My Whole Family Betrayed Me; I Left and Became Queen

At the Family's table,Gianna,the adopted daughter the Castellanos had taken in,pushed the heiress of the Moretti Family down the marble stairs.The Morettis sent word that night,and the word was not a request.They wanted someone handed over.

Gripping Adriana's hands tightly,the Donna pleaded,her voice trembling,"Gianna didn't mean it.She's terrified right now,crying so hard that her eyes are red."

Before Adriana could process her words,her mother added,"Adriana,since you're Gianna's sister,you should go to the Morettis and take her punishment for her."

Salvatore,Adriana's twin brother and a made man under the Castellano name,came into the kitchen just as their mother finished speaking.Despite the same blood in his veins,his words were devoid of compassion.

"Exactly.The Morettis are known across every territory for what they do to people who cross them.Father and I went to their estate and all but knelt on their floor,and they wouldn't bend.Five days,that's all they gave us,to hand someone over.If Gianna goes,who knows what they'll do to her?She wouldn't survive."

Even Adriana's childhood betrothed,the man bound to her by the old Fontaine pact,urged her,"If you're willing to take the punishment for Gianna,I'll honor the alliance and marry you at once."

Left with no choice,Adriana went to the Morettis as they wished.But they soon came back,begging her to return.

Back at the Castellano estate,everything had come apart.

In the kitchen,Adriana was carefully laying out the family's breakfast for the next morning.She was whipping cream with slow,even strokes when her mother came through the door,her eyes red and swollen from weeping.

Adriana froze,her hands trembling.The bowl of cream slipped from her grasp and struck the floor in a white splatter.Two fingers rose to her right ear,the deaf one,pressing there as if she'd missed some word that would make all of this make sense.

A girl from the household staff stood near the doorway,the corner of her mouth curling at the scene,her eyes glinting with quiet pleasure.

Every Family that mattered knew what the Morettis were.They had come back from a distant territory and risen fast,their hand in every business worth owning,their reach long enough to touch any throne in the city.For Gianna to put their heiress on the ground at a gathering full of witnesses was the same as signing her own death warrant.

Salvatore came into the kitchen just as their mother finished speaking.Despite the same blood between them,his words were devoid of compassion.

"Exactly.The Morettis are known across every territory for what they do to people who cross them.Father and I went and all but knelt on their floor,and they wouldn't bend.Five days,that's all they gave us.If Gianna goes,who knows what they'll do to her?She wouldn't survive."

Adriana's heart sank.So Gianna couldn't endure it,but she could.If she was sent in the girl's place and the Morettis learned the truth,their wrath might cost her life.Yet her own family seemed entirely indifferent to that possibility.

Adriana stared at her mother and her brother in disbelief.Were these not the people meant to love her without condition?They were her own blood.

She remembered her childhood clearly.The way her mother would cradle her,stroking her hair,whispering,"Mama loves Adriana the most.You'll always be Mama's little treasure."

That love vanished the year her mother lost the child she had carried so long.The grief of losing that unborn heir changed her mother completely.She stopped smiling at Adriana the soft way she once had,and spent her days weeping over the small clothes she had sewn in advance for a baby who never drew breath.

Later,the Underboss who had married into the Castellano name,the man called Vito Romano,brought home a little girl from an orphanage.Everyone said how strangely she resembled the second child who had died at birth.Her mother said it too.And so Gianna was formally taken in as the consolation daughter of the Castellano Family.The Donna treated her like something rare and precious,cherished her as if she were the air in the room.Gianna mended her mother's broken mind,and in doing so took every measure of love that had once belonged to Adriana.

At first Adriana held no resentment.If Gianna could ease her mother's pain,it was a price worth paying.

But one night changed everything.

One evening Gianna failed to come home after her lessons.The Castellanos turned every soldier and every contact loose to find her.Her mother was beyond consoling,pacing the halls and sobbing until Gianna limped through the door late that night.

The moment she crossed the threshold,Gianna threw herself into the Donna's arms,tears streaming down her face as she cried,"Did I do something wrong?"

"Why did Sister leave me alone in the woods?"Gianna sobbed."I was so scared."

It was at that moment that Adriana understood the malicious,provocative looks Gianna had always given her were not just her imagination.

