Isabella’s POV
The blizzard in Maine was trying to swallow the world.
The heat in the safe house was on full blast, but the air was still freezing.

"Bella, there's someone outside."
Sofia stood by the window, her Glock already loaded. "A black SUV. It's been parked at the turnoff for half an hour."
I put down my book. My heart skipped a beat.
"How many?"
"Just one." Sofia narrowed her eyes. "From the look of him... it's Lorenzo."
My fingertips trembled. The page I was holding crumpled.

He actually came.
The man who pushed me into the abyss and destroyed everything I had.
"I'll take care of him," Petra said, standing up, a murderous look in her eyes.
"No."

I stood up and walked to the coat rack, putting on my heavy black coat.
"I'll go myself."
"Bella!" Sofia blocked my path. "He's dangerous. He's a rabid dog right now."
"I'm the one with nothing left to lose," I said, my voice low and steady. "He can only kill me. I've already been through worse."
I pushed open the door and walked into the storm.
The wind cut at my face like a knife, but I felt nothing.
In the snow, the SUV's engine was off. A thick layer of white covered its roof.
A dark figure stood beside it, motionless as a statue.
The dim headlights illuminated his haggard face.
It was Lorenzo.
He was so thin he looked like a skeleton. His eyes were sunken, his jaw covered in stubble. The expensive cashmere coat he wore was wrinkled and worn.
When he saw me, a light flickered in his dead eyes. Like a dying man seeing a miracle.
He stumbled toward me, each step dragging a deep trench in the snow.
"Bella..."
His voice was hoarse and broken, scattered by the wind.
But I heard it.
That voice was once my deepest comfort. Now, it was my worst nightmare.
"Stop."
I raised my hand. The barrel of my gun was steady, aimed right between his eyes.
"One more step, and I'll shoot."
Lorenzo froze. He looked at the dark muzzle of the gun, not with fear, but with a sad, broken smile.
He opened his arms, a willing target.
"Do it, Bella. Please. A bullet from you is better than another day of this."
My finger tightened on the trigger.
I wanted to kill him so badly.
Just one gentle squeeze, and all the pain would be over.
Those days and nights in prison, the agony of the broken glass, the despair of Nonna's death...
But I didn't.
Death was too easy for him.
And I didn't want to stain my hands with his filthy blood again.
"Don't play the devoted lover with me, Lorenzo," I sneered. "You don't deserve it. The sight of you makes me sick."
"I'm not playing."
He pulled a phone from his coat—the confession he'd recorded from Cassandra.
He held it up like a precious offering, his hand red from the cold, still shaking slightly.
"Look, this is Cassandra's confession. She admitted everything... about your father, about Nonna... I made her record it all."
"I know the truth now, Bella. I know what you went through in prison... I know how badly I hurt you..."
His voice broke. Tears streamed down his cheeks, freezing before they hit the ground.
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."
"Come back with me, Bella. I'll find the best doctors in the world to help you heal... I'll spend my life making it up to you..."
He thought this would fix it? A recording? He thought this would wash away three years of blood and shit? Pathetic.
"Make it up to me?"
I cut him off, my voice harder than ice.
"Lorenzo, you still don't get it, do you?"
I walked toward him, step by step, until the muzzle of my gun was pressed against his chest, right over his heart.
Through his coat, I could feel his frantic heartbeat.
"I don't hate Cassandra. She's a snake. It's in her nature to bite. I never expected anything human from her."
"The one I hate is you."
"You were the one who let the snake into our home. You were the one who held my head down and let it bite me, all for your precious family interests."
"When I was being fed broken glass, where were you? When Nonna was taking her last breath, where were you?"
"You were playing the part of the devoted Don, drinking with your childhood sweetheart!"
With every question, Lorenzo seemed to shrink, until finally, his knees gave out, and he fell hard into the snow.
He wrapped his arms around my legs, sobbing like a child, with no regard for his Don's dignity.
"I was wrong... I was so wrong..."
"Please... don't leave me... I know I'm a bastard, but I really do love you..."
The once untouchable Don of New York, now as pathetic as a stray dog at my feet.
But all I felt was disgust.
"Love?"
I kicked his hand away from my boot.
"Your love is a disease. And I'm finally clean. Now get the hell off my land."
"From now on, we are not just strangers. We are enemies."
"If I ever see you here again, the next shot won't be a warning."
"Sofia!" I yelled.
Sofia and the others rushed out, the sound of them racking their guns cutting through the wind.
"Throw him out."
"Yes, Boss."
Sofia dragged Lorenzo up like a dead dog and tossed him toward his car.
"Get out!"