Chapter 3

Aliana POV

The headache began behind my eyes, a dull, rhythmic throb that refused to subside.

At first, I dismissed it as stress.

I blamed the suffocating atmosphere of this house, the weight of the walls closing in.

But then came the fatigue.

It wasn't just tiredness; it felt like lead had been poured into my veins.

I was a surgeon. I knew the exhaustion of thirty-hour shifts and the hollow ache of an adrenaline crash.

This was different.

This was pathology. This felt chemical.

I sat in the garden, staring down into the porcelain cup my mother had insisted I drink.

Earl Grey.

My favorite.

But the steam rising from it carried the wrong notes.

Metallic.

Bitter.

When I was sure I was unobserved, I poured it into the rosebush.

I watched the dark liquid sink into the thirsty soil, a silent accusation.

A servant walked by-an older woman named Maria, who had known me since I was a child.

She glanced at the empty cup, then at me.

Her eyes didn't just widen; they filled with a terrified understanding.

She looked away quickly, her head bowing low as she hurried past.

Why was she afraid?

Unless she knew what I was supposed to be drinking.

I went back to my room.

My sanctuary.

Or so I thought.

I was changing my dress when a flash of movement caught my eye in the mirror.

A tiny, unnatural glint of light beneath the vanity table.

I knelt down.

My fingers brushed against cool plastic. It was a small black disc.

A listening device.

My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic bird trapped in a cage.

I wasn't a guest here.

I was a prisoner.

And I was being watched.

I stood up slowly, forcing my breathing to even out.

I forced my face to remain neutral, a mask of calm.

If they were watching, I couldn't let them know I knew.

I finished changing and walked out of the room.

I needed answers.

And I knew exactly where to find them.

The archives were in the basement, secured behind a reinforced steel door.

But I knew the code.

My father was a creature of habit and arrogance. He never changed his passwords.

It was always the date he became Don.

I waited until the house settled into silence.

I waited until the heavy, rhythmic snoring of my father echoed from the master suite like the growl of a sleeping beast.

I slipped down the back stairs, my bare feet silent on the cold marble.

The keypad beeped softly.

The door clicked open.

The smell of old paper and dust hit me, thick with the scent of secrets.

Rows of filing cabinets lined the walls.

This was the family history.

The blood ledger.

But I didn't care about the sins of the past.

I cared about the present.

I went to the financial records first.

I pulled the files for the last six months.

The numbers were complex, a deliberately tangled web of shell companies and offshore accounts.

But my mind, trained to find anomalies in human anatomy, saw the pattern in the ledger.

Huge sums of money were being transferred out of my trust fund.

My inheritance.

It was being funneled into a company listed as "K&L Holdings."

Who was K&L?

I kept digging, my fingers flying through the folders.

I found a personnel file in a mislabeled box.

It was thin.

The name on the tab was Kiera Reese.

I opened it.

There was a background check. A list of payments.

She was on the payroll.

"Consultant."

And then, a photo slipped out.

It was a candid shot, taken from a distance with a telephoto lens.

Kiera was holding a toddler.

The boy was laughing.

I froze.

The air left my lungs.

I knew that face.

I had seen that face in the mirror every day for the last two days.

The sharp jaw.

The hooded eyes.

The cruel set of the mouth.

The child was a miniature replica of Ivan.

The room spun.

I grabbed the edge of the shelf to steady myself as nausea rolled over me.

K&L.

Kiera and Leo.

It wasn't just a mistress.

It was a second family.

Ivan had a son.

And my parents... they had to know.

My father's signature was on the payroll checks.

He was financing Ivan's mistress while selling his own daughter to the man.

The betrayal was a physical blow, sharper than a scalpel.

It wasn't just business.

It was a complete erasure of my existence.

I heard a noise in the hallway.

Footsteps.

I shoved the photo and the file into my waistband, hiding them under the loose fabric of my sweater.

I closed the drawer.

I pressed myself into the shadows behind a stack of boxes, holding my breath.

The door opened.

A beam of light swept the room, cutting through the dust motes.

It was James.

My father's oldest bodyguard.

The man who had taught me how to ride a bike when my father was too busy.

He walked into the room, his gun drawn.

"Who is there?" he whispered, his voice tight.

I stepped out.

"It's me, James," I said softly.

He lowered the gun, but his grip remained tight.

"Miss Aliana," he said.

His face was lined with worry, deep grooves etched by years of service.

"You shouldn't be here. It's dangerous."

"I know," I said.

I pulled out the photo.

I showed it to him.

"Did you know?" I asked.

James looked at the photo.

He stared at the child's face, and I saw the recognition flicker in his eyes.

He looked away.

He couldn't meet my gaze.

"The Don... he does what is necessary for the family."

"Is that what this is?" I asked.

My voice broke, fracturing under the weight of the truth.

"Is poisoning me necessary?"

"Is selling me to a man who has a child with another woman necessary?"

James flinched as if I had struck him.

He knew about the poison.

God, he knew.

He looked at the photo again, at the undeniable proof of dishonor.

He reached into his pocket.

He pulled out a small, tarnished silver pin.

It was the Donovan crest.

But it was the old one.

From before my father took over.

From when honor was more than just a word used to justify greed.

"Take this," he whispered.

He pressed it into my hand, his calloused palm rough against my skin.

"There are still some of us who remember the old code."

"Omertà isn't just silence, Aliana."

"It's loyalty."

"And loyalty goes both ways."

He stepped back, holstering his weapon.

"Go back to your room."

"I didn't see you."

I ran.

I ran up the stairs, my lungs burning, my heart pounding a rhythm of survival.

I got to my room and locked the door.

I collapsed on the bed.

I pulled the photo out again.

I looked at Kiera's smug face.

I looked at the innocent boy.

And then I looked at myself in the mirror.

My skin was pale.

My eyes were dark with exhaustion and the remnants of poison.

But beneath the fatigue, something new was kindling.

I wasn't going to die here.

I wasn't going to let them erase me.

I wiped the tears from my face, smearing them away with a fierce hand.

They wanted a victim.

They wanted a compliant wife.

They were going to get a war.