“When you got pregnant... of course I knew it was for Vincenzo. But the thought of you carrying his child... it tore me apart.”
“If you ever bear a child, I want it to be mine.”
“I was broken, desperate enough to want to tear his empire down, take you, and run—but I couldn’t, too much was at stake.”
“I was also angry at you for not seeing how much I desperately wanted you.”
“So when Violet came to me with her plan... I said yes easily—to put you on Vincenzo’s worst side, to make it look like you had stolen his most precious treasure.”
“In truth, I was the one who took it from his safe and handed it to Violet to pin on you.”
“In the mafia world, betrayals are punished harshly—even if it’s our own son, a wife, or an outsider. I knew it would work. Because if I couldn’t have you... at least Vincenzo would never have you either.”
My chest seized.
My vision blurred as tears welled in my eyes.
They tried to fall.
They didn’t make it far.
The moment they left my eyes—
They froze.
Mid-descent.
Turning into fragile, crystalline trails that cracked when I blinked.
“Ciro...” My voice broke into a sob-shiver. “You... condemned my baby and me...”
My throat closed.
“...to death...”
My voice shook harder.
“...because of f-feelings I never even kn-kn-knew about?”
“Renzo is being treated as an accomplice in your crime. In forty-eight hours, he’ll be executed before all the soldiers.”
The words struck like a physical blow.
“He was convinced Renzo aided you in stealing the ring, especially since he wouldn’t run the metal detector on you.”
“Say your final prayers, Elena. In forty-eight hours, you’ll be nothing but a corpse. Most betrayals we’ve dealt with here don’t even survive forty-eight hours... some fall in less than twelve.”
Silence crashed back down.
But this time—
It wasn’t empty.
It was full of everything he had just said.
And everything it meant.
I wasn’t just trapped. I wasn’t just freezing.
