, he looked at Elio again. "Take care of her."

He sounded less like an ex-fiancé and more like a man marking his territory.

Elio took out his phone and slowly typed a line. "He's testing you."

I nodded.

Roman had already reached the door when our butler, Gino Moretti, came hurrying in. "Your father collapsed in the study."

My head buzzed.

In my last life, my father's first chest pains had started not long after the selection ceremony.

I ran to the study.

The doctor was about to give my father his usual medicine. "Stop."

Everyone in the room looked at me.

Carlo Rinaldi frowned. "This is the medication he has always taken."

I looked at the pills in his hand.

In my last life, Carlo had insisted over and over that my father simply had a weak heart. "From now on, seal every pill from this batch."

"You have no medical grounds—"

"I don't need any."

I signaled the guards forward. "And the doctor isn't leaving either."

My father opened his eyes weakly. "Arianna?"

I took his hand. "Dad, this time you listen to me."

Roman had not left the doorway.

He stood there quietly, staring at the box of pills on the desk.

I knew then that he had started to suspect me.