Chapter 2

Gritting my teeth against the pain, I pushed myself upright. I hid my scraped palm beneath my glove and set off to find my mother.

I hadn’t even reached the main entrance when Blair came stumbling toward me in a flowing white dress.

As she turned to face the three men chasing after her, triumph flashed in her eyes.

She leaned close and whispered with a soft, mocking laugh.

“Even after you give them up, they’ll still love me.”

The next second, Blair let out a piercing scream and hurled herself down the steps.

“Miss Rossi, I’m sorry!” she cried. “I’ll never compete with you for their affection again!”

Raphael raced over as though he had lost his mind and gathered Blair into his arms, his eyes red with distress.

“Blair!”

Matteo charged up the steps, fury eclipsing everything else.

Before I could say a word, he grabbed me by the hair and dragged me toward the fountain.

“How could you do that to her? You know she can’t fight back!”

Agony ripped across my scalp, and a cold sweat broke out all over my body.

Before I had a chance to fight back, Matteo seized the back of my neck and plunged my head into the freezing water.

Water flooded my nose and throat.

My lungs seized as I struggled desperately for air.

Just as I was about to black out, Matteo yanked me up as though I weighed nothing.

I collapsed against the edge of the fountain, coughing violently as uncontrollable tremors racked my body.

“Apologize to Blair,” Matteo ordered. His eyes were cold, but there was no uncertainty in them. He still believed that no matter how far he went, I would forgive him and remain where I had always been.

Before I could catch my breath, he forced my head underwater again.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

With the icy water closing over me again and again, I truly believed he was going to kill me. Every last shred of my pride crumbled.

When he dragged me up for the fourth time, I broke.

Shaking violently, I sobbed out the words.

“I’m sorry, Blair. I’m sorry! I swear I’ll never compete with you for any of them again. They’re all yours, all right?”

“What the hell are you doing?”

My mother’s thunderous voice rang out as her bodyguards came pounding toward us.

The three men by the fountain went pale.

Raphael and Matteo, who had been brutalizing me only moments earlier, instantly panicked. They leaped into the water and pulled me out, shouting at the top of their lungs.

“Miss Rossi! How did you fall in? Someone call a doctor!”

...

When I woke again, I was lying in my bed.

Raphael opened the bedroom door and walked inside.

“Enough, Alia. Stop frightening everyone.” He stopped beside the bed and folded his arms. “You apologized to make us feel guilty, and now you’re lying here pretending to be unconscious. You’ve always been stronger than this. How long are you planning to punish us?”

I closed my eyes wearily. I couldn’t even be bothered to look at him.

“Do you honestly expect us to believe you’ll hand the Rossi family over to a man who can’t even open his eyes?” Raphael said, but the edge in his voice could not hide his unease. “You don’t love him. You’ve spent your whole life expecting to marry one of us. When your engagement is announced in four weeks, you’ll have to choose one of us. You have no other option.”

My silence unsettled him. His jaw tightened, as though my refusal to reassure him were an act of betrayal.

He slowly pulled out a black folding knife and pressed the blade against my throat.

“You’re going to keep your mouth shut about what happened at the fountain. If your mother asks, you slipped and fell in on your own. If she finds out the truth, she’ll use it to tear us apart and send Blair away. I won’t let you do that.”

His voice dropped to a cold murmur. “And if you tell her anything else, your beloved nanny might suffer a tragic accident tonight. Or maybe I’ll have your father’s mausoleum torn apart. You’ve always protected the people you love. I know you won’t risk them just to punish us.”

The cold steel rested against my pulse, carrying the unmistakable promise of death.

I opened my eyes and replied without emotion.

“I understand. Now get out.”

Raphael searched my face, as if waiting for the familiar Alia who would soften first.

When I did not, wounded pride twisted his expression into anger. He snapped the knife shut and stormed out.