Sienna POV

I waited for the heavy thud of the front door.

Luca was gone to meet his "contact."

I knew exactly who he was meeting.

I slid the laptop out from its hiding place under the pillow again.

With trembling fingers, I refreshed the forum page.

There was a new update from RatKing88.

The naive canary agreed. Easier than I thought. Papers are being drawn up tonight.

I stared at the screen.

My hands were shaking, but not from sorrow.

They shook from a cold, vibrating rage.

I scrolled down to the comments.

Smart move, someone replied. What about the money?

RatKing88 replied instantly.

Cleaning out the safe before I leave. She won't check until I'm gone. I'll be in Madrid before she realizes she's broke.

I felt the blood drain from my face, leaving me cold.

The safe.

It held three hundred thousand dollars.

It was the Family savings, blood money meant for emergencies, for medical bills, for bribes to keep us out of prison.

It was not his money to take.

Another comment caught my eye.

When do you go back?

RatKing88: Never. Unless the Old Man kicks the bucket. Then I come back for the inheritance. Until then, I'm a ghost.

He was planning to wait for his own father to die.

He wasn't just a thief; he was a vulture circling a dying beast.

I wanted to type a reply.

I wanted to scream at him through the screen, to shatter his arrogance.

I typed: Omertà is not a suggestion. Traitors bleed.

My finger hovered over the enter key.

My heart hammered against my ribs.

I took a deep breath.

No.

If I posted that, he would know I knew.

He might panic.

He might hurt me before he left.

Or worse, he might stay and try to silence me permanently.

I deleted the comment character by character.

I needed to be smarter than him.

I needed to be patient.

I closed the laptop and walked to the window.

The Vitiello estate stretched out below me, dark and imposing.

This was a world of wolves.

Luca was prey trying to wear a predator's skin, but he lacked the teeth.

I, however, had spent three years watching the wolves.

I knew how they hunted.

I went back to bed, but I did not sleep.

When Luca returned hours later, he slid into bed beside me.

He draped his arm over my waist, pulling me close.

I felt his breath on my neck.

A wave of revulsion crashed over me.

I turned over sharply, my hand flailing out, striking him hard across the face.

Smack.

"What the hell!" he yelled, sitting up.

I sat up, gasping, clutching my chest as I feigned a panic attack.

"I'm sorry," I sobbed. "I had a nightmare. You were dead. They killed you in Sicily."

He rubbed his cheek, his annoyance fading into a smug satisfaction.

He bought it. He believed I was terrified for him.

"It is okay," he said, soothingly. "I am here. I am alive."

I looked at him in the shadows.

"Promise me something," I said.

"Anything."

"Promise me you will never come back to this house until it is safe," I said. "Promise me you will not step foot on this territory while there is danger."

"I promise," he said.

He thought he was comforting me.

He didn't realize I was cursing him.

I was binding him to his own lie.

If he ever came back, I would make sure the danger he invented became very real.

Sienna POV

The lawyer was a small, nervous man who seemed physically incapable of meeting my gaze.

He slid the papers across the mahogany surface of Luca’s study desk.

"Standard dissolution," he mumbled, his eyes darting around the room. "Asset protection clause included."

Luca stood by the window, silhouetted against the light, dressed in his finest black suit.

He wore a mask of practiced solemnity.

He was playing the part perfectly: the tragic soldier, sacrificing his own happiness for the call of duty.

"Sign here, Sienna," Luca said softly. "It is just a formality."

I picked up the pen.

The ink was black.

Permanent.

I signed my name without a flicker of hesitation.

Sienna Moretti.

No longer Vitiello.

At least, not on paper.

Luca signed next, his hand moving with a speed that betrayed him—too fast, too eager to be free.

"Done," the lawyer said, scooping up the documents as if they were burning his hands. "I will file these immediately."

The next three days were a blur of performance and deceit.

Luca played the role of the perfect son to the hilt.

He sat with Don Carlo, feigning interest in old war stories he had heard a thousand times.

He held Nonna Rosa’s hand while she stirred the Sunday gravy, acting the part of the devoted grandson.

He even played with our daughter, Mia, pushing her on the swing set in the backyard with a heavy, performative sadness.

"Daddy has to go away for work," he told her. "But I will bring you the biggest doll in the world when I come back."

Mia giggled, innocent and unaware.

She didn't know he was abandoning her.

She couldn't see what I saw: that he wasn't leaving for war. He was trading her for a life of hedonism, clubbing, and drugs. I could feel his desperation to escape the responsibility of fatherhood radiating off him like heat.

I watched from the kitchen window, feeling a cold, calcified hatred settle in my chest.

Finally, the day arrived.

Luca loaded his car with frantic energy.

He had packed two large suitcases—far too much for a tactical mission.

"Equipment," he told his father.

Don Carlo nodded, his eyes misty with misplaced pride.

"Make us proud, son," the Don said. "Serve the Commission well."

"I will, Papa."

Luca turned to his mother.

Nonna Rosa was weeping openly, clutching her rosary.

"Be safe, my boy. Call us when you land."

"I cannot call for a while," Luca said, smoothly reciting the lie. "Secure comms only. But I will write."

He turned to me last.

