Isabella POV

The words hung in the heavy, suffocating air of the corridor. Gina and Caitlin turned a sickly shade of ash, the last remnants of their confidence evaporating.

"A conversation?" Eleanor prompted, her voice dangerously low, her grip tightening on her silver wolf-headed cane.

I kept my gaze steady on my grandmother, ignoring the two trembling women on the floor. "Yes, Nonna. I heard Aunt Gina and Caitlin whispering outside my door. They were discussing what to do after my... unfortunate ruin tonight." I paused, letting the silence stretch until it was almost unbearable. "They planned to use my disgrace to rally the Elders and strip me of my birthright as the eldest daughter of the main branch."

"Liar!" Gina shrieked, her voice cracking as she scrambled forward. "She's a lying bitch! She's making it all up to save herself!"

"But that wasn't the worst part," I continued, my voice slicing through her hysteria like a cold blade. I turned my eyes briefly to Caterina Moretti, then back to Eleanor. "To secure Caitlin's marriage to Marco Moretti, they agreed to offer the Carson family's most profitable shipping company at the Chicago docks as her dowry. A gift to the Morettis, in exchange for their backing."

The corridor erupted. Not with sympathetic murmurs, but with sharp, collective gasps of pure revulsion. In our world, jealousy was a sin, but selling out your own blood's territory to a rival family? That was treason. A death sentence.

"She's crazy, Nonna! You can't believe her!" Caitlin sobbed hysterically, clawing at the carpet, her torn emerald dress making her look like a broken, pathetic doll.

I didn't even look at them. I turned my body fully toward Eleanor and bowed deeply. It was a gesture of absolute submission to the Matriarch, yet my voice carried the weight of an executioner.

"Nonna," I said, my tone ringing clear over their pathetic cries. "My father, the legendary Capo Liam Carson, died defending the honor of our name. His blood soaked the streets of Chicago so that we could stand here today. And now, women who share his blood are trying to use the very legacy he died for to buy favor with the enemies who killed our men."

I raised my head, meeting Eleanor's piercing eyes. "I beg you, as the Matriarch of the Carson family, tell me... did my father bleed for nothing?"

The silence that followed was absolute. The Outfit wives around us—women whose husbands and sons bled as Soldiers and Capos—stared at Gina and Caitlin with undisguised disgust. I had turned a petty scandal into a referendum on loyalty and blood. And I had won.

Eleanor’s face was carved from ice. She didn't look at the sobbing women at her feet. She looked only at me. For a fleeting second, I saw something new in her weathered eyes—not just approval, but a dark, complex reverence. She recognized the weapon I had become.

She lifted her silver wolf-headed cane and struck the floor. *Clack. Clack. Clack.*

The sound echoed like nails being driven into a coffin.

"From this day forward," Eleanor's voice boomed, cold and absolute, "Gina Gallo and her daughter Caitlin are no longer members of the Carson family. Their names are struck from our bloodline. They are stripped of everything and exiled. Any Carson who offers them aid will share their sentence."

Gina collapsed, a hollow wail tearing from her throat, while Caitlin simply stared into the void, her mind finally breaking under the weight of her ruin. The execution was complete. My Vendetta had claimed its first souls.

Eleanor slowly turned her imposing gaze away from the wreckage of her own family, her eyes locking onto the smirking face of Francesca Gallo and the pale, trembling form of Caterina Moretti. The Carson cleansing was done; now, it was time to address the audience.

Isabella POV

Eleanor's silver wolf-headed cane struck the floor one final time. The heavy thud echoed through the dead silence of the Moretti estate's corridor, a definitive period at the end of a bloody sentence. Her icy gaze swept over the ashen faces of Gina and Caitlin, before finally settling on Francesca Gallo, whose mocking smirk had completely vanished.

"We have seen enough of the Moretti family's theatrics," Eleanor stated, her voice a clear, authoritative whip that demanded absolute submission. "The Carson family will clean up its own traitors."

She didn't give Caterina or anyone else a chance to speak. She turned to the Carson soldiers flanking us. "Take them away."

The drive back to the secure suite at the Carson-controlled hotel in downtown Chicago was suffocatingly silent. The moment the heavy double doors of the suite clicked shut, sealing us away from the blizzard outside, the illusion of family shattered completely.

Caitlin violently wrenched herself free from the soldiers' grip. She threw herself onto the plush carpet, crawling toward Eleanor's feet like a madwoman.

"It was a trap! She set me up!" Caitlin shrieked, her tear-streaked face twisting with pure venom as she pointed a trembling finger at me. "She wants to ruin me! She's a lying bitch!"

I didn't flinch. I stood perfectly still, looking down at the pathetic, ruined creature she had become. As she lunged toward me, spewing vile curses, I simply tilted my head.

"Tell me, Caitlin," I asked, my voice eerily calm against her hysteria. "Did you lose because you are stupid, or because you betrayed Carson blood?"

The words stripped away her last defense. Caitlin let out a guttural, hysterical scream, thrashing wildly on the floor.

"Enough!" Eleanor roared, her voice shaking the crystal chandelier above us. "One more word of disrespect toward Isabella, and you will not just face exile. I will hand you over to the Enforcers for *punishment*."

The threat of the Enforcers—the family's brutal torturers—made the room freeze. But the silence was broken by a sharp, vicious *smack*.

