Siena POV
The corporate headquarters of our legitimate fronts felt like a foreign country today.
I stood in the glass-walled server room, placing my master access codes and territory maps on the console for Matteo, the Consigliere.
As I pushed the heavy door open a fraction, the seal breaking, I could see the blurry outlines of lower-level Associates lingering in the hallways.
They were whispering, and through that brief opening, their hushed voices bled into the room.
“Too arrogant,” one muttered.
“Heard she cheated with a cartel supplier. The exile is a mercy,” another replied.
A bitter laugh bubbled up in my throat. Julian had planted that rumor.
He had fabricated a story of my infidelity to shield Valentina from the strict moral judgment of The Commission.
He had destroyed my reputation to build a spotless pedestal for his mistress.
Matteo took the encrypted drive from my hand. He looked down, his chin pressed hard against the knot of his tie, his gaze fixed on a speck of dust on the toe of his shoe.
“Donna Siena,” he said, his voice strained.
“I remember when you first stood by him,” he continued softly. “He was a bloodied Soldier with nothing to his name. You built this.”
A wave of exhaustion washed over me.
I remembered those early days in vivid colors.
I remembered Julian coming home in blood-stained suits, his knuckles bruised and raw.
He would scrub the blood off his hands just to hold my face.
He had spent his first major cut on a custom Kevlar lining for my coat, refusing to buy himself a new car until he knew I was safe.
He had given me the grandest mafia wedding the city had ever seen.
But my mind drifted to our last anniversary.
We had been standing on the balcony of our penthouse.
He had looked out at the glittering city lights, his eyes distant.
“Is this life worth it, Siena?”
He had asked me that question, and the foundation of our marriage had cracked.
He was tired of the darkness—tired of the monster he had to be.
And then he found Valentina.
She was innocent, naive, and completely detached from the reality of the Underworld.
To him, she was a blank slate. She made him feel like a savior instead of a killer.
“I gambled my life on his loyalty, Matteo,” I whispered.
I zipped up my leather bag.
Matteo slid a thick, manila envelope across the server rack—the final offshore transfer confirmations and the legal asset keys.
But the cold, transactional nature of the documents killed my final hope.
I turned away from the Consigliere and pushed open the glass door.
The whispering in the hallway stopped.
The silence was deafening.
The gathered Associates parted like the Red Sea.
Julian and Valentina were walking down the center of the corridor.
Julian looked like a king inspecting his domain.
But my eyes were locked on Valentina.
She wore a pristine, white designer dress, clinging to Julian’s arm like an accessory.
Hanging around her neck, resting against her collarbone, was a heavy gold pendant.
It was the ceremonial pendant of the Underboss.
My pendant.
The symbol of power—power I had earned by negotiating with cartels and surviving assassination attempts.
Valentina noticed my stare.
She smiled, a sickeningly sweet expression forming on her face, and deliberately reached up to stroke the gold metal with her perfectly manicured fingers.
I didn’t need to ask how she’d gotten it. Julian had threatened half the Capos into silence to force that insult through the council. The hallway held its breath, every associate waiting for an explosion.
But they were looking at the wrong woman. I wasn’t going to explode.
I was going to burn. And before sunrise, he would learn that the wife he discarded was the most dangerous weapon he ever created.
