Chapter 2

Daniel had been turning to leave. At my words, he went still.

"Let you go? You want to leave me? Say that again!"

His voice dropped low in an instant. The air around me seemed to press down, and a dull ache started in my lower belly.

A film of sweat broke out on my forehead. I leaned against the wall and forced my back straight.

"I'll pay off my father's gambling debt in full. Then please let me go."

He released the door handle and came back.

His shoes struck the floor hard. He stopped in front of me.

"Eight years, and you think you can just walk away. Don't be so childish."

"That's right, eight years. I've done so much for you. That fifteen thousand was paid off a long time ago."

"Then how do you repay everything I poured into you? I spent all these years training you, making you this good."

"What you owe me isn't money. It's years of my effort and my trust."

He looked at me, his expression serious.

"Daisy, your mother's still at the psychiatric facility on the west side, isn't she?"

My blood went cold.

The facility belonged to Daniel by then, and he covered its astronomical monthly fees.

On the surface, he was helping me care for my mother. But I knew the truth: caring for her was also a way to control me, to make sure that when this day came, I could not leave him.

I had quietly saved some money of my own, off-the-books income and private payments people had given me over the years.

But between the facility fees and years of specialist treatments, none of the costs were transparent. The price was whatever Daniel said it was.

And I didn't dare sell the expensive jewelry he'd given me, because every piece carried the Rossi family's mark.

Every auctioned piece was on record. I couldn't quietly resell them, and no black market would touch them.

If Daniel refused to release her, there was no way I could get my mother out.

Daniel tipped my chin up, forcing me to meet his eyes.

"You say you've paid off your father's gambling debt. But who saved your mother's life?"

My fingers curled tight.

My mother, Elena Parker, suffered a breakdown when I was seventeen. The diagnosis was severe depression with manic episodes.

During an episode, she would scream and stab wildly with scissors, shouting my father's name, Victor, and calling him an animal.

A few months after my father sold me to Daniel, he racked up another crushing gambling debt and was beaten to death over it.

My mother was left alone at home. It was Daniel who sent her to the psychiatric facility and kept her treatment paid for, so I would have nothing to worry about.

Back then, Daniel had only just found his footing in the Family. Money was tight for him too.

He went with me to visit her once. My mother clutched my hands and talked and talked.

She kept apologizing, saying she never should have brought me into this world.

I held her and cried until I was a mess. On the drive back, I didn't say a word.

In the car, he lowered his head and stroked my hair, then gently pressed the back of my head until I was resting against his chest.

His touch was as gentle as if he were soothing a startled kitten.

"From now on, I'll cover your mother's treatment. And all your living expenses. Stay with me, and I'll take care of you to the end."

That was the day I fell in love with him.

But now he stood before me, using that same money like a hand around my throat.

"You're threatening me with my mother?"

Daniel was silent for a beat, and his voice softened a little.

"I'm not threatening you. I just want you to be good. Is staying by my side really so bad?"

"Where would you even go, alone, while caring for a sick mother? Life away from me would be hard on you."

Eight years ago, he'd told me that if anyone hurt my mother or me, I should come to him. Now he was asking what would happen to her without him.

My hands were shaking. I wanted to scream that I would never stay on as the other woman, that I had paid off everything I owed him long ago.

But I stayed silent again.

He reached out, wanting to touch my shoulder.

Pain ripped through my abdomen. I doubled over and slowly sank into a crouch.

Daniel's hand hung in midair. He thought I had dodged his touch on purpose. In the end, he quietly withdrew it, turned, and walked out the door.

After he left, I finally lost my composure. Cold sweat streamed down my forehead as I lay on the icy floor, clutching my stomach.

A long while later, I felt around for my phone.

I woke the screen and dialed a number.

Matteo. Daniel's uncle.

The first time Daniel brought me to a Rossi family banquet, I had just completed a job flawlessly.

I'd helped Daniel negotiate back several key shipping routes at almost no cost.

Everyone was singing my praises, and as the banquet wound down, Matteo quietly slipped me a business card.

I was standing half a step behind Daniel, spine perfectly straight, and I never turned to look at him.

After that, every so often, he sent messages through different people, hinting and sometimes saying outright that I'd chosen the wrong man and that he deserved my loyalty more.

He promised me all kinds of generous terms. But back then, my loyalty to Daniel was absolute. I never once wavered.

I deleted every message. But some instinct made me memorize that number.

At the same time, in a cipher notebook only I could read, I quietly recorded the private contacts of every supplier, informant, and dock supervisor, the dirt I had on each of them, and every mess I had quietly cleaned up for them over the years.

Five years ago, when a shipping magnate's only son was taken by a rival gang, I went to negotiate alone and brought him back. Daniel never knew.

Four years ago, the West Harbor dock supervisor's wife was set up at the casino she ran and landed in debt to loan sharks. I found people to erase the debt.

Two years ago, when a southern spice supplier's warehouse was targeted in an arson attack, I warned him in time to move his goods.

Daniel knew none of it. I hadn't thought much of it at the time. I only felt safer with more leverage in my own hands.

I simply never imagined Daniel would be this heartless, that he wouldn't even let us part on decent terms.

The call connected fast. A low, slightly raspy laugh came through.

"Daisy? I knew you'd call. So you've finally seen my nephew for what he really is."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"Mr. Rossi, please help me move my mother out of the psychiatric facility on the west side. I've already arranged a facility I trust, but Daniel has been watching me closely, so I can't do it myself. When this is all over, I'll help you get what you want."

A low chuckle came down the line.

"All right, Daisy. But first, you're going to help me with one thing."

"What?"

"I'm sending a doctor to your apartment. You don't sound good right now. Don't refuse me."

I agreed. When I hung up, I let out a long breath.

The doctor arrived quickly. After the treatment, the sharp stabbing in my abdomen slowly ebbed away.

What remained was a hollow, sinking feeling. The place in my heart that used to hold Daniel felt much the same.

After the doctor left, I took my phone back in my hand.

This time, I would not leave anyone anything to hold over me.