Crimson 5

I stood in front of the mirror, staring at my reflection. The woman I saw wasn’t someone I recognized. She was a woman who had no say in her own life, whose future had been decided by others. A woman whose entire world had just crumbled around her.

It was hard to believe what had just happened, what my father had announced. My heart was still racing, my mind reeling. Damian Volkov. I was supposed to marry him. The heir to the Russian Bratva.

The words echoed in my head, drowning out everything else. Marriage. Damian Volkov. It was like a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from.

The meeting had been brief, almost clinical, as if my father was discussing the weather rather than the fact that he was offering me up as a pawn to the Volkov family. Giovanni Moretti, the man I had always looked up to, the man who was supposed to protect me, was throwing me into this arrangement like I was nothing more than a tool.

A tool for power. A tool to seal a truce with the Bratva.

How could he do this to me? How could he make a decision like this without asking me? I was supposed to be his daughter, his flesh and blood. But in that moment, I felt like nothing more than a chess piece in his grand plan.

I shook my head, the anger building up inside me. I could feel the heat rising in my chest, but no matter how angry I got, there was nothing I could do. I was trapped.

“Isabella,” I whispered to my reflection, my voice bitter. “You’re just a pawn in their game.”

The sound of a knock on the door startled me, breaking me from my thoughts. I wiped my eyes quickly, not wanting anyone to see the frustration I was trying so hard to hold back.

“Enter,” I called, my voice shaky.

Luca, my younger brother, stepped in. His usual playful grin was gone, replaced by a serious expression. He closed the door behind him gently and stepped forward, his eyes soft but concerned.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

I stared at him, struggling to find the words. How could I explain what I was feeling? How could I tell him that everything had just changed, that my entire life had been ripped out from under me?

“No,” I finally managed to say. “I’m not okay.” I sat down on the edge of my bed, feeling the weight of everything crashing down on me. “You heard, right? What our father just said. I’m supposed to marry him. Damian Volkov.”

Luca’s face tightened with anger. He stepped forward, his voice rising. “What? No. You’re not serious. He can’t make you do this.”

I stood up abruptly, my hands trembling as I paced the room. “That’s the thing, Luca,” I said through clenched teeth. “I don’t have a choice. It’s done. Our father made the deal. I’m not a person anymore, Luca. I’m just a pawn in their game.”

He followed me, his frustration building. “This is insane! You don’t have to accept this. We can leave. We can leave this life behind, Isabella. You’re not stuck.”

I looked at him, my heart aching. Luca didn’t understand. He was still young, still so full of hope. He didn’t know what it was like to carry the weight of the Moretti name, to feel the eyes of the family and the world on your every move. To have every decision about your future made for you.

“You think we can just leave?” I said, my voice growing louder. “We’re not like other people, Luca. You can’t just walk away from this family. You think they’ll let us go? They’ll hunt us down. You know how this works. You can’t escape it.”

Luca didn’t say anything for a moment. He stared at the floor, his jaw set, like he was trying to figure out a way to fix this. But there was no fixing it.

“This isn’t fair,” he muttered. “You don’t deserve this.”

I sat down again, burying my face in my hands. “I know. But what can I do? I can’t change it. This is the life we’re stuck with. This is the life I’m stuck with.” I looked up at him, my eyes filled with a mix of anger and sadness. “You don’t get it, Luca. I’m just a tool in their hands. I’m being used to secure their power.”

He didn’t answer. He couldn’t. What was there to say? My brother, my only ally, was just as helpless as I was.

After a long silence, he finally spoke again. “I’m not going to let them do this to you.”

I forced a smile, but it didn’t reach my eyes. “You can’t stop it, Luca. It’s already been decided. I’m marrying Damian Volkov, and there’s nothing we can do to change that.”

Luca clenched his fists, his anger boiling over. “I’m not going to sit by and watch you get treated like this.”

I shook my head. “Luca, please, just let it go. There’s nothing we can do. You know how it works. This is just how it is.”

He exhaled sharply, frustration and helplessness evident in his expression. “I can’t just let it go, Isabella. I won’t.”

He paused, then added quietly, “But if you want, I’ll help you. I’ll find a way to get you out of this.”

I stood up quickly, my hands shaking as I looked at him. “And do what, Luca? Run away? You think that will solve everything? You think they won’t come after us? You think I want to live the rest of my life hiding from our own family?” I laughed bitterly. “You don’t understand. There’s no escaping this.”

Luca stepped forward, his face softening. “Then what are you going to do?”

I turned away, staring out the window. The streets below were busy with life, but for me, it all felt so distant, like I was living in another world. A world where I didn’t have to be shackled by my family’s decisions.

“I don’t know,” I whispered, the words barely audible. “I don’t know how to fight this. I don’t know if I even can.”

Luca was silent for a long time before he finally spoke again. “If you need me, I’m here. Always.”

I nodded, but the weight of my father’s decision, of the marriage I was being forced into, felt suffocating. It wasn’t just about a political marriage. It was about the loss of my own agency, my own future. The Moretti family had always been a cage, but this… this was a gilded one. And I could no longer pretend I wasn’t trapped inside.

Luca left the room soon after, but I remained, staring at the walls that seemed to close in around me.

I wasn’t just angry anymore. I was devastated. Betrayed. And yet, I knew that there was nothing I could do to escape the life that awaited me. No matter how much I screamed, no matter how many tears I shed, my fate had been sealed the moment my father decided that my future was worth more as a political tool than as my own person.

I didn’t know how to fight for myself in a world where my family’s name came first, where their power and influence ruled everything. And so, I stood there, silent, knowing that the union with Damian Volkov wasn’t just a marriage. It was the final chain locking me in place.