ella

movement in the room was the flicker of the fireplace, casting long, distorted shadows across the mahogany walls. Shards of Dante's shatte

ture of absolute shock and a violent, brewing rage. But I didn't

a deliberate, calculated insult-and faced t

and unforgiving as a thundercloud. I dipped into a shallow, p

ivered. The alliance was sealed in the eyes of the Commission. What happens here tonight is not just an insult to me,

opped like an anvil. In

ating the cost of a war with my family. Behind me, I heard Julian draw a sharp, ragged breath, the color draining from his face as

. The Mafia Queen's face was a mask of strained, artificial sorrow. Sh

a sickeningly sweet poison. "You are, and always will be

e cast a look of utter revulsion at Sof

ter to dirt beneath her expensive heels. "She can be kept. A man has needs. But

oming the Underboss's wife was violently crushed into the shameful reality of a hidden whore

ing me to bow my head, swallow my pride, and acce

free from hers and took

and," I stated, my voice echoing in the

mask of pure fury, but I was a

ldez bride was promised, and a Valdez bride is here. The wedding feast is o

ore I shifted my gaze. Past Julian's pale face. Past Elvina's t

aning against the wood, bu

ow nod, then looked dead

words sealing my fate and igniting a match in a room full of gasoline

let out a sound that was half-snarl, half-di

aw tightened, his dark eyes widening in profound, absolute shock as he realized the qu