Tears burned down my face.
"When?" The word came out barely above a whisper.
"Three months. The original timeline stands." His voice smoothed back to reasonable. Calm. "You'll move to the Accardi estate in two weeks. Don Salvatore wants you there to prepare."
"What if I run?" I hated how small my voice sounded. "What if I just leave?"
"Then everyone dies." He said it so simply. "I'll make sure you know about each one. Maria first, probably. Then Carlos and his family. I'll send you photos so you can see exactly what your choices cost." He moved to the door. "But you won't run. Because despite everything, you're Antonio's daughter. And you understand what duty means."
He opened the door, then paused.
"Oh, and Aria? I'm assigning guards to watch you. For your own protection, of course. We wouldn't want anything to happen to you before the wedding." His smile was poison. "After all, so many people are counting on you to survive."
The door closed behind him.
I sat there, frozen, while the weight of it crushed me.
Forty-seven people. Forty-seven lives that depended on me marrying a monster.
Maria's grandson. Carlos's daughters. Rosa's daughter in college.
All dead if I refused.
Papa's legacy. Mama's charities. Everything they'd built. Gone.
And it would be my fault. Just like Papa's death was my fault.
I'd asked for freedom. For choice. For one night to feel alive.
And now I was trapped more completely than I'd ever been before.
The next two weeks,I was a prisoner.
Guards outside my bedroom door. Guards following me everywhere. When I tried to leave once—just to walk in Mama's garden—they shadowed my every step.
When I tried to actually leave the estate, they physically stopped me.
"I'm sorry, Miss Aria. Mr. Vincent's orders. You're not to leave the grounds."
I'd stormed to Vincent's study, furious.
"You're keeping me prisoner."
He didn't even look up from his paperwork. "I'm keeping you alive. There's a difference."
"I can't even leave my own home—"
"It's not your home anymore." He set down his pen. "Everything your father owned belongs to the family organization now. Which I control. This house, the cars, the bank accounts—all of it. You own nothing, Aria. You are nothing except a promise that needs to be delivered. So yes, you'll stay here where I can see you until it's time to hand you over to Don Salvatore."
"Papa would never—"
"Your father is dead because he was soft. Because he let sentiment cloud his judgment." Vincent's eyes were cold. "I won't make the same mistake. You'll marry Salvatore, or I'll start making examples. Would you like me to start with Maria? Or should we begin with the families? I hear Carlos's oldest just got engaged."
I left before I started screaming.
The daycame too fast.
I packed my belongings with numb hands. Uncle Vincent sat next to me for the entire two-hour drive, talking the whole time.
