Now, seeing her in person for the first time, I understood. She bore a resemblance to me.
That was what had stirred his mercy.
At this moment, Seraphina's face was twisted with fury, her blazing gaze threatening to consume me whole. Her fingers drifted to the hollow of her throat, pressing there once before her hand dropped.
"You wretched outsider. You knew the Don was hopelessly in love with me, so you thought you could use that face of yours to lure him in? A face that only barely resembles mine?"
Her arrogance was suffocating, but since she clearly had no idea who I was, I chose not to hold the slap against her.
Instead, I offered a warning out of kindness.
"The Forbidden Wing is not a place any of you should be. The Don is away. Leave now, while you still can. If you stay, no one will be able to help you."
But Seraphina showed no gratitude. She seized my throat and snarled through clenched teeth:
"The Don adores me beyond measure. There is nowhere in the entire Valente estate I cannot set foot. You, on the other hand, you wretched outsider, putting on airs and trying to shoo me away. You're just afraid I'll expose your little scheme and ruin your chances of seducing him, aren't you?"
"Today I'll show you exactly what happens to vermin who try to steal the Don's affections."
With a flick of her pale wrist, she shoved me with a force that didn't belong to a woman her size. Two of her Castellano guards stepped forward and threw me sideways.
The force was immense, the impact brutal.
My body was hurled into the air and slammed back down against the cold marble floor.
I curled around my belly, shielding it with both arms, and looked up at Seraphina through the pain. My voice came out cold and steady.
"Do you really think the Don won't find out what you've done here?"
Seraphina scoffed, utterly unbothered. She smoothed the front of her dress as though I'd dirtied it by existing in the same room.
"I am the Don's one true love, the woman he fell for at first sight. A single glance from me was enough to make him end the war."
"Everyone across the Five Families knows how deeply he loves me."
"All I'm doing is disciplining a pathetic outsider. Even if he finds out, so what? You think he'd blame me over some insignificant nobody like you?"
The Castellano soldiers in her entourage sneered in agreement.