Frozen Truth

I am the wife of a mafia boss.

When a rival family raids our estate, I take the fatal bullets meant for my sister-in-law.

When my husband, Vittorio, arrives, I give him a weak, relieved smile.

Instead of helping me, he points the muzzle of his gun right between my eyes.

"The perimeter alarms didn't trip," his consigliere, Lorenzo, says. "Only an inside job. Boss, this marriage was a trap from day one."

I kneel on the floor, begging him to just look at the bullet wounds on my chest.

Vittorio just grinds his shoe into my broken collarbone.

"The docks. Smuggling freezer three. Let twenty below zero teach her some loyalty."

They drag me into that steel tomb reserved for traitors.

"Vittorio! I never betrayed you! I saved Bella!"

The life monitor beeps weakly, but he rips out the wire.

"Just static. Don't waste energy on a dead traitor."

By the time he learns the truth, I am nothing but a blue, frozen corpse curled up in the ice.

...

"Boss, she's holding a gun."

"I see it."

Vittorio's cold voice cuts through the heavy stench of gunpowder.

It is fifteen minutes into the rival family's raid on our estate. To protect Isabella, the sister Vittorio loves more than anything, I tackled her into a blind spot and took the assassins' fire. Two bullets hit me. One shatters my right collarbone. The other punctures my lung.

Right now, I lie on a rug covered in shattered glass, shielding an unconscious Isabella beneath my body. My empty Glock slips from my twitching fingers. Blood floods my windpipe. Every breath I take is pure agony.

The moment I hear my husband's voice, I force my head up and give him a weak, relieved smile.

But Vittorio just points the dark barrel of his gun right between my eyes.

"The perimeter alarms didn't trip." Lorenzo, his consigliere, stands behind him like a ghost, delivering the final blow. "Lucchese hitmen making it straight to the second floor means an inside job. Boss, I told you. This marriage was a setup from the start."

"No." I cough up a mouthful of blood. A mix of fear and absolute unfairness grips my chest. I reach out a trembling hand to grab Vittorio's pant leg. "I didn't betray you. I did it to protect Bella."

He steps hard onto my broken collarbone.

I let out a sharp scream.

"Protect her?" Vittorio's eyes are dead cold. "By pointing your family's gun at my sister's head?"

"That was for the hitmen. Just look at my wounds." The pain nearly makes me pass out, but I still beg him desperately to see the truth.

He refuses to listen. He simply scoops up the unconscious Isabella and shoots me a look of pure disgust.

"Take her," he says.

"Where to, Boss?"

"The docks. Smuggling freezer three." Vittorio turns his back. "Lock it up. Let twenty below teach her about loyalty."

Freezer three.

The family's personal graveyard for traitors. The thick steel walls block out all sound and cell signals. No one who goes in there ever comes out alive.

"No! Vittorio, I'm going to die!" Two guards grab my ankles and drag me toward the door. The broken bones grind into my flesh. My body leaves a long, dark trail of blood across the floor. "I'm shot! Please! Vittorio!"

He stops at the doorway. He doesn't even look back.

"Traitors don't get mercy."

...

The heavy steel door slams shut in my face.

The freezing air slices right into my body.

"Open the door! Let me out!"

I pound furiously against the frosted steel.

My fingernails bend and snap off. The agonizing pain in my hands is nothing compared to the suffocating feeling in my freezing lungs. My blood hits the metal and instantly turns into dark red ice, freezing my skin to the walls.

Three years.

I turned my back on my own father and brothers to pledge my loyalty to him. I swallowed all his paranoia and cold treatment. Tonight, I took the bullets meant for his sister.

And this is what I get.

I slump against the freezing steel. Every breath feels like swallowing crushed glass.

Right before my last ounce of strength fades, I press my mangled fingers against the wall. Using my own blood, I write a final message in the frost.

I kept my vow.

My head falls forward.

...

When I open my eyes again, the suffocation and the blinding pain are gone.

I look down. My own body lies curled up in the corner of the container. The skin is a sickly, bruised blue. My torn fingers are frozen solid to the ice on the floor.

I am dead.

A second later, a massive, invisible force yanks me out of the dark.

Blinding fluorescent lights. The sharp smell of bleach. A VIP suite in a downtown private hospital.

Vittorio sits by the bed. He has his suit jacket off and his sleeves rolled up. He holds a warm towel, carefully wiping the cold sweat from Isabella's forehead.

"Boss, the doctors checked her out. She just passed out from the shock. No physical injuries," Lorenzo reports quietly.

Vittorio's tense shoulders finally drop. The ruthless mafia boss strips away his armor. Right now, he is just a terrified older brother.

I hover in the air, watching the scene in silence.

He gives all his tenderness and trust to his sister. For me, he only has endless paranoia and twenty degrees below zero.

On the bed, Isabella suddenly jerks awake.

Her eyes snap open, and she screams in absolute terror.

"Evelyn!"

The heart monitor starts beeping wildly. She shoots up in bed, yanking the IV line in her hand.

"Bella, you're safe. I'm right here." Vittorio immediately presses her shoulders down.

Isabella shoves him away frantically. Her eyes dart around the room. "Where is she?! Vittorio, where is Evelyn?!"

"We took care of the hitmen. You're safe now."

"Not the hitmen!" Isabella bursts into tears. She grabs fistfuls of Vittorio’s shirt collar. "When they came in shooting, Evelyn pushed me to the floor! She took a bullet to the chest! There was so much blood! Where is she?!"

The hospital room goes dead silent.

Vittorio's eyes go wide.

But he doesn't say a word.

"Isabella, you're in shock. You're confused." Lorenzo steps closer to the bed. "When we got there, she had a gun pointed right at you."

"Bullshit!" Isabella rips the IV needle out of her hand. She scrambles to get out of the bed. "She saved my life! Take me to her! Take me right now!"

The brief flash of panic on Vittorio's face vanishes. It is quickly replaced by pure, stubborn paranoia.

He is the Boss. His pride won't allow him to look weak. Admitting he is wrong means admitting he just murdered his own wife.

"Hold her down," Vittorio orders.

Two guards rush forward and pin a thrashing Isabella to the mattress.

"Vittorio, you bastard! Let me go! I need to find her!"

Vittorio turns his back to the bed and casually straightens his cuffs.

"Nobody goes to the docks."

"And nobody opens freezer three without my direct order."