ra

power that owed nothing to guns or territory. He ran a global architectural firm, a legitimate empire far from

do was surviv

things that were still mine. Dante was waiting for me in the foyer, his large frame a

he demanded, his

my voice level. I didn't owe hi

cheekbone. The gesture that once made me melt now felt like a brand. "I can't lose you a

searching mine for a reaction I no longer possess

et boxes holding glittering jewels. But mixed in were pieces I would never wear-a gar

isplay. "Get rid of it.

e could respond, Luca burst int

loyalty to his new mother a sharp, painful bl

eck, his giggles filling a room, dissolved, replaced by this

a sapphire ring, a massive stone the color of a midnight sky. "'The One,'" he

n. A reporter was gushing about a rival Don who had just commissioned a magnificent jewel for his wife, a st

nd. He slid it onto my finger. It was a millim

" he said, his excus

cavern in my chest echoing with the

fted, the mask of the Don sliding back into place. He had to go. An "urgent

devoid of all emotion.

a hollow, meaningless

screen of his phone flashed

en

om my finger and dropped it into the metal trash can