Chapter 7

Serafina clutched her torn dress against her body and stared at the ruby pendant glinting on the marble floor. She didn't steal it. Someone had planted it there!

Lucian's mother looked at Serafina the way a jeweler looks at a flawed stone. Her fingers rested on her pearls. "Serafina, this Family gave you everything you needed under our roof. How could you steal an Albanese heirloom after everything we've done for you?"

Serafina met her eyes calmly. "I didn't steal anything! Someone put that pendant on me."

"You're still denying it?" she snapped. "The evidence is right there, in front of every Family in this room."

Before Serafina could answer, two small figures came running toward her through the parted crowd of capos and their wives. Matteo and Nico, the five-year-old twins who'd spent the whole evening pulling her hair and kicking her legs, now looked furious.

"You're a bad woman!" Matteo shouted.

Nico glanced at his brother first, then yelled, "You stole Mommy's ruby!"

Matteo kicked her injured leg, and pain shot through her. "Stop it," Serafina shouted, but he kicked her again while Nico grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled hard.

Serafina clenched her teeth. These two really didn't know when to stop. She pushed Nico's hand away, but Matteo came at her again, so she shoved him back. She didn't use much force, but he stumbled. Nico grabbed for him, and both boys lost their balance and crashed into the towering birthday cake behind them.

It collapsed under them, cream and frosting covering their little tailored suits. For a second the whole banquet hall froze. Even the quartet in the corner stopped playing. Then the twins started screaming.

"I hate you!"

"You ruined our birthday!"

"You humiliated us!"

They cried so loudly that half the guests rushed toward them. Serafina stood there, breathing hard. She hadn't meant to hurt them, but she had had enough. How many times was she supposed to let those two kick and pull at her before she was allowed to defend herself?

Then the twins ran toward the edge of the long banquet table.

"Matteo! Nico, stop!"

They were crying too hard to hear anyone. Both boys collided with the corner of the table, their heads striking the edge with a loud crack before they dropped to the floor.

The hall erupted.

"Get the doctor!"

"There's blood!"

"Get the children!"

Celeste screamed and rushed toward them. "Matteo! Nico!"

Lucian's father struck his cane against the floor twice, and the noise in the room died around him. "This is outrageous."

His mother pointed straight at her. "Soldiers! Take her away!"

Serafina stared at the chaos, her torn dress still clutched in her hands, when she heard Lucian's footsteps on the grand staircase. He came running down with the shawl he'd gone to fetch for her, but the moment he saw the twins bleeding on the floor, his face changed completely.

"What happened?"

His mother stepped forward. "Lucian, look what she did. She stole Celeste's family ruby, and when the children confronted her, she attacked them. Look at them."

Celeste was crying, pulling one of the boys against her skirts. "She hates me, and now she's taking it out on my children. Luca, please save them."

Lucian looked at her. For a moment Serafina saw shock in his eyes, then doubt. His thumb moved across the Castellano signet on his hand. He didn't ask what happened. He didn't even come closer. He just picked Matteo up and held him tightly. Over his father's shoulder, the boy's eyes had already gone dry.

"Take the children to the Family doctor first."

Serafina stared at him. He was leaving her there again.

Her heart didn't even hurt anymore. Maybe there was nothing left to break.

His mother pointed at her. "And her? We can't let this go. Not in front of everyone."

Lucian's father nodded coldly. "Take her to the back garden. She needs to understand the consequences of spilling Castellano blood."

Lucian glanced at her one last time. Serafina waited, hoping that just once he'd say something, anything. He said nothing. He carried Matteo away with Celeste beside him, and she watched their backs disappear through the doors, his soldiers closing ranks behind them.

So that was it. After six years, Serafina wasn't even worth one question.

The soldiers dragged her outside, past the fountains and the lantern-lit hedges where no guest would have to hear. Serafina didn't struggle much. Her body was already covered in injuries, and her back still hadn't recovered from the car that struck her. The whip came down again and again, pain tearing through her. She bit the inside of her cheek until she tasted blood, refusing to give them the satisfaction of hearing her beg.

Serafina could have stopped them. One phone call to her father would've been enough. One word, and the Valenti name would have shaken this entire estate down to its foundations. But she had promised herself she would finish those six years without revealing who she was.

