Chapter 1 1

Isabella POV

I jolted upright, gasping for air. The heavy silk sheets of the Franco Estate clung to my fever-drenched skin. I pressed a trembling hand to my chest, expecting to feel the crushed ribs and shattered glass from the car crash.

Nothing. Only the steady, frantic beating of my own heart.

I looked around the cavernous, unfamiliar bedroom. The dark French furniture, the balcony overlooking the gray expanse of Lake Michigan. This wasn't Washington D.C. This was Chicago. 1928.

The fever had finally broken, leaving behind a flood of memories so vivid they tasted like blood and ash. A past life. A life where my stepmother, Catherine, had played God in the Rowland family parlor. In that life, she had handed me to Harrison Davies, the golden-boy politician, and thrown her own flesh and blood, Clara, to the wolves-to Damien Franco, the untamed heir of the Chicago Outfit.

I closed my eyes, the phantom flashbulbs of my grand wedding at Trinity Church blinding me. It had been a spectacle of champagne and lies. Clara's wedding, by contrast, had been a grim affair at the Cook County Courthouse, witnessed only by a judge on the payroll and stone-faced *Soldiers* reeking of cigar smoke and gunsmoke.

I had spent years bleeding my soul dry to build Harrison's empire, turning him into a senator. I thought I held power in Washington. But Clara had learned the truth: Washington was nothing but a den of whispering rats.

While I played the perfect political wife, Damien Franco had been fighting a bloody *Vendetta* against the Mendoza family in the narrow streets and speakeasies of the West Side. He spent his nights at The Green Mill with his mistresses, letting the city think he was a madman. But when he finally emerged victorious, he didn't just claim the title of *Don*-he crowned Clara his *Mafia Queen*.

And then, Damien had turned his sights on us. With a few untraceable ledgers and a whisper to the FBI, he dismantled Harrison's entire political career. He proved that the law was just a weapon for the strongest predator. My life had ended in disgrace and twisted metal, a pathetic pawn sacrificed on a board I didn't even know I was playing on.

I looked down at the heavy gold wedding band on my left hand.

This time, the script was flipped.

Catherine had decided to keep the "clean" politician for Clara and throw me to the monster. She thought she was condemning me to a living hell. She had no idea she had just handed me the keys to the only kingdom that mattered.

Damien Franco was a ruthless, cold-blooded killer who had barely looked at me since he slipped this ring on my finger. To him, I was a forced bargain, a shackle imposed by his family to legitimize their blood money.

Let him ignore me. I didn't need his affection. I needed his name.

I threw off the damp covers and walked toward the vanity mirror. The woman staring back at me was pale, but her eyes were no longer those of a naive girl desperate for her family's approval. They were the eyes of a survivor.

It had been three days since the wedding, and I had spent most of them burning in this feverish purgatory.

A soft knock at the door pulled me from my thoughts. It was Maria, one of the estate maids.

"Signora Franco"(Mrs. Franco), she murmured, her eyes downcast in that ingrained display of mafia deference. "Your brothers have arrived. They are waiting in the downstairs parlor."

A cold smile touched my lips. Sean, Liam, and Connor. Catherine's loyal lapdogs, coming under the guise of a family visit to inspect the damage, to gloat over my exile into the underworld.

"Tell them I will be down shortly," I said, my voice steady and devoid of the warmth I used to freely give them.

I turned to the wardrobe, selecting a dark, impeccably tailored silk dress. They expected to find a broken girl trembling in the devil's lair. I smoothed the fabric over my hips, stepping out of the cold bedroom and making my way toward the heavy oak doors of the downstairs parlor.