The club dancer my husband, Dante, kept on the side loved to play twisted games of 'true love'.

For her ninety-ninth game, she kidnapped my daughter.

"Dante, I can't stand you being with anyone else," she'd purred. "I'll sell her off to Mexico. Then you'll only have me."

My voice like ice, I ordered my husband to get our daughter back. Dante just rolled his eyes.

"Chloe just loves me too much. She'll bring the kid back once she calms down. Stop making a scene."

I glanced at my phone. A video showed my daughter, the corner of her mouth split and bleeding. I made another call.

"In the Moretti family, what's the price for stealing an heir?"

"She goes to the bottom of the lake. No exceptions."

————————

1

"Scarlett! Are you insane? Chloe was just joking, why are you taking it so seriously?"

"Call your people off. Now. If they so much as touch Chloe, we're done."

In seven years of marriage, Dante had never raised his voice at me. Now, for the first time, he was screaming—all for his little mistress.

I jabbed a finger at the screen, at the video of our daughter bound hand and foot, my voice dropping to a glacial calm.

"A joke? Who jokes about kidnapping?"

"Sofia's face is swollen. Can't you see that?"

Dante, however, was dismissive.

"It's just makeup. If you can't even tell the difference, no wonder Chloe says you're old and boring."

Right in front of me, Dante pulled out his phone to send Chloe a nauseatingly sweet text.

"Baby, where are you?" he typed. "You know you're the most important one in my heart! Come back soon. I worry when you're out alone."

Watching Dante, so utterly unconcerned for our daughter's safety, I felt fury pulse at my temples.

I strode forward, snatched his phone, and dialed Chloe's number.

The contact name, 'My Queen,' stung my eyes.

In seven years of marriage, Dante's contact for me had always been my full name.

I had asked him to change it once, but he’d brushed it off as a childish game.

"Dante, I took your little girl. The one you had with that old hag. You're not mad, are you?"

Chloe's cloying voice pulled me from my thoughts.

My face hardened. "Bring my daughter back. Now. You can't afford the consequences of kidnapping a Moretti."

Chloe met my warning with a scornful laugh.

"Well, well, who do we have here? If it isn't the old hag Dante despises."

"Scarlett, you're old and you're boring. Other than your family's muscle, what have you got that I don't?"

"I just want you to know that in Dante's heart, you and your daughter are worthless! Even if I sell her to Mexico as a child laborer…"

Before Chloe could finish, I cut her off, my voice grim.

"You touch a single hair on my daughter's head, and I guarantee you won't live to see another sunrise."

The next second, a sharp slap cracked across my face. It was Dante.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Chloe just loves me; she feels insecure. You're a grown woman. Why are you harassing a young girl?"

"Chloe, don't worry. As long as I'm here, no one can hurt you."

"Do whatever you want with the kid, just don't be late for our date tonight."

"I booked your favorite sky bar to celebrate our 100-day anniversary!"

They cooed at each other, their words dripping with saccharine.

After he hung up, Dante changed into a fresh suit, spritzed on cologne, and headed for the door.

He paused only to lecture me.

"Chloe can be dramatic, but she's not a bad person."

"She sent Sofia home ages ago. Just go pick her up."

"Next time, get your facts straight before you cause a scene. You're making a fool of yourself."

After Dante left, the bodyguard at my side spoke.

"Principessa, I'll take my men to teach that bitch a lesson right now."

I pressed my fingers to my temples.

"Bring Sofia back first."

But when my men stormed Dante and Chloe's love nest, they found no trace of Sofia. Only a floor slick with blood.

The Saint Christopher's medal I'd given Sofia was lying in the middle of it, soaked red.

In that moment, I clenched my fists, stormed to the private club where Dante and Chloe were having their date, and kicked the VIP room door clean off its hinges.

The crash startled everyone inside. Dante's first instinct was to shield Chloe.

When he saw it was me, his face twisted into a foul scowl.

"Scarlett! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Didn't I tell you where Sofia was? Is your only goal in life to ruin my anniversary with Chloe?"

My eyes swept over the room full of roses, then landed on Dante's chest. The 'S' he'd once tattooed for me had been crudely, brutally altered into a 'C'.

He noticed my gaze, his face showing not a shred of guilt. He spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Chloe deserves everything I have."

"She's not like you. She's just a simple girl who's never been loved like this before…"

Before Dante could finish his tired speech, I cut him off.

"I'm not here for your party."

"Chloe, where is my daughter?"

I leveled a glare at her that made her shrink behind Dante.

Dante roared at me.

"Scarlett! Stop being so damn crazy! Sofia is at home, isn't she?"

"You ruined my 100-day anniversary with Chloe. You need to apologize to her!"

