Chapter 4

Adriana's POV

Seeing Vittorio and Rosaria still so full of life hit harder than I expected.

There they stood, upright, clear-eyed, steady in a way I hadn't been in years, framed by the old estate's dark paneling and the faint smell of Sunday sauce still hanging in the air.

My throat tightened before I could halt it.

If it hadn't been for me, maybe they'd still be living a quiet life, untouched by all this wreckage the life had brought down on them.

I dropped to my knees in front of Rosaria and gently took her hand, steadying my voice even though my insides were anything but.

"I'm sorry, Don Vittorio, Donna Rosaria. I didn't carve my name into the stone at the chapel. And I'm not going to bind myself to Lorenzo. There's no love left between us. I've finally accepted that. I'm letting him go... and I'm letting myself go, too."

I paused, gathering what strength I had left.

"I've also accepted a post overseas, a government intelligence position, the kind of clean exit nobody in this life ever gets offered twice. I'll be leaving soon. I'd be grateful if you could keep this between us, at least for now. You know as well as I do what happens to a woman who tries to walk away out loud."

Back then, I'd given up everything for Lorenzo.

My work on the cipher.

A place among the people who could have protected me.

A future outside these walls.

I let it all go for the faint, foolish hope that if I just stayed, if I loved him hard enough, he'd see me differently someday. And that maybe he could learn to love me.

But all we did was hurt each other, over and over.

Now, I was sure. The only way to finally give Lorenzo the life he wanted was for me to get out of the way.

Rosaria stood stunned for a second. Then she quickly reached down and helped me to my feet, clearly rattled, the spoon she'd been holding forgotten on the table beside her.

"Adriana, what are you saying?" she said, gripping my hands like she could physically stop this from happening. "Lorenzo's just confused. You know how he is! He's stubborn, but he cares about you even if he doesn't always show it. If he didn't, he wouldn't have agreed to honor the pact! And if you leave, how are we supposed to answer to your father's memory, to the oath he swore on his deathbed?"

She didn't give me time to answer before she continued, already reaching for her phone. "Don't be rash. I'll call him right now. You two need to sit down and settle this."

I gently placed my hand over hers to stop her.

"Donna Rosaria," I said softly, "I have never had more clarity in my life."

I took a deep breath and let it settle in my chest. "Lorenzo agreed to the blood-oath out of a sense of obligation. And yes, an oath demands loyalty, but that can't be all it is. You and the Don have treated me like blood. Lorenzo has saved my life more times than I can count. That already far outweighs anything my family ever did for the Morettis."

I took a deep breath and felt the words roll out of me, each one honest.

"Five years ago, he was nearly buried alive pulling me out of a mountain road in a snowstorm when the other Family ran us off it. And now, every time it rains, he's in pain because of it. Three years ago, I ran from this house like some reckless idiot, and Lorenzo got jumped by men who came looking for me in the wrong part of the city. They put a blade in him. He could've died. He never told anyone, but I know. I've seen the scars. And I live with that guilt every single day. Almost every mark on his body is my fault. I'm honestly terrified that next time... next time he might not make it."

I looked her in the eyes and continued, "Almost every scar on his body is because of me. And if I stay bound to him, I'm scared the next one might kill him."

Rosaria's eyes were filled with tears. Her voice cracked. "But you know Tessa Falcone's no good. She's latched onto every powerful man in the Families and drained them dry. How can you just stand there and let Lorenzo end up with someone like her?"

I nodded slowly.

In my past life, I remembered how jealousy had once prompted me to have Tessa's history pulled. Tessa was a well-known kind of woman, the sort who drifted from one boss's bed to the next, always reaching for something she hadn't been given yet.

In fact, she had quite a reputation among the Families.

And Lorenzo, young, handsome, the young Don of a powerful name, was just another prize on her list.

Later, she died when her car went off the road, run down after her fall from grace.

That was the woman he loved. But I already made peace with it.

Right then, I gave Rosaria's hand a reassuring squeeze.

"I know," I said. "I really do. But it's been years. And she hasn't been mixed up in anything like that for a long time now. I'll keep an eye on her, I promise. And I will come back to visit you and Don Vittorio. I mean that."

They didn't say anything. They just sank onto the couch, both of them looking like the air had gone out of their lungs.

I stood up, forcing down the ache in my gut and chest, then quietly said goodbye. I turned and began to leave, but I didn't make it to the front door.

A sharp pain struck me without warning, as if someone had cut through my core. My knees gave way, and I collapsed to the floor before I could cry out.

The next thing I knew, I was in a bed at the Family's private clinic. I woke up with a dull ache in my abdomen, and my whole body felt as though it had been wrung out like a towel.

I'd barely sat up when the door swung open and Lorenzo came through it. The clinic must have called him; he was still listed as the man they answered to for me.

Lorenzo looked at me, gave me that trademark bitter grin, and shook his head.

"I actually thought you'd changed," he said. "But here we are again. Same old Adriana. Playing the sympathy card. You always show up right when things are finally going right, just to ruin them."

Then he let out a humorless laugh and muttered, "If you'd just disappear from my life, you have no idea how much easier everything would be."

Before I could even think of a response, a nurse rushed into the room.

"Don Moretti," she said, breathless, "Miss Falcone is showing signs of another miscarriage. We need a transfusion immediately, or we could lose both her and the baby. But we're nearly out of her type, and we can't move blood through the usual channels fast enough. What do we do?"

My brain went blank. Static. My mouth opened, but the words wouldn't come.

And before I could even process it, Lorenzo grabbed me by the wrist and started dragging me toward the donation room down the hall.

"If it weren't for you," he snapped, his grip closing hard around the place where a ring should have been, "Tessa wouldn't be in this. If you've got any conscience left, Adriana, then do the right thing."