Now Serafina didn't care anymore.

Lucian's mother stood nearby, watching without a trace of sympathy. "We had you looked into. Your father's a drunk, your mother's sick, and you crawled out of a miserable family with no name worth speaking. Do you really think someone like you belongs beside a Don?"

Serafina raised her head, but she kept going without giving Serafina a chance to answer. "Lucian was born to stand at the head of this Family. You're not even worthy of carrying his shoes. Leave while you still have some dignity, or we'll make sure you have none left."

Serafina almost laughed. If she only knew who she was talking to.

Serafina wasn't some poor girl who needed their charity. She was Serafina Valenti, and if she wanted, her entire Family could learn exactly what that name meant.

But Serafina was too tired to care.

The pain eventually swallowed everything, and darkness took her.

When Serafina woke again, she was lying on a cold bed in one of the estate's back rooms. Her wounds had been treated, but barely, and every breath hurt. The door opened, and Lucian walked in. He didn't ask how she felt. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her up.

"Lucian, what are you doing?" Serafina cried, struggling to keep her balance. "Let me go, I'm injured!"

He didn't answer. He half dragged, half carried her to the car and then into the Family's private clinic, straight into a treatment room.

"Draw her blood," he told the nurse. "Matteo and Nico lost too much. She's compatible."

Serafina stared at him in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

"Serafina, listen to me."

"Look at me!" Serafina shouted, her voice breaking. "Can't you see what they did to me? I'm barely standing, and you're asking me for blood?"

His expression tightened. "They're only five. They need it."

"Why should I save them?" Serafina cried. "Those two kicked me, pulled my hair, blamed me for everything. Why am I the one who has to pay for this?"

"Because you pushed them?!"

"I pushed them away because they were hurting me!"

Her whole body was shaking, and his patience finally snapped. "You caused this whole situation, Serafina. Matteo and Nico are lying in the next room fighting for their lives. You have to take responsibility."

"I didn't steal that ruby, and I didn't mean for them to get hurt!"

He didn't listen. He forced her into the chair while the nurse prepared the needle. The soldier at the door kept his eyes fixed on the wall.

"Lucian, don't."

Her voice had gone small. For the first time, Serafina wasn't pretending. She was begging.

"Please. I can't do this anymore."

He looked away. "Just cooperate. It'll be over soon."

The needle went in, and pain spread through her already weakened body. Serafina clenched her teeth as the blood was taken, the nurse glancing at her the whole time.

"Don Castellano, she's extremely weak. We shouldn't take any more."

"Continue," he said coldly. "Matteo and Nico need more."

Her vision blurred, and Serafina could barely keep her eyes open before everything went black.

* * *

When Serafina woke again, she was alone. A nurse eventually told her Lucian was next door with Celeste and the twins. He never came to see her. Instead he sent a message.

[Serafina, I know you're still angry, but the twins' injuries happened because of you. You need to take responsibility. Calm down and stop making things harder. No matter what happens, I'll always love you.]

Serafina stared at the screen, then laughed. She laughed until her body hurt and her wounds started bleeding again.

His love?

His love had allowed his parents to have her whipped. It had taken blood from her when she could barely survive. It had left him beside another woman and their children while he sent Serafina promises he had already broken.

What kind of love was that?

Serafina wiped her tears. Her fingers brushed the bare inside of her left wrist, then went still. No. She couldn't afford this kind of love anymore.

After several days Serafina was strong enough to leave, so she quietly signed herself out of the clinic without telling anyone. When she got back to the villa, her phone rang.

"Serafina, have you finished everything there? It's time to come home."

Serafina stood alone in the empty living room and looked around at the gilded cage he'd kept her in. For six years she had lived here as someone she wasn't. A poor girl. A harmless girl. A girl who needed Lucian.

That girl was gone.

Serafina took a slow breath and answered calmly, "Yes. Everything's taken care of. I'll be home soon."

After hanging up, Serafina packed only what belonged to her, pulled her suitcase behind her, and walked out past the soldier at the gate without leaving a note or looking back.

This time, Serafina wasn't pretending to be poor anymore.