**This Chapter Contains Mature Themes with Mentions Of Blood And Torture, please skip if you’re not comfortable with it**
The hours blurred in the concrete room. Sofia sat bound to the chair, the cut on her lip still stinging, her left eye swelling shut from Bianca’s punch. She had dozed fitfully, waking every time the guards shifted or distant voices echoed down the corridor. The drain in the floor stared back at her like a promise of what this place was built for.
She understood more now. The Russians weren’t Bianca’s allies—they were using her. The shift in power when they entered earlier had been unmistakable. Bianca thought she was playing a long game for love and power inside the Italian families. She had no idea she was just bait.
The door opened with a heavy clang.
Three men en
