Chapter 2 2

Isabella POV

The Falcone Soldier stood by the gleaming Cadillac, a silent sentinel waiting for his cargo. Silas, blinded by his own delusional greed, turned back to me.

"Get her cleaned up, Carla. Now," he ordered, his chest puffed out.

I didn't move. I remained kneeling on the blood-soaked salt, keeping that small, knowing smile fixed on my lips. The defiance in my eyes made Silas's triumphant expression falter. Enraged by my insolence, he lunged forward, his rough hands hauling me to my feet by my upper arms.

Carla was there in an instant. Her palm cracked across my cheek, the force snapping my head to the side. "Whore," she hissed, raising her hand again.

Adrenaline, sharp and hot, flooded my veins. I didn't cower. Instead, I drove my forehead hard into Carla's stomach. She wheezed, the air rushing from her lungs as she stumbled backward into the dirt.

"Get the boys!" Carla gasped, clutching her abdomen.

Two brutish cousins who worked the docks for Silas emerged from the shadows of the stairwell. They grabbed my arms, their thick fingers bruising my skin as they pinned me in place. Carla, her face twisted in ugly fury, snatched a splintered piece of wood from a broken crate nearby. She raised it, aiming straight for my face.

Clara lunged forward, her manicured hand catching her mother's wrist. "Not the face, Mama," Clara hissed, her voice devoid of any empathy. "You know The Vulture wants her pretty."

The words hung in the oppressive heat, a chilling reminder that I was nothing but merchandise. Carla's chest heaved, but a cruel understanding dawned in her eyes. She lowered the wood and pointed at the ground.

"Put her back down," Carla ordered the men. "Make her feel it."

The cousins forced me down, driving my raw, weeping knees back into the sharp rock salt. They pressed their weight onto my shoulders, grinding my flesh into the crystals. A ragged scream tore from my throat as the white-hot agony blinded me.

"Gutter trash who got lucky, just like your mother," Carla spat, standing over me.

The insult to my mother severed the last thread of my restraint. The pain faded beneath a wave of pure, venomous rage.

"My mother wasn't trash!" I screamed through gritted teeth, my voice echoing off the brick walls. "She had a dowry! A restaurant in the heart of Little Italy! Silas gambled it away to pay his debts to men like Moretti! You're living off the ghost of a better woman!"

Silas went pale, stunned into silence by the public shaming. But the truth struck Carla like a physical blow. Her parasitic existence laid bare, she went completely feral. She shoved the cousins aside, grabbed the heavy piece of wood, and began bringing it down across my back and legs.

"I'll kill you!" she shrieked with every strike.

"Stop! For the love of God, stop!" Maria, our elderly neighbor and my mother's oldest friend, rushed into the courtyard. She reached for Carla's arm, but Carla, blinded by rage, shoved the frail woman hard into the dirt.

"I'll beat you too for interfering!" Carla screamed.

Seeing Maria on the ground, my screaming stopped. A terrifying, dead calm settled over my mind. I ignored Carla and locked eyes with Clara, who was watching with a smug, satisfied smile.

"If you let her kill me, you're a fool," I said in a low, clear voice that cut through the chaos. "But if I live... I will whisper in The Vulture's ear how sweet my untouched little sister is. I'll tell him we could be a matching set. We can serve him together, Clara."

Clara's smugness vanished instantly. The sheer venom in my promise drained the color from her face. For the first time in her life, she looked truly terrified.

She hesitated, opening her mouth to speak, but a new voice cut through the tension.

"What in God's name is going on here?"

Luca Viti strode into the courtyard. He was a young, respected Soldier from an allied family, and a face from my childhood. His expression was a mask of cold fury as he pulled Carla away from me.

Instantly, Carla and Clara transformed. Their faces crumpled into masks of worried concern. "She stayed out all night, Luca," Carla lied smoothly, smoothing her skirt. "Disgracing the family. It's just a mother's discipline."

They quickly ushered the furious Luca inside to see Silas, seamlessly hiding the truth about Rico Moretti.

I was left bleeding in the dirt. A few minutes later, the door opened, and Luca came back out alone. He knelt beside me, his eyes full of pity. He gently dabbed a cut on my cheek with his handkerchief and pressed a small tin of salve into my trembling hand.

"Don't let them break you, Izzy," he whispered. "I'll bring you some cannoli later."

He gave me a sad smile and walked away. As soon as the gate clicked shut behind him, Clara sauntered over, her fear replaced by a mocking sneer.

"Don't get your hopes up," she said, looking down at me. "He's only back in New York for his own wedding. The Commission arranged it. He's marrying the daughter of the Genovese family's Capo."

The words extinguished the last, pathetic flicker of hope in my chest. There was no savior in this world. Everyone was a pawn.

Utterly broken, I dragged myself up and limped back to my room in silence. I stripped off my ruined clothes and changed into the clean, simple dress they had laid out for the buyer. I walked over to my rickety dresser, my fingers brushing against a small metal hairpin I had spent weeks sharpening against the brick wall outside my window.

I slid the deadly point deep into the folds of my hair. I was ready for the man in the Cadillac.