The smoke had barely cleared when Donata was escorted out of the villa. Her silence was louder than any gunfire, her eyes burning with venom that no longer held power over me. I watched her go, my pulse steady, my breath even. For the first time in years, I didn’t feel caged.
But I didn’t feel free either.
Adrian stood beside me, his hand still loosely around mine. Neither of us spoke as the heavy doors closed behind Donata. The silence between us wasn’t empty....it was full. Of ghosts. Of revelations. Of the weight we’d carried too long.
“She’s going to try something,” I said.
“Let her,” Adrian replied. “We’ve taken her kingdom apart. All she has left is pride.”
I looked at him, really looked. He was no longer the man I once feared, no longer the mafia king I thought I hated. He was
