Dante Moretti POV:
The velvet box in my palm weighed more than a loaded gun.
I sat in the driver’s seat of the armored SUV, the engine purring like a restrained beast. Rain drummed relentlessly against the bulletproof glass.
I flicked the box open.
The emeralds burned with green fire in the dim light. My mother had said they were for a Queen.
I snapped the box shut.
I didn't have a Queen. I had an empty house and a chest full of ash.
I shoved the box into the center console. It hit something hard. A stack of papers. The shipping manifests I had signed the very day I told her to get out of the car.
I didn't look at them. I didn't care about shipping routes. I cared about the silence in my head where her voice used to be.
My phone vibrated. Sofia.
I declined the call.
It vibrated again. Sofia.
I blocked the number.
Giovanni stood outside the open driver’s door, holding a black umbrella against the downpour. The old man looked frail tonight. His shoulders were slumped.
"Go home, Giovanni," I said. My voice sounded like gravel.
He didn't move.
"She left because the contract was dissolved, Sir."
I froze. My hand hovered over the ignition.
"What contract?"
Giovanni looked at his shoes, then at me. His eyes were wet.
"Mrs. Moretti ordered the room cleared after the signing. She said you finalized the terms."
I stared at him. The terms. The peace treaty.
Before I could ask him what the hell he was talking about, another car screeched into the driveway.
Luca jumped out. My Capo. My right hand.
He looked pale. Luca never looked pale.
"Boss," he said, breathless. "We have a situation."
"I don't care," I said. "Find my wife."
"It's about the wife, Boss. And the Widow."
I stepped out of the car. The rain hit my face, cooling the rage that was boiling under my skin.
"Speak."
Luca swallowed hard.
"The Genovese are at the Red Velvet Club. Enzo is buying rounds for the house. He's bragging, Dante."
"Bragging about what?"
"That he turned Sofia. That he took the Don's mistress and made her sing."
I felt a muscle in my jaw jump.
"Is that all? Sofia is trash. Let him have her."
Luca hesitated. He looked terrified.
"There's more. They are saying... they are saying you are a cuckold. They are saying you were too busy chasing a whore to notice your wife walking out the front door. They say the Moretti family is a joke."
The world stopped.
The rain stopped. The sound of the city stopped.
There was only the rushing of blood in my ears.
Disrespect.
In our world, disrespect is a death sentence. If I let them talk, I lose the street. If I lose the street, I lose the empire.
I looked at the empty passenger seat where Elena should have been.
I had to choose. Chase the woman I love, or save the crown she hated.
If I lost the crown, I would have nothing to offer her but a corpse.
I pulled my phone out. I had a draft text to Elena.
*Come home. I will fix it.*
I deleted it.
"Get the men," I said to Luca.
He nodded, relief flooding his face.
"We go to the club."
