Chapter 5

Shards of broken bottle dug deep into my palms and thighs, ground into me from where the assembled Families and their associates had hurled their filth.

The sharp pain shot straight to my brain. Yet compared to the agony in my heart, it was nothing.

'Even Marco... doesn't believe me anymore?'

"Adriana," he said, his face dark with fury, his eyes filled with disappointment, "I never thought you were this kind of woman."

"All these years bound to you, I treated you like a treasure. Whatever you wanted, I gave. I never raised my voice, never let you suffer even the smallest grievance."

"I learned to dress your wounds, to ease your aches myself, just to care for you better. I kept you warm, clothed, tended to every need, terrified that you might be even a little unwell."

"And you? What did you do?"

"You went behind me, bleeding your own blood-sister dry, gambling away tribute, dragging your name through the gutter before every Family in this city!"

"The body I worked so hard to mend, you ruined it with your filthy, shameful acts!"

"Adriana, you're not just degrading yourself. You're spitting on the oath that bound us!"

The man who had always been so gentle, for the first time, was completely unhinged. His wedding band caught the light as his hand shook, twisted once around his finger before it went still.

His voice was raw, each word like a blade, cutting me deeper than any wound on my body.

Seeing him like this, my chest tightened painfully.

Holding back tears, I forced myself up and tried to explain, "Marco, I—"

But before I could finish, his palm cracked harshly across my face.

"Shut up! Don't you dare say my name. You're not worthy of it!"

With that, he tore the ring from his finger and flung it at me.

"We break the oath. It's finished."

The cold finality in his voice pierced my heart deeper than the slap.

The man I had once thought was my shelter had just shattered my last piece of faith.

I froze, feeling empty, like my soul had been ripped away.

Salvatore seized the moment. The crowd of made men and associates seemed to lean in with him, a ring of predators smelling blood. "Adriana," he sneered, "now do you understand what it feels like to be dishonored before every Family in New York?"

"A greedy, scheming, dirty woman like you. Did you really think you deserved anyone's loyalty? You didn't even deserve Bianca's kindness."

"Thank God I cast you off. Staying bound to a disgusting leech like you would have been the greatest shame of my life."

"The only worthwhile thing you ever did was bring Bianca into my life. From now on, you can choke on the contempt of every soul who knows your name. I'll see to it that Bianca cuts all ties with you. Without her, let's see how long you last."

His words hit like stones, and the assembled crowd erupted in agreement.

The barrage of insults multiplied, voices layered on voices, hired mouths and onlookers and soldiers alike, hundreds of them united in cursing my name across the neutral ground that had become my execution square.

The crushing weight of being condemned by all of them. It was suffocating.

Even though I had braced myself, I still couldn't hold back. I broke down.

And then Salvatore's phone rang.

The caller was Bianca.

He answered instantly, only to be met with her sobbing voice. "It's me... I... I lost the baby..."

Salvatore's eyes reddened in an instant. His thumb, which had been circling the ring on his right hand, stopped cold. "What happened?"

Bianca stammered between tears, her voice softening and cracking on cue. "It was Adriana... She insisted on going off to some hotel with a pack of men. I tried to stop her, but she shoved me down... she's the reason I lost the child."

Her words made the crowd draw a sharp breath as one.

As for me, standing at the very heart of the storm, I finally let out a long, shaky breath.

It's starting. The end has finally come.