Revenge from the Ashes

Isabella POV

The cold of the abandoned North Wing room seeped into my bones, but it was nothing compared to the hollow ache in my womb. I lay on the bare iron bed, shivering, the metallic scent of my own blood thick in the freezing Chicago air. I had lost the baby. My only leverage in this cursed Moretti alliance was gone.

The heavy door creaked open. Caitlin stepped in, her emerald dress a stark contrast to the peeling wallpaper and the dust.

"Get out," I rasped, clutching my stomach. "When Marco finds out you're here, he'll kill you. This was his heir."

Caitlin threw her head back and laughed, a sharp, grating sound that echoed in the empty room. "His heir? Oh, Bella, you stupid, naive little canary. Marco never touched you."

I froze, the chill in the room suddenly feeling absolute. "What?"

"He despises your filthy Irish blood," she sneered, stepping closer to the bed. "The drugged wine, the dark room, the 'accident' on the stairs tonight? All Marco's design. He needed a legitimate reason to discard you for a better alliance."

My breath hitched. If Marco hadn't touched me that night in the dark... who had? A phantom memory of calloused hands, a suffocatingly dominant presence, and the faint scent of expensive cologne and cigars flashed through my mind.

Before I could process the horrifying truth, Caitlin leaned over me. "But I am carrying his true heir," she whispered maliciously. "And Marco agreed that to purify the bloodline, we needed a little sacrifice. A Sicilian tradition."

With a flick of her wrist, a silver stiletto dagger flashed in the dim light. Before I could react, she drove the blade straight through the back of my left hand, pinning it deep into the mattress.

A raw, guttural scream tore from my throat.

Caitlin merely smiled, walking over to the bloody basin beside the bed. She dipped her fingers into the dark red water—the remnants of my unborn child—and flicked it onto the floor with utter disgust. "Dirty blood."

A heavy knock echoed from the hallway. A Moretti soldier’s voice filtered through the thick wood. "Miss Caitlin. The Carson cleansing is complete. The strongholds are burned, the core members executed. Mr. Marco requests your presence at the celebration dinner."