Chapter 5

Isabella POV

The hissing of the old radiator was the only sound in the cramped living room, a sharp contrast to the deafening silence that had fallen over my parents. My father, Arturo, stared at the peeling wallpaper, the muscle in his jaw ticking rhythmically as the dark, simmering rage fully took hold of him.

I didn't let the silence linger. If I wanted to ensure they never looked back at the Hobbs family with an ounce of regret, I had to twist the knife.

"Think about Aunt Bette's face today, Mom," I said softly, keeping my gaze locked on my mother's tear-filled eyes. "She stood in that opulent parlor and painted a severe drug addict as a prince. She knew exactly what Elzada Velasquez's son was. She knew they needed a disposable girl from the slums to act as *Collateral* to cover up his filthy scandals. She was practically gift-wrapping me for a slaughterhouse just to earn a political favor for her own son."

Annabel let out a broken, suffocated gasp. The last fragile thread of her blind loyalty to her bloodline snapped. For years, she had endured Hertha's bloodline humiliation and Bette's venomous sneers, believing that her subservience would eventually earn us a sliver of protection. Realizing that her own family viewed her daughter as nothing more than garbage to be traded broke her completely. She buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking with quiet, agonizing sobs.

Arturo moved then. He crossed the small space and pulled my mother into his chest, his arms wrapping around her trembling frame. When he looked up at me, the subservient posture of a lowly Associate was gone. In his eyes, I saw the fierce, unyielding resolve of a father.

"I may just be an Associate," Arturo said, his voice a low, dangerous rumble. "But I am the one who balances their dirty ledgers. I know how to hide money, and I know how to survive. We don't need Dolphus Hobbs' table scraps to live." He tightened his grip on my mother. "From this moment on, we are done with them. I will not let that toxic *Family Bond* drag my daughters into an early grave."

Annabel wiped her face, her makeup smudged but her expression hardening into something I had never seen before-courage. She reached out and took my hand, her grip surprisingly strong.

"You are not going to the Velasquez estate, Isabella," she vowed, her voice trembling but absolute. "Even if it means we have to face the Romero family's Selection Gala. I would rather risk the unknown than hand you over to monsters we already know."

A heavy weight lifted off my chest. The hardest battle-saving my parents from their own naive loyalty-was won.

"Thank you," I whispered, squeezing her hand before stepping back. "I'm going to get some rest."

I turned and walked out of the living room, leaving them to find comfort in each other. The hallway was dim and freezing, the draft from the poorly insulated windows biting at my ankles.

"Bella?"

I stopped. Standing by the doorframe of our shared bedroom was Abby. My six-year-old sister was clutching her worn stuffed bear, her large, dark eyes wide with a maturity that no child in the mafia world should possess. She had heard everything.

I knelt on the cold floor, bringing myself to her eye level. "Hey, bug. Why aren't you in bed?"

Abby stepped forward and grabbed my hands. Her tiny fingers were still cold from the blizzard, but her grip was fierce. "I'm going to learn how to shoot," she whispered, her voice deadly serious. "I'm going to grow up fast, and I'm going to learn all the rules. I'll be a shield for you and Mommy and Daddy. I won't let the bad people sell you."

My breath hitched. The sheer innocence and fierce protectiveness in her vow struck a chord so deep inside me it physically ached.

I forced a gentle, reassuring smile, reaching up to smooth her messy hair. "You don't have to be a shield, Abby. That's my job."

I pulled her into a hug, resting my chin on her small shoulder. As I closed my eyes, the freezing hallway faded. The phantom stench of gasoline and mold filled my nostrils. I felt the blistering, agonizing heat of the underground cell at the Velasquez estate. I heard the roaring flames that had consumed my flesh, and the cruel laughter of Kiana Velasquez echoing from the floor above.

*I died once.*

The realization was a cold, hard stone in my chest. I had burned to ash in that gilded cage, weeping for a mother who had already died of a broken heart, leaving Abby completely alone in a world of wolves.

I opened my eyes, staring into the dark shadows of the hallway. The gentle sister Abby was hugging was a ghost. In her place was a woman forged in hellfire.

Let the Romero Selection Gala come. Let the high-born daughters and the ruthless Capos gather. I would walk into the heart of the Romero estate, and I would carve a bloody path through anyone who dared to threaten my family again.

*Vendetta.* It was the only law I recognized now.