ire

ne speaker, calm and measured-a stark, gro

stitute, Claire," he said, his tone unwavering.

an acceptance letter from an elite, untouchable medical institute in Europe, a

est like a block of granite. I was going to smuggle my dying mother o

freezing rain to a neutral, twenty-four-hour urgent care clinic on the edge of the city's neutral z

while an exhausted night nurse carefully picked jagged

oor was kicked inward, rebounding violently f

to plummet. He dismissed the terrified civilian nurse with

nd his fingers clamped around my injured arm. Pain

clenched so tight a muscle jumped beneath his skin. "

p was like iron. He was a Don, a man train

oice eerily calm despite the a

I thought the bone would snap. "Walk

s forearm. I bit down with every ounce of strength I had, tasting the

ck, stepping away to inspect the

ripped the back of my neck, his rough fingers twisting in my hair. He yanke

ession-a bruising, desperate attem

ough to speak, his lip

breath hot and ragged against my skin. "Just save Elena today. B

ire body recoiling from the gr

, I shoved both hands hard against his

ed a stinging, open-handed slap across his face. The

once on his pale cheek. He slowly, deliberately turned his

voice fractured but entirely stead

or me again, seizing my wrist to drag me toward t

r Syndicate doctor stepped in, holding a metal clipbo

"Close-blood transfusions between half-siblings carry a lethal risk of Gra

ality settled, he finally released my arm. He wiped his mouth with the back of his han

t bed, staring blankly at the

lind devotion. Three years of bartered dignity, playing the

versation with my mother from months ago. She had known Vincenzo was unfaithful. She had known the lethal risks of The Fa

ad the acceptance le

the screen, but I booked a one-way flight out of the country. I deliberately selected the exact date of Luca's offic

d. I met in private with the head administrator, ruthlessly finalizing the comp

left his offic

eered through the small glass window in the heavy door. She was sleeping, her face alarmingly

ob. My knees gave way, and I slid down the cool plas

fied to make a single sound. I could not risk waking her-I could

the Rossi estate u

a whisper that Vincenzo and Elena had not returned. They were o

d staircase, surrounded by