Unfortunately,before she could explain herself,the Donna struck her hard across the face,a backhand heavy with the rings of the Castellano bloodline.

Her ear struck the corner of the dining table,and a gush of blood poured out instantly.The room,full of men who had killed for far less,went silent.No one moved to help her.

The Underboss kept cursing at her,the gutter still raw in his voice no matter how fine his suit,while the Donna held Gianna the whole time,not sparing her even a glance.

It was one of the household staff who pitied her and took her to a back-alley doctor the Family trusted.But they missed the window,and her right ear permanently lost its hearing.

The Underboss sent her away,banished to a remote outpost at the edge of the Family's territory.

Before she left,only Salvatore held her hand."Don't worry,Adriana.In a few months,I'll beg Mamma and Papto bring you back."His thumb worked against his right knuckle as he said it,as though already sensing the weight of a promise he wouldn't keep.

At first,Salvatore called her every week.But later,the calls became monthly,then once every six months,and mostly they only revolved around Gianna.

"Gianna took first place at the craftsmen's showing today!"

"If only you had half her gift."

"Gianna says she's already forgiven you,but I think you need to reflect a bit more."

And so,Adriana was abandoned at that distant outpost for ten years.It wasn't until she turned twenty that she was finally brought back inside the Castellano walls.

She thought her family still loved her after all.

For that insignificant sliver of blood affection,she humbled herself every day,trying her best to please them,hoping to be loved the same way in return.

But only now did she finally understand.No matter how hard she tried,people who didn't love her never would.

Since that was the case,she didn't want them anymore,either.

Seeing that Adriana remained silent,Salvatore grew annoyed."Adriana,are you mute?"

"All I asked was for you to take Gianna's punishment for her,not to die.What's there to hesitate about?"

"What's wrong?You've failed your duty to Mamma all these years,and now you won't even hear her out?"

Just as Salvatore moved toward her,one of the help burst through the door and cried out,"Something's wrong!Miss Gianna's on the ledge.She says she'll jump!"

The Donna turned pale with fright and rushed out without hesitation,the heavy mourning ring turning fast on her finger.

Salvatore held more of his composure,but his face was grim as he snarled,"If anything happens to Gianna,I won't let you off."

He seized Adriana's wrist and dragged her toward Gianna's room.

By the time they arrived,her wrist was red and swollen from his grip.Just as she tried to rub it,she saw someone familiar.Marco.Her childhood companion,and her betrothed.

The Castellano and Fontaine Families had stood close for generations,and the blood-alliance pact between them had been sealed long before either of them was grown.

Marco had come up alongside her,and through all her years in exile,he had been her one constant,her support.Without him,she might never have survived it.

Marco used to say,"To me,Adriana will always be the most important person.No one can compare."

"Your own blood abandoned you in a place like that,and your brother never came once.They'll regret it someday."

"Don't grieve,Adriana.When you're mine,I'll make you the happiest woman in any territory."

Back then,Adriana had carried a deep-seated fear that Gianna would take everyone who mattered from her.Clinging to Marco like a lifeline,she had begged,"Then swear it to me.You're never to see Gianna again."

Marco gently ruffled Adriana's hair,the doting smile of a man sworn to her since before either of them could walk."Alright,alright.In my eyes,there will always only be you.That Gianna,or whatever name she's wearing this week,she's not worth one of your fingers."

Finally,Adriana smiled.She thought,at least someone in this world would always choose her without hesitation.The pact between the Castellanos and the Fontaines had been sealed in blood before she was old enough to understand it,and for once that chain felt like something warm instead of something binding.

But all of that vanished after she returned to the Castellano estate.

Marco met Gianna.

Within half a year,Gianna once again succeeded in taking away the person Adriana cherished most.

Marco even brought up postponing the blood-alliance pact himself,turning the Fontaine signet slowly on his finger as he said it."Gianna depends on me a great deal.If I go through with our pact now,I'm afraid she won't be able to handle it."

Her memories were cut short by the Donna's desperate cries echoing down the marble of the great hall."Gianna,come down.Let's talk this out.What are you doing on the windowsill?Do you want to scare your mother into the grave?"

Gianna was perched on the edge of the second-floor window.Her feet hadn't even crossed the railing,but her eyes were swollen like walnuts.Her hand fluttered to her collarbone,that small wounded gesture,a beat too fast.

