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When I was eight, Dante Moretti pulled me from the fire that ki**ed my family. For ten years, the powerful crime boss was my protector and my god. Then, he announced his engagement to another woman to unite two criminal empires. He brought her home and named her the future mi**ress of the Moretti family. In front of everyone, his fiancée forced a cheap metal collar around my neck, calling me their pet. Dante knew I was allergic. He just watched, his eyes cold, and ordered me to take it. That night, I listened through the walls as he took her to his b*d. I finally understood the promise he'd made me as a child was a lie. I wasn't his family. I was his property. After a decade of devotion, my love for him finally turned to ash. So on his birthday, the day he celebrated his new future, I walked out of his gilded cage for good. A private jet was waiting to take me to my real father--his greatest enemy. Chapter 1 Seraphina POV: I learned my life was over the day Dante Moretti announced his engagement to another woman. It wasn't a wh**per in the grand, empty halls of the Moretti estate. It wasn't a quiet confession in the dead of night. It was a headline, stark and black on the screen of my phone, a news alert that buzzed on the marble countertop like a dying insect. *Dante Moretti, Don of New York's Most Powerful Family, to Wed Isabella Vescovi, Uniting Two Criminal Empires.* The words blurred. My world narrowed to the phone in my hand, the cold weight of it a sudden, shocking anchor in a sea of disbelief. This had to be a mistake. A power play. A lie designed to sm**e out an enemy. It couldn't be real. Because Dante was mine. He had been mine since I was eight years old. I remember the fire, the acrid smell of sm**e and fear that filled my lungs. The Rossi family, my family, was being torn apart, and I was just a piece of collateral damage left behind. Then he appeared through the flames, a boy of sixteen with eyes as dark and unforgiving as the world he commanded. He threw his own body over mine, shielding me from the heat and the bl**d that splattered the walls. He had whispered against my hair, his voice rough but steady. "You're safe. You're a Moretti now." For ten years, that promise had been my religion. In this gilded cage of marble floors and silent, watchful bodyguards, Dante was my god. He was the one who bought me a nightlight when I was ten because the nightmares wouldn't stop, a small ceramic cat that cast a soft, unwavering glow. "It will keep the monsters away," he'd said, his large hand gentle as he plugged it in. He was the monster, of course. I knew that. The world knew that. But he was my monster, and he kept all the others at bay. Then, on my seventeenth birthday, I did the stupidest thing a girl in my position could do. I wrote him a letter. A confession, poured out in clumsy, heartfelt sentences, stained with a drop of my own bl**d for dramatic, teenage effect. I told him I loved him. I found the letter ripped into a thousand tiny pieces in the tr**h can outside his study. He cornered me in the library that night, his body caging me against a shelf of leather-bound books. His eyes were blazing with a fury I had never seen directed at me. "Don't ever love me, Fina," he'd snarled, his voice a low, dangerous growl. "You love me, and you will die. Do you understand?" I understood. But I didn't believe him. It felt like a test. Another twisted way of protecting me. Now, staring at the face of Isabella Vescovi smiling beside him, her hand possessively on his arm, I knew. It wasn't a test. It was a prophecy. He brought her to the estate that evening. I was standing on the grand staircase when they walked in. Isabella was everything I wasn't--tall, poised, with the kind of sharp, beautiful edges that promised a fight. She moved like she already owned the place. Dante's eyes found mine. There was no warmth, no apology. Just a flat, cold command. "Seraphina," he said, his voice echoing in the cavernous foyer. "This is Isabella. You will refer to her as the future mi**ress of the Moretti family." The words were a physical blow. mi**ress. The title that should have been... Isabella's smile was a weapon. "It's a pleasure to finally meet the little canary Dante keeps so safely in his cage." My hands went cold. I could feel the eyes of every guard, every servant, on me. I was a Rossi by bl**d, a Moretti by charity. A stray dog he'd picked up from the wreckage of his enemies. And now, the true queen had arrived to claim her throne. That night, locked in my bedroom, I stared at my reflection. My hair, a sheet of pale gold, fell to my waist. Dante had always loved my hair. He'd once told me it was the only pure thing in his world. I walked into my bathroom, found the shears we used for cutting flower stems in the garden, and held a thick lock of that pure, golden hair in my hand. Snip. It fell to the cold tile floor, a dead thing. Snip. Snip. Snip. I didn't stop until it was all gone, hacked off in uneven, jagged chunks around my ears. I looked feral. Ruined. I walked out onto my balcony, the cold night air biting at my newly exposed neck. From a hidden pocket in my jacket, I pulled out a ci**rette, stolen from one of the guards. My hands trembled as I lit it, the unfamiliar sting of sm**e hitting the back of my throat. I coughed, my eyes watering. I was no longer pure. I was no longer his. I was nothing. And when you have nothing, you have nothing left to lose. I took another drag, letting the sm**e fill me, and made a promise to the unforgiving New York skyline. I would get out. Or I would die trying. Chapter 2 Seraphina POV: The little ceramic cat nightlight sat on my bedside table, its soft glow a familiar comfort against the darkness. For ten years, it had chased away my nightmares. Tonight, it felt like a mockery. I reached over and yanked the plug from the wall. The room plunged into an oppressive blackness, so thick I felt like I was suffocating. Good. I