I shoved the photos from the apartment into Dante's face—images of the blood-slicked floor, of Sofia's charm drenched in it.

Dante recoiled. "Where's Sofia? Why are you showing me this?" He quickly masked his panic with scorn. "You're pathetic, you know that? Pulling cheap stunts like this just to get my attention."

A flicker of panic crossed Chloe's face.

But hearing Dante's words, she quickly regained her composure and fanned the flames.

"Scarlett, I know you can't stand Dante being with me, but you don't have to go to such lengths, do you?"

"Sofia is your own daughter. To curse her like this, soaking her things in animal blood… Aren't you afraid of making it come true?"

I drove my foot into her stomach, sending her sprawling to the floor.

I grabbed her by the collar. "I'll ask you one more time. Where is my daughter?"

A bruise was already forming on her leg, but her expression remained defiant.

"I sent Sofia back hours ago. Who knows where you hid her after that?"

"Dante, maybe you should just go back with this crazy woman. I'm afraid she's going to kill me."

Chloe's voice was thick with false tears. In a blind rage, Dante flew at me, his fists flailing wildly.

"Scarlett! You lunatic!"

"Let go of Chloe! Or I swear to God, I'll divorce you!"

"A divorce?" I said, my voice cold as stone. "Fine. But not yet."

"Hand over Sofia, and I'll meet you at City Hall tomorrow morning."

Chloe's eyes lit up, but a trace of surprise flashed in Dante's.

With a cold snort, he sneered.

"Changing tactics? Trying to play hard to get?"

"Too bad. It won't work on me."

"I'll say it again. Let go of Chloe!"

I ignored him. The next second, Dante grabbed a nearby whiskey bottle and smashed it over my head.

Blood trickled down my forehead. I stared at Dante in disbelief.

But his eyes were only for Chloe.

"Chloe, are you okay?"

Chloe feigned unconsciousness, her eyes squeezed shut.

Dante grew anxious, desperate to rush her to the hospital.

"Dante!" I grabbed his arm, pointing to the blood matting my hair. "Shouldn't I be the one going to the hospital?"

"Besides, Chloe hasn't told us where Sofia is. She's only five…"

But Dante irritably flung my hand away.

My head slammed against the marble table. A fresh wave of blood bloomed across the fabric of my white dress, staining it crimson.

He didn't even glance at me. Instead, he continued his tirade.

"Scarlett! Haven't you caused enough trouble? You're the one who hid Sofia!"

"Besides, Chloe has already fainted. What more do you want from her?"

"If anything happens to Chloe, I swear, we are done!"

Dante helped Chloe up from the floor and rushed out, leaving me on the verge of collapsing from blood loss.

Three minutes later, he returned.

Just as a sliver of hope sparked that he'd found his conscience, he locked the door from the outside.

"Chloe is badly hurt. To keep you from causing more trouble while I get her to the hospital, I have to lock you in here."

He knelt, his hand cool as he caressed my bloody face.

"Don't worry, Scarlett. Even though you're old and boring, you're still the one I love most."

"Just behave yourself, stop bothering Chloe, and maybe, after I get tired of her, we can go back to being a family."

Dante left. My phone chimed.

A text from an anonymous number flashed on the screen. "Scarlett, you'll never find that little brat! Dante and his fortune are mine, and mine alone. Soon, I'll send you and your daughter to join each other in hell!"

Fortune? What the hell was she talking about?

Seven years ago, to solidify an alliance, my father arranged my marriage to Dante, who was just a low-level Soldato. I made him a Capo and put him in charge of our family's most profitable nightclubs.

Everything Dante possessed, he had because of me. What fortune could he possibly have that I didn't already own?

Before I could process it, the sound of a child crying echoed from the adjoining room.

"Papa, Mamma, where are you? It's so dark... Sofia's scared..."

It was my daughter's voice.

I scrambled to my feet to rush to her, but a Molotov cocktail skidded under the door.

It ignited the sofa, and flames devoured the room in seconds.

I poured the last of my mineral water over myself and charged into the fiery anteroom, only to find a phone on a table, playing a video.

In the video, Dante carried my crying daughter and shoved her into the trunk of Chloe's car.

They drove her to an unknown warehouse.

My daughter's small body was curled into a ball as she cried out for her Papa.

No one answered.

My heart shattered. I snatched the phone, intending to escape, but the door had been chained shut from the outside.

The air vents were sealed.

As the fire raged, I knew I had one chance.

I smashed a crack in the bulletproof glass and screamed to the street below.

"I am Scarlett Moretti!"

"Dante Romano and his whore are trying to burn me alive! Help me find my daughter!"