"Mamma,didn't you hear what the Morettis sent word?They said they'd throw me down the stairs the same way it happened to Bianca."

"If I'm handed over to the Moretti Family,they'll tear me apart.Better to die here at home.It'll hurt less."

Salvatore,his face dark with fury,struck Adriana across the cheek.The crack of it silenced the room."This is all your doing.If you'd just agreed to stand in for Gianna under Moretti protection and take her punishment,would she even be sitting on that ledge?"

"Gianna is your sister.How can you be this cold?Do you want to watch her die?"His thumb worked against his right knuckle as he said it,the hand that had once closed over hers in a childhood promise,though neither of them named it now.

The blow was merciless.It left a red handprint blooming across Adriana's face.Yet the Donna only stared at her with resentment and disappointment,her fingers circling the heavy mourning ring round and round."If something happens to Gianna,I won't go on living either.Adriana,if you still refuse to take Gianna's punishment at the Moretti house,then don't call yourself a Castellano anymore.Don't consider me your mother."

If Salvatore's words were angry accusations,the Donna's were a sentence handed down before witnesses.

Anger,fear,despair,sorrow,all of it swirled inside Adriana at once.She trembled uncontrollably,feeling as if her heart was being crushed in a fist.

At that moment,Marco stepped forward.

He gently touched the red mark on her face,and the tenderness in his eyes almost made Adriana believe the world had rolled back to what it once was.

But his next words shattered her last shred of hope.

"Adriana,I'm begging you."His signet caught the light as his hand lingered against her cheek.

"If you're willing to take Gianna's punishment,I'll seal our pact the same day.I'll marry you immediately."

In that instant,Adriana understood that in the depths of extreme pain,a person can no longer even shed tears.

She looked around the room,at her so-called blood and the man bound to her by oath,and not a single one of them stood at her side.The silence that followed was the silence of omertclosing over a thing that would never be spoken of again,the truth of what they were to her sealed away where no one would ever have to look at it.

Then Adriana laughed softly."Alright.I agree to go to the Moretti Family and stand in for Gianna's punishment.Five days from now."

Perhaps her smile cut too deep,because Marco frowned and instinctively reached for her hand.

But before he could touch her,Adriana brushed his hand aside.

The gesture was light,yet it landed on his skin like a searing flame,and something twisted in his chest.

"Adriana..."

Adriana didn't look at him.Her gaze swept calmly across every face in the room,and she went on."But all of you will agree to one condition first."

Salvatore's brow knotted in displeasure,his thumb dragging once more over that knuckle."It's a small favor for your own sister,and you're sitting here making terms?Adriana,since when did you become this calculating?"

Adriana's lips curled into a faint smile.

"Don't worry,it's a very small request.You'll definitely agree,"Adriana said flatly.

Salvatore was about to retort,but the Donna silenced him with a look.

Her health had long been failing,yet the entire Castellano Family had risen from the bloodline her own parents built.Even now,every child of the house carried her name,not her husband's.So her word still landed heavier in that room than Vito Romano's ever could,married in as he was.

Looking at the daughter who had grown so unfamiliar to her,the Donna felt a pang of bitterness in her heart.Her thumb moved slow against the heavy mourning ring on her finger,turning it once,twice.

She drew a deep breath."As long as you're willing to go in Gianna's place,I'll give you whatever you ask for."

Hearing it,Adriana scoffed inside.So all these years,the family love she had so desperately sought had been nothing but a cruel joke.

She bit her lip,said nothing more,and quietly left the room.

Gianna had been successfully pulled back from the edge.

For a short while the room filled with sobs and soft words of comfort.

Even Romano,who carried himself with the cold composure of a man who'd clawed up from the streets,hurried to Gianna's bedroom the moment the last guests had been seen out,his face thick with concern for his beloved youngest.

When he crossed paths with Adriana at the corner of the hall,he did not spare her a single glance.

Caught off guard,Adriana lost her balance and fell to the floor.Her ankle swelled fast.

The night air off the estate grounds stung her skin,and she couldn't help but draw a sharp breath.

"Adriana,are you alright?"

Marco appeared in front of her without warning,reaching down to help her up.

