Bianca instinctively looked toward the colleague who had sent her the message, only to find the woman staring at Dante with guilt written all over her face.

That told her everything she needed to know.

Dante had actually gone this far for Viviana. The man who had always been too proud for deception had learned to lie.

The grief in her chest was a steel needle, piercing her heart one slow millimeter at a time.

Dante walked up to Bianca, his voice low and flat. The ambient noise of the private dining room fell a half-step quieter as he moved, the way it always did, soldiers and associates adjusting without thinking.

"Tonight is Viviana's welcome dinner. She's still new, and some of the people at the firm might not respect her authority. You're here to lend her credibility."

Bianca swallowed the bitterness rising in her throat, gave him one look, and turned to leave. But Dante seized her arm.

"Bianca, what do you think you're doing? If you walk out now, where does that leave Viviana?"

"You're her sister-in-law, for God's sake. Would it kill you to show a little generosity?"

Sister-in-law?

That was the exact excuse Dante had used to force her into bringing Viviana into the counsel's office in the first place.

Whenever Bianca clashed with Viviana, he dragged out the same line, insisting she was the elder, the one who should yield.

Even now, he still hadn't exhausted that card.

Bianca couldn't take it anymore. She wrenched her arm free.

"I'm no sister-in-law of hers!"

"Have you forgotten? Not once, from the very beginning, has she ever called me that."

She turned to leave without waiting for his reaction, but something caught her eye: the bracelet on Viviana's wrist.

Bianca's heart slammed against her ribs.

That bracelet was part of her mother's gift when the marriage alliance was sealed, the only keepsake her late grandmother had left behind.

Bianca closed the distance to Viviana in three strides and grabbed her arm.

"Where did you get this bracelet?"

Viviana let out a shriek, struggling wildly.

"Counselor Bellandi, what are you doing? Let go of me!"

Bianca's voice was ice, her entire body radiating cold fury.

"I asked you a question. Why is this bracelet on your wrist?"

Before the words had fully left her mouth, a hard shove hit her between the shoulder blades, and a sharp pain tore through her arm.

She lost her grip on Viviana and went tumbling down the steps.

Dante had Viviana in his arms, his frigid gaze fixed on Bianca where she lay.

"Bianca, don't push it. I gave that bracelet to Viviana."

Bianca's leg had struck the edge of a step. The pain was blinding, as if the bone had cracked.

Hearing those words, she forced herself upright, both hands pressed hard against her chest, and every humiliation she had swallowed over the years finally erupted.

"That was my mother's gift to me! What right do you have to give it away? Give it back!"

Irritation creased Dante's brow. His signet ring sat motionless against his thumb.

"It's just a bracelet. Viviana liked it, so I let her have it. What's the big deal, Bianca? You're being incredibly petty."

Viviana put on a wounded expression, her fingertips drifting to her pearl earring for the briefest adjustment.

"Dante, since Counselor Bellandi doesn't want me to have it, I'll just give it back. Please don't fight over me."

Dante stroked Viviana's hair, his voice soft with affection.

"Don't worry about it. I gave it to you, so it's yours. She's always been stingy. Just ignore her."

Bianca's eyes were bloodshot.

"Stingy? Do you honestly think I don't know how much you've given her over the years?"

"I let everything else slide, but not this bracelet. If you won't return it, I'll call the police. It was given to me when our families joined. You had no right to dispose of it."

Dante hadn't expected a reaction this fierce. For a moment, he just stood there.

Viviana had taken a liking to Bianca's jewelry before, and every time he had simply let her have it.

Bianca had never once made a scene. Why was this time different?

Seeing the dark resolve on her face, he finally relented.

"Fine. Stay and see Viviana through the rest of her welcome dinner, and I'll give the bracelet back."

Bianca looked into his unyielding eyes and accepted, because she had no other choice.

She knew Dante. Once he set a condition, he never went back on it.

The fact that he was willing to return the bracelet at all was already a concession.

When Viviana realized Dante truly intended to give the bracelet back, a flash of venom crossed her eyes as she looked at Bianca.

So Dante still had some feelings for Bianca after all. She would have to find a way to make him despise her completely.

The dinner began. Bianca sat and watched as Dante attended to Viviana's every need at the long table, the low murmur of associates and their wives filling the private room of the restaurant the Family kept on retainer.

