Chapter 4

Before dawn, my room was already filled with white roses.

Agatha helped me into the white dress, her tears falling onto the skirt.

"Miss Chiara, I'll go with you to Switzerland."

I told her, "Dante won't allow it."

She replied, "I'll beg him."

She had barely started to get up when the bodyguard outside the door said coldly, "Shut up! The Don has already shown you mercy. Take your severance pay and go back to the countryside!

"Ms. Gariboldi is going to Switzerland under a new name. No one who knows her past is allowed near her!

"Push this any further, and you'll be executed for leaking secrets!"

Agatha looked at me through her tears.

"You always have nightmares. Without me, who will be there to talk to you?"

I pressed a signed pardon into her hand.

"Then I'll sleep with the light on."

As they led Agatha away, she kept looking back.

"Miss Chiara, in 48 hours, you have to wake up."

I watched them shut the door on her and didn't answer.

My parents and Marco had arrived.

My mother pressed a small cross necklace into my hand.

Inside was a photo of my brother as a little boy.

"All alone in Switzerland, you're bound to get homesick.

"Mom can't come see you, so keep this necklace with you."

Then she quickly added a warning. "But whatever you do, don't try to contact us.

"Your brother is taking over the family next month. If anyone finds out you're alive, the elders will vote him out."

I ran my fingers over the cold metal of the cross.

It was a keepsake from her own mother and her most treasured possession.

She was willing to give me that, but not to keep me.

Maybe she really didn't want to let me go.

But whatever she felt was nothing compared to the Gariboldi family's power, my father's position, and my brother's future.

Marco stood off to one side.

"The estate in Switzerland is ready.

"There's a big riding stable out back. You'll like it."

I glanced at him.

"I like shooting."

He froze.

I didn't say anything more.

In the first year of our engagement, he'd built a shooting range with me on the hill behind the estate.

Back then, he'd promised that once we were married, we'd travel the world and shoot at every range we could find.

Later, the range was finished, but he became too busy dealing with the other families and never went there with me again.

Then Dante snatched me away from our engagement party.

Marco didn't even remember what I liked anymore.

It was almost 11 a.m., and Dante still hadn't shown up.

Bruno came in.

"Ms. Marchi scratched her neck trying on jewelry.

"The Don says Ms. Gariboldi has always been sensible, so there's no need to wait for him."

My father immediately urged them, "In that case, let's begin.

"The handover ceremony at the docks is about to start. Don't let the 'funeral' spoil the celebration."

Marco held out the syringe of nerve agent to me.

I took it. Using the wide folds of my skirt to hide what I was doing, I drew the cyanide from the other small bottle into the syringe as well.

The blue liquid swirled, then quickly went still.

My mother came over with a cup of hot cocoa.

"Chiara, you hate bitter things.

"Drink it. You'll be all right."

I looked at her and suddenly remembered something from when I was very young.

Once, when I had a high fever, my mother held me all night without closing her eyes.

She told me the roses on the estate had bloomed more beautifully than ever on the day I was born, so my father named me Chiara, which means light.

She also used to say, "Our Chiara is the light of the Gariboldi family.

"Wherever you go, there will always be a place for you at home."

I'd believed that for more than 20 years.

That belief lasted until today, when they had an urn waiting for me on the estate and sent me back here themselves.

Marco said quietly, "Go ahead and inject it.

"You'll just sleep for 48 hours.

"When you wake up, everything from before will be over."

My father also urged me on. "Chiara, once you're gone, both families' problems are solved.

"You've always been such a sensible girl. Help the family one last time."

Isabella will be the Donna of the Cordano family.

Dante will be reunited with the love of his life.

Marco will get his three docks and secure his position.

My father will keep his power. My mother will secure my brother's future.

All I have to do is press the plunger, and they'll have everything.

I raised the syringe to the artery in my neck.

I closed my eyes, drove the needle in, and pushed the plunger down.

Beside me, my father said, "Hurry. Don't leave a mark."

My mother held my hand, her tears falling between my fingers.

"Chiara, take good care of yourself in Switzerland.

"Don't hold this against Mom."

The poison worked fast.

The voices around me drifted farther and farther away.

I clutched the cross necklace, and through the haze, I saw the garden from my childhood again.

My mother sat among the rosebushes, smiling and holding her arms out to me.

She said, "Chiara, come home."

But this time, I no longer knew where home was.

The Gariboldi family would only keep an urn for me.

Marco would only escort my coffin to the grave.

Dante had prepared an estate, a fortune, and even a new name for me.

They were willing to give me anything.

But not one of them was willing to say, "You can stay."

All my life, I'd listened to my parents, my fiancé, and Dante.

They told me to negotiate, so I went.

They told me to give up my fiancé for their own gain, give up my name, and spend the rest of my life alone in Switzerland.

I used to think that if I were a little more obedient, they might love me a little more.

Only then, at the very end, did I understand: obedient or not, a pawn gets thrown away when the game is over.

Dante suddenly called from outside the door, "Did she inject it?"

Someone answered in a low voice, "She just did."

The footsteps stopped beside me.

Dante seemed to notice something. He frowned.

"Why didn't anyone give her hot cocoa?

"She loves the hot cocoa made from the beans that old woman grinds by hand. She won't be able to get it in Switzerland."

I wanted to tell him there was no need.

My mother was holding my hand, repeating, "You're just going to sleep.

"Chiara, when you wake up, everything will be fine."

My hand slowly slipped from hers.

The last bit of feeling in my chest finally faded away.

This time, no matter where they told me to go, I didn't have to go anywhere.