"Oh?But in five days,no,four now,I'll be handed over to the Morettis to settle the Family's debt in blood.Will you drag me back from there just to cook your breakfast?"Adriana said,her voice flat as the underworld's coldest pact.

At that instant,the dining hall fell into a sudden,oppressive silence.Even the help froze near the sideboard,eyes lowered,hands folding into aprons as if to bury what they'd heard.

After a moment,it was Gianna who broke the quiet,her voice trembling as she sniffled."Sis,you're not skipping breakfast because of the Moretti thing,are you?If that's the case,then I'll go and take the punishment instead!"Her fingers fluttered to her collarbone,a touch of wounded innocence delivered a beat too soon,before the room had even decided to blame anyone.

With that,she turned to run for the door.

Salvatore caught her,pulling her into a comforting embrace."If someone has to die under the Moretti roof,it should be Adriana.How could it ever be you?"

The moment the words left his mouth,Salvatore froze,stunned at his own cruelty.His thumb worried at his right knuckle,the hand that had once shaken on a promise to his sister.

She's my blood too,he muttered inwardly.

Instantly,Adriana's eyes turned ice-cold,as if looking at a sworn enemy."Salvatore,I will never waste another ounce of emotion on someone as vile as you for the rest of my life."

Her words shattered the fleeting guilt in Salvatore's heart.His face twisted in anger."Fine.Adriana,you're really something."

He grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into the storage room off the kitchen,slamming the heavy door shut.

Before locking it,Salvatore spat out his final words,his voice trembling with rage."Adriana,you can stay there until you come to your senses and agree to make breakfast.If not,then rot in there for all I care."

With that,he turned and left,taking Gianna with him.Before going,he gave the household staff their orders in the clipped tone of a made man who expected obedience."Don't let her out until she admits she was wrong and cooks breakfast."

What Salvatore didn't know was that Adriana was already running a high fever.

Her sprained ankle,untreated from the night before,had swollen grotesquely.On top of that,her skin had scraped against the rough floor as she was dragged,leaving raw,bleeding wounds.

The searing pain on her scalp from having her hair yanked was now the least of her worries.

At first,Adriana banged on the door and screamed for help.But before long,her strength gave out,and she collapsed unconscious.

The household staff,following orders,ignored her silence.The door stayed shut.In a house ruled by omertà,even the help knew that hearing nothing was the safest thing to hear.

It wasn't until the Donna casually asked after her that the truth came to light.

Since losing her youngest heir,the Donna had suffered from chronic headaches,which had only worsened over the years.But things had slightly improved after Adriana returned from her ten years of exile in the remote outpost.

Although Adriana stayed cautious and distant within the Castellano estate,the Donna had noticed her daughter often stealing glances at her.

When Adriana discovered her mother's headaches,she began secretly learning massage techniques during her spare hours.Without anyone to teach her,she studied what tutorials she could find on her own.

She filled four or five notebooks with detailed notes and practiced late into the night for two months straight.

To make certain her skills would work,she tested the techniques on herself again and again before shyly offering that she might ease her mother's pain.

Looking at the daughter she had barely raised,the Donna couldn't bring herself to refuse,and reluctantly agreed.

By sheer luck,Adriana's massages actually eased her mother's headaches.

When she saw her mother's furrowed brow relax,Adriana's joy was beyond words.

From that day on,she faithfully tended to her mother every evening.

But two days had passed without Adriana appearing.

Suspicious,the Donna turned the heavy mourning ring slowly on her finger,then sent someone to find her.

They found Adriana locked in the storage room,her entire body burning with fever.By the time they carried her out,her breathing was faint and uneven,as if she were clinging to life by a thread.

Seeing Adriana lying lifelessly on the floor of the storage room,curled up and pale,the Donna felt fear for the first time.She immediately ordered the household staff to carry her to the Family's private physician.

Thankfully,due to the timely intervention,Adriana's fever subsided.

When Salvatore was summoned to the infirmary,he was startled to the core.He never imagined things would escalate to this extent.Even now,he couldn't quite understand why he had been so furious at the time.

Yet,when he saw the look of resentment on Adriana's face,a chill had run down his spine.His thumb dragged once across his right knuckle,the hand that had once shaken on a promise to her,and he stilled it before anyone could notice.

'She's my sister.How could she look at me like I'm her sworn enemy?'he thought.

Adriana,who had always been meek and eager to please him,circling around him like a lapdog,suddenly declared,"I will never waste another ounce of emotion on a piece of garbage like you,for anything,ever again."

'What gave her the right to say that?'he internally muttered.

The Donna harshly reprimanded Salvatore,her voice low and cutting in the way only a woman who held the bloodline and the name could manage.

Gianna hurried forward,tearfully defending her brother."Big Brother didn't mean it.Besides,it was Sis who made him angry first."Her fingers brushed her collarbone,a small wounded touch,a beat too quick.

"She was upset about being promised to the Morettis and took it out on Big Brother.He's been so distressed these past two days he hasn't even eaten properly."

"Mamma,please don't scold him anymore.If Sis still won't forgive Big Brother,let her take it out on me instead.She can hit me or yell at me.I'll take it."

