Chapter 2 2

Isabella POV

My heart slammed against my ribs, the heavy, drug-induced lethargy fighting against the sudden spike of adrenaline in my veins. The frame-up. The night that handed Damien Moretti the chains to bind me and ultimately end my life.

Outside the heavy oak door of the guest suite, Adina's hushed, irritated voice cut through the crackling of the hearth.

"Why isn't that damn Irishman, Casey, here yet?" Adina hissed, her footsteps pacing the hallway.

"I gave her the chloral hydrate, just as you asked, *Signorina*," a second voice trembled. Carla. The maid I had once tipped generously, now a rat scurrying at Adina's feet.

"Good. Make sure the dose is heavy enough," Adina snapped. "I want her completely pliant when Casey walks in. Once the guards catch them, it's treason. The penalty for a Mafia wife sleeping with a rival boss is a bullet to the head. And her little merchant trust fund? It defaults back to the Moretti family. I already have my eye on a Tiffany diamond necklace that peasant doesn't deserve. Kylie is the only one fit to be our Queen."

"But what if the Don finds out we orchestrated it?" Carla whimpered.

Adina let out a cruel, mocking laugh. "Damien ordered this himself. He called from the front lines an hour ago." Adina's voice dropped, mimicking her brother's cold, authoritative baritone. "'Kylie's intuition is like God's guidance. This turf war will be over in ten days. Isabella's usefulness has run its course. Handle it.'"

The words hit me harder than the drug in my blood.

My limbs felt like lead, the chloral hydrate dragging me toward a dark abyss. If I stayed in this bed, Hoy Casey would walk through that door, and my death sentence would be sealed all over again.

I forced my heavy body to roll. I hit the floorboards with a dull thud, biting my lip until I tasted copper to keep myself awake. I dragged myself toward the corner table.

A kerosene lamp flickered there, casting long, dancing shadows. It was a poetic echo of my death.

With a trembling, desperate hand, I reached up and shoved the heavy glass base.

It shattered against the hardwood. The spilled fuel caught the wick's flame instantly. Fire roared to life, eagerly devouring the Persian rug and leaping onto the heavy velvet drapes.

The heat washed over my face, and staring into the inferno, a memory I had buried clawed its way to the surface.

I was standing in Damien's study, offering him ledgers of legitimate businesses that could double our territory's wealth. He hadn't even glanced at the numbers. He had just looked at me with pure disgust.

*"Keep your merchant arithmetic out of my sight, Isabella,"* he had sneered, pouring himself a bourbon. *"You reek of money, a stench you'll never wash off. You don't understand honor. A true Mafia Queen, a woman like Kylie... her value is carved into her bloodline, not scribbled in a ledger."*

The memory fueled the fire in my veins, burning away the last of my fear. He and Kylie Gallo had planned my demise from the very beginning.

Smoke began to fill the room, thick and choking. Outside the door, Adina shrieked as the smell of burning fabric reached the hallway.

"Fire! Get the guards!" she screamed, her footsteps retreating in a panic.

The trap was broken. The chaos of the flames would draw the *Soldiers* and servants, keeping Hoy Casey far away from this suite. I pushed myself up, using the wall for support. I needed to move before the smoke inhalation finished what the drug started. I had to navigate through the blinding smoke and find the storage closet in the servant's quarters. I had to find Adrienne.