"Bianca, the girl Lorenzo took in, she's the jewel of his heart. Pure, gentle, and Lorenzo dotes on her like she's blood!"

That much was true. Bianca was the same age as me, twenty-four, yet the way she spoke made her seem three or four years younger, drawing out that instinct in men to shield her, to stand between her and the world.

But despite this being our first meeting, she made it clear where I stood with her.

When she came to treat me in the Family infirmary, needle in hand, I felt every deliberate misstep. Each misplaced prick sent a sharp sting through my skin, the pain sharpening with every touch.

Within moments, the back of my hand was bruised and swollen.

She looked at me with a faintly apologetic expression, yet not once did she utter a word of remorse. She tilted her head, and her smile widened just slightly, the way a girl smiles when she has done exactly what she meant to do.

In the end, it was an older woman of the house, one of the medic's hands, who could no longer stand to watch and found a reason to send Bianca away. Only then was the line set properly into my vein.

Even so, the unease in my chest refused to settle. I insisted she apologize. In our world, a wrong left unspoken becomes a debt, and I would not carry it in silence.

Bianca was unwilling, her lips pressing into a tight line. But under Lorenzo's quiet pressure, she finally relented, muttering three reluctant words.

"I'm sorry."

As soon as the words left her lips, her eyes brimmed with tears and she turned on her heels, fleeing without a second glance.

Lorenzo didn't go after her. Instead, he offered me a warm smile, his voice gentle as he reassured me it was nothing.

Yet, in the next breath, he shattered me.

He hung my most intimate photos across every screen he could reach, a public act of dishonor spread through the city, just to soothe Bianca's wounded pride.

Before this, he had held my hand so tenderly, whispering, "Once you meet Bianca, we'll bring our families to the table and speak of the betrothal."

But if he truly meant to make me his, why would he do this?

Had it all been a lie? Had every ti amo he whispered over the past four years been nothing more than empty words spoken to keep me still?

Then, a drunken conversation resurfaced in my mind, one of Lorenzo's men laughing out a truth I had been too blind to see:

"If Lorenzo didn't have to pass Bianca off as his sister, you really think it'd be your turn to be called our sister-in-law?"

A sharp pain spread through my chest, knocking the air from my lungs.

I didn't know how I made it out of that hotel. As soon as I stepped through the doors, I felt the sharp, judgmental stares, the amusement in them, the quiet verdict of men who already knew.

Shame pressed down on me, thick and suffocating, wrapping around my trembling form like a second skin. My fingers shook as I dialed my parents' number, my last lifeline. On my right hand, the thin silver band turned fast beneath my thumb, faster than I could stop it.

Because of the Family's work, they moved every three years to safe territory beyond the reach of enemies, running operations no one dared speak of aloud, unreachable by anyone.

But today, of all days, their work had just closed.

The moment the call connected, their familiar voices broke through my fragile composure, shattering the dam I had desperately tried to hold.

I cried until my chest ached and my sobs turned silent. Then, with trembling fingers, I wiped my tears away.

"Mamma, Papà... I've made my decision. I want to come to you. I want to take my place in the Family's work. I want to do something that matters with my life."

Before, I had let Lorenzo's whims decide everything for me. A single soft complaint, a careless "I don't want you so far from me, cara. I'd be miserable without you," and I had set my own name aside without a second thought.

But now, I was done bleeding myself dry for a love that never existed.

I had told myself that as long as things between Lorenzo and me held steady, a life built at his side would be enough.

But I had been a fool.

He never loved me.

A man who truly loved me would never stand by and let me be disgraced, reduced to nothing more than a passing joke for other men to sneer over their drinks.

I had been blind and naïve.

But at least I still had a way out. The Falcone blood in my veins was a door no one could bolt against me.

I made my way back to the apartment in a numb haze. The moment I stepped inside, the cold emptiness hit me. Lorenzo hadn't come back.

The place read the harsh glare from the street and drew the curtains without being told. Shadows swallowed the room, deepening the exhaustion pressing down on me.

I sank onto the carpet, my body heavy with weariness.

I wanted to cry, but no tears came.

Then, a sharp ringtone shattered the silence.

I glanced at the screen. Lorenzo.

