Chapter 1

My soul drifted out of the restaurant's heavy steel doors.

I floated through the familiar halls of the family mansion and passed right through the solid oak doors of Matteo's study.

Luca stood by the mahogany desk.

"Boss," Luca said. His voice dropped low. "The Donna has been in there for six days."

Matteo did not even look up from his paperwork.

"She knows how to survive," Matteo said. "A few more days won't kill her."

I hovered near the ceiling. I looked down at the man I had married.

He wore a perfectly tailored suit. His hair was impeccably styled.

He looked entirely unbothered.

"Tomorrow," Matteo added.

He signed a document and tossed it aside. "I will let her out tomorrow. She will clean herself up. Then she will kneel and apologize to Sofia. Only then will we move past this."

The study doors clicked open.

Sofia walked in. She was barefoot.

A thick cashmere blanket wrapped tightly around her shoulders.

She shivered slightly.

Matteo dropped his pen instantly.

His cold demeanor vanished. He stood up and crossed the room in three long strides.

He pulled her into his arms.

"Why are you out of bed?" Matteo asked. He rubbed her arms through the blanket.

"I had a nightmare," Sofia whispered. She buried her face in his chest. "I dreamed about the elevator. The dark. I couldn't breathe."

Matteo gently caressed her face. His eyes darkened with anger.

"I made her pay," Matteo said. "She is feeling a hundred times the despair you felt."

I stared at them. I felt nothing.

No cold. No warmth. Just a hollow, echoing rage.

Sofia pulled back slightly. She looked up at him with wide, innocent eyes.

"Six days is enough, Matteo," she said. She reached up and touched his jaw. "You should let her out. She will be really angry if you keep her in there any longer."

Matteo frowned.

He hated dealing with my anger.

He hated the arguments.

He hated the time it took to coax me back into a good mood.

"Fine," Matteo said. He sighed. "I will let her out early."

Sofia smiled. She leaned her head against his shoulder.

"But she has to apologize," Matteo said.

His tone hardened again. "She will come out and she will admit what she did. You love tomato soup, don't you? I will have Elena make you a bowl of tomato soup to apologize."

Sofia sighed. She played with the lapel of his suit jacket.

"Don't make it too ugly," Sofia said. Her voice was soft. Pleading. "You two are husband and wife, after all. I don't want to be the reason you fight."

Matteo's eyes flashed with impatience.

He hated when I caused trouble for Sofia. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently.

"She brought this on herself," Matteo said.

The memory of the freezer hit me.

Six days ago.

The restaurant kitchen.

Matteo dragged me down the corridor.

His grip on my arm bruised the bone.

I stumbled over my own feet.

"Matteo, please!" I screamed. "I didn't touch the elevator! I was in the trauma room!"

He shoved me hard.

I crashed into the steel wall of the walk-in freezer.

"Sofia could have died in that dark box!" Matteo roared. He grabbed the heavy handle of the freezer door. "You need to learn what that feels like."

He threw me inside.

The temperature was twenty degrees below zero.

The cold hit my lungs like shattered glass.

I scrambled back to the door.

I grabbed the inner safety latch.

Matteo ripped the emergency key from the wall box outside.

He slammed the heavy door shut.

The outer lock dropped into place with a sickening clank.

"Matteo!" I screamed.

I slammed my palms against the freezing metal. "Please! Look at our marriage! Look at everything we have! Don't do this!"

I heard his footsteps walking away.

I panicked.

I slammed my fists against the door.

I hit the metal until my skin tore open.

My knuckles cracked. Blood smeared across the frosted steel.

The blood dripped to the floor and froze into dark, jagged ice.

My teeth chattered so hard my jaw ached.

I pulled my thin sweater tight around my chest.

I huddled in the corner.

The cold seeped through my clothes.

It sank into my muscles.

It chewed on my bones.

I pulled out my phone.

My fingers were stiff and purple.

hey refused to bend. I fumbled with the screen. I dialed his number.

It rang. He answered.

"Matteo," I sobbed. My breath plumed in the freezing air. "I'm dying. Please."

"Learn your place," Matteo said. His voice was ice. "Then you get to be my Donna."

He hung up.

I dropped the phone.

The battery died a minute later.

The screen went black.

Hours passed.

The shivering stopped.

That was the worst part.

My body gave up trying to generate heat.

My blood slowed down. My vision blurred.

Then came the warmth. The fatal, final hallucination.

I felt a sudden, burning heat spread through my chest.

I smiled in the dark. I closed my eyes. My heart stopped beating.

I snapped back to the present. I floated in the study.

Matteo released Sofia's hand. He smoothed his tie.

"I will go get her now," Matteo said.

Sofia smiled up at him.

"I will wait here," she said.

Matteo turned toward the door.

He looked pleased with himself.

He thought he had broken my spirit.

He thought I would crawl out of that freezer and beg for his forgiveness.

He thought I would make soup for the woman who ruined my life.

He walked out of the study.