Home / The Love That Burned Out / Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

All Chapters of The Love That Burned Out : Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

Freya's POVThe council chamber doors swung open.Vittorio Cattaneo entered with his bodyguards and two of the family's senior capos. The moment he saw me at the breakfast table, he hurried over and pulled out my chair as naturally as breathing."Didn't sleep last night? Your eyes are red."He bent down and pressed a long, tender kiss to my forehead.The capos tactfully lowered their heads over their breakfast. The guards retreated to the walls."Listen to me, amore mio. Let me handle the famiglia business from now on."He took my coffee away and replaced it with warm milk."You're supposed to be resting. Stop exhausting yourself over the accounts. It hurts me to see you like this."The capos exchanged approving looks. What a devoted Don, their expressions said.I stared at the steam curling from the milk. I had nothing to say.Vittorio didn't seem to notice. He handed me a cigar, and I accepted it out of habit. When I reached for the cutter with my right hand, pain shot thr

Chapter 2

The famiglia's classified archive was three floors underground.I stood before its reinforced door and completed the identity checks. My highest-level clearance still glowed green on the control terminal.For eight years, nobody else had been allowed to touch that access. Not even Vittorio.Revoking it required twelve minutes. I stood at the terminal and confirmed each step.Every thirty seconds, the system displayed the same warning: [This action cannot be reversed. Confirm?]Confirm.Inside the innermost safe lay a dagger engraved with our initials.We'd exchanged it eight years ago, standing among bodies after a brutal fight. Vittorio had held my bleeding right hand and sworn that if either of us ever betrayed the other, the guilty one would answer to that blade.I dropped it into the fire place.Back in our bedroom, I opened drawers and wardrobes, gathering what belonged to me.It was almost embarrassing how little there was.The closets overflowed with couture gowns and

Chapter 3

The safe in my study was more than half empty.Confidential ledgers, maps of our hidden surveillance posts, access records for the legitimate businesses that concealed our finances: I'd sealed everything and passed it to the famiglia's chief accountant.Vittorio came in while I was finishing.His gaze swept over the half-cleared safe. Satisfaction flickered across his face."You should've done this years ago."He came over and stroked the top of my head, his voice gentle and soothing."Why should a woman spend her days shooting people and poring over dirty accounts?"Leave the blood and the ugly work to me. All you need to do is stay in the castle and enjoy being my Donna."I lowered my eyes."The alliance's annual cruise is in international waters in three days," I said softly. "Do I really have to go?"He adjusted his tie."Of course. Every major family will be there. It would look bad if you stayed home."I didn't argue....That night, aboard the cruise ship in inter

Chapter 4

The next morning, our bedroom door opened.Vittorio came in wearing the same suit he'd worn on the cruise. A few faint scratches marked the side of his neck, mostly hidden by his collar. The cloying fruity perfume on him was nauseating.He found me closing a small suitcase.He rubbed his temples, looking exhausted."Still upset?"Last night was an emergency. I was only a little late getting to you. Besides, I sent men ahead to protect you. You used to handle a gun better than anyone I know. Between your skills and the guards, you were never really in danger. Don't be so petty."I zipped the case shut without looking at him.Vittorio sighed, took a gold-edged envelope from inside his jacket, and set it on my dressing table."All right. Take a look at this first."It's a private island off the Meridian Coast, with a transfer agreement that gives it to you outright. On our anniversary next week, I'll put the whole island in your name, and then I'll take you there myself for a mon

Chapter 5

The emails kept coming.First was the full security recording from the church. It showed Vittorio with Lucienne against the stone wall beside the altar, silver chalices scattered at their feet.Next came every photo from the anonymous account: Vittorio painting her nails, Lucienne posing with his obsidian signet ring, the sapphire necklace she'd discarded before he tried to give it to me.The third email contained a recording made by one of Freya's operatives. On the cruise, Vittorio had promised Lucienne a private island. She'd rejected it for being too far away.He sank to the floor and began to sob.Far out at sea, a speedboat cut a white trail through the dark water....Freya's POVI sat in the rear cabin, turning a palm-sized black communicator over in my hand. Its red indicator blinked insistently.The unit vibrated, connecting me to Silas Brandt's private line."Donna, Corvanna's in chaos," Silas reported. "The airports are shut down, the ports are on maximum alert, a

Chapter 6

Winter came to Nordvaal earlier than I'd expected.A fire blazed in the manor hearth. Pine logs snapped and settled, filling the air with a clean, resinous scent.My private doctor removed the bandage from my right hand and gently examined the damaged nerves."You're recovering better than expected," she said. "Without the constant stress, the spasms are becoming less frequent."I picked up a delicate porcelain teacup with my right hand.My wrist ached faintly, but not a drop of tea spilled."See?" I said. "Get away from the garbage, and even my hand heals faster."The doctor smiled, packed her instruments, and left me alone.Reports from my old intelligence network arrived every day.Without me managing the finances and coordinating the family's contacts, Vittorio's supposedly unstoppable empire was collapsing like a row of dominoes.The old-guard capos had turned on him as soon as they learned the master ledgers were gone.By the third day, rival families were tearing hole

Chapter 7

Six months later, Nordvaal was hit by one of the worst blizzards in memory.I was in my second-floor study reviewing the quarterly statements for my new shipping company when one of my guards called up from downstairs."Ma'am, there's a man kneeling outside the gate. He's been there nearly four hours."The guard hesitated."He's covered in injuries, and his left hand looks broken. We've told him to leave several times. He just stays there on his knees, begging to see you."I turned a page."Who is he?""He's wearing a silver pin. Your name is engraved on it."I stood and walked to the window.The snow was blowing almost sideways. Beyond the black iron gates, a dark shape knelt in the white wasteland.He was wearing a thin, torn suit, with snow piled across his shoulders.Once, Vittorio Cattaneo had traveled behind an escort of armored cars. Now he looked like a man who had nowhere left to sleep.I put on a cashmere coat, took a black umbrella, and went downstairs.The iron

Chapter 8

I looked down at the scorched dagger by my feet.Then, to my own surprise, I laughed."Vittorio. Do you really still believe I'm going to forgive you?"He stared at me, tears freezing on his cheeks.I crouched and reached out with my right hand.The hand that once couldn't hold a spoon now gripped his chin with steady fingers. I tilted his face toward mine.His eyes widened when he noticed how firm my hand was."Your hand... Freya, it's better? The injury's really healing?""It is. Strange how much better I got once I left you and stopped cleaning up your filthy accounts."I tightened my grip just enough to hold his gaze.The sudden hope in his eyes faded."Did you think kneeling in the snow for a few hours and waving around a burned piece of metal would be enough? That you could stage one grand sacrifice and call yourself redeemed?""I'm not pretending," he whispered. "I swear I'm not."Tears started spilling down his cheeks again."Six months ago, when you were cheating

Chapter 9

Vittorio didn't die in the blizzard.A shelter van found him late that night, barely conscious, and brought him inside. The frostbite was so severe that the toes on both feet had to be amputated.For the next three months, the kill order his former men on the Meridian Coast had put out on him still stood. And no shelter in Nordvaal would keep a crippled man with blood on his hands.He drifted between the streets and temporary accommodation, beaten down each time he tried to start again.Eventually, he stopped trying.His mind had deteriorated, too.The once-feared Don became a confused beggar near the harbor, propping himself up on two broken walking sticks and wearing a foul-smelling coat he'd found somewhere.Most days he huddled beside the garbage bins at the docks.Yet even when he could barely remember where he was, one thing remained sewn to his chest: the silver pin with my name.His clothes were in tatters, but he polished that little piece of silver until it shone.O

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