Marco gently ruffled Adriana's hair,the doting smile of a man sworn to her since before either of them could walk."Alright,alright.In my eyes,there will always only be you.That Gianna,or whatever name she's wearing this week,she's not worth one of your fingers."

Finally,Adriana smiled.She thought,at least someone in this world would always choose her without hesitation.The pact between the Castellanos and the Fontaines had been sealed in blood before she was old enough to understand it,and for once that chain felt like something warm instead of something binding.

But all of that vanished after she returned to the Castellano estate.

Marco met Gianna.

Within half a year,Gianna once again succeeded in taking away the person Adriana cherished most.

Marco even brought up postponing the blood-alliance pact himself,turning the Fontaine signet slowly on his finger as he said it."Gianna depends on me a great deal.If I go through with our pact now,I'm afraid she won't be able to handle it."

Her memories were cut short by the Donna's desperate cries echoing down the marble of the great hall."Gianna,come down.Let's talk this out.What are you doing on the windowsill?Do you want to scare your mother into the grave?"

Gianna was perched on the edge of the second-floor window.Her feet hadn't even crossed the railing,but her eyes were swollen like walnuts.Her hand fluttered to her collarbone,that small wounded gesture,a beat too fast.

"Mamma,didn't you hear what the Morettis sent word?They said they'd throw me down the stairs the same way it happened to Bianca."

"If I'm handed over to the Moretti Family,they'll tear me apart.Better to die here at home.It'll hurt less."

Salvatore,his face dark with fury,struck Adriana across the cheek.The crack of it silenced the room."This is all your doing.If you'd just agreed to stand in for Gianna under Moretti protection and take her punishment,would she even be sitting on that ledge?"

"Gianna is your sister.How can you be this cold?Do you want to watch her die?"His thumb worked against his right knuckle as he said it,the hand that had once closed over hers in a childhood promise,though neither of them named it now.

The blow was merciless.It left a red handprint blooming across Adriana's face.Yet the Donna only stared at her with resentment and disappointment,her fingers circling the heavy mourning ring round and round."If something happens to Gianna,I won't go on living either.Adriana,if you still refuse to take Gianna's punishment at the Moretti house,then don't call yourself a Castellano anymore.Don't consider me your mother."

If Salvatore's words were angry accusations,the Donna's were a sentence handed down before witnesses.

Anger,fear,despair,sorrow,all of it swirled inside Adriana at once.She trembled uncontrollably,feeling as if her heart was being crushed in a fist.

At that moment,Marco stepped forward.

He gently touched the red mark on her face,and the tenderness in his eyes almost made Adriana believe the world had rolled back to what it once was.

But his next words shattered her last shred of hope.

"Adriana,I'm begging you."His signet caught the light as his hand lingered against her cheek.

"If you're willing to take Gianna's punishment,I'll seal our pact the same day.I'll marry you immediately."

In that instant,Adriana understood that in the depths of extreme pain,a person can no longer even shed tears.

She looked around the room,at her so-called blood and the man bound to her by oath,and not a single one of them stood at her side.The silence that followed was the silence of omertàclosing over a thing that would never be spoken of again,the truth of what they were to her sealed away where no one would ever have to look at it.

Then Adriana laughed softly."Alright.I agree to go to the Moretti Family and stand in for Gianna's punishment.Five days from now."

Perhaps her smile cut too deep,because Marco frowned and instinctively reached for her hand.

But before he could touch her,Adriana brushed his hand aside.

The gesture was light,yet it landed on his skin like a searing flame,and something twisted in his chest.

"Adriana..."

Adriana didn't look at him.Her gaze swept calmly across every face in the room,and she went on."But all of you will agree to one condition first."

Salvatore's brow knotted in displeasure,his thumb dragging once more over that knuckle."It's a small favor for your own sister,and you're sitting here making terms?Adriana,since when did you become this calculating?"

Adriana's lips curled into a faint smile.

"Don't worry,it's a very small request.You'll definitely agree,"Adriana said flatly.

Salvatore was about to retort,but the Donna silenced him with a look.

Her health had long been failing,yet the entire Castellano Family had risen from the bloodline her own parents built.Even now,every child of the house carried her name,not her husband's.So her word still landed heavier in that room than Vito Romano's ever could,married in as he was.

Looking at the daughter who had grown so unfamiliar to her,the Donna felt a pang of bitterness in her heart.Her thumb moved slow against the heavy mourning ring on her finger,turning it once,twice.

She drew a deep breath."As long as you're willing to go in Gianna's place,I'll give you whatever you ask for."

Hearing it,Adriana scoffed inside.So all these years,the family love she had so desperately sought had been nothing but a cruel joke.

She bit her lip,said nothing more,and quietly left the room.

Gianna had been successfully pulled back from the edge.

For a short while the room filled with sobs and soft words of comfort.

Even Romano,who carried himself with the cold composure of a man who'd clawed up from the streets,hurried to Gianna's bedroom the moment the last guests had been seen out,his face thick with concern for his beloved youngest.

When he crossed paths with Adriana at the corner of the hall,he did not spare her a single glance.

Caught off guard,Adriana lost her balance and fell to the floor.Her ankle swelled fast.

The night air off the estate grounds stung her skin,and she couldn't help but draw a sharp breath.

"Adriana,are you alright?"