wanted to feel it. I wanted the darkness to swallow me whole. My bare feet padded across the cold wooden floor to my closet. I pulled down a dusty duffel bag from the top shelf. One by one, I gathered the ghosts of my life with Dante. The small, silver locket with the Moretti crest he'd given me for my fifteenth birthday. The bottle of "Coral Sea" perfume he'd bought me because he said it smelled like a place he'd take me to one day, a place with no bl**d and no secrets. They all went into the bag. Relics of a dead faith. Under my bed was a locked wooden box. Inside was my diary. I flipped through the pages, my fingers tracing the frantic, girlish script. It was a pathetic history of my devotion. Every kind word, every small gesture from him, was recorded and analyzed like scripture. Then I found it. A page from years ago, after a rival had tried to send me a "message" by having his thugs follow me home from school. Dante had dealt with them. I never saw them again. That night, he'd found my diary open on my desk. He didn't say anything, but the next morning, I found a new entry written in his sharp, aggressive hand. It wasn't in ink. It was in bl**d. *Fina is Moretti property. Touch her and die.* Property. The word slammed into me, knocking the air from my lungs. Not a sister. Not a ward. Not even a person. I was a thing. An asset to be protected, like his cars or his collection of antique weapons. His protection wasn't about love. It was about ownership. A sob tore from my throat, raw and ugly. With frantic, shaking hands, I began to rip the pages from the diary. I tore through every cherished memory, every secret hope, until all that was left was a pile of confetti-sized pieces of my own foolish heart. The next day, Isabella officially moved into the room adjoining Dante's. My room. The one I used to have before I was moved to the guest wing last year because I was "becoming a woman." She summoned me to the sitting room. The entire family--Dante's capos, his lieutenants--was there, a silent audience for my humiliation. Isabella smiled, a condescending, placid expression. "Seraphina, darling. A welcome gift." She held up a necklace. It wasn't the delicate silver or gold I was used to. It was a thick, gaudy band of some cheap, dark metal, studded with glittering stones that formed the Vescovi family crest. It wasn't a necklace. It was a collar. My breath hitched. I was allergic to cheap alloys. Dante knew this. He'd once thrown away a bracelet a school friend had given me, his lip curled in disgust as he saw the red rash forming on my wrist. I looked at him, pleading with my eyes. *Don't do this. Please.* His face was a mask of indifference. He met my gaze, his dark eyes cold and empty, and delivered the sentence. "Take it." His voice was flat. Final. It was an order. In front of everyone, he was showing them my new place in the hierarchy. Below him. Below her. My hands trembled as I reached for the collar. Isabella's fingers brushed against mine as she fastened it around my neck. The metal was cold, heavy. "It suits you," she purred, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Every pet should have a collar." The laughter was polite, but it felt like stones being thrown at me. I stood there, my head bowed, as the metal began to warm against my skin. The familiar, burning itch started almost immediately, a ring of fire tightening around my throat. I didn't scratch it. I didn't cry. I just stood there and let it burn, branding me with the truth. I was property. And I had just been handed over to a new owner. Chapter 3 Seraphina POV: That night, the sounds from Dante's bedroom bled through the walls. Muffled laughter, the low murmur of voices, the squeak of bedsprings. I lay in my own bed, stiff as a corpse, staring at the ceiling. The cheap metal collar burned my skin, a constant, agonizing reminder of my place. I finally gave up on sl**p and went to the balcony, lighting another ci**rette. The sm**e was still harsh, but the burn in my lungs was a welcome distraction from the fire around my neck. I smoked the entire pack, one after another, until the sun began to stain the horizon a sickly gray. The next morning, I found Isabella in the dining room, sipping tea as if she'd lived here her whole life. She looked up at me, her eyes lingering on my butchered hair and the raw, red welt on my neck. A small, cruel smile played on her lips. "Dante's birthday is in a few weeks," she said, her voice like honey laced with poison. "It's also going to be our engagement party. I was thinking of a theme. What do you think he'd like? You've known him for so long." The question was a calculated strike. She was asking me to plan the celebration of my own demise. A memory surfaced, unbidden. A rainy night, years ago. Dante had just returned from a "business meeting," his knuckles bruised and a fresh cut over his eye. He'd found me in the kitchen, and for a rare moment, the mask had slipped. He'd looked tired, almost haunted. He had leaned against the counter, his voice barely a wh**per. "When I'm done with all this, Fina, when all my enemies are gone, I'm going to take you to my private island. No one will ever find us there." The memory was so vivid it hurt. I pushed it down, deep into the black hole where I kept all the other beautiful lies. "I wouldn't know," I said, my voice hollow. "I don't concern myself with Don Moretti's affairs." Just then, Dante walked in. He looked from me to Isabella, his gaze impassive. "My affairs," he said, his voice clipping the air, "are none of your concern." He was speaking to me, reinforcing the boundary he had drawn. I turned to leave, my cheeks burning with shame. "Where are you going?" he demanded. "To the embassy," I said, my voice tight. "I need to handle my visa for school." The lie came easily. The forged university acceptance letter from Toronto was tucked safely in my purse. Dante's entire demeanor shifted. The indifference vanished, replaced by a flash of violent possession. He crossed