Chapter 6

Seraphina POV

The click of the lock from yesterday afternoon still echoed in my bones. For twenty-four hours, my bedroom in the west wing of the Moretti estate had been a silent, suffocating tomb.

When the door finally opened the next day, it wasn't Julian. A young maid slipped inside, her hands trembling so violently that the porcelain teacup on her silver tray rattled. She set it down on the nightstand, her wide eyes darting toward the hallway before she leaned in close.

"Signorina," she whispered, her voice barely a breath. "I shouldn't speak, but... I heard them. In the Don's office."

I sat up slowly, the manic facade from yesterday completely stripped away. "Tell me."

"Donna Eleonora was screaming," the maid choked out, tears welling in her eyes. "She told him you were a monster. The embodiment of the Marino blood curse. She begged him not to bring a defective savage into the family, said you would make the Morettis a laughingstock before The Commission."

A bitter, hollow satisfaction bloomed in my chest. My performance had worked on the mother. "And Julian?"

The maid shuddered. "He was so quiet, Signorina. It was terrifying. He just told her, *'I decide if she is mad. I decide who she is. This ends now.'*"

She hurried out of the room before I could reply, the lock clicking firmly back into place. I stared at the closed door, the chilling reality settling over me like a shroud. Julian's obsession was absolute. He didn't care about his family's pristine reputation or his mother's horror. There would be no internal fracture to save me.

Hours bled into a pitch-black night. The fire in the hearth had died down to glowing embers when the heavy door swung open again.

Julian stepped into the room. The moonlight slicing through the reinforced windows caught the sharp, ruthless angles of his face. He moved with the arrogant grace of a predator who had already won, stopping a few feet from where I stood by the window.

"My mother has a loose tongue," Julian said, his tone smooth, laced with a patronizing edge. "I apologize for her dramatics today. But let me assure you, Seraphina, whether your mind is fractured or whole, the wedding proceeds. You will be my wife."

I turned to face him. I didn't tilt my head. I didn't offer him a hollow, unhinged smile. I simply looked at him with the razor-sharp clarity of a Marino.

"You made your choice in the freezing water, Julian," I said, my voice dropping the breathless, manic lilt entirely. It was steady, cold, and lethal. "You saved your angel, Linette. You left me to drown. Why don't you marry her?"

Julian froze. The patronizing mask slipped, revealing a flash of genuine shock, followed instantly by a dark, surging fury.

I stood taller, pulling my shoulders back. "I played the lunatic because I loathe your mother's hypocritical face. I wanted her to feel the ugliness she tries so hard to hide behind her pearls." I took a deliberate step toward him, my eyes locked onto his. "But now, I want you to know the truth. I, Seraphina Marino, will never marry you. My father's blood is still wet on your hands."

The silence that followed was deafening. Julian realized, in that split second, that he hadn't broken me. The madness was a weapon I had wielded against his house, and my will was entirely intact.

His jaw clenched so hard I thought his teeth might shatter. The air in the room turned violently oppressive. He closed the distance between us, stopping just inches away, his dark eyes burning with a humiliated, venomous rage.

"You think you have a choice?" he sneered, his voice a low, vibrating threat that scraped against my nerves. "You think your defiance changes anything? You are mine."

He reached out, his knuckles brushing a stray lock of hair from my cheek. I didn't flinch.

"In two days, we leave for New York," Julian commanded, his lips curling into a cruel, triumphant smile. "Don Augusto Viti is hosting a gathering of The Commission. You will stand by my side in front of the Old Man and every Don in the country. You will smile, and you will show them exactly who you belong to."

He turned and walked out, the door slamming shut behind him.

The lock engaged with a heavy, final thud. I stood alone in the dark, the name of the Old Man ringing in my ears like a death knell. Two days. In two days, I would be paraded as a trophy, my family's honor dragged through the mud before the entire underworld.