The sharp crack of leather meeting flesh was immediately followed by Carina's agonizing shriek. A thin line of crimson bloomed across the ruined silk of her dress. The opulent hall, with its gilded mirrors and crystal chandeliers, had instantly transformed into a brutal execution chamber.

I watched with cold detachment. My peripheral vision remained locked on Dante. He stood in the shadows by the entrance, as still and unreadable as a marble statue. He didn't flinch at the scream or the sight of blood. He was simply watching a play that didn't concern him, his silence acting as a suffocating net over the entire room.

When the leather was raised for the second strike, Carina broke. Driven by sheer, blinding agony, she scrambled away from the maids and threw herself toward the only man she thought possessed the power to stop this. She collapsed at Dante's feet, sobbing hysterically.

"Don Moretti, please, save me! I beg you!" she cried out, her bloody hands hovering inches from his polished shoes, too terrified to actually touch him.

Dante's dark, bottomless eyes lowered to look at the weeping woman. His voice, when he finally spoke, was devoid of any human warmth. "This is Rinaldi family business. I am merely an observer." He slowly lifted his gaze, his predatory stare locking onto mine across the room. "Unless my Queen has a different opinion."

The air in the room grew impossibly thin. He was testing me. He was handing me the executioner's axe to see if I had the stomach to swing it.

I met his probing eyes without blinking. "Continue," I ordered, my voice ringing clear and merciless. "She still owes us eighteen."

A ghost of a smirk-so faint it was almost imperceptible-touched the corner of Dante's mouth.

Carina let out a wail of absolute despair as Maria and Teresa dragged her back to the center of the floor. Before the whip could fall again, I walked over and crouched beside her trembling form.

I leaned in close, the scent of her fear and expensive perfume making me sick. "Your screams are a lullaby compared to what my husband will do to Bianca in his cells," I whispered, ensuring only she could hear. "Every sound you make, I'll have one of her fingernails pulled. Keep quiet, and maybe I'll ask him to let her die quickly."

Carina's entire body convulsed. The sheer terror in her eyes eclipsed the physical pain. She bit down on her lower lip so hard it bled, swallowing her screams into muffled, pathetic whimpers as the leather struck her back again. I had broken her mind, turning her into a prisoner praying for her daughter's merciful death.

"Elenora, are you mad? Stop this at once!"

The furious roar echoed from the grand staircase. My father, Ernesto Rinaldi, stormed into the foyer, his face a mottled purplish-red. He didn't even glance at his bleeding mistress on the floor. His pride was wounded; his authority was being challenged in front of the Don of the Moretti family.

My mother didn't even grace him with a look.

Enraged by her dismissal, Ernesto turned his wrath on me. "And you, Alessia! You come back only to stir up trouble in your own home!"

I stood up slowly, smoothing the skirt of my dress. "Father, your concern is misplaced," I said, my voice carrying effortlessly over Carina's suppressed sobs. "Your other daughter, Bianca, committed an act of war against the Moretti family. She tried to murder the Moretti heir."

Ernesto froze, the color draining from his face in an instant.

"An act that requires Vendetta," I continued, letting the sacred, bloody word hang in the air. "Mother is merely cleaning house to appease my husband. If she doesn't, Don Moretti will. And his methods... are far less clean. The blood of your mistress and her children will not just end your political career. It will end the Rinaldi name."

The word *Vendetta* hit him like a bullet to the chest. He stared at me in absolute horror, then slowly turned his terrified gaze toward the man standing in the shadows. All of Ernesto's blustering authority crumbled into dust.

Dante finally moved. He stepped out of the darkness, his presence commanding the room as he walked to my side. He wrapped his large, warm hand around mine, his thumb brushing over my knuckles.

"It's time to go home, *mia regina*"(my queen), he murmured, his deep voice vibrating with a dark promise.

I squeezed his hand, anchoring myself to his lethal strength, but I didn't take a step toward the door. My eyes remained fixed on my pale, trembling father.

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Chapter 6 6

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