Picking out the best dishes for her. Peeling shrimp for her.

Refilling her wine. Pouring her water.

A bitter ache spread through Bianca's chest.

He had never done any of those things for her. Not once.

She had always assumed it was simply his nature, that he was too proud to bother with small gestures like these.

Now she understood. She simply wasn't worth the effort.

It didn't matter anymore. She had made her peace with it.

All she had to do was endure until the dinner ended, take back her grandmother's bracelet, and walk away, leaving Dante to Viviana for good.

She would never insert herself between them again.

After a few rounds of drinks, the air inside felt suffocating. Bianca slipped out alone to clear her head. The terrace overlooked the lit pool below, and the November air carried the faint smell of chlorine and distant cigarette smoke from the soldiers posted by the cars.

She had barely reached the pool when a hand closed around her arm.

Viviana stood there with a half-smile that wasn't quite a smile.

"What's Counselor Bellandi doing out here instead of inside? Couldn't stand watching me and Dante together? Thinking of running?"

"I suppose it makes sense. You only got him because I went abroad. Now that you see how devoted he is to me, it must be unbearable."

"You really are shameless, you know that? He obviously doesn't love you, yet you cling to him like a barnacle. If I were you, I'd have been gone a long time ago."

Bianca glanced at her, expression blank.

"I am leaving. Just not yet."

"I'm still waiting for you to return my bracelet."

Viviana ran her fingers along the jade on her wrist, a glint of malice in her eyes.

"And what if I said I have no intention of giving it back?"

Bianca's voice was ice-cold.

"Then I'll have no choice but to call the police."

Viviana laughed, sliding the bracelet off her wrist as she did.

"Oh, right. How could I forget? You're the famous Counselor Bellandi. Getting a little bracelet back can't be that hard for you."

"But then again..."

She glanced at Bianca, then slowly extended the hand holding the bracelet out over the swimming pool.

"What if this bracelet just... disappeared? Calling the police wouldn't do you much good then, would it?"

Bianca's eyes locked onto Viviana's hand, every muscle in her face pulled taut.

"You wouldn't dare."

Viviana's expression twisted with malice.

"Wouldn't I? It's just a bracelet. Your own husband gave it to me. Even if I accidentally broke it, what are they going to do, throw me in jail?"

Her fingers began to loosen.

Bianca lunged forward and grabbed her arm.

"Don't!"

"Whatever you want, I'll give it to you. Just give me the bracelet back!"

It was the last thing she had of her grandmother's. She would not stand by and watch it be destroyed.

Viviana's smile widened, bright and vicious.

"That's more like it. When you're begging someone, you should act like it."

"Now get on your knees. Maybe if I'm in a good mood, I'll give it back."

Bianca stared at her, stunned. She hadn't imagined Viviana would stoop to this.

When Bianca didn't move, Viviana raised the bracelet over the water again.

"I'll count to three. If you're not on your knees, it goes in."

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

"I'll kneel!"

Bianca clenched her jaw, stripped herself of every shred of dignity, and sank to her knees on the cold tile. The noise of the party beyond the terrace wall carried on, laughter and clinking glass, while a woman born into one of Astoria's oldest bloodlines knelt at the feet of a house attorney who had slept her way to the table.

Viviana burst out laughing.

"Oh my God, I never thought I'd see the day. The great Counselor Bellandi, so proud, so untouchable, kneeling at my feet like a dog."

"Bianca, I told you a long time ago. I'd take everything from you. Do you believe me now?"

"Your husband, your career, all mine. And now your dignity is under my heel. What do you have left to be proud of?"

"If you know what's good for you, you'll crawl away from Dante and never come back. Otherwise, I'll make things so much worse."

Grief, humiliation, and fury crashed through Bianca all at once. She forced herself to hold still, to not fight back.

"Fine. Now can I have the bracelet?"

Viviana held the bracelet out to Bianca with a careless flick of her wrist.

Bianca's eyes lit up. She reached for it.

The next second, Viviana yanked her hand back and flung the bracelet into the pool.

It hit the water with a small splash, sending ripples fanning outward. The emeralds caught the underwater light for one brief second before sinking.

Bianca froze for half a heartbeat, then threw herself in after it.

