Chapter 1
Isobel’s POV
A mafia family never gets a quiet day. And on my parents’ wedding anniversary, our fortress-like manor turned into a nightmare.
Glass shattered everywhere. Bullets whizzed past like angry hornets. My father—our Don—didn’t even flinch. He just stepped in front of me and my mother like he could block the whole world. And then… the first shot hit him square in the chest.
“Dad!” I screamed, but my voice barely cut through the chaos.
My mother went down under the swing of a bat, her scream ripping through the room.
I was pinned. My dress ripped. Their laughter was in my ears. I prayed for death, but it didn’t come. Not yet.
Then Marco showed up. My husband. Or so I thought. He didn’t roll in like some random hero; he came with men who moved like soldiers trained to obey every order without question. Shots rang out. Mercenaries from some unknown hostile faction descended from the sky dropped. A rescue? Maybe. But it felt staged, like a scene meant to make him look like my savior.
“Isobel!” His arms were around me. “You’re safe. I’ve got you.”
And I believed him. Foolishly. Desperately.
When I woke, the hospital bed was cold and sterile. The machines beeped like mocking hearts. And then… I heard them.
Marco. His voice smooth, velvet with a hint of ice.
“We can’t let Isobel leave this hospital, Kobi. Not after everything we’ve done.”
My lungs froze.
Dr. Kobi spoke next. Hands shaking. “Marco… you had me inject her, make her dependent… forge her records… sterilize her. And now… you still want her dead?”
Dead. That word hit harder than any bullet ever could.
Marco laughed. Soft. Patient. Cruel. “Lydia’s pregnant. The only one I want. Isobel? She was just a stepping stone. A tool.”
Pregnant? Lydia? My cousin—the one I grew up with, the girl who promised she’d always have my back—carrying my husband’s child?
Dr. Kobi’s voice cracked. “You destroyed her family! Her father… your so-called rescue didn’t save him! Her mother… you broke her!”