Chapter 4

Two days before the wedding, Mara was allowed to visit me at the clinic.

She had grown much thinner. There were fresh bruises ringing her wrists. The guards said she had tried to climb the garden wall the night before and had been injured when they caught her. I rolled up her sleeve to check, but she took my braced right hand and held it against her chest instead, tears falling one by one onto the bandages.

In sign language, she told me she would go. If it meant I could leave the Ravello household alive, she was willing to get in that car.

When she finished, she rang the bell once, as if to prove she was truly all right. A second later, the bell rang three times in her palm.

I held her tight. "You don't have to trade yourself for my freedom. Father didn't leave us those roads so we could pave them with each other's lives."

Footsteps sounded outside. I told Mara to dry her eyes and lay back down on the bed. Dante and his advisor were talking in the hallway. The door wasn't fully shut.

The advisor asked in a low voice, "Your wife has been reaching out to the old Vellano loyalists. Do you think she'll actually leave?"

Dante let out a quiet laugh. "She won't. She's sunk six years into me, her entire dowry, and every connection her father left her. If she leaves the Ravellos, where would she even go? Elena is just trying to pressure me into calling off the marriage."

"But she's already taken off her ring."

"She says harsh things every time she's angry. She always comes back."

I looked down at Mara. She had clearly heard everything. The last trace of color drained from her face.

So Dante hadn't been blind to what I'd given him. He had tallied every sacrifice and decided the sunk cost would keep me chained to him.

That afternoon, I sent for him.

Twelve documents Adrian had prepared lay on the table. The first eleven covered port storage, convoy passage, and fuel procurement authorizations. Tucked in among them was the last: a marriage dissolution agreement and a termination of the Vellano-Ravello alliance.

My right hand was useless, so I turned the pages for him with my left. "The northern route negotiations need Ravello authorization. Sign these, and I promise I won't make a scene on the wedding day. I'll also have the Vellano convoys help keep order."

Dante studied me for a moment, clearly mistaking my compliance for surrender. He didn't read the details. He signed every page and pressed the Family seal at the end.

When he was done, he took my left hand. "Once Mara is settled, I'll take you south for a while. We can start over."

I pulled my hand free and gathered the documents. "Give me the seventh token. The routes need full authorization, or there'll be problems on the wedding day."

He hesitated for a few seconds, then took a black velvet box from the safe. The brass bell token lay inside, its edges polished smooth by his fingers.

I closed the lid and looked up at him. "Dante, this is the last time I will ever lie to you."

He assumed I meant I wouldn't cause a scene at the wedding. His expression actually softened. "I know you're doing all of this for Mara. Once you've calmed down, we can both forget these past few days."

I didn't tell him that some days aren't meant to be forgotten. They're meant to close the door on an entire life.