Carina remained standing, her chest heaving. Despite the terror swimming in her eyes, a stubborn, delusional pride kept her rooted to the spot. She had spent years wrapped in my father's protection, convinced that giving him his only male heir made her untouchable.

"Marco is the future of this family," Carina muttered, her voice trembling but laced with venom. She looked at Elenora, desperately trying to use her son as a shield. "Ernesto will not allow you to-"

"On your knees, Carina," Elenora repeated, her expression carved from ice.

When the mistress still hesitated, my mother let out a soft, contemptuous scoff. She took a slow, deliberate step forward. She didn't yell; she didn't need to. Her voice was low, but every word struck like a physical blow.

"Your son will inherit nothing but a tombstone if the Moretti family declares a Vendetta against us," Elenora said, the lethal promise in her tone making the surrounding servants flinch. "My daughter is the Queen of the Morettis. You are the mother of a traitor. Now, for the last time, kneel."

The word *Vendetta* shattered the last of Carina's delusions. The realization that her precious son, her status, and her very life could be wiped out in a single night of Moretti bloodshed finally broke her. Her legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the cold marble floor, a pathetic, sobbing heap of ruined silk and shattered pride.

Before the heavy silence could settle again, Nonna Francesca stepped forward from the ranks of my guards. The elderly Moretti butler moved with a slow, terrifying grace. She looked down at the weeping woman with eyes that had witnessed decades of mafia brutality.

"In Sicily, a family that cannot control its women is considered weak," Nonna Francesca stated, her voice calm but dripping with absolute authority. "An easy target."

She paused, her sharp gaze sweeping over the terrified Rinaldi servants, ensuring every single person in the room heard her next words. She raised her voice just a fraction. "The news of this disrespect will travel. The other Four Families will hear that the Rinaldi family is a liability. Do you understand what happens to liabilities, Signora?"

Carina turned deathly pale. She shook her head frantically, her hands trembling as she pressed them against the floor, completely paralyzed by the sheer magnitude of the threat. Nonna Francesca had just painted a target on the back of every Rinaldi in New York.

Suddenly, a frantic commotion at the grand entrance shattered the tension. A Rinaldi footman practically stumbled into the foyer, his face drained of all color.

"Don Moretti is here," he gasped out.

Before the words fully left his mouth, Dante materialized in the doorway like a phantom summoned from the darkest depths of the underworld. He wore a flawlessly tailored black suit that seemed to absorb the light around him. His face was an unreadable, beautiful mask of cold marble. His dark, bottomless eyes swept over the room, dismissing the gold-leafed luxury and the trembling servants, before finally locking onto me.

The air was instantly sucked from the room. The temperature plummeted.

On the floor, Carina gasped. She looked up at Dante, a twisted, desperate spark of hope flashing in her tear-filled eyes. In her panicked mind, she saw the Don not as my husband, but as a higher authority who might stop this madness.

Dante didn't say a word. He simply stood there, his hands resting casually in his pockets, his presence alone acting as a suffocating weight. His silence was a judgment in itself, a terrifying void that left everyone-including me-guessing his true intentions. Was he here to stand by my side, or did he have his own brutal plans for the Rinaldis?

My mother, however, refused to be intimidated in her own home. She ignored Dante's imposing figure entirely, proving exactly why the Visconti blood in her veins demanded respect. She turned her icy glare back to the woman groveling at her feet.

"For failing to raise your daughter with honor, for lying to the face of a Mafia Queen, and for disrespecting this house, you will be taught a lesson," Elenora declared, her voice ringing with finality.

She didn't look back as she gave the order to her two most trusted maids, women who had served the Visconti family long before they ever set foot in this gaudy house.

"Twenty lashes," Elenora commanded. "Make her remember her place."

Maria and Teresa stepped forward in perfect unison. From the deep folds of their aprons, they drew out slender, wicked leather riding crops.

The sharp snap of the leather uncoiling echoed through the grand hall. And Dante Moretti, the man who held all our lives in his bloodstained hands, simply stood in the shadows and watched.

Chapter 5 5

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