As he leaned in,she caught the faint scent of gardenia on him.Gianna's perfume.

Gardenias had once been her favorite.Marco used to go out of his way to find her every kind of gardenia-themed gift.But not long after Gianna was brought into the Family,every one of those gifts had been broken under one excuse or another.

When Adriana had confronted her over it,Marco had stepped between them."Gianna didn't mean it.In the end they were just trinkets.If you like,I'll get you more."

She had believed him then.Nothing else ever came.

Instead,only weeks ago,Gianna had waved a bottle of gardenia perfume under her nose."Adriana,you're so useless.Your own blood doesn't want you,and now not even your betrothed wants you."

Adriana felt a pang in her chest and stepped back,forcing herself upright without Marco's hand.

His hand hung awkwardly in the air.His face soured."Adriana,I know you're upset about going to the Morettis in Gianna's place.But I've already promised to marry you.What more do you want?"

"Gianna is your sister.What's wrong with helping her?Do you have to be so small about it?"

The anger rose in her and she couldn't hold it down.Her voice turned sharp."Being forced to stand in as the scapegoat and take her punishment.Am I supposed to be grateful for that?"

Marco's voice climbed to meet hers."Gianna didn't do it on purpose.And besides,it's just a visit to the Moretti house.What's the big deal?"

"If it's no big deal,then why can't Gianna go herself?"Adriana shot back.

Marco fell silent,his face darkening.His thumb worried the Fontaine signet on his finger,around and around,the token of a pact made before either of them was grown."You're being unreasonable.There's no point talking to you."

In the end,Adriana went back to her room alone.

Calling it a room was generous.It was worse than where the help slept.

Against Gianna's bright,spacious princess suite,hers was a stark thing.A damp,lightless basement walled in bare cement,no windows.The bathroom sat so far off that every night she carried a flashlight and crossed a long,unlit corridor just to relieve herself,nerves drawn tight the whole way.

Because her swollen ankle hurt so much,Adriana walked slowly all the way back to the narrow cot in the basement,the floor above her head creaking with the footsteps of men who never came down here,and only then did she finally wipe away all the tears from her face.

In the dim light,Adriana carefully packed up everything in her room.

When she was done,she realized just how little she owned:a few pieces of clothing,a handful of books,a bloodline portrait,and a necklace.

The portrait was taken before Gianna came to live with the Family.Her parents had brought her and Salvatore out to a field of sunflowers,far from the estate's iron gates,for the photo.In it,Adriana's small figure nestled in her mother's arms,her tiny hands tightly wrapped around the Donna's neck,radiating deep attachment.

Her father,the man who had married into the Castellano name and never owned it,stood to the side with his usual stern expression.Salvatore,however,smiled with arched brows,posing like a knight protecting her.His right hand,half-hidden,was cheekily tugging at the corner of her dress.

It was the only thing Adriana had taken with her when she was banished to the distant outpost.

For years,this portrait had been her token,the proof she clung to in order to convince herself that her parents and her brother still loved her.Someday,they would be a happy famiglia again,just like in that picture.

But now,that dream was utterly shattered.

Adriana took the portrait out of its frame,ripped it into tiny pieces,and tossed them into the trash.

As for the necklace,it was a gift from Marco.A small,unremarkable trinket from a market stall in some forgotten village.The pearl had long since faded,and the chain was tarnished and dull.Yet Adriana had treasured it like a precious heirloom.

She held onto it because when Marco gave it to her,he had declared with unwavering conviction,"This is our pact token.Adriana,wait for me.I promise to make you the happiest bride in the world!"

Perhaps because the necklace was so old and cheap,it was the only thing that Gianna hadn't bothered to destroy.But now,Adriana didn't want it anymore.

She slipped the necklace into her pocket,thinking that no matter how worthless it was,it was still a gift from Marco.Since she didn't want it anymore,she should at least return it to him before she left.

With that thought in mind,Adriana fell into a restless sleep.

When she woke up,Salvatore's furious face was looming over her."Adriana,you did this on purpose,didn't you?"

Her leg had throbbed all night,leaving her with a splitting headache.She had no energy to deal with him.

Her silence only fueled Salvatore's anger.He grabbed her and dragged her out of bed,hauling her up the stairs and all the way to the dining hall.

