Chapter 8

News of Dante’s recovery spread like wildfire through the Chicago underworld.

The Torrino family threw a lavish gala in his honor.

I sat by Dante's side, and from a distance, I could see Sophia at a table at the far end of the hall.

Ever since she offended Dante at the last family gathering, all of Chicago's powerful families had deliberately distanced themselves from hers.

Only Marcus continued to visit them every day.

My parents, grateful for his kindness in their hour of need, hastily married Sophia off to the Castellano family, terrified the arrangement might fall through.

For someone of Sophia's standing, especially after her family's fall from grace, marrying Marcus was a blessing she should have been eternally grateful for.

But that wasn't how she saw it.

That day, she had witnessed Dante's handsome features and seen how he doted on me.

It was a pain in her heart worse than swallowing glass.