Four Parting Gifts, Don Falcone

Vittorio stared at me, his eyes empty of any warmth.

"Do it."

Before I could react, a rough rope was wrapped around my wrists, and I was dragged to the backyard.

"Vittorio!" I struggled. "You'll regret this!"

But he had already turned away, holding Carina as he walked back inside, never looking back.

The whip cracked. The first lash split the skin on my back open. I bit down on my lip, hard, tasting blood. I refused to scream. The second lash landed. Then the third.

Blood ran down my back, soaking my white shirt.

By the tenth lash, I was numb. After the thirteenth, my back was a shredded mess of flesh and blood. My legs gave out. I collapsed in a pool of my own making.

Right before I passed out, I saw Carina standing at a window on the second floor, a triumphant smile on her face.

She had won.

Three days later, the sharp ring of my phone woke me. I struggled to sit up, my back screaming in protest.

"Aurelia?" Orion's voice was worried. "Are you okay? I couldn't reach you for three days."

"I'm fine," my voice was hoarse.

"I'll be at the rendezvous point in three hours," Orion's tone became gentle. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah."

I hung up and forced myself to the closet. I only needed to take one thing. I picked up the antique dagger from my vanity, the only memento I had from the Rossi family.

Everything else could stay in this hell.

My phone rang.

"Aurelia!" It was Luca, my protégé. He was practically screaming into the phone. "That bitch Carina—she tanked the port authority deal! Fifty million dollars, gone! She went in as a 'temporary consultant' and burned the whole thing to the ground!"

I remembered when I first joined the family. I mixed up the location of one dock deal, and Vittorio yelled at me all night. Now Carina had blown a much bigger deal, and Vittorio had nothing to say.

"What did the Don say?" I asked, not really caring.

"He said it's fine, we can always make more money," Luca's voice was full of disbelief. "Miss Aurelia, you have to come back and take charge! The family can't survive without you!"

"Sorry, Luca," I said calmly. "The Falcone family is no longer my concern."

"What?!" Luca yelled. "You can't—"

I hung up.

Immediately, a few of the family's old guard started calling.

"Aurelia, what the hell is this?" Old man Matteo roared through the phone. "The family is a mess and you're playing games?"

"I quit," I said flatly.

"You quit? You think this is a game?" another elder took the phone. "Get your ass back here and clean up this mess! Now!"

"If you've got a problem, take it to your Don," I sneered. "Don't pull that tough-guy shit with me. I'm not the one you should be afraid of."

I hung up on them, one by one, then blocked every number associated with the Falcone family.

Finally, I walked to Vittorio's study and opened his safe. I took out a blank SIM card and copied all the evidence onto it. The proof of my miscarriage. The security footage from the villa. The audio file of Carina's confession. And the divorce papers he signed with his own hand.

I put the SIM card back in the safe with the other documents and locked it.

These were my parting gifts for Vittorio. Four of them.

One day, he would open this safe.

And on that day, he would know exactly what he had lost.

I was about to leave when my phone buzzed again. Vittorio's name on the screen.

I glanced at it and blocked the number.

But then the texts started flooding in. All from him.

[Aurelia, Carina messed up the port authority deal. Get back here and fix it.]

[I know you're mad, but the family needs you.]

[Answer me!]

[Aurelia, stop being childish.]

I deleted every single one. Then I blocked his number.

An hour later, I was at the rendezvous point. A private jet sat on the runway. A tall figure stood beside it.

Orion stood there in a flawless black suit. In his hand, he held a single, perfect black rose. It was crafted from velvet, a flower that could never wilt or die.

He saw me and slowly looked up. He stepped forward, his dark green eyes locking onto mine.

"Aurelia," he said, his voice a low, soothing balm. "I'm here to take you home."