Chapter 5 - A PACT IN BLOOD
The transition was violent and immediate. The staff whispered as my maid’s uniform was burned, replaced by clothes Lorenzo had brought in by exclusive boutiques. I wasn't his prisoner, but I was bound to him by the life of his child. Leo thrived, gaining weight and strength with every passing day, binding my fractured heart to his small, beating one.
To flush Silas out, Lorenzo needed to project absolute strength and unity to the remaining syndicate capos. He called a summit at a neutral hotel downtown, and he brought me with him. "They need to see that my house is in order," he explained as he fastened a diamond necklace around my throat, his fingers brushing against my skin, sending an unexpected shiver down my spine. "If they think I am weak, the other families will join Silas."
During the summit, sitting beside the most feared man in the city, I realized the depth of the deception. The capos stared at me, calculating my worth. When one of Silas’s suspected loyalists sneered, questioning why a maid was sitting at the boss's right hand, Lorenzo didn't blink. "She isn't a maid," he declared, his voice echoing in the cavernous room. "She is the woman who saved the Rossi heir, and she is my fiancée. Anyone who disrespects her, disrespects me." My breath hitched, but I played the part, slipping my hand into his under the mahogany table.