the room in two strides, grabbing my chin and forcing me to look at him. His fingers dug into my jaw, hard. "What school?" he hissed. "And with who? Don't think I don't know what you are, Seraphina. You dare to start running around with some filthy m**t from outside these walls, and I will break his legs. Then I'll break yours." His words were laced with a familiar, terrifying jealousy. The same jealousy that had once made me feel safe, cherished. Now it just felt like a chain. Isabella stepped forward, placing a gentle hand on his arm. "Dante, darling, let her go. You're scaring her. She's just a child." He released me, his eyes still boring into mine. I stumbled back, the urge to touch my bruised jaw overwhelming. I resisted. I would not show weakness. Not in front of her. Later that day, standing outside the Canadian embassy, my phone buzzed. It was a notification from Dante's private social media account, one I was privileged to follow. He had posted a photo. It was a professional shot of him and Isabella. He was in a perfectly tailored suit, she in a stunning evening gown, standing before the massive, carved Moretti family crest in the grand hall. They looked like a king and queen. The caption was two words. *My Queen.* My vision swam. It felt like the world tilted on its axis, throwing me off balance. That word. Queen. He had ki**ed the princess and crowned a new queen, all in one fell swoop. My fingers moved on their own, tapping out a comment from a new, anonymous account I'd created just for this purpose. I wrote it in Latin, a language he'd forced me to learn, a language of empires and endings. *Sic transit gloria mundi.* *Thus passes the glory of the world.* Then, I blocked him. I blocked his account, deleted his number, and wiped every digital trace of him from my life. It was over. Chapter 4 Seraphina POV: The invitation was delivered by one of the younger Moretti soldiers, a boy named Leo with eyes that still held a flicker of kindness. It was for a private party, a small gathering of the family's inner circle. "Will you come, Fina?" he asked, his voice hesitant. He glanced over his shoulder as if expecting Dante to materialize from the shadows. "The Don… will he be there?" In the past, the question would have been absurd. Where Dante went, I went. I was his shadow, his little ghost. I looked at Leo, his hopeful face a painful reminder of a life that was no longer mine. For the first time, I verbally severed the tie that had bound me to Dante for a decade. "He has more important people to be with," I said, my voice calm and distant. Leo's face fell, but he nodded in understanding. He knew, as everyone now knew, that my time as the Don's favored pet was over. That night, I had a nightmare. I was back in the library, the smell of old paper and leather thick in the air. Dante stood before me, but his eyes were different. They were the eyes of a stranger, cold and dead. In his hand, he held a sleek, black pistol. He raised it slowly, aiming it directly at my forehead. "Traitors to the Moretti family only have one way out," he said, his voice devoid of all emotion. The blast was deafening. I woke up with a g**p, my body drenched in a cold sweat, the phantom pain of a bu**et hole throbbing in my head. The dream was a warning. My subconscious screaming at me what my heart already knew. There was no gentle exit from this life. Dante would not let me just walk away. To him, leaving was the ultimate betrayal. A frantic energy seized me. I scrambled out of bed and dragged the duffel bag of his gifts from my closet. It wasn't enough. I had to erase everything. Every memory, every piece of evidence that the girl who loved Dante Moretti had ever existed. I was dragging the bag down the main staircase, intending to take it to the incinerator in the basement, when the front door opened. Dante and Isabella walked in, laughing at something she'd said. The sound died in their throats when they saw me. Dante's eyes locked on the bag in my hand. His face was unreadable. He walked towards me, his steps silent and predatory. Without a word, he ripped the duffel bag from my grasp. I thought he would open it, confront me with the pathetic collection of his discarded affections. He didn't. He turned and handed the bag to the guard at the door. "Burn it," he commanded, his voice flat and hard as steel. The guard nodded and disappeared into the night. Dante turned back to me, his gaze sweeping over me with cold appraisal. My hacked hair, my defiant stance. He had just incinerated a decade of our history without blinking. "I've arranged for your new school," he said, his tone leaving no room for argument. "It's here in New York. You're not going anywhere." The words were a prison sentence. He was pushing me away with one hand and caging me with the other. He didn't want me, but he would never, ever let me go. Chapter 5 Seraphina POV: As I walked back up the stairs, my feet heavy as lead, I heard Isabella's voice drift up from the foyer. It was a soft, cloying purr. "You were so harsh with her, Dante. Was it because of what happened last night…?" Dante's reply was sharp enough to cut glass. "She's an adult. It's time she learned her place." My place. Below them. An inconvenience. A piece of property to be managed. The last flickering ember of hope inside me finally died, leaving nothing but cold, hard ash. The next week was a blur of calculated cruelty. The family held a formal gathering to welcome their alliance with the Vescovis. I was forced to attend. One of Dante's old capos, a man who had known me since I was a child, cornered me by the bar. He gestured towards me with his glass. "Your little canary is all grown up, Don," he said to Dante, who was standing nearby. Dante didn't even look at me. He took a slow sip of his whiskey, his eyes scanning the room. "She's an adult now," he said, his voice carrying in the sudden lull of conversation. "Not my concern anymore." The words were a public declaration. A withdrawal of protection. In