He leaned in, his lips grazing my cheek, cold and impersonal.

"Goodbye, Sienna," he whispered. "Play your part."

"Goodbye, Luca," I said.

I watched him slide into the driver's seat.

He revved the engine, the sound aggressive and loud.

He drove down the long driveway, past the iron gates, and turned onto the main road without a backward glance.

He didn't look back because he didn't care.

I waited until the red glow of his taillights had vanished completely.

Then, with a steady pulse, I walked into his study.

I moved the painting of the Tuscan landscape aside to reveal the wall safe.

I spun the dial.

He hadn't changed the combination.

He was arrogant to the very end.

I pulled open the heavy steel door.

It was empty.

Dust motes danced in the stale air where stacks of cash used to sit.

Three hundred thousand dollars.

Gone.

He had left his aging parents, his wife, and his child with absolutely nothing.

I closed the safe with a soft click.

I didn't cry.

I didn't scream.

Instead, I felt a strange, icy sense of calm wash over me.

He had taken the money, yes.

But in his haste to run, he had left behind something far more valuable.

He had left his seat at the table.

And I was going to take it.

Sienna POV

The silence in the house stretched on for two weeks.

Yet, I maintained the routine.

I managed the staff, I organized the Don's medications, and I made sure Mia did her homework.

I was playing the part of the perfect wife of a hero on a secret mission.

Then, the fragile peace shattered. The stroke happened.

We were at dinner.

Don Carlo dropped his fork, the silver clattering loudly against the fine china.

His face went slack on one side, and like a marionette with its strings cut, he slumped forward into his plate of pasta.

"Carlo!" Nonna screamed.

I was moving before the scream even ended.

I called the private ambulance.

I cleared the airway.

I held Nonna back as the paramedics swarmed the dining room with chaotic efficiency.

At the private clinic, the doctors worked for hours.

Nonna Rosa sat in the waiting room, clutching her rosary until her knuckles turned white.

"Call Luca," she said, her voice trembling. "He needs to know."

"I tried," I said, keeping my voice steady. "His phone is off. Secure comms, remember?"

"Try again!" she snapped.

I dialed the number.

It went straight to voicemail.

Of course it did.

The burner phone was probably in a trash can at JFK airport by now.

Nonna stood up, shaky but determined.

"Go to his office," she commanded. "Go to the import business. Tell the Consigliere to patch us through to the Sicily team. This is an emergency."

I couldn't stall anymore.

I drove to the warehouse district, my hands gripping the steering wheel until they hurt.

The Vitiello import office was a front, but it was a busy one.

I walked past the secretaries and straight to the back office.

Frankie, the Consigliere, looked up from his ledger, startled.

"Sienna," he said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Don Carlo had a stroke," I said, breathless. "It is bad."

Frankie's face paled. "I will send security to the clinic immediately."

"We need to reach Luca," I said. "Nonna is asking for him."

Frankie frowned, tilting his head. "Reach him? Why? He is on vacation."

The world stopped.

"Vacation?" I asked, the word feeling foreign on my tongue.

"Yeah," Frankie said, confused. "He quit two weeks ago. Said he was burnt out. Said he was taking a sabbatical in Spain. He cashed out his shares."

I closed my eyes, the darkness behind my lids spinning.

There was no mission.

There was no Sicily.

The Consigliere didn't even know about the lie Luca told us.

He just walked away.

I drove back to the clinic, purely on autopilot.

Nonna was pacing the hallway.

"Did you reach him?" she asked.

I took her hands.

They were cold and frail, trembling against my palms.

"Nonna," I said softly. "We need to sit down."

"Where is my son?"

"Luca is not in Sicily," I said, forcing the words out. "There is no mission."

She stared at me, uncomprehending. "What are you saying?"

"He quit the Family business," I said. "He emptied the safe. He filed for divorce before he left."

I watched the color drain from her face, leaving her ashen.

"No," she whispered. "My Luca... he is a good boy."

"He abandoned us," I said, my voice steady despite the rage boiling inside me. "He left you, he left Papa, and he left Mia. He took the money and ran."

Nonna swayed.

I caught her before she hit the floor.

She wailed, a sound of pure heartbreak that echoed down the sterile corridor, chilling me to the bone.

I held her tight.

I let her cry into my shoulder.

Later, the hospital administrator came with the bill for the surgery.

It was fifty thousand dollars, upfront.

Nonna looked at me, eyes red and swollen.

"The accounts..." she stammered. "Luca handled the accounts."

"The accounts are empty, Nonna," I said, the reality settling heavy in the room.

She looked ready to die.

I reached into my purse.

I pulled out my own checkbook.

I had my own money.

Money I had saved from my allowance, money I had made investing quietly online, money I hid because I never trusted the men in this world.

"I will take care of it," I said.

I wrote the check, the pen scratching loudly in the silence.

I handed it to the administrator.

Nonna watched me, shock replacing the grief in her eyes.

"Sienna," she whispered. "You stay? After what he did?"

I looked at her.

I looked at the door where Don Carlo was fighting for his life.

"I am a Vitiello," I lied, my voice steel. "Even if he is not."

I wasn't staying for Luca.

I was staying for the power vacuum he left behind.

And I was going to fill it.