Lucia's hand froze mid-motion, the joy draining from her face, leaving only raw heartache.

She knew. She understood what I'd already accepted in my bones—those monsters at St. Lazarus were guilty, yes, but the one who truly pushed my children into hell, who killed them with his own hands, was never anyone else.

It was their father. Maeve Falcone.

If he hadn't favored Vanessa. If he hadn't refused to listen. If he hadn't signed that agreement with his own hand, sending my babies to that place, my Elena and Rosalia would still be curled in my arms right now, calling me Mama.

The one truly responsible had always been Maeve.

Lucia pressed her lips together, her eyes reddening again. She reached out and gently took my ice-cold hand. Warmth seeped from her fingertips into mine, but it couldn't thaw the frozen wasteland inside me. After a long silence, she seemed to steel herself, her voice both firm and tender: "Alright, Adriana. I promise you. I'll go talk to Grandfather right now. No matter what he says, I'll help you. I'll get you out of here, away from all of this, so you can finally breathe."

I watched her walk away, that slender, determined silhouette like a lifeline thrown into dark water. But even a lifeline couldn't pull back a heart already shattered beyond repair. I couldn't hold it in anymore. The sobs tore out of me, muffled and desperate, as if I were purging every last drop of grievance, agony, and injustice I'd swallowed over the years. Tears soaked the pillowcase, cold against my skin, matching the chill that had settled into my very bones.

Memories surfaced unbidden, distant and warm, from another lifetime.

I was eight years old when I first came to the Falcone household. That year, Maeve was eight too. Salvatore Falcone and my grandfather had been bound by something older than friendship, a loyalty forged in the worst years of the syndicate wars, when a bullet meant for Salvatore found my grandfather's shoulder instead. Between them existed a bond sealed in blood. A debt the Falcones could never fully repay.

My parents died in separate incidents shortly after I was born. I grew up at my grandfather's side. Vittorio Moretti was all the family I had. But fate is cruel. When I was eight, he passed away too, leaving me utterly alone. It was Salvatore who honored that old blood debt. Despite resistance from his own family, he brought me into the Falcone compound and raised me like his own granddaughter, cherished and protected.

I still remember those first days. I was timid, afraid to speak, afraid to meet anyone's eyes, always shrinking into corners of that enormous house where soldiers stood at every door and conversations stopped when I entered a room. It was Lucia who sought me out, took my hand, and grinned at me: "Adriana, this is your home now. I'm your little sister. Anyone gives you trouble, I'll make them pay!" And it was Salvatore who brought me treats every day, sat with me while I did homework, patted my head and said gently, "Don't be afraid, child. Grandpa's here."

Only Maeve hated me from the start. He called me "charity case" in front of everyone, threw my belongings out of the house, tormented me at every turn, insisted I didn't belong in the Falcone name. But Salvatore always scolded him sharply, and Lucia always defended me. Eventually, Maeve learned to keep his cruelty quieter, though his contempt never faded.

All these years, Salvatore and Lucia treated me as true family, as one of their own. They gave me warmth, gave me something to hold onto, showed me what home could feel like. So seven years ago, when Salvatore suggested a blood alliance between me and Maeve, I agreed.

I told myself it didn't matter that Maeve didn't love me. It didn't matter that there was no romance between us. If I was good to him, kept the household running smoothly, gave him children, surely, someday, he would see my devotion. Surely he would soften, even just a little.

I told myself that even without love, even with a life that was merely ordinary, as long as I had my two precious daughters, as long as I could watch them grow, my life would have meaning. It wouldn't have been lived in vain.

I poured everything into my children, into this home. Maeve was rarely there. His heart belonged to Vanessa. I swallowed it. I accepted it.

But never, never did I imagine that all my patience, all my hoping, would lead to this.

My two baby girls. The treasures I'd cradled in my palms for five years. Their own father signed them away to hell, where they were tortured to death.

And him? He was out celebrating his precious Vanessa's pregnancy with his child, toasting the future heir while my daughters lay in ashes.

Now I had nothing. No family. No children. No love. No home.

Only endless pain. Bottomless despair. And hatred carved into my bones.

My thumb found the edge of the ash locket at my throat and pressed until the metal bit into skin. I don't know how long I cried. My voice went hoarse, then silent. The tears dried up, leaving only the raw burn behind my eyes.

The door opened softly. Lucia stepped in, weariness etched on her face, but also a flicker of relief: "Adriana, Grandfather wants to see you. He has something to say."

I slowly sat up, my body still ice-cold, my hands and feet numb. Lucia supported me as we walked out of the room, step by step, toward Salvatore's bedroom. Each step felt like treading on knife points, the pain making my whole body tremble.

Pushing open the door, I found Salvatore sitting in the old wooden chair by his bed. His hair seemed to have whitened even more, his back more hunched, his face etched with exhaustion and heartache. In his eyes lingered a deep, unmistakable guilt. His signet ring sat untouched on his finger. He did not roll it.

When he saw me enter, he slowly raised his hand, gesturing for me to come closer. I walked to him and stopped, head bowed, unable to meet his gaze. I was afraid to see the pain in his eyes, afraid to see his guilt, and even more afraid that the emotions I'd barely managed to suppress would come flooding out again.