our world, that was a death sentence. I felt the shift in the room immediately. The gazes that fell on me were no longer respectful or cautious. They were hungry. Predatory. I was no longer Dante Moretti's untouchable ward. I was open season. Later, Isabella staged a clumsy stumble, collapsing dramatically towards Dante. He caught her with practiced ease, scooping her up into his arms in a classic bridal carry. He didn't look angry or annoyed. He looked like a king claiming his prize, a possessive, protective fire in his eyes that I hadn't seen in years. A fire that was no longer for me. He carried her out of the room amidst a chorus of appreciative murmurs. An old family friend, Francesca, watched them go, her expression sad. She turned to me. "He once had three men executed just for whistling at you on the street," she murmured. "We all thought you would be his weakness forever." Weaknesses get cut away, I thought, my heart a cold, tight knot in my ch**t. The party ended, and as if on cue, the sky opened up. A torrential downpour lashed against the windows. I watched as Dante escorted Isabella to their car, holding a large black umbrella over her, shielding her completely while his own shoulder got soaked. My mind flashed back to another rainy night, when I was twelve and terrified of the thunder. He had found me huddled in the hallway and walked me back to my room, holding this very umbrella over my head even though we were indoors. "My umbrella will always be for you, Fina," he had promised. Now, that promise was a lie. I stood alone on the porch, with no umbrella and no one waiting for me. I looked at the sheets of rain, a solid wall of gray between me and the world. Then, I took a deep breath and walked straight into it. The rain was icy cold, shocking my system. It plastered my short, ragged hair to my skull and soaked through my dress in seconds. I didn't run. I walked, letting the storm wash over me, hoping it could cleanse the filth and the pain from my soul. Back in my room, shivering and dripping on the expensive rug, my phone buzzed with a notification from an encrypted app. It was a new message. *Flight is arranged. Seven days from now. On Dante Moretti's birthday. We will meet you in Toronto. Welcome home, my daughter. - M.R.* Marco Rossi. My father. A shaky breath escaped my lips. It was real. A lifeline. Dante's birthday. The day he entered the world would be the day I finally escaped it. My rebirth would be his celebration. The irony was so bitter, so perfect, it was almost sweet. Chapter 6 Seraphina POV: The days leading up to my escape were a strange, hollow performance. I packed a single, small suitcase with newly purchased, untraceable clothes. Everything else--every book, every trinket, every piece of clothing Dante had ever bought me--I sorted into boxes. I called a discreet company that specialized in cleaning out the homes of the recently deceased, telling them I was handling an old estate. They asked no questions. On the day the cleaners were scheduled to arrive, Dante came home early. He found me in my room, which was already stripped bare, looking sterile and impersonal, like a cheap hotel room between guests. His eyes swept over the empty shelves and bare walls, a flicker of something unreadable in their depths. Confusion? Annoyance? "What is this?" he asked. "Spring cleaning," I said, my voice even. "I'm donating some things. Making space." He didn't believe me, but he didn't press it. He seemed distracted, a deep line etched between his brows. "My birthday party is tonight," he said. It wasn't an invitation; it was a statement of fact. "I know," I replied. "I'll be there. To say a final goodbye." The words hung in the air between us. He thought I meant a goodbye to my childhood, to my place as his ward. He had no idea how final it would truly be. "We'll see," was all he said before turning and leaving me in the empty room. That afternoon, I found my old sketchbooks. For years, I had drawn him. Dante smiling, a rare and precious sight. Dante sl**ping in his study chair. Dante with his back to me, staring out at the city skyline. Page after page of my obsession. I turned to the last blank page. With a steady hand, I drew him one last time. I drew the man from the engagement photo. Dante standing beside Isabella, a crown on his head and a stranger in his eyes. He was no longer my dark protector; he was a king, and she was his queen. Beneath the drawing, I wrote a simple inscription: May your empire last forever. It felt like closing a coffin. That night, the night before his birthday, the night before my freedom, he came to my room. The scent of whiskey hit me first, heavy and sharp. He was drunk, stumbling through the doorway he hadn't entered in years. His eyes were unfocused, clouded with a pain so deep it seemed to swallow the light. "Isabella?" he slurred, reaching for me. My bl**d ran cold. He thought I was her. Before I could speak, he had me in his arms, his grip desperate. He buried his face in my neck, his body trembling. "Why..." he rasped, his voice thick with anguish. "Why don't you understand what I'm doing?" He pulled back, his hands framing my face. His thumbs traced my cheekbones, a ghost of a forgotten tenderness. But his eyes weren't seeing me. They were seeing her. Then he ki**ed me. It was nothing like I had ever imagined. It was brutal and desperate, a k**s born of self-loathing and regret. It tasted of expensive liquor and a sorrow so profound it felt like I was drowning in it. He pushed me back towards the b*d, his weight pi**ing me down, his lips never leaving mine. It was a violation. An act of desecration on the altar of my dead love. And through it all, as his hands tangled in my brutally short hair, he whispered her name. "Isabella." ...... What happens next? 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Love Story City
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Love Story City
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Love Story City
