Fatal bond

"You're pale," Nicolas said, catching my arm at the Constantine mansion entrance.

"I'm fine."

"Liar." His fingers tightened. "What did you see?"

"Blood. Signatures. Territory lines." I pulled away. "Nothing that matters now."

The doors swung open. Marcello Vitelli's lip curled. "Well, if it isn't the replacement Mrs. Salvatore."

"Careful, Vitelli," Nicolas said. "Or I'll give you something real to sneer about."

"Threatening me already?" Marcello laughed. "The night's barely begun."

Elena clutched her locket, eyes tracking my every move. "Valentina, you're looking... recovered."

"Amazing what rising from the dead can do for one's complexion."

Adrian stood, spreading maps across mahogany. "Ladies and gentlemen, I propose a new arrangement for our territories."

"Stop." I pointed to the port boundaries. "Article seven, section three of the 1985 accord explicitly states no family controls more than forty percent of port operations without unanimous consent."

Silence dropped like a blade.

"Fascinating," Adrian's smile turned sharp. "How does a woman who wasn't born then know that?"

"Maybe I paid attention in history class."

"Or maybe," Marcello leaned forward, "there's more to your miraculous recovery than we thought."

Nicolas's hand found my knee under the table. A warning. A question.

Elena rose. "Valentina, a word. Privately."

The powder room door clicked shut behind us.

"Stay away from my children," she hissed.

"Afraid they'll figure out what kind of mother you really are?"

"They're asking questions about you. About things they couldn't possibly know."

"Children see more than we think."

"They see too much." Her nails bit into my arm. "Just like their aunt did."

The mirror cracked. Elena jumped.

"Threaten me again," I whispered, "and next time it won't be the mirror."

Nicolas appeared in the hallway. "My study. Now."

Photos lined his walls – every person at tonight's gathering caught in frozen surveillance.

"Three traitors in this room," he said. "Name them."

"Vitelli's feeding the feds."

"And?"

"Romano's skimming from everyone."

"The third?"

"Elena's playing both sides." I met his gaze. "But you already knew that."

"Just like I know you're not really my wife."

My heart stopped. "Nicolas—"

"The question is," he stepped closer, "who are you?"

Adrian's voice cut through the dining room. "A toast! To my lovely fiancée."

The cursed Constantine ruby glittered on Elena's finger. My old ring. My old life.

My wine glass shattered.

"Mother?" Sofia appeared at the library door, Luna beside her.

"She's getting worse," Luna whispered. "The darkness around her grows."

Sofia grabbed my hand. "We saw her, in the mirror. Breaking things. Screaming."

"When?"

"Last night. And the night before." Luna's eyes filled. "She says she'll send us away."

Voices drifted from Nicolas's office.

"The debts must be paid," Marcello insisted.

"They will be," Nicolas replied. "In blood, if necessary."

"One hundred and ninety-seven days," Adrian announced over dinner. "Until the wedding of the century."

The numbers hit like bullets. My deadline. His trap.

I fled to the garden. Valentina's roses caught my sleeve.

The office computer hummed to life. Hidden USB found. Video playing.

Adrian's face filled the screen, cold and precise: "Make it look like an accident. No loose ends."

The date stamp matched perfectly – the day Valentina discovered my baby's true father.

"Found something interesting?" Nicolas stood in the doorway, gun raised. "Isabella?"

My gun pressed against Nicolas's chest. His stayed at my temple.

"How long have you known?" I asked.

"Since you quoted a forty-year-old agreement." His finger rested on the trigger. "Isabella Romano died three months ago."

"Did she?"

"I identified the body myself."

"And Valentina?"

"Was never coming back." His eyes darkened. "Until you."

Footsteps echoed down the hall. I dropped my voice. "We have company."

"Perfect timing." Nicolas holstered his weapon. "Let's give them a show."

Adrian appeared in the doorway. "Having a private moment?"

"Just reminiscing," Nicolas pulled me close. "About family secrets."

"Speaking of secrets," Elena glided in, "we found something interesting about your accident, Valentina."

"Did you now?"

"The brake lines," she smiled. "Cut so cleanly. Almost... professional."

"Like Isabella's poisoning?" The words shot out before I could stop them.

Adrian's face hardened. "Careful, Valentina. Dead women tell no tales."

"Unless they come back," I met his gaze. "Right, brother?"

Elena's perfectly manicured hand flew to her throat. "What did you say?"

"Oh, didn't he tell you?" I stepped forward. "Valentina was his half-sister. Same father, different mothers."

"Lies," Adrian snarled.

"The DNA test says otherwise." I tapped the computer. "Your father had quite the wandering eye."

Nicolas moved like a shadow. "That's why you killed them both. Isabella knew too much about the Constantine family's real bloodlines."

"And Valentina?" Elena's voice shook. "What was her crime?"

"She found proof," I said. "About Isabella's baby. About its real father."

Adrian lunged. Nicolas intercepted, slamming him against the wall.

"Touch her," Nicolas growled, "and I'll finish what Valentina started."

"You don't understand," Adrian laughed wildly. "She's already dead. Both of them. You're protecting a ghost."

Elena's phone chimed. Her face went white. "The twins..."

"What about my daughters?" Nicolas's grip tightened on Adrian.

"Not yours," Elena stumbled back. "Mine. They're gone."

Nicolas spun to me. "The safe house. Now."

"I'm coming with you," Elena started forward.

"Stay back," I warned. "Or I'll tell them what their mother really is."

The hallway erupted with shouting. Romano's voice carried: "The Vitelli family is moving on the docks!"

"It's starting," Adrian smiled through bloodied teeth. "War's coming, brother."

Nicolas dragged him up. "Call them off."

"Can't. Won't. The families have chosen sides."

My phone buzzed. The twins' secret number flashed.

"Luna?"

"Mother," Sofia's voice came instead. "We ran like you taught us. Used the hidden door."

"Good girls. Stay quiet. We're coming."

"Hurry," Luna whispered. "The bad men are here."

Nicolas shoved Adrian toward his men. "Lock him down. Elena too."

"The children—" Elena started.

"Are safer without you," I cut her off. "Just like Valentina was."

Racing through marble halls, Nicolas grabbed my arm. "Isabella."

"Later."

"Now." He pulled me into an alcove. "I need to know. That night, in the garden..."

"When you kissed me?"

"When I fell in love with you." His hands framed my face. "Was it real?"

Sirens wailed in the distance. Gunfire erupted at the gates.

"Yes," I whispered. "All of it."

"Then let me mark you. Tonight. The blood ritual."

"Nicolas—"

"It's the only way to protect you when they find out." His thumb brushed my lip. "Both of you."

My hand flew to my stomach. "How..."

"A father knows." He smiled. "Even if he's not the one who died for it."

More gunfire. Closer.

"The twins first," I said.

"Then the ritual." He pressed something cold into my palm. "Wear it. It belonged to my mother."

The ring gleamed – silver and sapphire, nothing like the cursed Constantine ruby.

"I'm not her," I warned. "Not Valentina."

"No," he kissed me hard. "You're better. You're real."

Glass shattered somewhere below. The war had reached the mansion.

"Ready?" Nicolas drew his gun.

I slipped the ring on, feeling its weight. Its promise. "Ready."

We moved as one, toward the chaos, toward our children, toward whatever future Santa Muerte had planned when she gave me this second chance.

Behind us, Adrian screamed threats, Elena sobbed, and the Constantine empire began to burn.

But ahead... ahead was everything I never knew I wanted.

And this time, I was alive enough to take it.