Chapter 3

I kept my expression cold, but when I spoke, my voice carried through the atelier.

"Does the future Don of the Falcone Family truly believe I need his permission to marry into another bloodline? Or has the Valente name fallen so low in your eyes that its daughter should be grateful for whatever scraps you choose to give her?"

For the first time, Rocco saw me truly angry.

He froze.

His fingers went instinctively to his collar, tugging once before his tongue passed over his lips. It was an old habit of his, one I'd seen whenever a situation slipped beyond his control.

"Adriana," he said carefully, "I know I was wrong to leave the alliance feast. I shouldn't have left you there alone."

His voice softened.

"But Gemma disappeared without warning. I thought she might do something reckless. I panicked."

He stepped closer.

"And this is about the ring, isn't it? You're angry because I let her wear it. Fine. I'll replace it. Tonight, if that's what it takes. I'll find you a diamond twice the size, something no other woman in this city could ever hope to wear."

A bitter laugh escaped me.

"Another diamond?"

I looked at him.

"Rocco, you still have no idea why I'm angry."

Silence settled over the atelier.

Even the tailor quietly lowered his shears onto the counter.

Rocco stared at me for a long moment before finally exhaling.

"I can't give Gemma my name."

His voice was lower now.

"I can't marry her. I can't give her a place beside me before the Family. She knows that."

He glanced toward Gemma.

"All she wanted was a ring, Adriana. One small thing she could call her own. After three years beside me, is it really so unforgivable that I gave her that?"

My fingers slowly went cold.

Rocco continued.

"You and I are the ones who will spend our lives together. Our Families have spent years preparing for this alliance. Nothing between Gemma and me can change that."

He reached for me.

"For the sake of everything between us, can't you let this go?"

My gaze moved past him.

To my gown draped against Gemma's body.

To the hand Rocco had unconsciously placed in front of her, as though even now his first instinct was to shield her from me.

Something inside me finally went quiet.

"Fine."

Rocco paused.

I looked straight into his eyes.

"I'll let it go."

Relief immediately softened his expression.

But I wasn't finished.

"From now on, Rocco, whatever you do has nothing to do with me."

He didn't hear the meaning behind the words.

Or perhaps he simply couldn't imagine a world in which I truly stopped loving him.

His shoulders relaxed, and the familiar confidence returned to his face.

"That's my Adriana."

He smiled faintly.

"I knew you'd understand."

The pain in my chest tightened until breathing hurt.

I turned away before he could see it and walked out of the atelier.

By the time I returned to the estate, several black cars were parked outside the villa beside mine.

Falcone soldiers were carrying trunks and boxes through the gates.

And standing in the middle of the drive, directing them, was Gemma.

So she'd come back before me.

When she saw me, she didn't even bother pretending to smile.

"The place I was staying wasn't secure," she said. "Rocco thought I'd be safer here."

Her eyes moved toward my villa.

"Besides, you haven't married into the Falcone Family yet. What Rocco does with his own property before the alliance is formally sealed isn't really something you have a say in, is it?"

I was too tired to answer her.

I turned toward my own door.

Then something at her throat caught the light.

My steps stopped.

A deep red pendant rested against Gemma's skin.

For a moment, I forgot how to breathe.

I knew that pendant.

Gemma noticed where I was looking.

A small smile touched her lips as she swept her hair over one shoulder, deliberately exposing it.

"I haven't been sleeping well lately, so Rocco gave me this."

My eyes stayed fixed on the pendant.

Gemma touched it lightly with two fingers.

"He told me it belonged to you."

Then she smiled.

"I heard you were wearing it the night your parents died."

My blood went cold.

Gemma leaned closer.

"They say it still has traces of your mother's blood on it."

Her fingers stroked the stone.

"I suppose things that belonged to the dead really do ward off bad luck. I've slept wonderfully ever since..."

My palm struck her face.

The crack echoed across the driveway.

Gemma staggered sideways, one hand flying to her cheek.

Before she could recover, I reached for the pendant.

"Give it to me."

Gemma stepped back.

"Don't touch me."

"That belonged to my mother."

I reached for it again.

This time, Gemma tore the chain from her neck herself.

Then she threw it down.

The pendant struck the stone.

It shattered.

For a second, I heard nothing.

I only stared at the broken pieces scattered across the driveway.

Something inside my chest seemed to break with them.

I dropped to my knees.

My hands shook violently as I gathered the fragments one by one, barely noticing when a sharp edge sliced into my fingertip.

That pendant was the last thing I had left of my mother.

The one thing I'd carried with me from the wreck that had taken my parents from me.

There were things money could replace.

That wasn't one of them.

"Adriana!"

Rocco's voice tore through the courtyard.

Footsteps rushed toward me.

He crouched beside me and caught my wrist.

The moment he saw the blood running over my fingers, his expression changed.

"What the hell happened?"

He turned sharply toward the guards.

"Get the doctor. Now."

Then Gemma began to cry.

"Rocco..."

He looked up.

Her cheek was still red from where I'd struck her. Tears gathered in her eyes as she stared at the broken pendant in my hands.

"I ruined it."

Her voice shook.

"Miss Adriana is never going to forgive me now."

She covered her mouth, choking back a sob.

"Even if I gave her everything I have, I could never repay something her mother left behind."

Rocco's grip on my wrist loosened.

Then, slowly, he let me go.

He stood and went to Gemma.

"Enough."

He pulled her against his chest.

"Stop blaming yourself for everything."

I remained kneeling on the ground.

Blood ran down my fingers and stained the broken pieces in my palm.

Rocco looked back at me.

"Adriana, it's a pendant."

My fingers stopped moving.

"If you want another one, I'll find one for you. Bigger. Rarer. Whatever you want."

His voice hardened slightly.

"But you can't keep taking your anger at me out on Gemma."

For several seconds, I simply stared at him.

Then I slowly stood.

"Rocco."

My voice was barely above a whisper.

"You know what this pendant meant to me."

His expression stiffened.

"You know it was the last thing my mother left me."

I looked at the man I'd loved for five years and suddenly found his face almost unfamiliar.

"So how could you give it to her?"

Rocco opened his mouth.

But Gemma spoke first.

"Miss Adriana."

Her voice was very soft.

I looked at her.

Tears streamed down her face as she slowly pulled away from Rocco's arms.

"If I died..."

Rocco's expression changed.

Gemma looked straight at me.

"If I were dead, would you finally believe that I never wanted to take Rocco away from you?"