She'd forgotten she couldn't swim.

Viviana watched Bianca thrashing in the water and turned to leave.

But a shout rang out from somewhere behind her. Her eyes darted, calculating, and she jumped in after her.

The freezing water swallowed Bianca inch by inch. Just as her lungs were about to give out, someone hauled her to the surface.

She barely had time to gasp before Dante's palm cracked across her face.

"Bianca, you've gone too far! You know Viviana can't swim, and you pushed her in? Are you trying to kill her?!"

Viviana sobbed in Dante's arms, her voice thin and trembling.

"Dante, please don't blame Counselor Bellandi. It's my fault. I shouldn't have shown my face around her and upset her..."

Cold seeped through every cell in Bianca's body. She was shaking so hard she could barely form words.

"I didn't push her. She threw my grandmother's bracelet into the pool. I went in to find it."

"I don't know why she ended up in the water."

Before she could finish, Viviana cut in.

"Counselor Bellandi, I know you don't like me, but you can't just make things up like this."

"Dante already promised to return the bracelet to you. Why would I throw it away right in front of you?"

The gathered guests were buying every word. Soldiers, wives, associates in evening dress, all watching with the careful attention of people who knew better than to intervene in the Don's business. Bianca pressed on, desperate.

"She really threw it in. Send someone down to look. If it's not there, I'll apologize to her on the spot."

She turned to find a staff member.

Dante stopped her.

"Bianca, when did you become such a liar?"

Something cracked inside her. Even someone as strong as Bianca felt the sting of being accused again and again of things she hadn't done.

"Dante, I have never lied. If you don't believe me, just wait until I get the bracelet out of the water..."

The words died on her lips. She stood frozen, staring, the shock plain on her face.

Because Dante had just pulled her grandmother's bracelet from his jacket pocket.

His signet ring was perfectly still against his thumb.

He looked at her, his expression heavy with disgust.

"This is your grandmother's bracelet, isn't it?"

"Viviana gave it to me before the party even started. Asked me to return it to you. I didn't think I'd need it as evidence."

"Bianca, you keep saying your grandmother loved you more than anyone. But now you're using her bracelet as a prop to frame Viviana."

"You are a complete disappointment. Since you care so little about this bracelet, let's put it out of its misery. At least then you can't use it to hurt anyone else."

Something dark and final crossed his face. He hurled the bracelet at the ground.

It shattered into pieces, just like her heart.

"No!"

Bianca dropped to her knees, scrambling across the ground like a woman possessed, gathering every fragment she could find. The terrace had gone silent. No one moved. No one helped.

Dante glanced down at her with flat, empty eyes.

"Pathetic."

Then he gathered Viviana in his arms and walked away.

Bianca clutched the broken pieces to her chest and wept. She wept until she couldn't breathe, couldn't see, couldn't feel the shards slicing her palms open, blood running between her fingers.

"I'm sorry, Grandma. I'm so sorry..."

"It's all my fault. I couldn't even protect the one thing you left me..."

In the darkness, her phone screen flickered to life. A message from her mother.

Bianca, your extraction paperwork is finalized. Your father and I will be waiting for you at the airfield the morning after next.

Something stirred in the numb wasteland of her chest.

She could finally leave.

Bianca stumbled back to the compound and packed her things like a marionette, every movement hollow and mechanical.

All she wanted was to leave this place that had given her both boundless joy and unbearable pain, and never come back.

But the moment she reached the front door, two soldiers seized her arms and forced her into the back of a black sedan.

Bianca fought with everything she had.

"What are you doing? Let go of me!"

She was no match for them. They dragged her through the hospital's service entrance and threw her to the ground in a private corridor that smelled of bleach and money.

Every bone in her body screamed on impact. She forced herself to lift her head, and there stood Dante, his face dark as a storm. The signet ring on his thumb was perfectly still.

He stared down at her, his voice cutting through the sterile air.

"Satisfied now?"

"How did I end up with a wife this vicious? You'll stop at nothing to get rid of Viviana. Aren't you afraid of what's coming for you?"

Bianca frowned, unable to understand what he was talking about.

Dante caught the confusion in her eyes and scoffed.

"Don't tell me you didn't know Viviana has a clotting disorder."

