Chapter 4

Luna Starr, sensing her sugar daddy' s resolve wavering under the Don' s fury, decided it was her moment to shine.

She stepped forward, all false confidence and practiced allure.

"Don Marino, sir," she began, her voice dripping with a syrupy sweetness that made Tony' s teeth ache. "Sonny' s right. You don' t need the Belluccis. I have something... something that will change everything for the Marino family."

She paused for dramatic effect. "I know a new way to launder money. Cryptocurrency. Untraceable. It' s like... like having the original formula for gunpowder when everyone else is still using swords."

Tony stared at her, incredulous. This cheap hustler thought she could outsmart him with buzzwords?

Sonny looked at Luna with adoration. "See, Pop? She' s brilliant!"

Luna, encouraged, elaborated. "It' s all about mixers, and tumblers, and then into offshore anonymous wallets. They' ll never catch it. It' s revolutionary!" She even named a basic, well-known mixing service.

A small, almost contemptuous smile touched Izzy' s lips.

She spoke, her voice calm and clear, cutting through Luna' s spiel.

"What you' re describing," Izzy said, addressing Luna directly but loud enough for everyone to hear, "is something low-level street dealers were trying five years ago. It' s easily traceable with modern chain analysis. The mixing services you mentioned are monitored. Some are outright honeypots."

Izzy' s gaze was withering. "Even the kids selling illegal fireworks down by the docks know more sophisticated methods than that. Your 'gunpowder formula' is damp, darling. And everyone knows the recipe."

Luna' s jaw dropped. Her confident facade crumbled, replaced by a flash of anger and then fear.

Sonny looked confused, glancing between Luna and Izzy. "What? Izzy, you don' t know..."

"I know," Izzy stated, her voice firm, "that this family' s future doesn' t rely on amateur-hour schemes from a Vegas grifter."

Tony felt a surge of pride, so strong it almost cleared his head completely.

His daughter-in-law. The "Crown Princess." She had more brains and more balls than his own son.

He looked at Izzy, truly looked at her, and saw not just the daughter of an ally, but a woman of substance, a woman of strength.

A woman worthy of the Marino name, far more than the fool standing beside her.