ella

shaking as she bowed her head to the marble floo

fore a violent commotion erupted in the hallway. The sound of s

stumbled forward, trying to restrain the man who

h a desperate, reckless obsession. He hadn't left the estate. He had been waiting, driven by a rein

el shouted, his gaze locking onto Celi

the room plummete

His one good arm trembled, the veins in his neck bulging with a lethal, unadulterated fury. A boy from a les

mble that promised a bloodbath. "You dare walk back into my hous

d the cost of a full-scale war with the Marinos. But her glare to

gic hero. He thought he was saving his true love. He

and stumbled toward Celine. I dropped to my knee

's insane. Tell Papa you don't love this traitor. Tell him you will gladly marry Marco to pr

ocking my eyes onto hers. I had just

and status, but she was terrified of the Don's wrath. For three agonizing seconds, sh

en. Elizabeth Wolfe missed nothing. That fraction of a sec

ly ripped her hands from mine and

cle Adrian, please! If you force me to marry Marco, Daniel will start a wa

st time. "My father died for this family's peace. Let me do the same. I will marry Daniel. Not for l

, looking at her as if she were

y, suffocating guilt he carried for Celine's father. Even my mother looked torn, swayed by the sheer magnitude o

ually going t

this l

e sharp, rhythmic strike of leather boots agai

fessional indifference, but her eyes burned with a Soldier's l

assed the Mafia Queen, an

ping, terrified girl vanished. I looked down at Celine, who was still

er. It was time