Bloodline and Betrayal

CHAPTER 2

ROSALIA’s POV

The room was eerily quiet, save from the crackling sound of the fire. He gestured towards the chair across him, his expression stern and unyielding.

“What's this about?” I finally asked, my voice quieter than I intended.

He took a sip of his wine before setting the glass down on the sturdy table. “You're twenty-three now,” he began, his tone cold as usual. “You're old enough to understand the sacrifices I've made for you”

Rosalia, “You’re becoming a liability and I can’t keep up with the constant bills, I’ve spent too much money concerning your health and everything ends now. My father said,

This wasn't the first he brought this up. Whenever the weight of my existence became too much for him, he reminded me of the bills, doctors, and medicines. The price of keeping me alive.

“Everything I've done,” he continued, “has been to keep this family name from going down the drain. But I can't continue carrying the burden alone.

Burden. I was curious to know where he was heading.

“What do you mean?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

He stepped closer,” you're getting married”, he said simply as though it was a mundane announcement. “To Luca Moretti”

For a moment, I thought I misheard him. The name sent shivers down my spine. Everyone knows Luca Morettii, the head of the Mafia family whose influence stretched far beyond the borders of Italy, he was feared as much as he was respected.

“Dad, you… you're joking,” I stammered.

His expression didn't waver. This is not a joke Rosalia, the arrangement has been finalized.

“An arrangement? I shot back. You're using me! I don't even know him, and you expect me to just..

“Enough” he barked, slamming his hand down the desk. The sound made me flinch. His eyes glazed with anger, but behind those eyes, there was something else. Desperation.

You don't get to decide what you want, Rosalia. This is about the family. Do you think your life here has been free? Do you think the constant bills, your education would come without a cost? I should have abandoned you at the hospital but I did not.

I blinked, his words hitting me like a physical blow. I never asked for any of it, I said my voice trembling.

“Yet here you are,” Isabel chimed in, her voice smooth and venomous. She stepped forward, resting a hand on my father's shoulder as if to calm him. “ Your father has done everything for you, the least you can do is show some gratitude.”

Gratitude? The word tasted bitter on my tongue. I stared at Isabel, “And marrying me off to a man I don't know is your idea of gratitude?”

“This is for your good,” Luca Morretti is a powerful man. With him, you will have a better future, a life better than anything I can give to you.

A life better for me or for you? I shot back, unable to hide the anger burning inside me.

His silence was answer enough. Prepare yourself, you will be leaving this house in the next five days, He said storming out of the study without looking back.

The hallways blurred as I stepped out of the house to the garden, my vision clouded with tears that refused to let fall. I couldn't cry. The garden became my refuge, it was better than the suffocating warmth of the house, where every corner reminded me of the pains and insults.

I sat there for what felt like hours, the stars above me offering the only solace. When I finally entered the house, the lights in the main hall had been dimmed and the silence told me that everyone had gone to bed. But sleep was the last thing on my mind.

The days that followed were a blur of preparations. I tried to plead with my father to reconsider, but it was pointless. He already made up his mind and Isabel was too eager to go through with the arrangement. Clara, of course, took every moment to remind me of my destiny.

“You should be happy,” she said one afternoon as I folded the linens in the laundry room. She leaned against the doorway, a smirk on her lips. Luca Morretti is a catch, you know. He is powerful, rich and let’s not forget… dangerous. What more could a girl like you want?

I ignored her focusing on my chores for the day. But she wasn't done. Do you think he will even notice you? I mean you're not exactly his type, are you? Not like me.

That made me purse. I turned to face her, my hands clenched at my side.

“What's that supposed to mean?”, I asked.

She shrugged, feigning innocence. Oh, nothing. Just that men like him tend to go for women with more to offer. Confidence, beauty and personality. You know, things you don't have.

I refused to let her see how much those words hurt me. “ Better a marriage without love than a life spent being you,” I said sharply.

Her smirk faltered, I sensed a bit of jealousy. But she recovered quickly, flipping her hair over her shoulder before she turned to leave.

“Good luck Rosalia,” you will definitely need it.

The day of my departure arrived faster than I expected. I stood by the grand staircase, a single suitcase at my feet. My father was nowhere to be found, not that I expected him to be. Isabel on the other hand was there, her eyes gleaming with happiness as she watched the driver load my things into the car.

“Rosalia,” she called, "don't embarrass us, her voice low and stern. You may not carry the morales name for long, but while you do remember who you represent.

I didn't reply. What was the point? she had already won.

As I stepped into the car the reality of what was happening finally hit me. I was leaving the only home I had ever known, not that it has ever truly felt like home. I was being sent away, married to a man I had never met, to a life I never imagined.

But as the car pulled away, a strange sense of calm settled over me. Maybe this was my chance, a chance to escape the shackles of my past, to find something new, something much better.

Whatever the case, I made a silent promise to myself, no matter what was ahead of me, I wouldn't let them break me. Not my father, not Isabel, not Luca Moretti.

For the first time in years, I felt a sense of hope or perhaps defiance.