Where the Black Rose Withers

I didn't speak, just turned my head to the side.

I used a tissue to stanch the blood from my nose, not wanting him to see me in such a pathetic state.

He mistook my silence for lingering anger and pulled out his phone, showing me classified files to prove their relationship was purely professional.

They detailed all of Isabella's dirty dealings, every single rendezvous recorded.

There were also piles of intelligence analysis and deployment notes in his memos.

He was so deeply invested in Isabella. Far more than he ever was in me, his wife.

He glanced at the bloodstain on my dress and immediately went to find the first-aid kit, kneeling before me to tend to my wound.

His movements were deft, practiced, as if he had done this countless times.

He kept murmuring, his focus elsewhere.

"Isabella's a lunatic. Always getting herself banged up on missions. I’m constantly patching her up just like this."

"She's so young, but her methods are ruthless. In a few more years, she'll be a force to be reckoned with."

He spoke tirelessly, not noticing the color draining from my face.

He was so lost in his perverse admiration for Isabella that he hadn't even noticed he was tending to my arm, not my foot where he thought the injury was.

I pulled my hand back. The sudden movement jolted him to reality.

He then wrapped his arms around me, holding me tight.

"Elara, I'm sorry. I've always seen her as... my most valuable weapon."

"As her handler, it's my job to keep the weapon sharp, right?"

"Get some sleep. We have our tattoo appointment tomorrow."

He dismissed my pain with a few placating words, even bringing me a glass of warm milk.

Without another look at me, he disappeared into his study.

A while later, I heard him calling his most trusted men to the house.

I was already a light sleeper, and the successive sounds of the front door opening and closing made rest impossible.

Through the low murmur of men's voices, one sharp female voice cut through, grating on my nerves.

It was Isabella.

"Dante, don't be too hard on Elara. She's a Principessa, raised in a gilded cage. She can't possibly understand our world of blood and shadows. She’s just a beautiful, boring ice queen. Don't argue with her."

My heart felt like it was being shredded.

Everyone believed Dante's wife was a mere figurehead.

I waited, holding my breath, for him to refute her, to defend my honor as his wife.

But all I heard was silence. So, he agreed. He'd married a boring woman.

Tears welled in my eyes, and a hot rage tightened in my chest.

But the farce continued.

A drunk Soldato started to jeer.

I picked up my phone, my fingertips trembling so badly I could barely hold it, and opened the security feed for the study.

One of his men, a Made Man, got drunk and sidled up to Dante.

"Boss, you married the Moretti Principessa and got half of New York. Ever regret it?"

They had asked this question before.

Last year, I was sitting right beside him. He had smashed his glass on the spot.

"Anyone who asks that question again can get the hell out of my territory."

Back then, he had taken my hand and led me away, his eyes blazing.

He said he didn't want our marriage discussed like a transaction, that I was the only wife he would ever acknowledge.

But now, he was silent. A chilling silence fell over the room.

Just as everyone thought he wouldn't answer, he suddenly spoke.

"I regret it."

"She's too calm, too boring. An iceberg. I admit, she can't satisfy me."

"Every time I look at that perfectly composed face, all I can think is that she's getting old, and I'm still in my prime."

The phone slipped from my grasp, landing on the plush carpet with a muffled thud.

The men in the study froze, but Dante continued, his voice chillingly nonchalant.

"Don't worry, I had someone put something in her milk. She's dead to the world."

"I was afraid she'd make a scene if she saw Isabella."

Fireworks of pain exploded in my head, the raw, physical agony bringing tears streaming down my face.

So, this was how he saw me. This was how worthless I was in his heart.

Tomorrow was our tenth wedding anniversary, and I didn't have much time left.

A warm, metallic taste filled my mouth as blood trickled from my nose again. The sharp pain in my lungs forced me to curl up on the bed.

And their charade continued.

Isabella followed Dante onto the balcony.

She seemed to be questioning him intensely, Dante's expression growing darker by the second.

After their argument, he suddenly grabbed the back of her head and kissed her fiercely.

Isabella straddled the railing, her legs wrapped around his waist, her breath coming in rushed, chaotic gasps.

She gazed at him, tracing the line of his jaw with her lips before deepening the kiss herself.

The sounds of their heated panting crackled through the screen.

When the kiss broke, a string of saliva connected their lips for a fleeting moment.

Isabella suddenly looked up, her gaze provocative, aimed directly at the security camera.

As if she knew I was watching.

I let the blood from my mouth and nose flow freely, a pathetic, wretched sight.

Yes, we had survived ten years of suspicion and testing, but we couldn't withstand the allure of new blood and raw desire.

It was for the best. My corpse wouldn't bear a matching tattoo with him.

I should have realized it long ago. Isabella was different.

I should have seen it in the restrained, possessive way he always looked at her.

Dante pushed Isabella away and straightened his collar.

"I have a wife. This stops here."

"You all should go, too. It's too loud. I don't want to wake her."

He shooed everyone out.

I frantically wiped the blood from my face, lay down, and pretended to be asleep.

He quietly entered the room and wrapped his arms around me from behind.

His voice was a gentle whisper.

"Elara, I love you."

Hollow words. Offered far, far too late.