Icy snow hit my face as I crawled out of the tunnel's exit.

The entire Moretti estate was a sea of fire.

Explosions and gunfire ripped through the night.

I was covered in my mother's blood, stumbling the mile toward the Falcone estate.

A shrapnel wound in my arm burned, but I couldn't stop.

I couldn't think. I just had to run.

When I finally collapsed against the iron gates of the Falcone estate, I pounded on them, my voice a raw scream.

"Dante! Open the gate! Help me! The Volkovs... they're hitting our estate! My mother—save my mother!"

The gates slowly opened. Dante Falcone stood in the doorway, a ghost in a tailored suit.

The man I was supposed to marry.

The warmth I once saw in his eyes was gone, replaced by shards of ice. He looked down at me, kneeling in the snow.

"Isabella," his voice was a low, dangerous purr. "Quite a performance."

My head was spinning, blood roaring in my ears. "Dante, I'm not acting! This isn't a joke! My mother's life is on the line! Please, send your men back with me! The Volkovs are inside the house!"

He sneered, his gaze raking over my blood-soaked form. "Leo called ahead. Gave me a heads-up about the little show you'd be putting on tonight. The damsel in distress act. Pathetic, even for you."

"Don't listen to his bullshit! It's real!" I pleaded, holding up my hand, showing him the family ring slick with my mother's blood.

His eyes flicked to it. "You're really committing to the bit, aren't you?" he drawled. "Even adding props."

"Dante! Are you insane? It's a real attack!" I screamed, tears of rage and desperation blurring my vision.

Before Scarlett, Dante was my world.

He was the gentle protector of my childhood, the man who, after our engagement, had treated me with nothing but doting affection.

Then she appeared. Everything changed.

Dante grew distant, my brother began to shun me.

And Leo, to impress his new flame, did the unthinkable.

Just because a minor Volkovs enterprise shared the same name as Scarlett's pampered Persian cat, Leo had maliciously torched it to the ground.

That single act of arrogance was all it took to unleash the Volkovs' full fury upon us.

I grabbed his pant leg as he turned to leave. "Please! My mother needs help! If you don't go now, she's going to die! She's really going to die! I'll do anything," my voice broke.

"The engagement... if that's what this is about, if you think this is some game to test you... then it's over. I'll announce it tomorrow. Just please, save my mother! She's really going to die!"

Dante’s expression tightened.

Far from the satisfaction I’d anticipated, he only looked more furious.

The old butler, Antonio, who’d bounced me on his knee as a child, shifted uncomfortably. "Signore Falcone," he murmured, "forgive me, but the signorina... she would never stage such a thing. It is not in her."

Dante hesitated, a flicker of uncertainty crossing his features.

I seized the opening.

I forced my trembling body into a low, formal bow, a plea of utmost desperation.

“Please,” I choked, the plea cracked by the motion.

“Please, save my mother. I’m begging you.”

Finally, he spoke, his voice softening just a fraction.

“Alright. You’re my fiancée, Isabella. For better or worse. I’ll take my men and check it out,” he conceded, his gaze fixed on my pathetic state.

“But know this, Isabella. If this is another one of your games, if you’re lying to me… I will never trust you again.”

I snapped my head up, hope igniting in my chest.

I didn't care about the threat.

As long as he went.

He had just started to call for his men when his phone buzzed.

It was Leo.

Dante hit the speakerphone button.

Leo's voice, lazy and laced with contempt, crackled from the speaker.

"Let me guess, Izzy's on your doorstep, crying wolf? Don't buy her act, Dante. I just got some bullshit call from Mom's phone, rambling about an attack. She's getting desperate trying to ruin things for Scarlett."

My blood froze.

Rage and fear tore through me, and I screamed at the phone. "Leo, are you insane?! Do we both have to be in body bags for you to believe me? You saw what they did to her! You saw the blood!"

He just laughed, a cold, empty sound. "Don't you get it? This was never about power. This was about you letting our mother die! I already had someone check. The estate is fine. You're a vicious, manipulative bitch, and I'm not falling for your tricks this time. If something happens to Mother, it's on your head!"

My heart shattered. The line went dead.

Dante's face went dark. "He said this was your sick little way of seeing if your fiancé would come running."

"No, that's not—"

"Enough," Dante's voice was deadly quiet.

He gestured to one of his men. "The Falcone family has a rule for those who cry wolf and waste our time. Marco, give her the gun. She knows the price of a lie."

The man named Marco produced a pistol and took a step toward me.

My blood ran cold, but pride surged through me.

I straightened my back, chin held high. "I am Isabella Moretti, acting heir to my family. You will not lay a hand on me."

The guard froze.

Dante's eyes narrowed, and with a flick of his wrist, he waved Marco back.

"You're right. He can’t touch you. But what about me?"

He whipped out his gun and aimed it at me.

“Game’s over, Isabella.” he said.

I stared down the barrel, terror choking me.

Dante was actually going to kill me.

A raw sob tore from my throat, my composure shattering not into a plea, but a final, desperate bargain.

"Fine. Do it!" I screamed, tears blinding me. "Shoot me, but then you go! You go and save my mother! Please, Dante, she's dying! Just go!"

For a second, he hesitated. I saw something shift in his eyes—doubt, maybe even pity.

It was enough.

The shot rang out.

My phone shattered, a piece of it cutting my arm right where the bullet had grazed it.

Pain flared.

I stared at the destroyed phone, then at the blood on my arm.

He glared down at me.

“Enough. Spare me the drama,” he said, his voice cold as steel.

“Lie again, and the next one’s for you. Next time you test a man, don’t be so stupid you get yourself killed.”

Just as the world began to fade to black, a frantic voice crackled through the earpiece on Dante's suit.

"Boss! The Moretti estate is under full-blown attack! The whole place is on fire! It's real!"

The smirk on Dante's face didn't just fade, it shattered.