Aunt Gina had lunged forward, but not to comfort her daughter. She struck Caitlin across the face with all her might. Grabbing a fistful of Caitlin's tangled red hair, Gina yanked her head back.

"You stupid girl!" Gina hissed, her face contorted in a desperate, ruthless bid for survival. "You ruined yourself, and now you want to drag your sister Bridget down with you? Her marriage to the Gallo family will not be destroyed by your filth!"

Gina forced the stunned, sobbing Caitlin to her knees. Looking up at Eleanor, Gina raised her right hand, her eyes wide with feigned righteousness. "I swear on my life, Mother Eleanor. From this day forward, I only have one daughter. Bridget is my only child."

Caitlin's eyes widened in absolute horror. The last light in her eyes died as she realized her own mother had just severed their bloodline to save herself. Eleanor watched the brutal display with cold indifference, silently accepting the sacrifice.

Eleanor pointed her cane toward the heavy oak doors. "Strip her of the Carson name. Take every piece of jewelry, every dime that belongs to this family, and throw her out. From this moment on, Caitlin Carson no longer exists in Chicago."

The soldiers moved in without hesitation. They roughly tore the pearl necklace from Caitlin's throat and dragged her toward the exit. I walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window, pulling the heavy drapes aside.

Down below, the heavy doors of the hotel opened. I watched as my once-glamorous cousin was shoved out into the unforgiving Chicago blizzard, her torn emerald dress offering no protection against the freezing wind. She collapsed on the snow-covered pavement, her desperate wails swallowed instantly by the howling storm. She was nothing but trash now.

I pressed my fingertips against the freezing glass. Through the swirling snow, I could just make out the distant, glowing lights of the Moretti estate. Caitlin was just a pawn. The real monsters were still breathing in that mansion.

*No, this is just the beginning,* I whispered in my mind, the cold fire of my Vendetta burning brighter than ever. *Marco Moretti... Caterina... all of you. For what you did to my family, to my child... my Vendetta has just begun.*

Isabella POV

I turned away from the freezing glass. The guards had dragged a half-frozen, hysterical Caitlin back inside from the blizzard, throwing her onto the floor of the main hall to await her formal sentencing.

Before taking her seat, Eleanor paused near the heavy doors of the private study. Her piercing gaze locked onto Bridget, searching for the serpent beneath the sweet facade. I knew Caitlin was too stupid to orchestrate the complex trap at the Moretti estate alone.

Bridget kept her eyes downcast, her hands folded perfectly in front of her. "Nonna"(Grandmother), she murmured softly, "please mind your health. Caitlin was... irrational. She ruined the family's name, but we must stay strong."

Eleanor stared at her for a long moment before slowly withdrawing her gaze. In our world, the quietest ones were always the deadliest. I watched Bridget's flawless performance, a cold realization settling in my bones. Bridget was the real venom in the second branch.

We moved into the main hall. Eleanor took her seat in the high-backed leather chair, a judge presiding over the damned. As I stood beside her, the harsh chandelier light caught the side of my face. Eleanor’s eyes narrowed, fixing on the angry red welt still blooming on my cheek—Gina’s handiwork.

I didn't speak. I simply turned my head slightly, letting the bruise speak for itself.

"She struck the eldest daughter of the main branch," Eleanor's voice was a low, dangerous rumble.

Gina panicked. "Mother Eleanor, I was just... trying to discipline her for the family's honor!"

I cut her off, my voice like ice. "You told the Moretti wives I was a whore with no upbringing, Aunt Gina. You tried to hand my birthright to them."

Eleanor slammed her hand on the armrest. "You conspired with outsiders to destroy your own blood!"

Gina’s knees buckled. She collapsed to the floor, sobbing. "It was Caitlin! She deceived me!"

Desperate to save herself, Gina turned to the ruined Caitlin on the floor. "Apologize to your cousin!" Gina shrieked.

Caitlin just trembled, her eyes wide with manic hatred. Bridget stepped forward, kneeling beside her sister. She leaned in, her voice a soft, poisonous whisper meant only for Caitlin, but I caught the words. "Even if Bella pushed you to that Associate, you made a mistake first. She is just teaching you a lesson."

It was the perfect trigger. Caitlin snapped.

"She set me up!" Caitlin screamed, pointing a trembling finger at me. "Bring that Associate here! He'll tell you she planned it all to keep the Moretti alliance for herself!"

I looked at her with cold pity. "I was drugged, Caitlin. I barely had the strength to walk. That man was your pawn, of course he would say whatever you paid him to."

"You classless bitch!" Caitlin let out a feral shriek and lunged at me, her hands clawing for my face.

*Clack!*

Eleanor’s silver wolf-headed cane struck the floor with deafening force. The guards instantly restrained Caitlin, forcing her to her knees.

"Enough," Eleanor commanded, her voice absolute and freezing. "Caitlin Carson, your actions have damaged the honor and discipline of this family beyond repair. You have two choices."

The room fell into a suffocating silence.

"You will either be sent to the most remote cloistered convent in Sicily, never to leave its walls," Eleanor declared, her eyes devoid of mercy. "Or, you will marry the bottom-feeding Associate who ruined you, and rot in the slums as his property."

Caitlin collapsed, a hollow shell, the reality of her two hells finally crushing her. The first piece of my Vendetta was complete. I looked toward the heavy oak doors, my mind already shifting to the real monster waiting in the dark. Marco Moretti was next.