Marco appeared in front of her without warning,reaching down to help her up.

As he leaned in,she caught the faint scent of gardenia on him.Gianna's perfume.

Gardenias had once been her favorite.Marco used to go out of his way to find her every kind of gardenia-themed gift.But not long after Gianna was brought into the Family,every one of those gifts had been broken under one excuse or another.

When Adriana had confronted her over it,Marco had stepped between them."Gianna didn't mean it.In the end they were just trinkets.If you like,I'll get you more."

She had believed him then.Nothing else ever came.

Instead,only weeks ago,Gianna had waved a bottle of gardenia perfume under her nose."Adriana,you're so useless.Your own blood doesn't want you,and now not even your betrothed wants you."

Adriana felt a pang in her chest and stepped back,forcing herself upright without Marco's hand.

His hand hung awkwardly in the air.His face soured."Adriana,I know you're upset about going to the Morettis in Gianna's place.But I've already promised to marry you.What more do you want?"

"Gianna is your sister.What's wrong with helping her?Do you have to be so small about it?"

The anger rose in her and she couldn't hold it down.Her voice turned sharp."Being forced to stand in as the scapegoat and take her punishment.Am I supposed to be grateful for that?"

Marco's voice climbed to meet hers."Gianna didn't do it on purpose.And besides,it's just a visit to the Moretti house.What's the big deal?"

"If it's no big deal,then why can't Gianna go herself?"Adriana shot back.

Marco fell silent,his face darkening.His thumb worried the Fontaine signet on his finger,around and around,the token of a pact made before either of them was grown."You're being unreasonable.There's no point talking to you."

In the end,Adriana went back to her room alone.

Calling it a room was generous.It was worse than where the help slept.

Against Gianna's bright,spacious princess suite,hers was a stark thing.A damp,lightless basement walled in bare cement,no windows.The bathroom sat so far off that every night she carried a flashlight and crossed a long,unlit corridor just to relieve herself,nerves drawn tight the whole way.

Because her swollen ankle hurt so much,Adriana walked slowly all the way back to the narrow cot in the basement,the floor above her head creaking with the footsteps of men who never came down here,and only then did she finally wipe away all the tears from her face.

In the dim light,Adriana carefully packed up everything in her room.

When she was done,she realized just how little she owned:a few pieces of clothing,a handful of books,a bloodline portrait,and a necklace.

The portrait was taken before Gianna came to live with the Family.Her parents had brought her and Salvatore out to a field of sunflowers,far from the estate's iron gates,for the photo.In it,Adriana's small figure nestled in her mother's arms,her tiny hands tightly wrapped around the Donna's neck,radiating deep attachment.

Her father,the man who had married into the Castellano name and never owned it,stood to the side with his usual stern expression.Salvatore,however,smiled with arched brows,posing like a knight protecting her.His right hand,half-hidden,was cheekily tugging at the corner of her dress.

It was the only thing Adriana had taken with her when she was banished to the distant outpost.

For years,this portrait had been her token,the proof she clung to in order to convince herself that her parents and her brother still loved her.Someday,they would be a happy famiglia again,just like in that picture.

But now,that dream was utterly shattered.

Adriana took the portrait out of its frame,ripped it into tiny pieces,and tossed them into the trash.

As for the necklace,it was a gift from Marco.A small,unremarkable trinket from a market stall in some forgotten village.The pearl had long since faded,and the chain was tarnished and dull.Yet Adriana had treasured it like a precious heirloom.

She held onto it because when Marco gave it to her,he had declared with unwavering conviction,"This is our pact token.Adriana,wait for me.I promise to make you the happiest bride in the world!"

Perhaps because the necklace was so old and cheap,it was the only thing that Gianna hadn't bothered to destroy.But now,Adriana didn't want it anymore.

She slipped the necklace into her pocket,thinking that no matter how worthless it was,it was still a gift from Marco.Since she didn't want it anymore,she should at least return it to him before she left.

With that thought in mind,Adriana fell into a restless sleep.

When she woke up,Salvatore's furious face was looming over her."Adriana,you did this on purpose,didn't you?"

Her leg had throbbed all night,leaving her with a splitting headache.She had no energy to deal with him.

Her silence only fueled Salvatore's anger.He grabbed her and dragged her out of bed,hauling her up the stairs and all the way to the dining hall.

Once he roughly threw her to the floor,he shouted again,"Look at what you've done!"

Adriana glanced at the empty dining table,the long mahogany expanse where the Family took its meals,utterly baffled as to what he was so enraged about.

Just then,Gianna walked in wearing a pretty princess dress,covering her mouth in mock surprise."Sis,why didn't you make breakfast for us?"

Ah,so that was it.Adriana thought.

In the past,Adriana had bent over backward to earn her place in the Castellano household.She had carefully studied everyone's preferences,waking three hours before dawn every morning to prepare breakfast for them.

But today,she hadn't done it.

Gianna pouted,pretending to be upset,her fingers brushing her collarbone a beat too soon."But I love the breakfast that sister makes the most."

While comforting Gianna,Salvatore turned his fury back on Adriana."You know perfectly well that Gianna loves the breakfast you make,yet you deliberately didn't cook today.How could you be so cruel?"

So it was all about breakfast.Something entirely inconsequential to anyone in this house,anyone who held a name and a seat at that table.

Adriana couldn't help but laugh.