Elara POV
The heavy oak door of the bedroom rattled violently before Zane burst into the room.
It was six in the morning. The sky outside the floor-to-ceiling windows was a dull, bruised gray.
"Where is the weapons manifest for the docks?" Zane stood at the foot of the bed. He was fully dressed in his tailored black suit, looking every inch the ruthless Don he was destined to become.
I sat up slowly. The bedsheets seemed to be weighted with sand. My eyes were swollen and raw from crying silently into the pillow all night.
"I didn't compile it," I said softly.
Zane narrowed his eyes. A palpable chill seemed to emanate from him, lowering the temperature of the room.
"What do you mean you didn't compile it?" His voice was a dangerous hiss. "I need those numbers for the sit-down today."
"I was busy trying to fix the servers you complained about," I lied. My voice was completely hollow.
Zane let out an aggressive breath. He paced to the window and looked out over the city.
"The Sicilian smuggling route negotiation is finalized," he spoke without looking at me. "The High Commission demands Siena by my side today as my official representative. She'll be signing the territory documents."
My lungs stopped working. The Sicilian routes were my master plan. I had spent six months mapping out the blind spots in the border patrols. I had hacked the port authority to create the ghost ships. Conquering Sicily was supposed to be our shared dream.
"I see," I whispered.
Zane turned around. He saw the blank look on my face and rolled his eyes.
"I'll take you on a vacation when the territory is secure." He offered the hollow promise like throwing a scrap of meat to a stray dog. "Just get the manifest done by noon."
He walked out of the room, and in the vacuum of his absence, the air settled into a dead, motionless calm.
I pushed the heavy blankets off my legs and walked into the marble bathroom. I turned the shower on until the water was scalding hot. I stepped under the spray fully clothed.
I sank to the wet tiles. The hot water burned my skin, but it could not thaw the absolute ice spreading through my veins. I finally accepted that his oaths were entirely worthless.
An hour later, I walked into the living room wearing a plain gray sweater.
Zane was sitting at the glass table, typing on his secure phone.
"I need you to log into the offshore laundering accounts," Zane ordered, not bothering to look up. "Transfer three hundred thousand dollars to the jeweler in the Diamond District."
"What for?" I asked.
"I need to present her with a blood diamond necklace today to solidify the alliance at the sit-down." Zane typed another message. "The piece is already secured, I just need you to clear the final wire transfer so the courier can bring it up. Make sure the funds are clean."
My birthday was three weeks ago.
I had sat alone in this very room, eating a slice of stale bread while he was out raiding a warehouse. He hadn't even sent me a text message.
The offshore account he wanted to use was the one I had funded with my civilian life savings. He was using my money to buy diamonds for his new queen.
"Okay." I gave a deadpan, emotionless response.
Zane scoffed. He tossed his phone onto the table. "You're so cold-blooded lately. You have absolutely no understanding of Family politics."
The secure landline on the desk rang. Zane picked it up and put it on speaker.
It was the Family Elder. The man who controlled the Syndicate's high council.
"Zane, my boy." The Elder's gravelly voice filled the room. "I met with Siena this morning. Her Vitiello blood is pure. She is exactly what this Family needs. Bring her to the estate this weekend."
"I will, Boss." Zane smiled. A real, genuine smile.
"Oh, and tell your little computer girl to make sure the security cameras are disabled at the south gate," the Elder added dismissively.
Zane hung up the phone. He did not even glance in my direction.
A courier arrived ten minutes later, having waited downstairs for the funds to clear. Zane took the black velvet box from the guard. He opened it, meticulously inspecting the heavy, glittering blood diamonds inside.
He snapped the box shut and slipped it into his jacket pocket.
"Make sure you stay out of sight today." Zane adjusted his tie in the mirror. "We have important guests coming in and out of the building."
*He walked out without another word. The door clicked shut. And I stood there in the silence, the screen of my terminal still glowing with the wire transfer confirmation—three hundred thousand dollars of my own money, spent on a diamond necklace for the woman who was replacing me. I stared at the Vitiello crest sticker on my monitor. Then I opened a new, hidden file on my tablet. And I began to code the kill-switch that would burn his empire to the ground. *
