Chapter 2

"Don, it's the docks."

In the hospital corridor, Lorenzo covers his buzzing phone, a cold glint in his eyes. "The life monitor in freezer three is going off. It's faint, but it's there. She's still alive."

Vittorio just steps out of the hospital room. At those words, his jaw clenches tight.

"It's just a system glitch." Lorenzo pushes up his glasses. "A rat's life isn't worth the family's time. Besides, Bella is completely unstable right now. If she finds out the traitor is still breathing..."

"Tell the docks to pull the damn wire," Vittorio cuts him off. "I don't want to hear another sound about that woman."

Noise? That is my life! I scream and lunge at him, but I just pass right through his suit. I am freezing to death in there! My lungs are bleeding! Just go look! Just one look!

But there is no sound.

I watch helplessly as Lorenzo repeats the order into his phone. The last cord tethering me to my fading body heat is casually severed right here in this bright hallway.

Rapid, barefoot footsteps suddenly echo from the end of the hall.

Isabella somehow breaks away from the nurses and sprints toward us.

"Give me the keys! I need to go to the docks! She's still in there!"

Two huge bodyguards block her path, grabbing her by the arms.

"Let me go! Vittorio, you're insane! She took a bullet for me!" Isabella kicks her legs wildly in the air, tears streaming down her face.

Vittorio whips around.

"Take her back to the south wing of the estate and lock the door. Nobody lets her out without my permission."

"From now on, anyone who mentions Evelyn's name gets their tongue cut out."

A violent wave of weightlessness hits me. My soul is dragged back to the pitch-black docks against my will. Inside those heavy steel walls, my corpse is curled up in a pool of blood and ice.

Just minutes ago, that body was frantically clawing at the walls with torn and broken nails.

I stare at my own words written in blood, frozen to the metal. The pain makes my very soul shudder. Vittorio, your paranoia will drag you straight to hell.

A blaring symphony abruptly cuts through the dead silence of the docks.

The dust from the Lucchese family hit hasn't even settled, yet Vittorio is already throwing a massive victory party to flaunt his untouchable power as the Don.

The long table is loaded with top-shelf wine and cigars. All the family bosses raise their glasses to toast the end of the crisis. Nobody brings up the Don's wife who was tossed into a freezer, as if I am just a speck of dust they brushed away.

My supposed betrayal is the unspoken theme of this entire party.

Bang.

The banquet doors fly open. Isabella, barefoot and hair a mess, storms right into the glamorous crowd.

"What the hell are you celebrating? Being cold-blooded? Murder?!" She points right at Vittorio at the head of the table, her voice breaking.

The room goes dead silent.

Vittorio sets his glass down, his face dark. "Get her out of here."

"Don't touch me!" Isabella snatches a wine bottle off the table and smashes it on the floor. "She protected me for three years! Every time this family was in danger, she hid me in the cellar! She took a bullet for me! And you cowards sit here drinking wine, judging the only person who actually bled!"

"Enough! Bella, remember who you are!" Vittorio slams his hand on the table. "Omertà! Did you forget the most basic rule of this family? You want to cross me over a rat?"

"She is not a rat!"

"Here is the proof." Lorenzo steps up right on cue, tossing a stack of documents onto the center of the table. "These are encrypted bank statements found in Evelyn's room. She has been funneling our casino money to the Lucchese family. She practically handed them the knife for tonight's hit."

The papers slide across the table, sparking a wave of whispers, sneers, and curses from the bosses.

Those are fake!

Those are the receipts from when I secretly pawned my jewelry to buy the antidote serum for Vittorio!