Siena POV
The security buzzer echoed sharply through the cavernous penthouse.
Leo jumped off the sofa with a squeal of excitement.
"I'll get it!" he declared, already a blur of motion.
He ran past me without a second glance, throwing open the heavy front door.
A man in a dark suit stood in the hallway.
He was a florist working for one of the Syndicate-owned front businesses downtown.
He carried a massive, sprawling bouquet of rare pink peonies.
Tucked between the delicate petals were dozens of crisp, newly minted hundred-dollar bills.
It was a classic, vulgar display of mafia wealth.
Valentina walked over, her hips swaying with a practiced, deliberate languor, and took the massive arrangement.
She feigned a modest blush.
"Oh, he is too much," she cooed.
She buried her face in the flowers, inhaling deeply as a triumphant smile spread across her lips.
The private elevator chimed, its polished brass doors sliding open to reveal Mrs. Russo, the wife of a neighboring mafia associate. She stepped directly into our private foyer, holding a gift wrapped in gaudy foil.
She stopped and clapped her hands to her cheeks in a pantomime of shock.
"Valentina, look at those blossoms!"
Mrs. Russo leaned in, her eyes gleaming with gossip.
"The Capo is always sending you flowers. I have never seen a man so passionately devoted."
The florist nodded respectfully, adjusting his collar.
"Don Cassio ordered these himself," he confirmed.
He looked at Valentina with a knowing smile.
"He has been ordering this exact arrangement for you for seven consecutive years, ma'am."
The florist chuckled softly.
"He even takes those heavy prescription pills to suppress his severe pollen allergy just so you can have fresh peonies in the house."
The math hit my brain like a hollow-point bullet.
Seven consecutive years.
I had been married to Cassio for eight.
The number meant their affair began in the second year of my marriage.
It started long before I was ever deployed to the cartel warzone.
An invisible hand seemed to close around my heart.
I remembered standing in a cold, empty kitchen on our third anniversary.
I had asked Cassio why he never bought me flowers.
He had looked at me with cold, calculating eyes.
"We are in the underworld, Siena," he had reprimanded. "Practicality is survival. Flowers are a waste of resources."
I realized in that moment he was never against romantic gestures.
He was never against wasting resources.
He simply reserved every ounce of his devotion for his mistress.
Valentina puffed out her chest, showing off the diamond bracelet and the cash-stuffed flowers to the neighbor.
"Cassio provides for me."
She lowered her voice, though she made certain everyone could hear.
"He funnels almost all of his Capo earnings and his offshore accounts directly to my private trust."
Valentina sighed happily.
"I am the luckiest woman in the Family. He ensures I never have to lift a finger."
I stood frozen by the console table. I stared fixedly at the words 'seven consecutive years' on the florist's bill. My mind, like a set of rusted gears, began to turn, fitting the memory of me standing alone in that cold kitchen on our third anniversary perfectly into this sordid new timeline.
Cassio was a struggling Capo when we married.
He had no real influence, no generational wealth.
I was the elite Fixer.
I owned the legitimate front businesses, the penthouses, and the high-risk operational payouts.
Cassio had insisted we keep our illicit operations separate for the sake of our safety.
It became sickeningly clear that he had systematically drained my legitimate funds under the guise of protecting our assets.
My blood-soaked hazard pay.
The money I earned taking bullets in the dark.
It was nothing but an extra revenue stream for Cassio to fund Valentina's lavish lifestyle.
To avoid arousing suspicion, I kept my head down and began to slowly gather the discarded wrapping paper from the floor. The menial task was a convincing excuse to remain in the room.
Seven years. For seven years, every bullet I took, every drop of blood I spilled, every scar I earned in the Syndicate's dark wars—had been converted into peonies and diamonds for the woman who was now sleeping in my bed, raising my son, and spending my money. And the man I had called my husband had been the architect of it all.