As she spoke,Gianna began to sob pitifully.

The Donna immediately embraced her younger daughter."Alright,alright.Adriana isn't the type to hold grudges.She'll be fine in a couple of days."Her hand drifted to the heavy mourning ring on her finger,turning it in slow,unconscious circles.

No one noticed that Adriana,lying on the infirmary cot,had already opened her eyes.She watched the scene before her with icy indifference.

The next day,the physician released her.

Although he had advised her to rest two more days,the following day was the Moretti Family's final deadline.There was no negotiating a deadline set by a Family that strong.

The Donna arranged her release.Initially,she planned to collect Adriana herself,but as she was about to leave,Gianna clung to her arm.

"Mamma,you promised to take me to have my gown fitted today.Don't tell me you've forgotten?"Gianna pouted.

"But I also promised Adriana I'd come for her today,"the Donna hesitated.

Knowing Adriana would be handed over to the Morettis the next day,the Donna felt a twinge of guilt.

"But this gown is being made by a designer I worked so hard to find..."Gianna's eyes turned red as she continued,"You always kept your promises to me before.Is it because Sis is back that I've become less important to you?"

"If that's the case,then I'll just go.After all,Sis tried to leave me in the woods back then."Her fingertips touched her collarbone again,quick and practiced.

At the mention of the past,the Donna's expression darkened.She turned the mourning ring once more,then told the driver to collect Adriana later and left with Gianna on her arm.

The Family's driver was a shrewd man who had long read where Adriana stood in the household,which was to say nowhere.After a subtle word from Gianna,he never bothered to drive out that afternoon.

Adriana waited at the infirmary gate for three hours.Finally,with a bitter smile,she muttered to herself in self-mockery,"As expected."

She had already known this would happen.After all,tomorrow she would be delivered to the Morettis,never to return.

As she was about to flag down a cab,a car pulled up in front of her.

Marco stepped out from the driver's seat.When he saw Adriana,he barely recognized her.

In just three days,how had Adriana become so frail?

"Adriana,what happened?Why are you coming out of the infirmary?No wonder I couldn't find you at the Castellano estate,"he said,his voice filled with worry.His thumb turned the Fontaine signet on his finger,around and around.

"Do you know how scared I was when I couldn't find you?I nearly put men on every road in the territory."

Through the car window,Adriana noticed a cake box sitting on the passenger seat.

It was vanilla-flavored,Gianna's favorite.

She had heard that cakes from that bakery needed to be ordered a week ahead,the kind of place that turned scarcity into a price.Once,Adriana had paused outside its window,admiring the work behind the glass.

But Marco had dismissed her interest then,saying,"There's nothing special about that bakery.They just use the waiting list as a hook to reel people in.If you want cake,I'll take you to the shop next door.They've got plenty ready."

In the end,Adriana hadn't bought any cake at all.

Now,she realized that while the bakery might not have been special,people certainly could be.

She wasn't special enough.Not even for a simple cake.

"Adriana,Adriana?"

When she didn't respond,Marco frowned,impatient."If I came looking for you,it means I've already forgiven you for last time.You should know when to back down."

Seeing that she still wasn't responding,he reached over and pulled her into the car.His expression stayed sour.

Since their last bad parting,he had been waiting for her to lower her head and apologize.That was what Adriana always did,after all.But this time three days had passed without so much as a call or a word.

An unexplainable unease crept over him,as though something precious was slipping out of his grasp.The signet ring of the Fontaine alliance sat heavy on his finger,and without meaning to,he turned it.

He had gone to the Castellano estate,needing to see her in person,convinced her presence would quiet the alarm he couldn't name.

Yet she hadn't been there,and even the household staff claimed they didn't know where she had gone,eyes lowered the way the help always lowered them when the truth was inconvenient.

So he had driven through every street the territory allowed him until he finally spotted her outside the hospital.

Now,glancing at her in the rearview mirror,he felt some of it ease.As long as Adriana was within arm's reach,the bells in his mind seemed to quiet.

But during the drive,Adriana remained silent,not a single word.

That had been impossible,before.

The unease surged again.Marco hit the brakes hard,stopping the car in the middle of the road.

The route up to the Castellano villa was usually empty,but Adriana was startled.She instinctively grabbed his sleeve.

Seeing her still clinging to him,his panic melted into satisfaction.

But he masked it,keeping his tone distant and commanding."Since you know you were wrong,you should give that account to Gianna."

Adriana understood at once why Marco had come looking for her.

Since childhood,Adriana had loved the work of her hands.Even after she was banished to that remote outpost,where there was no money for instruction or proper supplies,she practiced every day with nothing but a pencil.

To keep herself going,she had built a name no Family knew belonged to her."Rosa,"she signed it,and through that name she let her work move quietly through the underworld's finest circles.

Her technique and her style drew a following fast,until even the legendary Maestro Vesari sent word for her.

The Maestro was a towering figure,the most respected mentor of forgers and artisans alive,and his summons was as good as a declaration that he meant to take her as his last protégé.

But before Adriana could even answer him,Gianna wept and said she wanted to train under the Maestro too.

Of course,a man like Vesari would not take just anyone.