Once he roughly threw her to the floor,he shouted again,"Look at what you've done!"

Adriana glanced at the empty dining table,the long mahogany expanse where the Family took its meals,utterly baffled as to what he was so enraged about.

Just then,Gianna walked in wearing a pretty princess dress,covering her mouth in mock surprise."Sis,why didn't you make breakfast for us?"

Ah,so that was it.Adriana thought.

In the past,Adriana had bent over backward to earn her place in the Castellano household.She had carefully studied everyone's preferences,waking three hours before dawn every morning to prepare breakfast for them.

But today,she hadn't done it.

Gianna pouted,pretending to be upset,her fingers brushing her collarbone a beat too soon."But I love the breakfast that sister makes the most."

While comforting Gianna,Salvatore turned his fury back on Adriana."You know perfectly well that Gianna loves the breakfast you make,yet you deliberately didn't cook today.How could you be so cruel?"

So it was all about breakfast.Something entirely inconsequential to anyone in this house,anyone who held a name and a seat at that table.

Adriana couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh?But in five days,no,four now,I'll be handed over to the Morettis to settle the Family's debt in blood.Will you drag me back from there just to cook your breakfast?"Adriana said,her voice flat as the underworld's coldest pact.

At that instant,the dining hall fell into a sudden,oppressive silence.Even the help froze near the sideboard,eyes lowered,hands folding into aprons as if to bury what they'd heard.

After a moment,it was Gianna who broke the quiet,her voice trembling as she sniffled."Sis,you're not skipping breakfast because of the Moretti thing,are you?If that's the case,then I'll go and take the punishment instead!"Her fingers fluttered to her collarbone,a touch of wounded innocence delivered a beat too soon,before the room had even decided to blame anyone.

With that,she turned to run for the door.

Salvatore caught her,pulling her into a comforting embrace."If someone has to die under the Moretti roof,it should be Adriana.How could it ever be you?"

The moment the words left his mouth,Salvatore froze,stunned at his own cruelty.His thumb worried at his right knuckle,the hand that had once shaken on a promise to his sister.

She's my blood too,he muttered inwardly.

Instantly,Adriana's eyes turned ice-cold,as if looking at a sworn enemy."Salvatore,I will never waste another ounce of emotion on someone as vile as you for the rest of my life."

Her words shattered the fleeting guilt in Salvatore's heart.His face twisted in anger."Fine.Adriana,you're really something."

He grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into the storage room off the kitchen,slamming the heavy door shut.

Before locking it,Salvatore spat out his final words,his voice trembling with rage."Adriana,you can stay there until you come to your senses and agree to make breakfast.If not,then rot in there for all I care."

With that,he turned and left,taking Gianna with him.Before going,he gave the household staff their orders in the clipped tone of a made man who expected obedience."Don't let her out until she admits she was wrong and cooks breakfast."

What Salvatore didn't know was that Adriana was already running a high fever.

Her sprained ankle,untreated from the night before,had swollen grotesquely.On top of that,her skin had scraped against the rough floor as she was dragged,leaving raw,bleeding wounds.

The searing pain on her scalp from having her hair yanked was now the least of her worries.

At first,Adriana banged on the door and screamed for help.But before long,her strength gave out,and she collapsed unconscious.

The household staff,following orders,ignored her silence.The door stayed shut.In a house ruled by omert,even the help knew that hearing nothing was the safest thing to hear.

It wasn't until the Donna casually asked after her that the truth came to light.

Since losing her youngest heir,the Donna had suffered from chronic headaches,which had only worsened over the years.But things had slightly improved after Adriana returned from her ten years of exile in the remote outpost.

Although Adriana stayed cautious and distant within the Castellano estate,the Donna had noticed her daughter often stealing glances at her.

When Adriana discovered her mother's headaches,she began secretly learning massage techniques during her spare hours.Without anyone to teach her,she studied what tutorials she could find on her own.

She filled four or five notebooks with detailed notes and practiced late into the night for two months straight.

To make certain her skills would work,she tested the techniques on herself again and again before shyly offering that she might ease her mother's pain.

Looking at the daughter she had barely raised,the Donna couldn't bring herself to refuse,and reluctantly agreed.

By sheer luck,Adriana's massages actually eased her mother's headaches.