I answered.

"Where are you?"

I parted my lips, but my throat was so dry it burned.

"Home."

"Bianca's holding a Family affair tonight and she made a point of asking me to bring you. Are you free? Get yourself ready. I'll come for you."

Before I could refuse, Lorenzo ended the call.

He arrived fast. Even when he saw I hadn't changed, he only let out a soft sigh.

"I saw the pictures making the rounds. Don't let it get in your head. I believe you, all right?"

As he spoke, he pulled a dress from the wardrobe, one cut to cinch at the waist, made to flatter.

"Be good, put this on. It's an insult to keep the Family waiting."

As he reached out to strip away my coat, I suddenly lifted my hand and caught his wrist in a firm grip.

"What exactly do you believe?"

I thought of what I had overheard at the hotel. My voice came colder this time.

"Lorenzo, how are you planning to play this act with Adriana?"

Lorenzo didn't answer. Instead, his phone came alive with Bianca's voice.

"Of course, we'll have everyone, including her, questioning whether she really behaved like a woman without honor. And you, Lorenzo, you step in as the man who saves her when she's at her lowest. That way your betrothal stays untouched and I get what's owed to me. Lorenzo, is that all right with you?"

A long pause followed before Lorenzo answered, his tone indulgent.

"Okay."

Soon after, my private photos had spread across every channel, branded as the mark of a whore.

A bitter laugh escaped my lips.

"What is it that you believe?"

I yanked the dress from his hands and tossed it aside, exhaustion seeping into my bones.

"I'm not going. Go enjoy yourself."

Lorenzo frowned, a flicker of irritation crossing his face, and the laugh came a half-beat before there was anything to laugh at.

"Adriana! Stop being so difficult!"

"Bianca saw what they put out there. She arranged this whole affair so you could breathe. She also wants the chance to make things right with you, properly."

His fingers brushed over the bruises on the back of my hand.

"This is Bianca's kindness. Don't throw it back in her face."

In the end, I was dragged out the door.

Just before I stepped out of the car, I reached into my pocket for a mask, but Lorenzo stopped me.

His gaze was steady and gentle, like a savior reaching out to the abandoned.

"You don't need that. The innocent have nothing to hide. I believe you, so believe in yourself too, all right?"

Before I could react, he tossed the mask out the window and pulled me from the car.

The moment we walked into the club, the air shifted.

The music still throbbed, but the talk faltered. Every eye turned to me.

Drunken stares dragged over me, crawling like filth against my skin.

Low whispers slithered through the crowd, unfiltered, venomous.

"Look, look. That's her, isn't it? Plays it all cold and untouchable, but who knew what she was behind closed doors?"

"Yeah, that's her. I'd know that face anywhere. Dio, she really looks the part. A whore, plain as day."

Laughter broke around me, sharp and cruel.

My stomach twisted, bile rising in my throat. But I locked my spine and forced myself to stand tall.

Lorenzo's grip tightened as he steered me into a private room off the floor.

The moment we crossed the threshold, Lorenzo let go of my hand.

I dropped my gaze to the tips of my shoes, my heart hammering against my ribs. I searched the room for something familiar, anything to hold on to.

There was nothing.

The eyes in here were worse. Sticky, shameless, suffocating.

"I don't feel well. I want to leave."

I turned, desperate to get out, but a hand clamped around my wrist.

A rough thumb dragged slow and deliberate across my skin, sending a sickening wave of goosebumps over my whole body.

I looked up, straight into the leering face of one of Lorenzo's associates. The same one who had been loudest when they tore me apart at the hotel.

His gaze was brazen, without a trace of shame.

"Leaving so soon, sister-in-law? We finally get you in a room with us. How could you not stay and have a little fun?"

The meaning dripped off every word, thick and vile.

My stomach turned over hard. The air felt thinner. It was getting harder to breathe.

Bianca peeked out from behind them, her smile pure, innocent, and false as a rigged deck.

"What are you all doing? You're frightening the woman who's going to marry into this Family!"

With a forceful tug, she yanked me from the doorway, dragging me into the center of the private room. The lamp above the table bore down on me, harsh and unrelenting, making me feel even more exposed, like a thing brought in to be appraised.

