Chapter 6

Isabella POV

I was still speaking softly to Elena when the heavy oak door of the suite swung open without a knock.

Mrs. Gable, the estate's head housekeeper, stood in the doorway. Her posture was rigid, her expression a carefully practiced mask of polite condescension. She had served the Moretti family for years, which meant she was accustomed to taking orders from Julian and, more recently, Dahlia.

"Mrs. Moretti," Mrs. Gable said, her tone dripping with false concern. "I saw Sofia leaving in tears. Usually, any changes to the household staff are cleared with Miss Vance beforehand."

I didn't raise my voice. I didn't need to. I simply closed the distance between us, my eyes dropping to the delicate gold chain resting against her starched cuff.

"A beautiful Van Cleef & Arpels Alhambra bracelet," I noted, my voice dangerously soft. "Julian loves gifting those to his most... loyal associates."

Mrs. Gable stiffened, her hand twitching as if to cover the jewelry.

"But you need to understand something, Mrs. Gable," I continued, meeting her eyes with a dead, unblinking stare. "There is only one Mrs. Moretti in this house. And a failed spy quickly becomes a very messy problem for her master. You are a smart woman. You know exactly who you should be pledging your loyalty to if you want to survive the new regime."

The color drained from the housekeeper's face. The subtle threat of violence-the reality of what happened to useless pawns in our world-shattered her arrogance. She swallowed hard, her eyes dropping to the floor in sudden, absolute submission.

"Yes, Ma'am," she whispered.

"Good. Now, take me to the estate vault."

Ten minutes later, the heavy steel door of the underground vault hissed open. The air inside was sterile and cold, lined with rows of modern safety deposit boxes. Mrs. Gable handed me the master key Julian had carelessly left for the 'official' wife, then stepped back into the shadows with Elena.

I unlocked the three large boxes assigned to the Rossi dowry-the financial foundation of my marriage to Julian.

I pulled the first metal drawer open. My blood turned to ice.

There were no Swiss bearer bonds. No solid gold bars. The deeds to the prime commercial real estate in downtown Chicago were nothing but expired, worthless documents. Instead, the boxes were stuffed with tightly banded stacks of counterfeit cash and heavy blocks of gilded brass.

My hands trembled, not from sorrow, but from a rage so pure it burned. I reached for the final box-a velvet case meant to hold my late mother's heirloom jewelry. I snapped it open. The diamonds had been pried out, replaced with cheap, cloudy cubic zirconia.

Antonio and Caterina hadn't just stolen my leverage; they had desecrated my mother's memory to cover their massive financial ruin. They thought I was too weak, too broken by Julian's rejection to ever check the vault.

They had handed me the perfect weapon.

I took a single gilded brick and the velvet box, marching back up to the Lady's Wing. I locked the door, picked up the encrypted landline on the desk, and dialed my father's private number.

"Isabella, *mia cara* (my dear)-" Antonio's voice came through, thick with fake warmth.

"Shut up," I commanded. I heard a sharp intake of breath on the other end. Caterina was listening. "Counterfeit bills. Gilded brass. Expired deeds. And cheap zirconia in my mother's settings."

Dead silence echoed through the receiver.

"I am giving you twenty-four hours," I said, my voice a lethal, emotionless blade. "Liquidate everything on that original dowry list. Wire the exact cash equivalent, plus the true value of my mother's jewelry, into my private Swiss account. If the funds aren't there by tomorrow morning, I will drop these gilded bricks directly onto Julian Moretti's desk."

"Isabella, you can't-" Antonio stammered, panic finally bleeding into his voice.

"I will tell him exactly how the Rossi family humiliated the Morettis," I cut him off ruthlessly. "I think a formal *Vendetta* (blood feud) would be quite entertaining. Oh, and I'll make sure all of Chicago knows the Rossi family is so bankrupt they have to rely on cheap fraud to keep up appearances. How many of your creditors will come knocking by noon?"

I didn't wait for his pathetic excuses. I slammed the phone down, severing the connection.

The Rossi family was no longer my prison. They were my puppets. And as I looked out the window at the sprawling, sunlit courtyard of the Moretti estate, I knew Dahlia and Julian would soon realize that the woman they thought they could break was the one holding all the matches.