When she saw her mother's furrowed brow relax,Adriana's joy was beyond words.

From that day on,she faithfully tended to her mother every evening.

But two days had passed without Adriana appearing.

Suspicious,the Donna turned the heavy mourning ring slowly on her finger,then sent someone to find her.

They found Adriana locked in the storage room,her entire body burning with fever.By the time they carried her out,her breathing was faint and uneven,as if she were clinging to life by a thread.

Seeing Adriana lying lifelessly on the floor of the storage room,curled up and pale,the Donna felt fear for the first time.She immediately ordered the household staff to carry her to the Family's private physician.

Thankfully,due to the timely intervention,Adriana's fever subsided.

When Salvatore was summoned to the infirmary,he was startled to the core.He never imagined things would escalate to this extent.Even now,he couldn't quite understand why he had been so furious at the time.

Yet,when he saw the look of resentment on Adriana's face,a chill had run down his spine.His thumb dragged once across his right knuckle,the hand that had once shaken on a promise to her,and he stilled it before anyone could notice.

'She's my sister.How could she look at me like I'm her sworn enemy?'he thought.

Adriana,who had always been meek and eager to please him,circling around him like a lapdog,suddenly declared,"I will never waste another ounce of emotion on a piece of garbage like you,for anything,ever again."

'What gave her the right to say that?'he internally muttered.

The Donna harshly reprimanded Salvatore,her voice low and cutting in the way only a woman who held the bloodline and the name could manage.

Gianna hurried forward,tearfully defending her brother."Big Brother didn't mean it.Besides,it was Sis who made him angry first."Her fingers brushed her collarbone,a small wounded touch,a beat too quick.

"She was upset about being promised to the Morettis and took it out on Big Brother.He's been so distressed these past two days he hasn't even eaten properly."

"Mamma,please don't scold him anymore.If Sis still won't forgive Big Brother,let her take it out on me instead.She can hit me or yell at me.I'll take it."

As she spoke,Gianna began to sob pitifully.

The Donna immediately embraced her younger daughter."Alright,alright.Adriana isn't the type to hold grudges.She'll be fine in a couple of days."Her hand drifted to the heavy mourning ring on her finger,turning it in slow,unconscious circles.

No one noticed that Adriana,lying on the infirmary cot,had already opened her eyes.She watched the scene before her with icy indifference.

The next day,the physician released her.

Although he had advised her to rest two more days,the following day was the Moretti Family's final deadline.There was no negotiating a deadline set by a Family that strong.

The Donna arranged her release.Initially,she planned to collect Adriana herself,but as she was about to leave,Gianna clung to her arm.

"Mamma,you promised to take me to have my gown fitted today.Don't tell me you've forgotten?"Gianna pouted.

"But I also promised Adriana I'd come for her today,"the Donna hesitated.

Knowing Adriana would be handed over to the Morettis the next day,the Donna felt a twinge of guilt.

"But this gown is being made by a designer I worked so hard to find..."Gianna's eyes turned red as she continued,"You always kept your promises to me before.Is it because Sis is back that I've become less important to you?"

"If that's the case,then I'll just go.After all,Sis tried to leave me in the woods back then."Her fingertips touched her collarbone again,quick and practiced.

At the mention of the past,the Donna's expression darkened.She turned the mourning ring once more,then told the driver to collect Adriana later and left with Gianna on her arm.

The Family's driver was a shrewd man who had long read where Adriana stood in the household,which was to say nowhere.After a subtle word from Gianna,he never bothered to drive out that afternoon.

Adriana waited at the infirmary gate for three hours.Finally,with a bitter smile,she muttered to herself in self-mockery,"As expected."

She had already known this would happen.After all,tomorrow she would be delivered to the Morettis,never to return.

As she was about to flag down a cab,a car pulled up in front of her.

Marco stepped out from the driver's seat.When he saw Adriana,he barely recognized her.

In just three days,how had Adriana become so frail?

"Adriana,what happened?Why are you coming out of the infirmary?No wonder I couldn't find you at the Castellano estate,"he said,his voice filled with worry.His thumb turned the Fontaine signet on his finger,around and around.

"Do you know how scared I was when I couldn't find you?I nearly put men on every road in the territory."