"Good child," Salvatore's voice was hoarse and weary, heavy with helplessness and remorse. He reached out and gently took my ice-cold hand in his. His fingers were still warm. "You're a good child. You've been wronged. Lucia told me everything. All these years inside the Falcone household, you've suffered far too much. I failed to raise that boy right. I've failed you, failed your grandfather, and failed those two poor children, Elena and Rosalia."

His voice caught, and tears slid down the creases of his weathered face, dropping onto the back of my hand, scalding hot.

"Tomorrow is the cremation," Salvatore took a deep breath, his tone heavy. "Once it's done, if you want to leave, then leave. I won't stop you. That boy doesn't deserve you. He shouldn't hold you back any longer, shouldn't make you suffer anymore. What the Falcone Family owes you, owes those children, we can never repay it. Not in this lifetime."

I lifted my head and looked at his aged face, at the guilt and heartache in his eyes. Tears welled up again, unstoppable.

I said nothing. I only bowed deeply. As I bent at the waist, tears fell in heavy drops onto the wooden floor, each one landing with a soft sound, each one carrying my endless pain and gratitude.

I was grateful for Salvatore's twenty-some years of care, grateful for his love and protection all these years, grateful for his understanding now. But I also knew this gratitude could never outweigh the hatred in my heart. I could forgive everyone in the Falcone Family. Everyone except Maeve. I could never forgive the man who had killed my children with his own hands. Never forgive the man who had destroyed my life.

After the bow, I straightened up. Still without a word, I turned and walked out of Salvatore's bedroom.

Back in my own room, the door was slightly ajar. I pushed it open gently, and the moment I saw who was inside, the blood in my veins froze solid.

Maeve was sitting on the edge of my bed. He wore a perfectly tailored suit, his hair combed without a strand out of place. There was no guilt on his face, no grief. Only thick contempt and mockery. A soldier stood in the hallway behind me, close enough to hear everything, far enough to pretend he couldn't. When Maeve saw me enter, he slowly lifted his head, his lips curling into a cruel smile, his voice sharp and grating:

"What's this? Just came back from the Don's room? Couldn't wait to go running to him with your complaints?"

He stood and walked toward me, step by step, the disgust and derision in his eyes completely unconcealed.

"Do you actually believe that if you sweet-talk my grandfather, sweet-talk my sister, I'll suddenly see you differently? That I'll settle down and play house with you?"

The moment I saw Maeve, hatred surged through me like a tidal wave, drowning everything else. I wanted to kill him right then and there. I wanted to send him straight to hell.

The hatred coiled around my heart like poisonous vines, squeezing until I could barely breathe. I stared at his hypocritical, vicious face, my nails digging so deep into my palms that blood seeped out. I didn't even feel it. My mind was filled with nothing but the urge to tear him apart.

But in the next instant, two small voices, soft and sweet, pierced through my surging hatred like a needle, gentle yet sharp, drilling into my ears as clearly as if they were right beside me.

Those were the countless nights when the girls had nestled in my arms, their little hands clinging tightly to my arm, their cheeks nuzzling against mine as they wheedled for attention.

Elena, the older one, blinking those big round eyes, her voice soft as cotton: "Mommy, I love Daddy so much. Daddy's the most handsome daddy in our whole kindergarten, even more handsome than Daisy's daddy!"

Rosalia nodding along, her little head bobbing back and forth: "Mommy, we miss Daddy so much. Is Daddy coming home for dinner tonight? We drew a picture of Daddy. We want to give it to him."

Every time Maeve's coldness cut me and I'd cry in secret, those two little ones would reach out with their chubby hands to wipe my tears away, their voices chiming together: "Mommy, you're our favorite person in the whole wide world! Daddy's second favorite. We'll be good. We won't make Daddy mad. We won't make Mommy sad."

And that last time, when I'd fought my way into that hellish compound and finally found them, their bodies covered in wounds, barely clinging to life, even then, the moment they saw me, they'd used their last shred of strength to grab the hem of my clothes, their voices faint as dying embers: "Mommy, we're sorry... Please don't fight with Daddy because of us. We weren't good. We didn't listen. We shouldn't have made Aunt Vanessa unhappy. Don't blame Daddy..."

Those voices, so gentle, so heartbreakingly understanding, sliced at my heart like dull blades, over and over, until I could barely breathe. Hatred and anguish twisted together, threatening to tear me in two.

I drew a deep breath, filling my chest with cold air, forcing down the crimson rage flooding my vision and the hatred threatening to consume me. My thumb found the edge of the ash locket at my throat and pressed against it until the metal bit into skin. I didn't look at Maeve. I didn't respond to a single word he'd said. I walked straight to the bed and sat down stiffly, my back ramrod straight, like a statue without a soul.

When he saw me ignore his mockery, when I refused to speak, the sneer on Maeve's face vanished instantly, replaced by thick irritation and impatience. He crossed the distance between us in a few strides, his eyes dark and menacing. Before I could react, he grabbed my arm with crushing force, hard enough to grind bone, and flung me onto the bed.