"You heartless woman. You deliberately scratched her wrist underwater. She's still bleeding and they can't stop it."

"You're a lawyer, Bianca. Don't you know that killing someone means paying with your life?"

Bianca rushed to defend herself.

"How could I have scratched her? Have you forgotten? I can't even—"

Dante cut her off before she could finish, impatience carved into every line of his face.

"Viviana got hurt because of you. You're going to take responsibility."

"Take her in. Draw her blood. However much Viviana lost, that's how much comes out of her."

A deafening buzz filled Bianca's skull. She never imagined Dante could be this unhinged.

Her chest caved inward, as though something had clamped down on her lungs and refused to let go.

The soldiers closed in. Bianca thrashed against their grip.

"Dante, this is illegal!"

"You can't do this to me!"

Dante walked over and crouched in front of her. His fingers seized her chin, tilting her face up. His eyes were pure malice. This close, he didn't look like a husband. He looked like a man deciding whether to let someone live.

"Now you want to talk to me about the law?"

"Why didn't you think about consequences when you were hurting Viviana?"

"Take her in."

They dragged her into the operating room. She fought every inch of the way, and none of it mattered.

The needle slid into her vein, cold as ice, and the pain tore through her as though it had pierced her heart.

She felt her blood leaving her body. And with it, the last trace of love she had ever held for Dante Vitale.

She told herself to endure it. He wouldn't actually let her die. He was the Don. Even he answered to something, even if it was only the inconvenience of a dead wife and the questions that followed.

But the minutes crawled by, and no order came from outside to stop.

Bianca felt herself being hollowed out. Her body grew so weak she couldn't even keep her eyes open. Somewhere beyond the door, she could hear the low murmur of men who obeyed without asking, and the silence of a hospital wing that had been cleared for a man who owned the building.

A bitter ache rose in her chest.

Was she really going to die here today?

She wasn't ready. She had been so close to starting over.

Meanwhile, in the hospital corridor, a doctor stood before Dante, sweat dripping from his forehead. Two soldiers flanked the hallway behind them, arms folded, watching nothing and everything.

"Don Vitale, your wife has already had 1500cc drawn. She's at her absolute limit. If we continue, something will go very wrong."

Dante barely glanced at him.

"How's Viviana?"

The doctor hesitated, stammering.

"Miss Caruso, her wound is quite deep. She's still in emergency treatment."

Under Dante's withering stare, the doctor wiped his brow and forced the words out, his voice shaking.

"But rest assured, Miss Caruso is no longer in critical danger."

Only then did the edge in Dante's gaze soften, just barely. His thumb moved once against the signet ring, then stopped again.

The doctor ventured carefully.

"Then... your wife..."

Dante considered this for a moment, his tone flat.

"Keep going. Draw the full 2000cc."

"If I don't teach her a lesson this time, there's no telling what she'll do to Viviana next."

The doctor opened his mouth to protest, but under the weight of Dante's stare, the words died in his throat. In this city, this hospital ran because the Vitale Family allowed it to run. The man swallowed and walked back toward the operating room.

Bianca woke in a hospital bed.

She was so weak she couldn't sit up.

She reached for her phone to call her mother and knocked over the glass of water on the nightstand.

A familiar hand appeared, offering her a cup of warm water.

Bianca forced her eyes open. Dante's face filled her vision, inches away. He looked rested. He looked like a man who had slept well while she bled.

He propped her up and brought the cup to her lips.

"I know you're still upset, but you went too far yesterday."

"If I didn't teach you a lesson, how would I face Viviana?"

"Come on, don't be angry. I'll take you to visit your parents in a couple of days. That should make up for it, right?"

Bianca listened to his magnanimous tone and, for the first time, felt a wave of pure disgust at herself.

How pathetically small had she made herself, that Dante Vitale believed a visit to her parents was a grand enough favor to offer? Grand enough to cancel out having 2000cc of blood ripped from her body.

When she didn't respond, Dante took her silence for surrender. He smiled and ruffled her hair.

"I knew my Bianca would be a good girl."

"The person you should really be thanking is Viviana. She knew perfectly well you scratched her on purpose, and she still chose not to press charges."

"So to show your gratitude, don't you think you should hand over all your professional contacts and resources at the firm to her?"