I lifted my gaze straight to Lorenzo.

He sat in the corner, absently swirling the wine in his glass, his expression unreadable. His eyes skimmed lazily over the scene closing in around me, detached, indifferent, the way a made man watches a debt being collected that has nothing to do with him.

For a fleeting second, our eyes met.

And he smiled.

Soft. Familiar. Just as gentle as ever.

Yet this was the same man who had turned me into a rat scurrying through the streets, drowning in disgrace, a stain no code could scrub clean.

A glass of wine appeared before me, cutting off my line of sight.

Bianca's bright smile stayed fixed on me, syrupy sweet, and it sent ice through my veins.

"Adriana, about yesterday. I was careless with the needle and made you uncomfortable. I wanted to take this chance to settle the debt. If you drink this glass, we'll call it square, all right?"

I let out a slow breath, my fingers curling at my sides. Beneath them, the thin silver band on my right hand had begun to turn, faster than I wanted it to.

"And what about those photographs. The ones that shamed me for the whole city to see?"

She feigned innocence, her delicate fingers scrolling across her phone before tilting the screen toward me. Her soft voice carried a deliberate hesitation, every word dripping with careful malice.

"By the way, is this really you? If it is, then who took them? You wouldn't have gone behind my brother's back and dishonored him, would you?"

"But it doesn't matter. I believe you, and I'm sure my brother believes you too! Come on, drink up. One glass washes away every worry."

The room burst into laughter, whistles and jeers rattling off the walls. Her carefree act had done its work, stirring the men like a match to spilled liquor. Even Lorenzo finally spoke, his voice tinged with helplessness and something worse underneath, amusement.

"Bianca, don't drink too much. You handle the Family's medicine. You of all people know what it does to you."

She pouted, eyes gleaming, and pushed the glass toward me once more.

"In that case, drink it for me, Adriana."

The room went quiet, every gaze landing on me, waiting.

I opened my mouth to refuse. Lorenzo beat me to it. His voice was smooth, composed, and absolute, the kind of voice that ends a sit-down before it starts.

"Go on and drink. A woman marrying in can cover for her little sister."

I froze.

The one being toasted was now drinking on behalf of the one making the toast. How laughable.

At last I saw Lorenzo's true face in this thing between us.

Every moment he had seemed to put me first had meant nothing. He had never truly cared. That was why he never argued, never refused. It had never been consideration. It was indifference, cold and complete.

Swallowing the bitterness rising in my throat, I took the glass.

"If I drink this, can I leave? I'm tired. I want to go home and rest."

Lorenzo hesitated. At Bianca's quiet cough, he gave a nod.

The liquor burned as it slid down, scorching a path through me. My stomach twisted in protest, but I set the glass down and turned toward the door.

No one stopped me.

My fingers brushed the handle. I barely had a second to react before my body buckled, collapsing without warning.

The room erupted. Cheers, whistles, a frenzy of voices closing in around me.

A suffocating wave of discomfort crashed over me, my limbs trembling, my vision blurring at the edges. Even my breath came in ragged, uneven gasps.

Realization crashed over me like a tidal wave. Through the gaps in the crowd, my gaze locked onto Lorenzo, calmly peeling an orange for Bianca as if nothing in the room concerned him at all.

"You. You slipped it into the wine, all of you."

A man crouched beside me, his presence suffocating. He took a slow drag from his cigarette and exhaled a thick ring of smoke into my face.

The cold metal of his lighter tapped against my cheek, once, twice. A taunting reminder of how little I could do.

"This little brew comes straight from the Family's apothecary. They call it Obedience Water. Fitting name. Once it's in your blood, you follow every order given to you. Lorenzo called in favors to get his hands on it, all to make Bianca smile."

His smirk deepened.

"After all, whose fault is it that you were fool enough to cross Bianca? How many times were you warned? Bianca is the most treasured thing Lorenzo has in this world. But you wouldn't listen. You had the nerve to make her cry and then stand there expecting her to answer for it."

A sneer curled at the corner of his mouth.

"Did you really think a woman like you was owed an apology from Bianca? You brought this down on your own head. Now let's see just how obedient you can be, sister-in-law."