IN MY Veins Complete

Zara's world had always been one of shadows and silence. Beneath the opulence of her family's estate lay a foundation built on whispered deals, veiled threats, and blood-stained promises. The night air was thick with the scent of blooming jasmine from the garden, yet the weight of her father's expectations pressed down on her chest like a stone. Tonight was supposed to be a celebration-a party to mark her upcoming engagement to Matteo, the son of one of the most influential crime families in the city. The union would solidify her family's position as untouchable, untarnishable.

But Zara could not silence the gnawing feeling in her gut that the price of this alliance was too steep, and the cost would be her freedom.

Her father, Lorenzo Moretti, was seated in the grand hall, surrounded by guests whose names she could never remember, only their titles. All the faces blurred into one-wealthy, powerful, eager to do whatever it took to curry favor with the Moretti family. The silverware gleamed under the low chandelier lights, but Zara couldn't shake the growing sense of suffocation. She wandered the marble halls of the estate, avoiding her guests' pitying stares. Her marriage to Matteo had been arranged when she was just a child, a decision that, even now, was beyond her control. Yet, no matter how many times she tried to convince herself of the benefits, the sacrifice weighed heavily on her.

The glass doors leading out to the garden creaked as Zara pushed them open. The cool breeze immediately washed over her, and she drew in a sharp breath. A moment of peace. But even here, there was no escaping the suffocating weight of her reality.

Her gaze fell on the empty stone bench beneath the looming oak tree. It was her haven when the world became too much. The place where she went to remember who she was before her father's empire had consumed every ounce of her freedom.

Footsteps echoed behind her, soft but unmistakable.

"Zara," a familiar voice called, and she stiffened.

Turning, she saw Matteo approaching, his sharp features framed by the flickering light from the mansion. His dark hair, neatly combed, and the tailored suit he wore only accentuated the cold, calculating nature that had always been there. He was handsome in a way that could never be called charming, his expressions often too stiff, too rehearsed. She had learned to tolerate him, to put on the smile she knew he expected, but that was the extent of their relationship-an arrangement, nothing more.

"You've been avoiding me." Matteo's tone was almost too light, as if he didn't truly care but was simply stating a fact. His eyes, though, were sharp, always watching, always probing. Zara resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"I'm not avoiding you," she replied, her voice steady. "I'm simply enjoying the night in peace."

He stepped closer, his gaze never leaving hers. The smell of his cologne, expensive and overpowering, lingered between them. "The night will end soon, Zara. Don't waste it." His lips curled into a smile, though it didn't reach his eyes. "You're mine now. You've always been mine."

A chill ran through her.

"I'm no one's," Zara retorted, her eyes flashing with sudden defiance.

Matteo's gaze hardened, but he masked it quickly, his smile still intact, albeit less genuine. "You'll come to understand," he said, his voice lowering to a near whisper. "Everything we do is for the family. You'll see that soon enough."

She didn't respond, only turned her gaze back to the garden, her thoughts swirling like the leaves caught in the wind. It was the same rhetoric every time. The same excuse for every sacrifice they'd forced upon her. *The family* was always the answer. Her father, Matteo, even her own mother-everyone had the same unwavering devotion to it, as though she were born only to serve it. And she had no choice but to play her part.