Chapter 5 No.5

Isobel Stout POV

The darkness of the cellar was a living thing, pressing against my skin like a damp shroud. Arlene drifted in and out of consciousness beside me, her breathing ragged and wet. I held her hand, my thumb tracing the rough calluses on her palm, drawing strength from the only person who had ever loved me without condition.

"Isobel?"

The voice slithered through the iron grate of the door, sweet as rot. Janiyah.

I didn't answer. I just stared at the sliver of light cutting through the gloom.

"I thought you should know," Janiyah continued, her tone light, as if sharing gossip over tea. "I heard from a friend in Chicago. It seems the Outfit is celebrating. Damien Flynn is finalizing a match with the Campos family. A proper Italian girl. Virgin, obedient, and most importantly... not a traitor's daughter."

My heart stuttered. *A lie.* It had to be. But the insidious whisper of doubt curled in my chest. Damien was a Don. He needed alliances, power, a legacy. What was I to him? A night of stolen pleasure? A mistake?

"He laughed when they mentioned you," she added, the venom dripping freely now. "Said you were just a desperate little thing he toyed with to insult your father."

Before the pain could fully shatter me, the heavy bolts of the door groaned. The metal shrieked as it swung open, revealing Elroy. He didn't look like my father anymore. He looked like a man possessed by the devil of his own pride.

He stormed in, the stench of expensive cologne clashing with the mildew of our prison. He didn't ask questions this time. He grabbed a handful of my hair, yanking my head back until my neck strained.

"Janiyah tells me you're still mute," he snarled, his face inches from mine. "You think your silence is noble? It's just delaying the inevitable."

"I have nothing to say to you," I spat, the fear in my gut hardening into cold hate.

Elroy's hand connected with my cheek, a sharp crack that echoed off the stone walls. My head snapped to the side, the taste of copper filling my mouth.

"Keep your secrets," he said, releasing me with a shove that sent me sprawling onto the dirty floor. He looked down at my stomach with undisguised disgust. "If you won't give me a name, I'll erase the problem myself. Tonight, we scrub this stain from our history."

He turned on his heel and marched out, the heavy door slamming shut like a coffin lid.

*

Hours bled into one another until the air grew colder, signaling the deep of night.

When the lock turned again, it wasn't a guard.

A mountain of a man stepped into the cellar, ducking his head to clear the frame. Hugo Stokes. My father's lead Enforcer. He was a legend in the worst way-a man who had carved his reputation out of bone and gristle. His eyes were dead things, void of any light, and a jagged scar ran from his temple to his jaw, a souvenir from a job that had gone messy.

Behind him scurried a small, nervous man clutching a battered medical bag. The smell of antiseptic and fear wafted off him.

"No," Arlene rasped. She tried to push herself up, her broken body trembling. "You can't... she's his daughter..."

Hugo didn't even look at her. He simply extended one massive arm and shoved her back. Arlene hit the stone wall with a sickening thud and slumped over, groaning.

"Don't touch her!" I screamed, scrambling backward until my spine hit the cold, damp corner of the room.

"Boss wants it done clean," Hugo grunted, his voice like gravel grinding together. He nodded to the doctor. "Set up."

The doctor began unpacking metal instruments onto a cloth on the floor-speculums, curettes, things that gleamed with a terrifying promise of pain.

Panic, wild and primal, clawed at my throat. They were going to kill my baby. They were going to rip the only piece of Damien I had left out of me.

Hugo stepped toward me, his shadow swallowing the dim light. "Make it easy on yourself, girl. Don't fight."

I looked at the instruments, then at Hugo's impassive face. Begging Elroy hadn't worked. Crying wouldn't work. In this world, only one thing mattered. Power.

I placed a protective hand over my womb and stood up, forcing my trembling legs to hold my weight. I met the Enforcer's dead eyes.

"If you touch me," I said, my voice shaking but loud enough to fill the small space, "you sign your own death warrant."

Hugo paused, a flicker of amusement crossing his face. "Is that so?"

"This isn't just a bastard you're killing, Hugo," I said, the words tasting like ash and iron. "The blood in my veins belongs to the Stout family, yes. But the blood in this child?"

I took a breath, summoning the image of the man who had set my soul on fire, the man whose name was feared across three states.

"This baby is the heir to the Chicago Outfit. It belongs to Damien Flynn."

The silence that followed was absolute. The doctor dropped a metal clamp; it clattered loudly against the stone.

Hugo didn't move. For the first time, the deadness in his eyes cracked, replaced by a flash of calculation-and perhaps, a sliver of fear. Killing a Capo's disgraced daughter was one thing. Murdering the unborn child of a rival Don, the most dangerous man in the Midwest, was an act of war that would burn the Stout family to the ground.

"You're lying," Hugo said, but he didn't step closer.

"Am I?" I tilted my chin up, channeling every ounce of defiance I had left. "Kill it and find out. But when Flynn comes for his blood-and he will-make sure you tell him it was you who held the knife."