Chapter 1

I'd barely made it back to the safe house at the edge of the territory when the door opened.

It was the old Donna, Maria Moretti.

She gave me a hesitant, searching look, as though she had something to say.

She hadn't spoken yet, but I already knew why she was there.

It took me back to the night everything went wrong five years ago.

That rainy night, she'd learned I'd taken a bullet laced with Viper poison for Leon.

She'd rushed into the underground hospital with the same frantic, half-genuine guilt.

I'd just come out of surgery. The poison was eating into my bones, and the pain made me convulse on the hospital bed.

She'd come straight to my bedside and dropped to her knees.

"Elena, I'm begging you. Don't drag Leon down. He's at a critical point in his fight to become Don.

"If he finds out the bullet poisoned you and there's no cure, he'll stay by your side until you die.

"You and Leon grew up on the streets with no one but each other. You've stood by him all these years.

"Please. Don't ruin everything he's worked for. Break up with him, okay?

"I've arranged everything. Pretend to defect to Luke Lucchesi and let Leon catch you red-handed. Then turn cold and drive him out of the neighborhood."

I gave in to her tears.

I'd just been told there was no cure. Staying alive was the last thing on my mind.

So I fought through the pain, played the traitor, and aimed my gun at Leon's chest.

Sure enough, after barely half a minute of silence, Maria stepped toward me, her eyes full of guilt.

"Elena, don't blame me for being cruel. I'm only doing what's best for the family.

"Sofia, the girl Leon brought back, is the daughter of the biggest arms dealer in the North District. She's his greatest asset as he expands his territory.

"They come from similar backgrounds, and they're equally shrewd. I don't want to ruin a marriage alliance this important to the family.

"You know better than anyone how protective Leon has been of you since he was a boy.

"If he ever learns why you defected, I'm afraid he'll lose his mind.

"So could you keep your distance for a while? Whatever you do, don't run into him.

"You don't have long to live anyway. It wouldn't be right for him to see you like this, half dead, would it?"

Maria didn't even try to soften the words "you don't have long to live."

Furious, my mother snatched the bottle of painkillers off the nightstand and hurled it at Maria's feet.

Then she reached for the pistol at her waist.

I struggled to lift my arm and gently tugged at her sleeve.

Once she'd stopped, I looked Maria in the eye.

"Donna Moretti, I promise I won't say a word about what happened five years ago. But I can't turn Leon away."

I couldn't bear the thought of never seeing him again.

For five years, memories of his warmth had kept me going through the constant pain.

Whenever the poison flared and the pain made me want to bite through my tongue and end my life, I clutched the bullet casing he'd given me and held on.

My heart had stopped more than once, and I'd nearly died on an operating table that reeked of disinfectant.

But my mother would stand outside the emergency room and scream until her voice gave out.

"Elena, hang on, damn it! Did you forget your promise?

"You said you'd live to see Leon take back his territory. You said you'd watch him put on the Don's ring with your own eyes.

"If you stop breathing now, you'll never see him again!"

Hearing my mother say Leon's name had pulled me back from death again and again.

Now the poison had destroyed my organs.

Leon had come home with his new love, a woman of his own social standing. Soon they'd take their blood oath.

But seeing him once from afar was the only thing I had left to hope for.

That was why, when I heard he'd returned to the city, I ignored the doctor's warning that leaving the life-support pod would only speed up my death.

I gritted my teeth, checked myself out of the hospital, and went to his estate in a wheelchair.

"Elena, why are you doing this to yourself?"

Maria frowned at me.

I gave her a faint smile but didn't answer.

She saw I wouldn't change my mind and finally left.