You Chose Her, Now Watch Me Disappear

nd Dante gave me a unique gift: he

been rude to Sofia, the frag

house, he was comforting h

as just th

Sofia for mocking our marriage, she

t hesitate.

t through my h

ar and waterboarded me-using my deepest trauma agai

nking he still loved

we were ambush

to my head and a kn

man said. "The Qu

ed that I was strong enough to

girl go,"

e gunman pulled

zing ocean, bleeding from a ches

t he had

I was wearing

as mourning his dead wife, I w

thinks his Q

to keep i

pte

na

ick in the mirror of the penthouse suite when

ity was sharp: My husband had just re

wasn't thinking of me. He

ge in a humid, reeking basement in Southeast Asia.

with their blood as he lifted me from the filth. He told me I b

our fifth

ous criminals were drinking champagne, waiting to t

otage was shaky, zooming in on the commercial district of Moretti A

was an

GANG WAR ERUPTS I

ked in front of the flames. I recognized the tall, broad-

nt

, trembling figure he was

a Ru

the marble vanity. It

he audio,

idn't have sound, but Enzo had patched

crying,

through the static, dis

her. He told her to leave. No

ed on the screen as a man on his knees in front

an i

rp jawline, casting him in a demonic glow. He looked a

ve me when I woke up screaming fro

ia," he said. "I bur

He didn't look at the time. He didn't care that his wife wa

ed off

three years ago when Sofia first showed

Luca, whose memory was a ghost that

I didn't go to the ballroom. Instead, I headed for

eswax and old wood. This was where we sw

ndelabra standing there, a relic of his ancestors.

wun

was louder than a gunshot. The vibratio

And again. Stone

lace where I prom

ster of kerosene kept for the outdoor torches. I uncapped it

nt, chemical. It sm

doors creaked

le

lly vibrated in my chest. Now it just

mptied the last of the ca

late,"

could smell the smoke on him. It wasn't cigarett

epeated. I turn

lethal muscle in a bespoke Italian suit. His eyes were

ene can in my hand, th

you doin

"You burned my avenue.

t. "That was necessary. The shopkeeper insul

voice flat. "Sofia is alive

s fragile. She needs protection. You... you are different. You are

wn my world to

s grip was iron. "I gave you this empire. I gave you a n

ne cage and put me in

in my free hand. The

widened. "E

Moretti," I said, st

her over me, I won't take it out o

ed the

wall of heat separating the man who