“There’s something about love that even hatred can not fathom” The dress they brought Ellie wasn’t just a dress.It was a message. Ivory silk with a corseted waist and a neckline that kissed her collarbone, the kind of gown no servant should ever wear, the kind of gown that whispered of forgotten royalty and old, buried promises. Two female guards stood outside her door, eyes averted but backs too straight to ignore what they were delivering. Ellie dressed in silence, spine rigid, pulse crawling up her throat; no jewelry, no perfume just her skin, raw and unhidden. Dinner was held in the east hall — the one with tall stained- glass windows and a table long enough to bury secrets on. Amy sat at the far end, black velvet, her hair up in loose curls, the shadows loving her more than light ever could. She didn’t speak when Ellie entered but her eyes tracked her like a wound.The guards closed the door behind Ellie. Silverware clinked, somewhere a clock ticked but the only thing Ellie cou
“Being scared of losing one but treating that one in a way they’ll lose themselves”woke before the lights came on. Not from sleep, but from stillness — the kind of numb exhaustion that came when your body gave up but your mind kept spinning and all you could do was lay in the dark and try to remember who you were before you became someone else’s price.The door clicked open at 6:00 a.m. sharp again but this time Amy wasn’t alone.Two women in black suits stepped into the room first silent, efficient. They didn’t speak to Ellie just moved around her like she was an object not a person. One laid out clothing on the bed — plain, dark but tailored. The other set down a tray of food and a glass of water then turned to Amy, who finally stepped inside. Amy looked at her the way a general might look at a soldier she didn’t want to send to war.“You eat,” she said, low and firm. “Then we begin again.”Ellie sat up, back straight, hands folded in her lap. “Do I get to know what we’re training
“Pain does change people, but what about love?, does it change anything?”The room still smelled of smoke and old blood.Ellie didn’t move. Couldn’t. Not after the words Amy had said. Not after the deal she made with death itself. You serve me now. That was the sentence. That was the curse. Her mother—Giulia—stood behind her in stunned silence, one hand wrapped tightly around her younger daughter who was finally asleep, unaware that her big sister had just sold her soul to a woman whose smile could start wars. And win them. Nonna said nothing. Her tears had dried into salt on her cheeks. Her wrists were red from the bindings, and her eyes held something Ellie had never seen in her—fear. Not the kind you have for monsters, but the kind you reserve for someone you wronged and lived long enough to regret. Thomas cleared his throat, breaking the moment. “Should I... take her?”Amy didn’t take her eyes off Ellie. “No. She’ll come with me on her own.”Ellie’s fists clenched. Her jaw locked.
Should we call this a happy ever after, or just the beginning of something hidden...The silence after the shot was a different kind of violence. It hung heavy, thicker than blood, more final than death. Ellie held Amy as if she were the last living thing in a burning world. Amy’s chest heaved, the weight of years collapsing at once. The gun still smoked in her hand. The floor beneath them was slick with retribution, and somewhere across the room, the last man tied to Chicago’s legacy lay slumped—three clean bullet wounds placed with surgical grief. Giulia’s mother was still crying. Bound at the feet, trembling with the revelation of everything she’d denied for years, her mouth opened to plead again. But Amy raised a hand without even looking. Silence. Giulia stood frozen, one arm cradling her daughter who had since awakened in confusion, eyes wide, face pressed against her mother’s neck. Her gaze shifted between her mother, her daughter, and Amy—the woman who had just unraveled every
Even the toughest soldiers fall but everyone expects them to stand tall.Giulia’s voice sliced through the darkness like a serrated blade: What the hell is going on here? Why is my mother tied up like this? She stormed forth her heels echoing in the warehouse her mother sat bound to a chair hands tied, eyes wild, nostrils flaring in fierce disbelief. Untie her now! Do you know who she is? Do you have any idea what you’re doing?! Amy’s calm voice floated over the tension: Relax, baby girl you’ll understand soon enough. She snapped her fingers two men stepped forward with chairs; another brought two dusty leather bound journals. Giulia and Ellie were ushered roughly into the chairs. Ellie looked at Amy her world turned upside down, the woman she once loved now resembled a ghost cloaked in winter. Giulia’s mother snarled, face taut with anger: You have no idea the trouble you’re inviting for me, You might not be leaving this place alive, Amy cut her short. Giulia’s face went pale, Ellie’
There comes a time where everyone is quiet and hiding like a snake and ready to strike for Amy that day was today. The room smelled of rusted iron, gunpowder and betrayal. Amy Finn stood in the dark, arms loose at her sides, heart anything but she didn’t blink, she didn’t breathe hard. The warehouse had been quiet for fifteen minutes long enough for the Chicago boys to think the place was still theirs. Let them, they’d taken two girls, the youngest soft-faced and trembling was asleep in the shadows, curled under a wool coat Amy had tossed over her like a shroud. The eldest Ellie was somewhere else. Somewhere close, somewhere that had cost too much blood to leave her there any longer. They broke the pact, the rules, the deal between devils. Chicago had made it clear they’d keep backing the Marchettis only if Giulia and her family kept their doors shut to the Finns. No love, no visits, no alliances and definitely no invitations to engagement parties where rumors swirled of Amy and Ellie