Chapter 3

Seraphina POV

The rhythmic clack of the ivory-headed cane ceased as my grandmother, Francesca Marino, stepped into the Grand Salon. Her cold, calculating eyes swept over the room, the black rosary beads slipping rapidly through her withered fingers. The temperature in the room seemed to plummet.

Sophia immediately rushed to her side, her voice trembling with manufactured grief. "Mamma, you must speak to her. Seraphina is throwing a tantrum over the betrothal, shaming our family in front of Angelo!"

Francesca's gaze locked onto me, heavy with absolute authority. "Apologize to Angelo and your sister at once. Since the Valenti match is broken, you will accept a new arrangement immediately for our Onore (Honor)."

Carissa stepped forward, reaching for my hand with a sickeningly sweet smile. "Sera, please, just listen to Grandmother-"

I slapped her hand away. "Don't touch me." I looked straight at Francesca. "Angelo wants Carissa, and Carissa wants to be the Underboss's wife. I will not be the sacrificial lamb for their dirty little transaction."

Sophia gasped, clutching her pearls. "Such insolence! To speak of your sister this way... Who knows what you've been doing behind closed doors to act so brazenly? Perhaps you are no longer pure. A puttana (whore) who knows she cannot secure a decent match!"

I tilted my head, offering Sophia a chilling smile. "Are you questioning Grandmother's strict upbringing, Aunt Sophia? Because I have been under her roof my entire life."

Sophia's mouth snapped shut, her face flushing ugly red.

Before Francesca could unleash her wrath, I delivered my ultimatum. "At my eighteenth birthday gala tomorrow, I will choose my own husband. Any single man with a clean name who dares to ask for my hand, I will accept."

Francesca struck the marble floor with her cane. "Madness! I will not allow you to turn this family into a circus!"

"Then let her marry my nephew, Marco Conti," Sophia interjected smoothly, her eyes gleaming with greed. "He has a few bad habits, but his bloodline is clean. It will keep her inheritance safe within the family."

Marco Conti. A degenerate gambling addict. They wanted to lock me in a new cage and drain my wealth.

I took a slow step toward the matriarch. "My adoptive mother was Isabella Gallo Marino. The original betrothal was brokered by her family. If you force me to marry a useless addict, you spit directly in the face of my uncle, Christian Gallo, and the entire Moretti family." I let the silence stretch, watching the color drain from Francesca's face. "Let me choose publicly. It proves this is my own doing, and the Morettis cannot claim you abused their blood."

The name Moretti was a curse in this house. Francesca feared the true rulers of New York far more than she hated me. Her jaw clenched so hard I thought her teeth might shatter.

"Fine," Francesca hissed, her eyes burning with venom. "Have your circus. Angelo, you will formally court Carissa."

I didn't wait for their celebrations. I turned my back on them and walked up the sweeping staircase to my suite.

The air in my room felt stagnant, like a gilded tomb. In the corner, a thin girl named Ruby was scrubbing the floorboards. Near my vanity stood Jasmine, the first maid Sophia had planted to spy on me.

"Ruby," I said, my voice cutting through the silence. "Wash up and change into something presentable. You are coming out with me."

Jasmine scoffed, crossing her arms. "Excuse me, Miss Seraphina? You're taking a third-rate scrubber out instead of your first maid? That is highly inappropriate."

I closed the distance between us in three strides. The smirk vanished from Jasmine's face as she met my dead, empty stare.

"In this room, I decide who is worthy to walk beside me," I said, my voice a low, dangerous whisper. "Your only job is to shut your mouth and obey. Kneel on the floor and reflect on your place until I return."

Jasmine opened her mouth to argue, but the sheer violence in my eyes made her tremble. Slowly, reluctantly, she sank to her knees.

I turned to Ruby, who was staring at me with wide, terrified eyes. A sudden, violent memory flashed in my mind-Ruby's pale, lifeless face sinking beneath the ice of a frozen lake, murdered because of her loyalty to me in my past life.

Not this time.

"Hurry up, Ruby," I said softly, the gears of my Vendetta already turning. "We have an invitation to deliver."