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Love Story City
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Love Story City
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When I was eight, Dante Moretti pulled me from the fire that ki**ed my family. For ten years, the powerful crime boss was my protector and my god. Then, he announced his engagement to another woman to unite two criminal empires. He brought her home and named her the future mi**ress of the Moretti family. In front of everyone, his fiancée forced a cheap metal collar around my neck, calling me their pet. Dante knew I was allergic. He just watched, his eyes cold, and ordered me to take it. That night, I listened through the walls as he took her to his b*d. I finally understood the promise he'd made me as a child was a lie. I wasn't his family. I was his property. After a decade of devotion, my love for him finally turned to ash. So on his birthday, the day he celebrated his new future, I walked out of his gilded cage for good. A private jet was waiting to take me to my real father--his greatest enemy. Chapter 1 Seraphina POV: I learned my life was over the day Dante Moretti announced his engagement to another woman. It wasn't a wh**per in the grand, empty halls of the Moretti estate. It wasn't a quiet confession in the dead of night. It was a headline, stark and black on the screen of my phone, a news alert that buzzed on the marble countertop like a dying insect. *Dante Moretti, Don of New York's Most Powerful Family, to Wed Isabella Vescovi, Uniting Two Criminal Empires.* The words blurred. My world narrowed to the phone in my hand, the cold weight of it a sudden, shocking anchor in a sea of disbelief. This had to be a mistake. A power play. A lie designed to sm**e out an enemy. It couldn't be real. Because Dante was mine. He had been mine since I was eight years old. I remember the fire, the acrid smell of sm**e and fear that filled my lungs. The Rossi family, my family, was being torn apart, and I was just a piece of collateral damage left behind. Then he appeared through the flames, a boy of sixteen with eyes as dark and unforgiving as the world he commanded. He threw his own body over mine, shielding me from the heat and the bl**d that splattered the walls. He had whispered against my hair, his voice rough but steady. "You're safe. You're a Moretti now." For ten years, that promise had been my religion. In this gilded cage of marble floors and silent, watchful bodyguards, Dante was my god. He was the one who bought me a nightlight when I was ten because the nightmares wouldn't stop, a small ceramic cat that cast a soft, unwavering glow. "It will keep the monsters away," he'd said, his large hand gentle as he plugged it in. He was the monster, of course. I knew that. The world knew that. But he was my monster, and he kept all the others at bay. Then, on my seventeenth birthday, I did the stupidest thing a girl in my position could do. I wrote him a letter. A confession, poured out in clumsy, heartfelt sentences, stained with a drop of my own bl**d for dramatic, teenage effect. I told him I loved him. I found the letter ripped into a thousand tiny pieces in the tr**h can outside his study. He cornered me in the library that night, his body caging me against a shelf of leather-bound books. His eyes were blazing with a fury I had never seen directed at me. "Don't ever love me, Fina," he'd snarled, his voice a low, dangerous growl. "You love me, and you will die. Do you understand?" I understood. But I didn't believe him. It felt like a test. Another twisted way of protecting me. Now, staring at the face of Isabella Vescovi smiling beside him, her hand possessively on his arm, I knew. It wasn't a test. It was a prophecy. He brought her to the estate that evening. I was standing on the grand staircase when they walked in. Isabella was everything I wasn't--tall, poised, with the kind of sharp, beautiful edges that promised a fight. She moved like she already owned the place. Dante's eyes found mine. There was no warmth, no apology. Just a flat, cold command. "Seraphina," he said, his voice echoing in the cavernous foyer. "This is Isabella. You will refer to her as the future mi**ress of the Moretti family." The words were a physical blow. mi**ress. The title that should have been... Isabella's smile was a weapon. "It's a pleasure to finally meet the little canary Dante keeps so safely in his cage." My hands went cold. I could feel the eyes of every guard, every servant, on me. I was a Rossi by bl**d, a Moretti by charity. A stray dog he'd picked up from the wreckage of his enemies. And now, the true queen had arrived to claim her throne. That night, locked in my bedroom, I stared at my reflection. My hair, a sheet of pale gold, fell to my waist. Dante had always loved my hair. He'd once told me it was the only pure thing in his world. I walked into my bathroom, found the shears we used for cutting flower stems in the garden, and held a thick lock of that pure, golden hair in my hand. Snip. It fell to the cold tile floor, a dead thing. Snip. Snip. Snip. I didn't stop until it was all gone, hacked off in uneven, jagged chunks around my ears. I looked feral. Ruined. I walked out onto my balcony, the cold night air biting at my newly exposed neck. From a hidden pocket in my jacket, I pulled out a ci**rette, stolen from one of the guards. My hands trembled as I lit it, the unfamiliar sting of sm**e hitting the back of my throat. I coughed, my eyes watering. I was no longer pure. I was no longer his. I was nothing. And when you have nothing, you have nothing left to lose. I took another drag, letting the sm**e fill me, and made a promise to the unforgiving New York skyline. I would get out. Or I would die trying. Chapter 2 Seraphina POV: The little ceramic cat nightlight sat on my bedside table, its soft glow a familiar comfort against the darkness. For ten years, it had chased away my nightmares. Tonight, it felt like a mockery. I