Through the car window,Adriana noticed a cake box sitting on the passenger seat.

It was vanilla-flavored,Gianna's favorite.

She had heard that cakes from that bakery needed to be ordered a week ahead,the kind of place that turned scarcity into a price.Once,Adriana had paused outside its window,admiring the work behind the glass.

But Marco had dismissed her interest then,saying,"There's nothing special about that bakery.They just use the waiting list as a hook to reel people in.If you want cake,I'll take you to the shop next door.They've got plenty ready."

In the end,Adriana hadn't bought any cake at all.

Now,she realized that while the bakery might not have been special,people certainly could be.

She wasn't special enough.Not even for a simple cake.

"Adriana,Adriana?"

When she didn't respond,Marco frowned,impatient."If I came looking for you,it means I've already forgiven you for last time.You should know when to back down."

Seeing that she still wasn't responding,he reached over and pulled her into the car.His expression stayed sour.

Since their last bad parting,he had been waiting for her to lower her head and apologize.That was what Adriana always did,after all.But this time three days had passed without so much as a call or a word.

An unexplainable unease crept over him,as though something precious was slipping out of his grasp.The signet ring of the Fontaine alliance sat heavy on his finger,and without meaning to,he turned it.

He had gone to the Castellano estate,needing to see her in person,convinced her presence would quiet the alarm he couldn't name.

Yet she hadn't been there,and even the household staff claimed they didn't know where she had gone,eyes lowered the way the help always lowered them when the truth was inconvenient.

So he had driven through every street the territory allowed him until he finally spotted her outside the hospital.

Now,glancing at her in the rearview mirror,he felt some of it ease.As long as Adriana was within arm's reach,the bells in his mind seemed to quiet.

But during the drive,Adriana remained silent,not a single word.

That had been impossible,before.

The unease surged again.Marco hit the brakes hard,stopping the car in the middle of the road.

The route up to the Castellano villa was usually empty,but Adriana was startled.She instinctively grabbed his sleeve.

Seeing her still clinging to him,his panic melted into satisfaction.

But he masked it,keeping his tone distant and commanding."Since you know you were wrong,you should give that account to Gianna."

Adriana understood at once why Marco had come looking for her.

Since childhood,Adriana had loved the work of her hands.Even after she was banished to that remote outpost,where there was no money for instruction or proper supplies,she practiced every day with nothing but a pencil.

To keep herself going,she had built a name no Family knew belonged to her."Rosa,"she signed it,and through that name she let her work move quietly through the underworld's finest circles.

Her technique and her style drew a following fast,until even the legendary Maestro Vesari sent word for her.

The Maestro was a towering figure,the most respected mentor of forgers and artisans alive,and his summons was as good as a declaration that he meant to take her as his last protg.

But before Adriana could even answer him,Gianna wept and said she wanted to train under the Maestro too.

Of course,a man like Vesari would not take just anyone.

The Castellanos had moved a fortune through every channel they owned,laundered favors and quiet envelopes alike,and still the old man would not bend.At first Adriana assumed Gianna would let it go.Instead Gianna made a move she hadn't seen coming.She turned Marco into her messenger.

And Marco kept talking,the way men talk when another's pain has stopped mattering to them."Look,your account's anonymous.You hand it to Gianna,and Maestro Vesari takes her on.No question."

"Gianna has the gift.She trains under Vesari,she'll be a name the whole circle whispers one day."

There was a pride in his face he didn't even know he was wearing,the signet ring of the Fontaine alliance catching the dashboard light as his fingers worked it slow against his thumb.Adriana watched it turn and couldn't stop herself."And what about me?"

Vesari hadn't summoned a single protgin decades.This was the one door that would ever open to her.Miss it,and there would be no other.

"You?"Marco looked at her,genuinely confused."I already gave my word to marry you.You'll be my wife.What more is there to want?"

She felt as though she'd heard the funniest joke of her life.A short,bitter sound left her."Impossible."

The flatness of it made him still."What did you say?"

"I won't give my account to Gianna,"she said again.

He looked into her eyes,and what he saw there,something close to hatred,lit an anger in him he couldn't account for."Adriana,let me make this clear.I know every password you've got.The'Rosa'account included.So whether you like it or not,you'll hand it over."

