Betrayed By Sin (The Donati Mafia #2)

Chapter 1

ONE

Iam Magnolia Rusco.

The words press against my mind, heavier than I imagined they would be.

I am Magnolia Rusco.

It should mean something. Stir a churning feeling deep in my chest. Make me feel whole. Instead, it settles into my skin like an ill-fitting dress. Unfamiliar, stifling.

A name that mattered was everything I could have ever dreamed of. Not in the sense of power or wealth but in family bonds.

My heart aches with a longing I can't quite put into words.

For eighteen years, I've lived in the shadows, believing I'm nothing more than an orphan with no past. But now, as I stand in the grand Rusco estate, surrounded by the echoes of a family I never knew, the emptiness inside me feels more profound than ever.

I've always dreamed of belonging somewhere, of having a family that would wrap me in warmth and love.

The kind of family that would understand me, protect me, and make me feel whole.

But the reality is far from my dreams. The Rusco family is a world of power plays and dangerous alliances, a place where trust is a fragile thing, easily shattered.

My fingers curl into the duvet, my eyes stinging with unshed tears. I want to believe that I can find a place here, that I can be part of this family. But the fear of betrayal, the weight of my past, and the uncertainty of my future make it hard to hold onto that hope.

The room they led me to is grand, impossibly so. Not in the way Sin’s home is, with its cold luxury and looming shadows, but in a way that feels like history. Like stories soaked into the dark wood, whispered into the rich burgundy drapes, carved into the intricate molding along the ceiling.

A chandelier drips from the center of the bedroom, casting golden light over a four-poster bed with heavy silk sheets.

The mattress is thick beneath me, untouched by time or grief, yet I feel its weight as if it’s pressing into my spine.

The walls are painted a deep wine-red, warm and rich, but I feel cold.

Everything about this place is warm, but I am freezing.

It makes me think of Sin sitting in his office, a roaring fire beside him as the air conditioning cools the room. I want that fire now.

I don’t know how long I’ve been sitting here, breathing through the thick, suffocating truth. My fingers shake as I grip the fabric, trying to maintain a sense of calm.

I need to get control of myself.

If I let my mind spiral, if I allow the panic set in, I won’t be able to claw my way out of it.

Breathe in. One, two, three. Hold. Exhale.

I close my eyes and regulate my breathing. Try to steady the trembling in my hands, the storm brewing in my chest.

My mother, my real mother, looked at me with tears in her eyes before leaving me in this room.

Maria Rusco.

Her hair is raven black like mine, a familiar structure to her face. Our eyes aren’t the same though. Where mine are blue, hers are an emerald green.

She wanted to speak. I could see it in the way her lips parted, in the way her fingers twitched at her sides. But she left me alone as I asked.

I wanted to speak too. I wanted to demand answers, to scream, to ask why she gave me up. Why she left me in an orphanage when I had a home, a family, a name. I wanted to shake her, to make her tell me why I was abandoned, why I lived eighteen years thinking I had no one.

But my throat closed up, and all I could do was watch her go.

I traced the curves of her face with my eyes, noting the similarities.

There are plenty of questions, but right now, although it feels insane to me that I’m in the Rusco house… that I am in fact a part of it, I know I am safe.

At least for tonight.

The morning comes too quickly, bouts of sleep drifted me in and out of nightmares fueled by ghost eyes and tattoos.

I squeeze my eyes shut, willing the pressure behind them to ease. There is too much to process, too much to feel, and if I let one thing in, I’ll drown in it all.

The house is quiet. It shouldn’t be, not with the number of people that must be inside these walls. But it is. As if the house itself is waiting.

As if it’s holding its breath along with me.

Something about it unsettles me.

The silence doesn’t feel comforting, it feels strategic.

Like I’m being watched.

I shake the thought away, refusing to let paranoia creep in, but something deep inside me knows… I am not alone here.

I need to get my breathing under control before I start to fall apart in a place I don’t recognize, surrounded by people I don’t know. Before I let them see just how lost I really am.

But there’s something worse clawing at my chest, burning hotter than the confusion, the fear, the grief.

Betrayal.

Sin knew.

He had known who I was from the very beginning. While I had spent months questioning everything about him, feeling drawn to him, falling into him, for him. He had already been armed with the truth.

He held it close, keeping me in the dark while I lay in his bed, and whispered my name like it meant something.

How many times had he looked at me, knowing I wasn’t Magnolia Finley, the orphan girl with no past?

How many times had he kissed me, touched me, whispered things that made me feel like I belonged to him when all along, I was a secret he kept for his own amusement?

A shaking breath escapes me, my vision blurring with unshed tears.

That, more than anything that has happened in the past twenty-four hours is what made me break down. Sin Donati, the monster under the bed that I tried so hard to help, never wanted to leave his toxic den. He is evil.

I had trusted him.

Even when I knew he was dangerous, when I knew his world was nothing like mine, I had trusted him more than anyone.

And now, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to trust a single soul again.

The thought wraps around my throat like a noose.

I don’t even realize I’m crying until a single drop of warmth rolls down my cheek, sinking into my skin like a scar.

A knock at the door startles me.

I wipe my face quickly, my hands clenching into fists as I turn toward the sound.

I hesitate.

I don’t want to speak to anyone, but I don’t have a choice.

“Come in,” I say, forcing my voice to stay steady.

The door opens slowly, the gold handle twisting, and then… Cameron.

His broad frame fills the doorway, his presence as heavy as the air between us. For a moment, he just looks at me. His blue eyes, the same ones I saw in the mirror every day growing up, flicker with something I can’t place.

Guilt? Pity?

I don’t want either.

“You’ve been in here a long time,” he finally says, stepping inside. His voice is careful, measured. As if one wrong word will make me shatter.

I lift my chin. “I needed time to think.”

Cameron nods, but his gaze lingers on my face like he can see the storm beneath my skin.

“I get it.” He exhales slowly, crossing the room. “This is a lot. You don’t have to have it all figured out tonight.”

“I don’t know if I’ll ever have it figured out.” The words slip out before I can stop them, but they feel true.

Cameron hesitates, then sits on the edge of the bed, hands clasped between his knees. “You don’t have to trust us yet, Magnolia. But you don’t have to be alone either.”

Something in my chest tightens.

I don’t respond.

Because I don’t know if I believe him.

Cameron sighs, running a hand down his face. “I’ll leave you alone.”

When I don’t respond, he stands, moving toward the door. Just before he leaves, he pauses. “We’re family. That will never change.”

I swallow hard, staring at the space where he stood long after he’s gone.

The room is silent once more, but his words linger.

I don’t know what family is supposed to feel like.

But I know this doesn’t feel like it yet.

And I don’t know if it ever will.