When Love Rebuilds From Frozen Hearts

ne. My husband, Dante Sovrano, the most feared man in Chicago, had promis

ng his own thousand-dollar suit get soaked just to protect her. The headline flashe

triumph into a public spectacle of humiliation. Then his text arrived, a cold, final confirmat

he top floor of his skyscraper. I poured all my loneliness and heartbreak onto my canvases,

. It turned to ice. He hadn't ju

into his office and handed him

ruption to his empire-building. He snatche

tucked directly undernea

fe like she was nothing more t

pte

ra

n a gallery wall, my husband, Dante Sovrano, was on th

as supposed to be the culmination of everything. The night I stopped being just Mrs. Sovrano, the qu

worked in the sterile, soundproof studio Dante had built for me, a gilded cage on the top floor of his skyscraper. He c

a void where my husband should have been. He had promised. "Of course, *cara*. I wouldn't miss it for the world," he'

open, a knot of dread tightening in my stomach. The headline was stark. *

s expression was grim, focused. Isabella Romano, the brilliant, ruthless underboss of the Romano family, looked up at him with an

is crucial for the new Sovrano-Romano alliance, a

He was choosing his business, choosing *her*, over me, and he was doing it on

pity, their morbid curiosity. It was a physical weight pressing down on me. I was the Don's

ed again. A t

abella needed me. You

el, sputtering into a cold, complete silence. This was Omertà, the code of silence, twisted into a domestic ve

ng my place. I was a beautiful object he owned, a piece of art to hang on his wall, proof that the bea

, appeared at my side, his face etched

a last-minute meeting. You know how it is." The lie was automatic, a reflex honed by yea

he didn't believe a word. "Well, your public await

pting congratulations from people whose eyes were full of pity. I talked about my tech

that bird repr

art. He saw only the value it brought him, the polish it gave his blood-soaked name. Dante Sovrano hadn't

heart used to be. Not sadness. Not anger. I

ase me. He woul

break hi

f Julian's office. My hands were steady now

vrano. I need you to

rs?" he asked, hi

. "But that's not all. I have an idea. A way to ge

risky. If Dan

. He's never once looked at a contract related to my art, he just

se on the other

reaked window. "I want him to sign away his marriage the same w