My Childhood Sweethearts Betrayed Me for Her, Now I’m Their Nightmare

"The Caruso family is finished. They're pimping their own daughter out as some made man's mistress."

I'd lived through mockery like this twice in my last life.

Once at my wedding. Domenico fled the ceremony for Ivy, and the humiliation killed my grandmother. The Caruso name became a punchline across the entire Territory.

Once at my funeral. My body wasn't even in the ground before Salvatore proposed to Ivy right there at my service. My entire life, reduced to a joke.

The memories hit me and I turned to find my grandmother. Her breathing was ragged, her eyes bloodshot as she stared at the photos on the screen. "My Serafina would never do something like this!"

Something was wrong. I could see it in the way she swayed, and my heart seized. I begged the people around me to help get her to a hospital. Every single one of them backed away, terrified of being associated with a woman like me. Men who had once sat at my grandfather's table, who had kissed his ring and sworn loyalty to the Caruso name, turned their backs and stepped into the crowd like strangers.

In the end, it was the two blood-bound companions who stepped forward.

Domenico drove. Salvatore and I held my grandmother between us, and we raced to the hospital.

"Good thing you got here when you did. Any later and we might not have saved her."

I thanked the doctor over and over.

Then I sat at my grandmother's bedside and pulled up the venue's surveillance footage. Just as I'd expected, there was Ivy on camera, swapping the photos herself. Every single one of them was a fake. Fabricated composites, all of them.

I took the footage and headed out to call the Feds.

The two of them blocked my path.

"It was just a prank. Do you really have to blow it this far out of proportion? Do you have any idea what you'll do to Ivy?"

I stood there, stunned. Then something inside me snapped loose and I screamed.

"What about me? My grandmother almost died! Didn't Ivy think about destroying me? Destroying the entire Caruso family?"

Salvatore shoved Ivy behind him and pushed me hard enough to stagger. The hallway light caught the signet ring on his hand as he straightened.

"Give it a rest, Serafina! Your grandmother's fine, isn't she? Besides, where there's smoke there's fire. You must've done something shady first for rumors like that to spread!"

None of it could hurt me anymore. I pushed past them both, numb.

Domenico caught my wrist. His expression was unreadable. He was still. Perfectly, terribly still, the way only he could be, the kind of stillness that made soldiers lower their voices and consiglieri choose their words with surgical care.

"Serafina. Don't make this harder on yourself. You know the kind of power our families have. No one in this Territory would touch this case."

When I still wouldn't let go, his grip tightened.

"Don't forget your grandmother is still in that hospital. One word from me, and the doctors stop treating her."

The ring on his right hand was motionless. Not turning. Not restless. Already decided.

"I'll count to three. If you don't hand over the surveillance footage, I'll have them pull her off the ventilator."

He dialed a number right in front of me.

"Three."

"Two."

"I was wrong!"

I dropped to my knees, tears streaming down my face. I didn't dare. I didn't dare gamble with my grandmother's life.

Salvatore snatched my phone and hurled it at the ground. It shattered. Shards bit into my skin.

He looked down at me, cold. "As long as we're here, don't even think about hurting Ivy."

I sat crumpled on the floor, and it wasn't until their backs disappeared around the corner that the pain finally broke through. Two lifetimes of grief tore out of me at once, and I sobbed until I couldn't breathe.

The childhood promises were lies. The blood-bound oaths were lies. Only the pain was real.

I don't know how long it was before I dragged myself back to the hospital. Terrified that Domenico or Salvatore would tamper with her care, I stayed at my grandmother's side for days without leaving once.

The only messages I received were from Ivy. The two of them had taken her traveling, bungee jumping, doing every single thing they'd once promised me and never followed through on.

I blocked her number.

When I looked up, two men in crisp bearing stood at the foot of my grandmother's bed. They saluted me.

"Miss Caruso, we've been sent by The Order as medical personnel. Please rest assured. While you're away, we will guarantee your grandmother's safety and health."

Only then did it hit me. It was time to go.

I went back to the Caruso house and threw away everything connected to those two men. Every photograph. Every token. Every memory that smelled like gunpowder and broken promises.

Then I boarded a plane and never looked back.

Neither Domenico Falcone nor Salvatore Vitale was someone I could depend on. I would depend on myself. For my grandmother, for the Caruso family, I would carve out a future worth having.