Chapter 3

I had followed Cassius, parking my car in the shadows of the Moretti family's old estate.

This place belonged strictly to Cassius. His private sanctuary.

I tapped the surveillance app.

I had planted the bug on his phone the day I found those ambiguous texts between him and Selena.

"Cass!" Selena's sickeningly sweet whine poured through the speaker.

I tilted my head back, my eyes locking onto the massive floor-to-ceiling window.

A slender silhouette in a black lace slip slithered up the man, wrapping her arms around his neck like a parasitic vine.

"You hired the premier designer in Europe to put on that fireworks show for her," Selena pouted. "Half the damn sky was lit up."

"Don't be greedy, my little scavenger," Cassius's low, gravelly chuckle crackled through the speaker.

"Next month, a yacht bearing your name will be docked in Monaco. And as for our child…"

He paused. "Every drop of blood, every square inch of territory in the Moretti empire… will be his one day."

"Really? But what if Evelyn finds out—"

"She never will." Cassius cut her off, his tone snapping from tender to brutally cold. "As long as you keep your mouth shut, I'll make sure she believes she's the only woman in my life. Outside of me, she has absolutely nothing in this world."

My fingers dug into the steering wheel so hard my knuckles turned a sickly, bone-white.

Two years ago. I remembered sitting with the medical report that diagnosed me as severely infertile. I fought back tears and slid my wedding ring across the table to Cassius.

"Let's get a divorce, Cassius. You're the Don of an entire Mafia family. You need an heir."

That was the first and only time I ever saw the man shed a tear.

He had ripped that diagnosis to shreds like a madman. "I am never divorcing you. I only want children with you! If they don't carry your blood, I'd rather the Moretti bloodline drop dead and rot in my generation!"

That single, scalding tear hitting the back of my hand was what made me willingly abandon my career, chaining myself to this blood-soaked Mafia estate by his side.

And yet, right now, he was pressing another woman against the glass.

I bit my trembling lower lip hard enough to taste copper. This five-year marriage was rotted to the absolute core.

Heavier, wetter breaths panted through the speaker.

Up in the window, the two intertwined silhouettes slammed hard against the one-way glass. Selena was pinned flush against the pane. The sickening, wet slap of flesh meeting flesh and her high-pitched, shuddering moans bled together through the wiretap.

I tapped the screen, severing the connection, and forced myself to breathe.

Just three days. I would be free.

4:00 AM. The main Moretti estate.

I pushed open the door to the master bedroom.

The room looked like a war zone.

Cassius was staring holes into the rug with bloodshot eyes—a cornered, rabid beast.

The second his eyes registered me, the sheer desperation in them mutated into a sick, obsessive frenzy.

He lunged, crashing me into his chest.

His arms locked around me like steel cables, crushing my ribs until I gasped.

"Where the hell were you?! I went back to the banquet and you were gone! You weren't home, the guards didn't see you! I swear to God, I almost burned the West District to the ground looking for you!"

He was terrified. A Mafia Don who had just finished screwing his mistress was now clinging to his wife, shaking like a lunatic who thought he had lost his most prized possession.

"I was exhausted. I fell asleep in the car in the garage," I lied. "My phone died."

His red-rimmed eyes seared into mine. "Don't ever abandon me, Eve. If you disappear, I'll lose my fucking mind. I will flip this entire world upside down to hunt you down. I'll chain you to my side if I have to. You are never leaving me."

Such touching devotion.

I stared at him with dead calm and forced a smile.

In three days, you could tear apart purgatory and still never find a trace of me.

I pulled away, walking to the vanity. Pulling open the drawer, I retrieved a flat, black velvet box.

"My anniversary gift to you." I handed it over. "But you have to promise me you won't open it for three days. Something this meaningful requires the perfect timing."

The savagery in Cassius's eyes dissolved completely. He locked it away in his study's safe like some precious treasure.

Inside lay the divorce papers I had signed, along with the family crest that marked Donna's status.

Three days later, when he finally discovered what was truly inside, I had already escaped his world for good.

The next morning, I was seated at the far end of the dining table, stirring my black coffee.

Selena sauntered into the room.

"Good morning, Mother."

My gaze dragged up from my cup to land on her.

She wasn't wearing her own clothes today.

Instead, she was draped in a men's dress shirt. Three buttons had been intentionally left undone, exposing an expanse of pale skin to the chilled air. And right there, blooming starkly against her left collarbone, was a fresh, vicious purple hickey.

Nobody recognized that shirt better than I did.

Last year, for Cassius's birthday, I had flown all the way to Milan and hired a master tailor to custom-make it exclusively for him.

"I couldn't find my clothes this morning, so I just grabbed something random from the closet." Selena rested her chin on her hand, her eyes sharply hunting my face for a reaction. "You don't mind, do you?"

Right on cue, Cassius strode into the dining room.

He was casually adjusting his silk tie, completely composed—until his eyes landed on Selena.

His pupils snapped down to pinpricks. An absolute, unfiltered terror instantly crawled across his face.

He lunged forward, grabbing Selena by the wrist.

"Sorry, Eve. There's a matter of family business I need to discuss with her immediately."

I didn't blink. I simply watched them disappear down the hallway, listening as the door of his second-floor study slammed shut with a muffled boom.

I pulled out my phone and tapped the wiretap app.