Chapter 6 6

Isabella POV

The adrenaline of Agatha's public exile had faded by the next afternoon, replaced by the suffocating tension of an invisible war.

I sat in the parlor, a cup of untouched tea growing cold in my hands. Pacing in front of the fireplace was my younger brother, Luca. His knuckles were bruised, his dark eyes alight with a dangerous, reckless energy.

"I hit every speakeasy, bakery, and barbershop on Taylor Street," Luca boasted, pouring himself a generous glass of amber bourbon. "I made sure every ear in Little Italy heard the truth. I painted Jason exactly as he is-a weak, honorless coward who let a cheap whore lead him by the cock. The Brennan name is dragging through the mud as we speak."

A brief, hollow sense of triumph fluttered in my chest. In our world, reputation was currency, and Luca was bankrupting Jason's. But the memory of my past life-the cold, calculating way Elena had orchestrated my demise-warned me that she wouldn't simply absorb the blow.

The heavy parlor doors suddenly burst open. Maria, our elderly housekeeper, stumbled into the room. Her face was ashen, her hands trembling so violently that the rosary beads wrapped around her wrist clattered together.

"Signora... Signorina Bella..." Maria gasped, her eyes darting nervously toward my mother, who was embroidering by the window.

"Speak, Maria," Sofia commanded, not looking up from her needlework.

"It's... it's the streets, Signora. There is a new whisper. A terrible, wicked lie." Maria swallowed hard, looking at me with a mixture of pity and sheer terror. "They are saying... they are saying Signorina Isabella is barren."

The parlor plunged into a deathly silence. Luca froze, his glass halfway to his mouth.

"What did you say?" my mother whispered, her needle stopping mid-stitch.

Maria crossed herself, tears spilling over her wrinkled cheeks. "The rumor claims Jason and Bella have been sharing a bed for over a year, but her womb remains empty. They say Jason loves her so deeply that he couldn't bear to see her cast aside. So, he... he made the ultimate sacrifice. He bedded the Vance girl to give Bella a child, planning to pass the bastard off as a Falcone heir to save her face."

The sheer audacity of the lie stole the breath from my lungs. It was a masterstroke of pure, unadulterated evil. In the Mafia, a woman's primary duty was to provide heirs. A barren princess was a broken commodity, utterly worthless on the marriage market. Elena hadn't just defended Jason's betrayal; she had twisted it into a tragic tale of noble sacrifice, turning me into an object of pity and them into martyrs of love.

*Crash.*

My mother's porcelain teacup shattered against the marble hearth. Sofia Falcone rose to her feet, her beautiful face contorted into a mask of terrifying, murderous rage.

"I will have them gutted," Sofia snarled, her voice vibrating with a dark, primal fury. "Marco! Call the Soldiers! I want that Vance bitch and her mother dragged from their safe house. I will carve the truth out of their lying throats myself!"

Luca slammed his glass down. "I'll get the cars ready."

"No!" I shouted, my voice cutting through the rising storm. I stood up, forcing my trembling legs to lock.

My mother whipped her head toward me, her eyes blazing. "They have stripped you of your honor, Isabella! This demands a Vendetta!"

"And that is exactly what they want us to do," I said, my tone eerily calm, channeling the cold detachment I had learned during my five years as a wandering ghost. "Think, Mama. If we send Soldiers to slaughter them now, what will the Five Families see? They won't see righteous vengeance. They will see a family acting out of shame. They will say we killed them to silence the truth."

Sofia's chest heaved, but the lethal logic of my words made her hesitate.

"They set a trap," I continued, stepping closer to her. "They want us to lose control. They want us to look unhinged."

"Then how do we fight this, Bella?" Luca demanded, his fists clenched. "We can't let them call you a barren cripple!"

"We don't fight rumors with bullets. We fight them with undeniable proof," I said, my mind already racing ahead to the next move. "Keep the Soldiers down. I will handle this."

Without waiting for their permission, I turned and walked out of the parlor. The air in the hallway was thick, but my mind was crystal clear. I bypassed my bedroom and headed straight for the east wing.

I stopped in front of the heavy mahogany door of the family study. Inside was my eldest brother, Lorenzo. He was the scholar of the family, the future Advisor, a man who understood the intricate dance of law and evidence. I needed his brilliant mind to secure the proof of my innocence, but more importantly, I needed him for a task so humiliating, so perfectly degrading, that it would shatter Elena's fairy tale to pieces.

I turned the brass knob and stepped into the study.