The mattress let out a muffled thud. My head spun from the impact. Before I could struggle, he was already pressing down on me, his hands clamping my wrists above my head, pinning them there with such force that pain shot through my arms. I couldn't move.

"What game are you playing now, Adriana?" Maeve's face hovered inches from mine, his warm breath washing over my skin, yet it carried nothing but bone-deep coldness and revulsion. "Weren't you the one who had Lucia call me? Crying and begging for me to come back? And now that I'm here, you're playing mute? Trying the hard-to-get routine with me?"

His eyes dripped with contempt, his lips curling into a cruel sneer as he leaned in. The reek of alcohol and Vanessa's perfume hit me first, that cloying sweetness coiling around me like something venomous. My stomach lurched. The hatred I'd buried came roaring back.

I thrashed against him, but my strength was nothing compared to his. He had my wrists pinned, my body immobilized, every attempt to break free only making his grip tighten until my bones ached. Somewhere beyond the locked bedroom door, the estate was silent. No soldier would come. No one intervened in the heir's private rooms.

Desperation sharpened into something feral. I lunged forward and sank my teeth into his lip with everything I had.

"Ngh." Maeve grunted, the metallic taste of blood blooming between us. He released me instantly, shoving me back as he scrambled upright. His fingers came away from his mouth smeared red. The look he gave me could have curdled milk. Pure, undiluted venom.

"Adriana! Have you lost your goddamn mind?!" His voice exploded through the room, raw with fury. "You bit me? You, with that pathetic innocent act, that harmless little mask you wear, you think you have the right to touch me? To bite me?"

He glared at me like I was something rotting, his words sharp as broken glass: "Just looking at you makes me sick. This is how you've always operated, isn't it? Playing the wounded doe, wrapping the Don around your finger, making him protect you at every turn. You manipulated him into dragging me back here, and now you're pulling this hard-to-get bullshit? You think I'll fall for it? Pathetic."

His chest heaved. He jabbed a finger at my face, each word a nail driven deeper. His other hand went to his tie, smoothing the knot once, twice, harder each time.

"This is exactly why our daughters turned out the way they did. Learning from you, from that fake helpless act. That's why they had the nerve to disrespect Vanessa in public. That's why they needed to be sent away to St. Lazarus, to learn some discipline, to be taught how to behave!"

"Enough." My voice cracked through his tirade, hoarse, shattered, but cold as steel. I bit down on my lower lip until I tasted iron, using the pain to leash the grief and rage threatening to tear me apart. When I spoke again, each word was deliberate, precise:

"The children are dead."

Maeve's mouth snapped shut. The fury on his face froze, something flickering behind his eyes. Confusion, maybe even a flash of fear. But it lasted only a heartbeat.

Then he laughed. A sharp, mocking sound, dripping with scorn. "Adriana, is there any lie you won't tell? Any line you won't cross?"

He pulled out his phone, swiped the screen a few times, and thrust it in my face. Vanessa's ultrasound report glowed on the display, followed by his social media announcement. "You found out today that Vanessa is carrying my child, didn't you? And now you're so jealous you've gone insane. Making up stories, trying to curse me, desperate to make me feel sorry for you?"

His voice turned to ice. "Is this really how low you'll stoop? Using our daughters to curse me? Adriana, you disgust me. You don't deserve to be their mother. You don't even deserve to speak their names."

He didn't look at me again. He stood, brushing off his clothes as though I'd contaminated him, and walked toward the door. At the threshold, he paused. Didn't turn around. His voice flat with warning:

"You're the one who pushed me away, Adriana. You're the one who didn't want my attention, my affection. So stop running to the Don to complain. Stop playing the victim, crying about how I neglect you, how I mistreat you. It only makes me despise you more. It only makes you look cheaper."

The door slammed. The walls of the estate bedroom seemed to shudder. Silence crashed back into the room, so complete I could hear my own breathing, ragged and hollow. The stench of alcohol and Vanessa's perfume still hung in the air, clinging to everything, making my stomach turn.

I lurched off the bed and stumbled into the bathroom. The faucet shrieked as I wrenched it open, icy water thundering into the basin. I grabbed my toothbrush, loaded it with paste, and attacked my lips. Scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing. Again and again, hard enough to tear skin. I needed to erase him. The trace of his breath. The humiliation. The revulsion. Every memory of him that had ever touched me.

The bristles jabbed into my gums. Pain lanced through me. Blood seeped out, its metallic taste mingling with mint, but I didn't stop. Couldn't stop. Water ran down my chin, pink with blood and foam, dripping into the white porcelain basin like scattered petals, red as roses left on a grave, beautiful and hopeless.

I raised my head and met my own eyes in the mirror.

Hair tangled. Eyes swollen and rimmed with red. Lips colorless except for the blood at the corners. My gaze, empty. Hollow. Dead.

I looked like something that had crawled out of a grave.

Nothing remained of the woman I used to be. My thumb found the edge of the ash locket at my throat. The metal was warm from my skin. That was the only warmth left in the room.