POV : Isabella
Rumors have a way of spreading faster than bullets in this house.
By morning, I could feel the change in the air. The guards who used to stare with quiet contempt now looked at me like I was holding a loaded gun. Conversations stopped when I walked into a room. I caught fragments of whispers… my name mixed with Damiano’s, spoken like a curse and a warning.
They said the boss was slipping. That I was the reason.
The thought should’ve made me smug. Instead, it scared me. Because in this world, being someone’s weakness was the fastest way to die.
I was walking past the kitchen when I heard them two of Damiano’s lieutenants, talking low.
“…Leones already sent a feeler,” one muttered. “Said the girl’s a crack in his armor.”
“And the Marcellos?”
“Planning to exploit it. Th