reached over and yanked the plug from the wall. The room plunged into an oppressive blackness, so thick I felt like I was suffocating. Good. I wanted to feel it. I wanted the darkness to swallow me whole. My bare feet padded across the cold wooden floor to my closet. I pulled down a dusty duffel bag from the top shelf. One by one, I gathered the ghosts of my life with Dante. The small, silver locket with the Moretti crest he'd given me for my fifteenth birthday. The bottle of "Coral Sea" perfume he'd bought me because he said it smelled like a place he'd take me to one day, a place with no bl**d and no secrets. They all went into the bag. Relics of a dead faith. Under my bed was a locked wooden box. Inside was my diary. I flipped through the pages, my fingers tracing the frantic, girlish script. It was a pathetic history of my devotion. Every kind word, every small gesture from him, was recorded and analyzed like scripture. Then I found it. A page from years ago, after a rival had tried to send me a "message" by having his thugs follow me home from school. Dante had dealt with them. I never saw them again. That night, he'd found my diary open on my desk. He didn't say anything, but the next morning, I found a new entry written in his sharp, aggressive hand. It wasn't in ink. It was in bl**d. *Fina is Moretti property. Touch her and die.* Property. The word slammed into me, knocking the air from my lungs. Not a sister. Not a ward. Not even a person. I was a thing. An asset to be protected, like his cars or his collection of antique weapons. His protection wasn't about love. It was about ownership. A sob tore from my throat, raw and ugly. With frantic, shaking hands, I began to rip the pages from the diary. I tore through every cherished memory, every secret hope, until all that was left was a pile of confetti-sized pieces of my own foolish heart. The next day, Isabella officially moved into the room adjoining Dante's. My room. The one I used to have before I was moved to the guest wing last year because I was "becoming a woman." She summoned me to the sitting room. The entire family--Dante's capos, his lieutenants--was there, a silent audience for my humiliation. Isabella smiled, a condescending, placid expression. "Seraphina, darling. A welcome gift." She held up a necklace. It wasn't the delicate silver or gold I was used to. It was a thick, gaudy band of some cheap, dark metal, studded with glittering stones that formed the Vescovi family crest. It wasn't a necklace. It was a collar. My breath hitched. I was allergic to cheap alloys. Dante knew this. He'd once thrown away a bracelet a school friend had given me, his lip curled in disgust as he saw the red rash forming on my wrist. I looked at him, pleading with my eyes. *Don't do this. Please.* His face was a mask of indifference. He met my gaze, his dark eyes cold and empty, and delivered the sentence. "Take it." His voice was flat. Final. It was an order. In front of everyone, he was showing them my new place in the hierarchy. Below him. Below her. My hands trembled as I reached for the collar. Isabella's fingers brushed against mine as she fastened it around my neck. The metal was cold, heavy. "It suits you," she purred, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Every pet should have a collar." The laughter was polite, but it felt like stones being thrown at me. I stood there, my head bowed, as the metal began to warm against my skin. The familiar, burning itch started almost immediately, a ring of fire tightening around my throat. I didn't scratch it. I didn't cry. I just stood there and let it burn, branding me with the truth. I was property. And I had just been handed over to a new owner. Chapter 3 Seraphina POV: That night, the sounds from Dante's bedroom bled through the walls. Muffled laughter, the low murmur of voices, the squeak of bedsprings. I lay in my own bed, stiff as a corpse, staring at the ceiling. The cheap metal collar burned my skin, a constant, agonizing reminder of my place. I finally gave up on sl**p and went to the balcony, lighting another ci**rette. The sm**e was still harsh, but the burn in my lungs was a welcome distraction from the fire around my neck. I smoked the entire pack, one after another, until the sun began to stain the horizon a sickly gray. The next morning, I found Isabella in the dining room, sipping tea as if she'd lived here her whole life. She looked up at me, her eyes lingering on my butchered hair and the raw, red welt on my neck. A small, cruel smile played on her lips. "Dante's birthday is in a few weeks," she said, her voice like honey laced with poison. "It's also going to be our engagement party. I was thinking of a theme. What do you think he'd like? You've known him for so long." The question was a calculated strike. She was asking me to plan the celebration of my own demise. A memory surfaced, unbidden. A rainy night, years ago. Dante had just returned from a "business meeting," his knuckles bruised and a fresh cut over his eye. He'd found me in the kitchen, and for a rare moment, the mask had slipped. He'd looked tired, almost haunted. He had leaned against the counter, his voice barely a wh**per. "When I'm done with all this, Fina, when all my enemies are gone, I'm going to take you to my private island. No one will ever find us there." The memory was so vivid it hurt. I pushed it down, deep into the black hole where I kept all the other beautiful lies. "I wouldn't know," I said, my voice hollow. "I don't concern myself with Don Moretti's affairs." Just then, Dante walked in. He looked from me to Isabella, his gaze impassive. "My affairs," he said, his voice clipping the air, "are none of your concern." He was speaking to me, reinforcing the boundary he had drawn. I turned to leave, my cheeks burning with shame. "Where are you going?" he demanded. "To the embassy," I said, my voice tight. "I need to handle my visa for school." The lie came easily. The forged university acceptance letter from Toronto