“Damn you, Adriana! Won’t you ever get out of our lives? If anything happens to Talia, I swear you’ll regret it!”
I stared at my phone in disbelief. Could it really just be a string of coincidences?
With my mind in a fog, I instinctively repeated the same words I had in the dream. "What the hell are you talking about?"
“Don’t play games with me, Adriana. You know what you did! Where did you hide Talia?” Dominic screamed, his response eerily identical.
I unconsciously laughed. Once or twice, I could brush it off as a coincidence, but three times? The universe was playing some weird joke on me.
That wasn’t a dream.
Dominic and I were heirs to the most powerful crime families in Viridian City and Ravensgate. While he was the obvious choice to lead the Russo family, I was far down the line of succession in mine. Yet, that didn't stop our paths from crossing.
As I clawed my way up the ranks with bloodied hands to become the Madame of the Salvatori family, our encounters grew increasingly frequent. One way or another, we would have ended up killing each other.
But fate has a twisted sense of humor. What began as heated clashes, fueled by generations of hatred and rivalry, soon ignited into something far more passionate. He and I became lovers.
For once, our families finally found some peace. But it all fell apart when I trusted Talia, who used to be a close friend of mine. I had no idea she was hiding deep-seated envy, so I believed the lies she fed me. She drove a wedge between Dominic and me. Then got me framed for sabotaging Russo's deal with the Russians. I was sure Dominic wouldn’t believe the accusations, but instead, he rallied his people and reignited the old war between our families.
That night, the streets of Viridian were soaked in blood. We both lost so many lives, and I had no choice but to pull all Salvatori operations back to Ravensgate. And the worst part? Talia used our rift to worm her way into Dominic’s life and marry him.
I felt betrayed and wanted revenge, but I couldn’t afford it. I had to swallow my pride and keep my family strong. Eventually, things cooled down as our families started avoiding each other. Years later, I moved on, found someone new, and got engaged. Life was never better—or so I thought.
“Adriana!” Dominic’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts.