Chapter 7

Seraphina POV

The heavy thud of the lock engaging felt like dirt hitting my coffin. I sank to the cold hardwood floor, the reality of Julian's threat suffocating me. New York. The Commission. In two days, I would be paraded before Don Augusto Viti and the most ruthless men in the country, branded as Julian Moretti's conquered property. It was the ultimate desecration of the Marino name.

Physical resistance was useless. The estate was a fortress, and I was a ghost trapped within its walls. I closed my eyes, desperately searching the archives of my memory for anything-anyone-who could shatter Julian's absolute power.

My mind drifted back to my father's study, years ago. Don Antonio Marino, a man who feared nothing, had spoken a name with a heavy, uncharacteristic gravity. *Damien Falcone.* The Don of the Chicago Outfit. They called him *The Phantom*. He was a myth of absolute violence and unfathomable ruthlessness, a force that existed beyond the neat, controlled borders of Julian's world. I didn't know him. I had never seen his face. But in the pitch-black of my cage, Damien Falcone became my desperate prayer. The mere existence of a monster greater than Julian was the only thread keeping my sanity intact.

But prayers wouldn't stop tomorrow's flight.

When the sun rose on the day before our departure, a cold, lethal clarity settled over me. If Julian needed a flawless, beautiful trophy to satisfy his ego and prove his dominance to The Commission, I would deny him. I would give him a rotting corpse.

Over the past three years, I had memorized the chemical makeup of the sedatives they forced upon me. I also knew the decorative oleander plant in the corner of my room was highly toxic.

I spent the afternoon crushing the leaves, extracting the bitter, milky sap, and mixing it into the water I drank. In the months since I'd discovered the truth, I had learned the chemical makeup of the sedatives they forced upon me.

I drank the lethal cocktail without a single tremor in my hand.

The reaction was violent and merciless. Within an hour, fire tore through my veins. I collapsed onto the Persian rug, my body seizing as a blistering fever spiked. Acid burned my throat as I violently retched, my vision tunneling into darkness. When the maid finally opened the door and screamed, I smiled through the agony. I had won.

Or so I thought.

I woke not to the peaceful void of death, but to the sharp, invasive sting of a needle.

My eyelids fluttered open. I wasn't in a hospital. I was still in my gilded cage. The dawn light bled through the windows, painting the room in bruised purples. Julian stood at the foot of the bed, his face an impassive mask of cruelty, while a private doctor adjusted an IV drip taped to my arm.

"I appreciate your theatrics, Seraphina," Julian murmured, his voice devoid of any warmth. He checked his gold watch. "But it's time to board."

I tried to speak, to thrash, but my muscles were entirely paralyzed by whatever heavy counter-agents the doctor was pumping into my bloodstream. I was a prisoner in my own failing body, my mind agonizingly sharp while my limbs remained dead weight.

Julian stepped back, giving a curt nod. Two maids rushed in. They stripped my sweat-soaked clothes and wrestled me into a heavy, suffocating designer dress. They painted over my deathly pallor with rouge and lipstick, treating me like a lifeless porcelain doll.

"Take her," Julian commanded.

Two massive Soldiers stepped into the room. They hauled me to my feet, their iron grips bruising my upper arms. My legs dragged uselessly across the carpet as they carried me out of the room, down the endless corridors, and out the front doors.

The crisp, biting morning air hit my face. A black, armored SUV idled on the gravel driveway, a steel beast waiting to swallow me. The Soldiers shoved me into the expansive leather backseat. Julian slid in beside me, immaculate in his tailored suit, casually adjusting his cuffs as if he hadn't just dragged a dying woman from her bed.

The heavy doors slammed shut. The tinted windows sealed us in, cutting off the estate and the rising sun. The engine purred to life, and the SUV glided smoothly down the drive, carrying me toward the private airstrip and the waiting eyes of the underworld.