Chapter 6 6

Isabella POV

The heavy oak door swung open. Luca stepped into the study, the polite, professional mask of a Commission emissary firmly in place. Then, his eyes landed on the leather chair. On Damien. On me.

He stopped dead. The color drained from his face. "Izzy?"

The childhood nickname hung in the heavy, cigar-scented air like a death sentence.

Panic screamed in my veins, but survival demanded a performance. I didn't pull away. Instead, I forced my muscles to relax, pressing my back flush against Damien's hard chest and deliberately hooking my arm around his thick neck. I offered Luca a cool, dismissive smile.

*Leave, Luca. Please, just leave.*

The act didn't fool Luca-his eyes widened with horrified realization-but it ignited Damien. The arm around my waist tightened into a steel trap, bruising my ribs. He was a predator sensing a threat to his territory.

Damien's amber eyes flicked to a crystal decanter on the side table. "Pour me a whiskey," he ordered me, his tone leaving no room for argument.

It was a test. A public display of obedience. But if I acted like a terrified prisoner, Luca would try to save me and sign his own death warrant.

I looked from the decanter back to Damien and let out a practiced, spoiled sigh. "I'm not a servant, Damien," I pouted, lacing my voice with shallow entitlement. "I thought you brought me here to enjoy myself."

Audaciously, I settled my weight back onto his lap.

Damien's eyes flashed with sudden, violent anger, but beneath it, a flicker of dark amusement danced. "Insolent girl," he growled. His large hands gripped my hips, physically pushing me off his lap. I stumbled slightly, but before I could catch my balance, he leaned in, his breath hot against my ear. "Don't go far. Wait outside the door."

I smoothed my skirt, gave Luca one last bored glance, and walked out into the dimly lit, wood-paneled hallway.

The heavy door clicked shut, but it couldn't entirely block the sound of the men inside. I pressed my back against the wall, my heart hammering against my ribs.

"I've known her since she was a child," Luca's muffled voice bled through the wood, tight with suppressed panic. "If she's being held against her will, I beg you to let her go."

Damien's scoff was a low, dangerous rumble. "You have feelings for her, Viti?"

"She's like a sister to me."

"Fine," Damien said, his voice dripping with chilling mockery. "Go ask her yourself. See if your precious Izzy wants to trade these walls for a tenement slum. The choice is hers."

The door opened. Luca stepped into the hallway, his eyes immediately locking onto mine. He closed the distance, his hand reaching out to grab my arm. "Izzy, what is happening-"

"What is this trash doing here?"

A furious, shrill voice cut through the corridor. Bianca Carbone stood at the end of the hall, flanked by two massive guards. Her beautiful face was twisted into a mask of pure contempt. She ignored Luca entirely, her venomous glare fixed on me. "I should have known he'd pick up a rat from the gutter."

She is the Mafia Princess of the Carbone family and Damien Falcone's former fiancée.

Before Bianca could take another step toward the study, Damien's massive frame filled the doorway. His face was thunderous, his aura suffocatingly dark.

"Leo," Damien said, his voice lethally calm.

Leo 'The Bear' Gallo stepped out from the shadows.

"Remove Miss Carbone from my property. Now."

"Damien, you can't-" Bianca sputtered, but Leo unceremoniously grabbed her arm, dragging the enraged Mafia princess down the hall and out of sight.

The silence that followed was deafening. Luca turned back to me, his eyes pleading. "Izzy, listen to me. I can get you away. My family has a place upstate. We can hide you, give you a new life. Please."

Looking at his earnest, honorable face, a sharp, agonizing pain ripped through my chest. This was the life I could have had. Safety. Decency. But the reality of Bianca's hatred and Damien's lethal possessiveness had just been laid bare. If Luca helped me, he would die.

I had to sever this tie. Completely.

I forced a cruel smirk onto my face, my fingers rising to trace the cold, heavy ruby necklace at my throat. "Go back to the country, Luca?" I scoffed, injecting every ounce of materialistic poison I could muster into my voice. "And do what? Milk cows? I like it here. I like the jewels, the dresses... I like the power."

Luca recoiled as if I had slapped him.

"He gives me everything I want," I continued, each word a dagger driven into my own heart. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to wait for my master."

Devastation washed over Luca's face. The girl he knew from Little Italy was dead to him.

Damien stepped fully out of the study, a faint, cruel smile playing on his lips. He had watched the entire execution. "Leaving so soon, Viti?" he mocked. "You should stay for dinner."

Luca stiffened, his posture rigid with defeat. He turned to leave, but he couldn't stop himself from glancing back at me one last time. "Will... will she be joining you?"

Damien's smile vanished instantly. He looked at me, his amber eyes stripping away my humanity until I was nothing but an object.

"She is my *Collateral*," Damien stated, his voice dropping to an arctic chill that froze the blood in my veins. "She doesn't have a seat at the table. She eats when and where I tell her to."