Chapter 3

Tessa Rossi POV:

Before I climbed the stairs, I paused at the mezzanine window that overlooked the garden. Below, Siena sat on a stone bench, Leo curled in her lap. I couldn't hear the words, but I saw Siena's lips moving close to his ear. Her hand stroked his hair. Then Leo looked up at her, his small face serious, and nodded. Siena smiled-a cold, satisfied curve that vanished the moment she sensed she was being watched. She looked up, saw me, and immediately buried her face in Leo's hair, pretending to weep.

Something cold trickled down my spine. I turned away and walked to my bedroom.

I locked the door to my bedroom and turned on the shower, the roar of the water a curtain of sound to muffle the tremor in my voice.

I answered the burner phone. Enzo, the boss of the extraction agency, spoke with a quiet, steady rhythm.

He confirmed the logistics of my disappearance. My fake death would happen in exactly two weeks, and my new identity was waiting for me in Switzerland.

I hung up the phone and watched the water spiral down the drain. I needed to say goodbye before I vanished forever.

Dressed in a plain black coat, I bypassed the estate drivers and took a standard sedan from the garage. I drove alone to the remote graveyard located in the neutral territory outside the city limits.

The sky was a heavy sheet of grey, and the wind found the seams of my coat as I walked across the damp grass.

I stopped in front of a simple marble headstone bearing my mother's name etched into the cold surface.

I sank to my knees and ran my fingers over the cold lettering. I remembered her dying wish-she had begged me to survive the mafia world, pleading with me not to end up like her: discarded and broken by men who only knew violence.

I spoke of the years of trauma to the empty air. I told her about the blood they had taken from me to keep Siena alive. I told her about Cassio. I promised her I was finally going to find a life free of the syndicate.

The crunch of tires on gravel broke the quiet.

I stood up and turned around. Cassio and Siena were walking toward me, flanked by a heavy escort of Falcone Soldiers with their hands hovering over their holstered weapons.

Siena stepped forward, clutching a large bouquet of red roses against her perfectly tailored mourning dress.

She placed the roses on my mother's grave, bowed her head, and feigned innocent respect. "I hope she is at peace," she whispered.

Red roses. The flower my mother despised most. The very flower Siena's mother used to send to our house to taunt her.

A cold, sharp thread snapped inside me.

I stepped forward and slapped the bouquet out of Siena's hands, sending the red petals to scatter across the dirt. I pointed a shaking finger at her face.

"Your bloodline drove my mother to suicide!" I accused fiercely. "Get your fake grief off this grave!"

Cassio reacted instantly, stepping between us and pulling Siena behind his broad back.

He defended her innocence, using his flat Don voice to command me to calm down. He echoed the exact same justifications from my past life.

"Siena is just trying to be kind," he stated firmly. "She has suffered enough for the sins of her parents."

A loud crack of thunder shook the ground as the sky opened up, and heavy rain began to pour down on us.

The sudden crash of thunder triggered a memory, and my chest tightened like a vice. I was no longer in the graveyard but back in the subterranean holding cell. Siena was locking the heavy iron door. The filthy water was rising past my knees. I was drowning in the dark.

My breathing turned ragged as I stumbled backward. I covered my ears and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the sound of the rising water.

Cassio saw my panic, and the cold Don vanished.

He immediately dropped his guard, pushing past Siena to close the distance between us. He pulled me into a tight embrace and buried his face in my hair.

"I've got you," he promised, his voice a fierce whisper against my ear. "I'm taking my Mafia Queen home. I'll keep you safe."