was tucked safely in my purse. Dante's entire demeanor shifted. The indifference vanished, replaced by a flash of violent possession. He crossed the room in two strides, grabbing my chin and forcing me to look at him. His fingers dug into my jaw, hard. "What school?" he hissed. "And with who? Don't think I don't know what you are, Seraphina. You dare to start running around with some filthy m**t from outside these walls, and I will break his legs. Then I'll break yours." His words were laced with a familiar, terrifying jealousy. The same jealousy that had once made me feel safe, cherished. Now it just felt like a chain. Isabella stepped forward, placing a gentle hand on his arm. "Dante, darling, let her go. You're scaring her. She's just a child." He released me, his eyes still boring into mine. I stumbled back, the urge to touch my bruised jaw overwhelming. I resisted. I would not show weakness. Not in front of her. Later that day, standing outside the Canadian embassy, my phone buzzed. It was a notification from Dante's private social media account, one I was privileged to follow. He had posted a photo. It was a professional shot of him and Isabella. He was in a perfectly tailored suit, she in a stunning evening gown, standing before the massive, carved Moretti family crest in the grand hall. They looked like a king and queen. The caption was two words. *My Queen.* My vision swam. It felt like the world tilted on its axis, throwing me off balance. That word. Queen. He had ki**ed the princess and crowned a new queen, all in one fell swoop. My fingers moved on their own, tapping out a comment from a new, anonymous account I'd created just for this purpose. I wrote it in Latin, a language he'd forced me to learn, a language of empires and endings. *Sic transit gloria mundi.* *Thus passes the glory of the world.* Then, I blocked him. I blocked his account, deleted his number, and wiped every digital trace of him from my life. It was over. Chapter 4 Seraphina POV: The invitation was delivered by one of the younger Moretti soldiers, a boy named Leo with eyes that still held a flicker of kindness. It was for a private party, a small gathering of the family's inner circle. "Will you come, Fina?" he asked, his voice hesitant. He glanced over his shoulder as if expecting Dante to materialize from the shadows. "The Don… will he be there?" In the past, the question would have been absurd. Where Dante went, I went. I was his shadow, his little ghost. I looked at Leo, his hopeful face a painful reminder of a life that was no longer mine. For the first time, I verbally severed the tie that had bound me to Dante for a decade. "He has more important people to be with," I said, my voice calm and distant. Leo's face fell, but he nodded in understanding. He knew, as everyone now knew, that my time as the Don's favored pet was over. That night, I had a nightmare. I was back in the library, the smell of old paper and leather thick in the air. Dante stood before me, but his eyes were different. They were the eyes of a stranger, cold and dead. In his hand, he held a sleek, black pistol. He raised it slowly, aiming it directly at my forehead. "Traitors to the Moretti family only have one way out," he said, his voice devoid of all emotion. The blast was deafening. I woke up with a g**p, my body drenched in a cold sweat, the phantom pain of a bu**et hole throbbing in my head. The dream was a warning. My subconscious screaming at me what my heart already knew. There was no gentle exit from this life. Dante would not let me just walk away. To him, leaving was the ultimate betrayal. A frantic energy seized me. I scrambled out of bed and dragged the duffel bag of his gifts from my closet. It wasn't enough. I had to erase everything. Every memory, every piece of evidence that the girl who loved Dante Moretti had ever existed. I was dragging the bag down the main staircase, intending to take it to the incinerator in the basement, when the front door opened. Dante and Isabella walked in, laughing at something she'd said. The sound died in their throats when they saw me. Dante's eyes locked on the bag in my hand. His face was unreadable. He walked towards me, his steps silent and predatory. Without a word, he ripped the duffel bag from my grasp. I thought he would open it, confront me with the pathetic collection of his discarded affections. He didn't. He turned and handed the bag to the guard at the door. "Burn it," he commanded, his voice flat and hard as steel. The guard nodded and disappeared into the night. Dante turned back to me, his gaze sweeping over me with cold appraisal. My hacked hair, my defiant stance. He had just incinerated a decade of our history without blinking. "I've arranged for your new school," he said, his tone leaving no room for argument. "It's here in New York. You're not going anywhere." The words were a prison sentence. He was pushing me away with one hand and caging me with the other. He didn't want me, but he would never, ever let me go. Chapter 5 Seraphina POV: As I walked back up the stairs, my feet heavy as lead, I heard Isabella's voice drift up from the foyer. It was a soft, cloying purr. "You were so harsh with her, Dante. Was it because of what happened last night…?" Dante's reply was sharp enough to cut glass. "She's an adult. It's time she learned her place." My place. Below them. An inconvenience. A piece of property to be managed. The last flickering ember of hope inside me finally died, leaving nothing but cold, hard ash. The next week was a blur of calculated cruelty. The family held a formal gathering to welcome their alliance with the Vescovis. I was forced to attend. One of Dante's old capos, a man who had known me since I was a child, cornered me by the bar. He gestured towards me with his glass. "Your little canary is all grown up, Don," he said to Dante, who was standing nearby. Dante didn't even look at me. He took a slow sip of his whiskey, his eyes scanning the room. "She's an adult now," he