The words hung in the heavy air of my study, meant to crush me into submission. But the tears that had threatened to spill only moments ago were gone, evaporated by the scorching heat of my sudden, absolute clarity. I looked at the man I had loved, really looked at him, and saw nothing but a tyrant standing on a crumbling pedestal.

I folded my hands over the leather-bound ledger on my desk, my posture relaxed, my gaze assessing him as I would a hostile corporate raider.

"A reasonable demand, Damien," I said, my voice devoid of any inflection, slicing through the tension like a scalpel. "But tell me, how exactly do you intend to provide for your new family?"

Damien's dark brows snapped together. "That is not your concern."

"But it is," I countered smoothly, tilting my head. "Because for six years, this estate, your *Soldiers*, even the silk sheets your grandmother sleeps on, have been paid for by my family. So, I ask again: will you feed your bastard with Moretti honor, or with my Rossi money?"

The silence that followed was deafening. Damien's olive skin flushed a dark, mottled red. The truth was a jagged pill, and I had just shoved it down his throat in front of his mistress and his grandmother. I had stripped away the terrifying aura of the Underworld King to reveal the bankrupt man beneath.

"You dare-" Nonna Elena hissed, stepping forward, but Damien cut her off with a vicious slash of his hand.

"My finances are my own, Isabella!" he roared, the sheer force of his voice rattling the crystal decanter on the side table. "I am the Don! I make the decisions, and I provide for my blood!"

I didn't flinch. I simply offered him a slow, mocking smile. It was a silent, devastating blow that no bullet could match.

His chest heaved, the muscles of his jaw ticking furiously. Unable to strike his wife and unable to refute the truth, he spun on his heel. "I will show you exactly who rules this family," he snarled over his shoulder, his eyes burning with a promise of retribution. "I have a sit-down with the Five Families tonight. When I return, you will remember your place."

He stormed out, taking the suffocating weight of his presence with him. Nonna Elena shot me a venomous glare before ushering a pale, trembling Cora out of my sanctuary.

The hours bled into evening. The estate remained eerily quiet, the calm before the inevitable storm. I sat at my desk, the glow of the desk lamp illuminating the quarterly reports of the Rossi shipping empire.

A heavy knock broke the silence.

"Enter," I called out.

The door opened to reveal Rocco. He was a hulking brute of a *Soldier* with a flattened nose and a network of scars crawling up his thick neck. His loyalty to Damien was absolute, forged in the bloody trenches of the border wars. He was a creature of violence, entirely out of place in my pristine office.

In his massive hand, he carried a heavy metal briefcase. He approached my desk and set it down with a dull thud.

"From the Don, *Signora* (Madam)," Rocco grunted, his face an unreadable mask. "He said to tell you... this is your rightful share of today's victory. To remind you who provides."

I unlatched the briefcase and flipped the lid open.

Inside lay neat, banded stacks of cash. Used bills in various denominations. But it wasn't the sight of the money that made my stomach turn; it was the smell. A metallic, coppery stench clung to the paper, mingling with the faint, acrid odor of gunpowder.

Damien had gone to the Five Families, carved out his territory with violence and intimidation, and brought back the spoils. This was his grand gesture. A fraction of what my legitimate businesses made in a week, tossed at my feet like a bone to a stray dog. It was meant to humiliate me, to buy my dignity and force me to acknowledge his supremacy.

I stared at the bloody cash, the last fragile threads of my loyalty to the Moretti name burning away into ash.

"Is there a message for the Don?" Rocco asked, shifting his massive weight uncomfortably under my cold stare.

I closed the briefcase with a sharp snap. "Yes," I said, my voice as smooth and hard as polished marble. "Please thank my husband for his profound generosity."

Rocco nodded once and left the room, the heavy oak doors clicking shut behind him.

Alone again, I rested my fingertips on the cold metal of the case. Damien wanted to play the absolute monarch. He wanted to rule by decree and fund his empire with the blood of his enemies.

I reached across my desk and pulled the master ledger of the Moretti estate toward me-the thick book that tracked every exorbitant expense of this household. I closed it, resting my hand flat against the leather cover.

If Damien wanted to be the sole provider, he could bear the crushing weight of the crown entirely on his own.

Chapter 3 3

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