ella

study was thick with the scent of stale cigar smoke and old power. My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic bird trapped in

n her eyes softening into something that resembled a grandmother's wa

to sit. "And resources. A dangerous combination for a

keeping my spine rigid. "I only wish to

especially one adjusting to life as the Don's wife. Your uncle, Luca... he is a busy man. Perhaps it would be wiser to transfer the management of your

ded over the trust, I would lose the only leverage that kept

, Grandmother. However, my mother, Carina Sterling, was quite specific in her last will. She entru

d settle between us. In our world, blood was

It would suggest that a Sterling Advisor is incapable of fulfilling his duty to

exactly what I had done. I hadn't refused her; I had shielded mys

born as your mother was. Perhaps more calculating." She wav

ment back in the city, draped in heavy blue velvet and silver silk. It was breathtakingly beautiful and utterly cold. T

age. And I was th

stead, a woman with dark hair streaked with gray

abe

e breath left my

er's family who had ever looked at me with kindness. She crossed the room in thre

ni... that fool. And Elena... to try and steal from you..." She pulled bac

nerves were frayed to the br

me toward the velvet sofa, lowering her voice to a frantic whisper. "You don't u

just Sophia's beauty. For years, that viper has been whispering in every ear at the country club, telling them y

I had suspected it, but hearing it co

ands tightening until it hurt. "Damien Russo... Isabella, the rumors aren

cold. "What

he walks with a limp because the devil tried to drag him down to hell. But it's not his scars you should fear." She choked on a sob. "His last two fiancé

He has contacts in Zurich. We can get you out tonight. You can d

air, sweet and temptin

y door, at the reality o

ice sounding hollow

abe

Russo would not just hunt me down. He would view it as an act of war by the Herrer

o look out at the manicured, prison

on in the glass-a girl who had walked into the lion's d