Framed as a Traitor, Reborn To Make Them All Regret

Icy snow hit my face as I crawled out of the tunnel's exit.

The entire Moretti estate was a sea of fire.

Explosions and gunfire ripped through the night.

I was covered in my mother's blood, stumbling the mile toward the Falcone estate.

A shrapnel wound in my arm burned, but I couldn't stop.

I couldn't think. I just had to run.

When I finally collapsed against the iron gates of the Falcone estate, I pounded on them, my voice a raw scream.

"Dante! Open the gate! Help me! The Volkovs... they're hitting our estate! My mother—save my mother!"

The gates slowly opened. Dante Falcone stood in the doorway, a ghost in a tailored suit.

The man I was supposed to marry.

The warmth I once saw in his eyes was gone, replaced by shards of ice. He looked down at me, kneeling in the snow.

"Isabella," his voice was a low, dangerous purr. "Quite a performance."

My head was spinning, blood roaring in my ears. "Dante, I'm not acting! This isn't a joke! My mother's life is on the line! Please, send your men back with me! The Volkovs are inside the house!"

He sneered, his gaze raking over my blood-soaked form. "Leo called ahead. Gave me a heads-up about the little show you'd be putting on tonight. The damsel in distress act. Pathetic, even for you."

"Don't listen to his bullshit! It's real!" I pleaded, holding up my hand, showing him the family ring slick with my mother's blood.

His eyes flicked to it. "You're really committing to the bit, aren't you?" he drawled. "Even adding props."

"Dante! Are you insane? It's a real attack!" I screamed, tears of rage and desperation blurring my vision.

Before Scarlett, Dante was my world.

He was the gentle protector of my childhood, the man who, after our engagement, had treated me with nothing but doting affection.

Then she appeared. Everything changed.

Dante grew distant, my brother began to shun me.

And Leo, to impress his new flame, did the unthinkable.

Just because a minor Volkovs enterprise shared the same name as Scarlett's pampered Persian cat, Leo had maliciously torched it to the ground.

That single act of arrogance was all it took to unleash the Volkovs' full fury upon us.

I grabbed his pant leg as he turned to leave. "Please! My mother needs help! If you don't go now, she's going to die! She's really going to die! I'll do anything," my voice broke.

"The engagement... if that's what this is about, if you think this is some game to test you... then it's over. I'll announce it tomorrow. Just please, save my mother! She's really going to die!"

Dante’s expression tightened.

Far from the satisfaction I’d anticipated, he only looked more furious.