There had been a time when nothing stood hidden between them,not even the keys to the name the underworld coveted.Now that old closeness drove into her chest like a thorn worked deep,the intimacy itself turned weapon.

Furious,Marco pulled the car onto the shoulder and shoved her out into the dark without warning.

"Go think about what you've done,"he snarled.

He left her there on the remote mountain road.Then he ground her phone under his heel against the gravel until it cracked apart,severing her last means of reaching anyone.

There was no one for miles,no car to flag down.She had no choice but to drag her injured leg and run for the Castellano estate.

She had to change the"Rosa"password before Marco could.

But in the blackness the pain was so vicious she could barely stay upright.A few steps and she went down onto the ground.

Her body screamed at her.She ignored it and forced herself forward.

How long she crawled,she couldn't say.When she finally had nothing left,she reached the gates of the estate just as the dawn broke gray over the wall.

It was already too late.

The household staff were trading the news in excited murmurs,how the young miss of the Family had been formally taken on by Maestro Vesari himself,how the Castellanos would soon claim an artisan the whole circle bowed to.One of them,sensing something,lowered her eyes and folded her hands into her apron.

Adriana snatched a phone from one of them and saw it.Last night Gianna had logged into the"Rosa"account and posted a video thanking Vesari.

The followers were cheering,praising Gianna's gift,praising her face,tagging the Maestro and begging him to make her his final protg.

And ten minutes ago,Vesari had posted the formal summons accepting her.

Adriana felt her heart shatter into countless pieces,beyond repair.

Salvatore was the first to find her,collapsed on the stone,sobbing in a way she couldn't control.He looked away.He couldn't meet her eyes.His thumb dragged over his right knuckle,the hand that had once shaken on a promise to her.

Then the Donna came.

She had meant to scold Adriana for vanishing the whole night.But the sight of that pale,ruined face stopped the words in her throat.

Adriana looked at the two of them and asked,her voice trembling,"You both knew Gianna was using my account.Didn't you?"

Neither the Donna nor Salvatore spoke.Their faces had gone stiff and wrong.

Adriana wiped the tears away and limped toward her room.On the way the Donna reached out as if to steady her.Adriana drew aside from the touch,quiet,deliberate.

There had been a time being near the Donna would have been enough to make her happy.

Salvatore's brow knotted.He started to say something.The Donna stopped him.

They watched in silence as Adriana packed what she owned.

Only then did they see how little there was.So little it was a shock to look at.

A wave of sorrow swept over the Donna's heart.Her fingers found the heavy mourning ring and turned it,slow,unconscious circles.

Salvatore grabbed for the suitcase,his voice gone awkward."Why are you taking these old rags?When you come back,I'll get you new things."

"Let go."Her voice was so cold he actually released it.

When the packing was done,Adriana took out two documents and held one toward the Donna.

"This is the renunciation,"she said,the words flat and even."After I leave the Family,I cut my ties to you.I no longer carry the Castellano name.Sign it."

The Donna's face went white in an instant.By reflex she refused.

Salvatore stormed over."Adriana,what is this?It was a small thing,a favor for your sister.Do you have to take it this far?"

"If you don't sign,I won't go to the Morettis.And I imagine"she let the word trail,something acid threading under it,"the Moretti car is already waiting outside the gate.Isn't it?"

That was when Gianna appeared from somewhere,throwing herself into the Donna's arms,weeping."Mamma,how can you stand to send me to the Morettis to answer for this?"Her hand fluttered to her collarbone,the small wounded gesture coming a beat too fast.

Vito Romano walked in then,his face cold.He took the renunciation from Adriana's hand and signed it without a moment's hesitation.

"We ask you for one favor for your sister,and you make this kind of scene over nothing."He cracked the knuckles of one hand slow against his palm,the sound from his street days that no tailoring had ever ironed out."I never did think you deserved to carry the Castellano name."

Adriana held out the second document at once."This is my annulment of the blood-alliance pact with the Fontaines.Give it to Marco,with the pact token."

This time Gianna took it eagerly."Don't worry,Sis.I'll make sure it reaches Marco."

Adriana drew her hand back,took up her luggage,and walked out without a backward glance.

As she got into the Moretti car,she looked at the Castellano estate one last time.

Live or die,she would never come back to them.