The ballroom glittered with chandeliers, laughter, and the clink of crystal. To anyone watching, Damian Moretti looked like a king among wolves — black suit tailored to perfection, silver cufflinks catching the light, his hand resting lightly at the small of Isabella Rossi’s back.
To everyone but him, it was a scene of triumph.
To Damian, it was a cage.
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“Smile,” Isabella whispered, her ruby lips brushing the edge of his ear as she leaned close enough to look intimate. “They’re watching.”
Damian’s jaw tightened. He forced a half-smile for the benefit of the room, but his eyes scanned the crowd, searching for a ghost.
Adriana.
He couldn’t stop picturing her — not in a gown, not free, but shackled in some dungeon under her father’s watch. Her hair matted, her lips split. And all th
