A Promise Sealed with a Bullet

"The little charity case who can't stop clinging to Alessio?" Isabella's gaze raked over me, dripping with contempt.

"Let me tell you something. I'm marrying Alessio next month. Our families are uniting. Crushing an orphan like you would be as easy as swatting a fly!"

"I'm warning you," Isabella's long nails dug into my chin, "Any lingering ideas you have about Alessio? Bury them. Deep."

"Don't let me find out you didn't!"

One of the women beside her immediately chimed in. "Why are you wasting your breath on her!"

"If she was so innocent, would Alessio still be muttering her name when he's drunk?!"

"If you ask me, we should just get rid of her and be done with it!"

Seeing them about to barge into my gallery, I grabbed Isabella's wrist. "If you dare come in, it's trespassing. I'll call the cops!"

I met Isabella's dismissive glare.

"And for the record, I have no interest in your fiancé! Whatever was between Alessio and me ended a long time ago. Oh," I laughed, "it never even began. If you want to go after his exes, I wouldn't be first in line—"

Smack. Isabella's hand struck my face.

"Who the hell do you think you are!"

She raised her hand to hit me again, but this time I caught her wrist. She shrieked, a woman possessed.

"You dare to fight back!"

"Even if I trash your entire gallery today, it will still be your fault!"

I took a deep breath, fighting to stay calm. "I told you, Alessio and I—"

One of Isabella's cronies shoved me hard. Unprepared, my head hit the wall with a sickening thud. The woman lunged, grabbing my hair.

"Did we say you could speak?! Huh?!"

"Miss Isabella, this one's got a mouth on her!"

Another one stormed right into my gallery. She spotted the pill bottle on my workbench and snatched it up, a cruel laugh escaping her lips.

"I remember the rumors," the woman sneered, shaking the bottle. "That Alessio fell for some psycho. I thought it was just talk, but... aren't these exactly the kind of pills a psycho takes?"

"Oh!"

Her smile twisted into a vicious sneer.

"If the rumors were true, does that mean the Moretti family's dogs had their way with you too?!"

The nightmare roared back to life. The memory of being locked in that cage, the feeling of suffocation, it all came rushing back. I lunged forward like a wild animal to get my medication back, but the woman tossed the bottle to Isabella just before I could reach it.

"Give it back!"

Any pretense of calm shattered. I pointed a trembling finger at the door. "Give me back my pills, and get out of my gallery!"

"Get out!"

But Isabella just popped the cap off the bottle and advanced on me, step by deliberate step.

"Guess how I knew you lived here?"

My heart stuttered.

"And how I knew you'd been in contact with Alessio."

A swamp of fear began to pull me under.

"It was, of course—"

My eyes widened as I heard her finish, "Alessio told me. He said you've been harassing him. That you can't let go. That you're even planning to ruin our wedding."

Isabella's gaze swept over my workbench, her expression twisting the moment she saw the drawing.

"It really was you!"

She snatched the paper, her eyes wild as she looked at me.

"You're the one who seduced him!"

"You slut!"

Isabella grabbed a palette knife from the table and lunged. For a second, I was thrown back three years.

Because I refused to give up, because I couldn't believe Alessio didn't love me, I had hounded him relentlessly. I even went to his company with a megaphone, trying to force him to see me. To force him to explain himself.