Chapter 1

The night before my wedding, my fiancé takes me out to see the Christ of the Abyss. Then pirates show up.

They hang me upside down and dump me in the sea. Again and again. They even make me jump into a shark tank.

I'm about to lose it.

Then the pirate closest to me pulls off his mask. He's laughing so hard he can't stand up.

It's my little sister.

"Oh my God, Giada." She's still giggling. "You look so pathetic on your knees."

"Good thing I got it on video. I'll play it at the wedding."

They tortured me for an hour. It didn't matter how bad it hurt. I never begged.

The only time I begged was when Luca ran over to save me and got beaten bloody. That's when I lost it. I dropped to my knees and begged them to stop.

Then Luca. My Luca. Bleeding out one second ago. He sits up. Wipes his face. Smiling at me.

"Relax, baby. It's ketchup. Your sister and I made a bet. We wanted to see if you'd kneel to save me."

"You should thank Serafina, you know. I didn't know you loved me this much until tonight."

He sees my face. He knows I'm pissed. So he softens me up. Sweet-talks me. Says he'll take me down to see the Christ of the Abyss like he promised.

Then he locks me in a cage.

"Giada, I lost the bet. A Moretti man keeps his word. So the wedding tomorrow. It has to be Serafina's."

"You know how you are. You'd make a scene. So just stay here, okay? Look at the stars in the water. I'll come get you when it's over."

I watch him swim away. Something inside me dies.

The air gauge says one-third left.

He's not coming back in time. Not for me. Not for the baby.

...

I grab the bars of the cage. The cold cuts right through my wetsuit. Right into my chest.

He sees I've gone quiet. His face softens. He signs to me:

Don't be mad at me. You said you'd die before you'd kneel to anyone. I didn't think you'd break your word.

My hands tighten on the bars. My chest hurts.

He forgot.

He was the one who said no one would ever make me kneel again.

Back then, Luca was just the family's screw-up. The heir nobody respected. A joke.

At a dinner party, his stepmother said I stole her necklace. She stepped on my back and told me to get on my knees and apologize.

I said no. So she had her men throw me in the ice pool.

Luca pulled me out. He was shaking. He held me so tight it hurt.

"Giada. I swear to you. Nobody is ever going to make you kneel again. Ever."

Five years later, that screw-up became the Don. The man everyone was scared of.

Nobody looked at me sideways. Nobody made me kneel.

And now the one making me kneel is him.

But I can't fall apart right now. I point at the gauge on my tank. One-third left.

Let me out! I'm out of air. I'm going to die down here!

Luca doesn't even look.

Cut it out. I checked the tank myself. It's fine.

Chill. Serafina gets the wedding. You'll still be Mrs. Moretti.

I press my lips together. I point at my stomach. I shake my head hard.

I'm pregnant. I can't stay down here.

Luca stops. His face gets darker.

Giada. That's a really shitty lie. Did you forget? You can't have kids.

Every word cuts.

Back when his stepmother threw me in that ice pool, I was already pregnant.

The water was too cold. I lost the baby.

My body was never the same. The doctors said I'd probably never have another one.

That night, Luca sat in his office holding the little cross pendant he'd made for our baby. He smoked till the sun came up.

He never talked about the baby again.

But he kept that pendant. In his desk drawer. For five years.

I know he was waiting for a miracle.

So the second the test came back positive, I put the ultrasound in a waterproof pouch. I was going to tell him tonight. Under the statue.

Just in case, I even set up an email to send to him. A backup.

My hands are shaking. I fumble for the pouch.

I look up. He's already swimming away.

I slam the bars. I hold the photo up as high as I can.

He glances back. He doesn't even see what I'm holding.

Cut it out. I'll come back for you.

He disappears into the dark.

Everything goes quiet.

There are no stars down here.

There never were.

He was lying to me from the very beginning.

The cold spreads through my chest.

My stomach cramps.

Maybe an hour of air left.

I won't live long enough for him to come back.

My hand drifts to my other wrist. To the silver ring on my thumb.

Papa's ring. Ferraro crest. The last thing he put on me before Moretti bullets tore through him at his own dinner table.

"Anywhere in the world, Giada. Anywhere. You press the inside, and my men will come. They'll never stop looking for you. Blood knows blood."

I never wore it in front of Luca. He didn't like being reminded I came from another family. That before I was Mrs. Moretti, I was Don Ferraro's only daughter.

But I put it on tonight.

I don't know why. Maybe some part of me already knew.

I run my thumb over the crest. Once.

Not yet.

If I press it, Papa's men come. Fifty guns, easy. Two families. War. Blood everywhere.

Luca's still going to come for me. He has to.

He said he loves me.