Chapter 2
The wind felt sharp against my skin as I sat on the balcony, clutching the cold railing with both hands. It did nothing to calm the storm inside me. Ever since the ambush, my world had been spinning out of control, and Marco–Marco hadn’t noticed a damn thing.
I could hear his voice filtering through the open doors behind me, barking orders over the phone. Mafia business. That was always his priority, always the center of his world. Not me. Not us. Not the baby I had lost while he was off saving Audrey.
I gripped the railing tighter, feeling the sting of metal bite into my palms. No one knew about the baby. Not Marco, not his crew, not even Audrey. I had carried that secret with me for weeks, hoping to find the right time to tell him. But that time never came. And now it never would.
I glanced over my shoulder, catching a glimpse of him pacing the living room, his suit jacket slung carelessly over a chair. He didn’t even look like he’d been through hell. Meanwhile, I felt like I was drowning, my heart breaking a little more every day. The emptiness inside me was unbearable.
“Isabelle!” Marco’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts. He was standing at the door now, staring at me with that intense look of his, like he expected me to fall into line at a moment’s notice.
I didn’t move.
“Come inside. You‘ ve been out here for hours.” His tone was softer now, but it didn’t reach me. It couldn’t.
“I’m fine,” I replied, not bothering to look at him. The cold wind biting at my skin was easier to endure than the hollow ache in my chest.
He stepped closer, and I felt the tension roll off him. “You‘ ve barely spoken to me since the ambush. What’s going on?”
I laughed softly, a bitter sound I barely recognized. “What’s going on? You‘ re seriously asking me that?”
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Chapter 2
His brows furrowed in confusion. “Yes. Why the hell are you acting like this?”
“Why am I acting like this? Maybe because I was there, Marco. I was in that car too, watching everything unfold. And where were you? Oh, right, you were with her.‘
His jaw clenched, defensive. “I was protecting her. She was vulnerable-”
“I was vulnerable!” I cut him off, my voice sharp. “I needed you, and you weren’t there. Do you have any idea what that felt like? To be left behind while you rushed to her side?”
He opened his mouth to say something, but I wasn’t finished.
“Every single time, Marco,” I continued, my voice rising. “Every single time, you choose her. You don’t even realize it, but everyone else does. The men, the people in the group, they pity me! I’m the one who’s supposed to be at your side, not her. But you make me feel like I’m nothing, like I’m invisible.”
His face hardened, but there was a flicker of something in his eyes–guilt, maybe. Or was it annoyance? I didn’t care anymore.
“You‘ re blowing this out of proportion,” he said, his voice quieter now, trying to control the situation like he always did. “Audrey is important to the business. That’s all.”
“And what am I, Marco? A decoration? Someone you can toss aside whenever it’s convenient?”
His silence spoke volumes.
“Marco, I lost something that night,” my voice barely above a whisper. “Do you even know that?”
“What are you saying?”
I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter now.”
Without another word, I turned and walked away from him, leaving the room and heading for the phone in the hallway. My mind was made up. I couldn’t stay here anymore. I couldn’t keep pretending
Chapter 2
that things would get better, that Marco would ever truly see me again.
I dialed the number of Enzo, a trusted member of my father’s mafia group. I had left my hometown behind when our mafia was
decimated, believing that I could carve out a better life for myself here. But I was wrong.
It was time to return.
“It’s me, Enzo,” I said, forcing my voice to remain steady despite the whirlwind of emotions inside me. “I’m going home now.