said, his voice carrying in the sudden lull of conversation. "Not my concern anymore." The words were a public declaration. A withdrawal of protection. In our world, that was a death sentence. I felt the shift in the room immediately. The gazes that fell on me were no longer respectful or cautious. They were hungry. Predatory. I was no longer Dante Moretti's untouchable ward. I was open season. Later, Isabella staged a clumsy stumble, collapsing dramatically towards Dante. He caught her with practiced ease, scooping her up into his arms in a classic bridal carry. He didn't look angry or annoyed. He looked like a king claiming his prize, a possessive, protective fire in his eyes that I hadn't seen in years. A fire that was no longer for me. He carried her out of the room amidst a chorus of appreciative murmurs. An old family friend, Francesca, watched them go, her expression sad. She turned to me. "He once had three men executed just for whistling at you on the street," she murmured. "We all thought you would be his weakness forever." Weaknesses get cut away, I thought, my heart a cold, tight knot in my ch**t. The party ended, and as if on cue, the sky opened up. A torrential downpour lashed against the windows. I watched as Dante escorted Isabella to their car, holding a large black umbrella over her, shielding her completely while his own shoulder got soaked. My mind flashed back to another rainy night, when I was twelve and terrified of the thunder. He had found me huddled in the hallway and walked me back to my room, holding this very umbrella over my head even though we were indoors. "My umbrella will always be for you, Fina," he had promised. Now, that promise was a lie. I stood alone on the porch, with no umbrella and no one waiting for me. I looked at the sheets of rain, a solid wall of gray between me and the world. Then, I took a deep breath and walked straight into it. The rain was icy cold, shocking my system. It plastered my short, ragged hair to my skull and soaked through my dress in seconds. I didn't run. I walked, letting the storm wash over me, hoping it could cleanse the filth and the pain from my soul. Back in my room, shivering and dripping on the expensive rug, my phone buzzed with a notification from an encrypted app. It was a new message. *Flight is arranged. Seven days from now. On Dante Moretti's birthday. We will meet you in Toronto. Welcome home, my daughter. - M.R.* Marco Rossi. My father. A shaky breath escaped my lips. It was real. A lifeline. Dante's birthday. The day he entered the world would be the day I finally escaped it. My rebirth would be his celebration. The irony was so bitter, so perfect, it was almost sweet. Chapter 6 Seraphina POV: The days leading up to my escape were a strange, hollow performance. I packed a single, small suitcase with newly purchased, untraceable clothes. Everything else--every book, every trinket, every piece of clothing Dante had ever bought me--I sorted into boxes. I called a discreet company that specialized in cleaning out the homes of the recently deceased, telling them I was handling an old estate. They asked no questions. On the day the cleaners were scheduled to arrive, Dante came home early. He found me in my room, which was already stripped bare, looking sterile and impersonal, like a cheap hotel room between guests. His eyes swept over the empty shelves and bare walls, a flicker of something unreadable in their depths. Confusion? Annoyance? "What is this?" he asked. "Spring cleaning," I said, my voice even. "I'm donating some things. Making space." He didn't believe me, but he didn't press it. He seemed distracted, a deep line etched between his brows. "My birthday party is tonight," he said. It wasn't an invitation; it was a statement of fact. "I know," I replied. "I'll be there. To say a final goodbye." The words hung in the air between us. He thought I meant a goodbye to my childhood, to my place as his ward. He had no idea how final it would truly be. "We'll see," was all he said before turning and leaving me in the empty room. That afternoon, I found my old sketchbooks. For years, I had drawn him. Dante smiling, a rare and precious sight. Dante sl**ping in his study chair. Dante with his back to me, staring out at the city skyline. Page after page of my obsession. I turned to the last blank page. With a steady hand, I drew him one last time. I drew the man from the engagement photo. Dante standing beside Isabella, a crown on his head and a stranger in his eyes. He was no longer my dark protector; he was a king, and she was his queen. Beneath the drawing, I wrote a simple inscription: May your empire last forever. It felt like closing a coffin. That night, the night before his birthday, the night before my freedom, he came to my room. The scent of whiskey hit me first, heavy and sharp. He was drunk, stumbling through the doorway he hadn't entered in years. His eyes were unfocused, clouded with a pain so deep it seemed to swallow the light. "Isabella?" he slurred, reaching for me. My bl**d ran cold. He thought I was her. Before I could speak, he had me in his arms, his grip desperate. He buried his face in my neck, his body trembling. "Why..." he rasped, his voice thick with anguish. "Why don't you understand what I'm doing?" He pulled back, his hands framing my face. His thumbs traced my cheekbones, a ghost of a forgotten tenderness. But his eyes weren't seeing me. They were seeing her. Then he ki**ed me. It was nothing like I had ever imagined. It was brutal and desperate, a k**s born of self-loathing and regret. It tasted of expensive liquor and a sorrow so profound it felt like I was drowning in it. He pushed me back towards the b*d, his weight pi**ing me down, his lips never leaving mine. It was a violation. An act of desecration on the altar of my dead love. And through it all, as his hands tangled in my brutally short hair, he whispered her name. "Isabella." ...... What happens next? 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