Bianca's face had gone an ugly shade of green. She planted her hands on her hips and flipped her hair back, lifting her chin at me.

"So, sister-in-law, you really don't plan on giving us back our tribute lines."

"Fine. You'd better not regret it!"

I didn't so much as lift an eyelid.

Regret?

The one who should regret anything had never been me.

The next morning, I was woken by the clattering downstairs.

Pots and pans banging together, on and on, until the whole estate was in an uproar.

I've always been a light sleeper.

The house staff all knew it. The soldiers posted at the doors walked softly, and not one of them would dream of making this kind of racket at dawn.

Frowning, I went downstairs.

I'd barely reached the dining room when I saw the whole Vitale family already seated around the long table, the kind of table where alliances were made and broken over Sunday gravy.

And in the kitchen, a familiar figure bustled back and forth in an apron.

Carmela.

The moment she saw me, she broke into a sweet smile.

"Good morning, Mrs. Vitale."

"Breakfast will be ready in just a minute."

As if this were her house. As if she sat at the head of it.

My brow tightened.

Before I could say a word, Bianca had already strolled over, arms crossed.

"Sister-in-law, you really ought to learn something from Carmela."

"Look how devoted she is, up at the crack of dawn making my brother his breakfast."

I gave her a flat glance.

"Your brother keeps her on the payroll."

"Does he keep me on one?"

Bianca choked on it.

"You—"

Just then Carmela came out of the kitchen carrying a big bowl of soup.

She set it gently on the table, her smile soft and harmless.

"Mrs. Vitale, really, it's no shame not knowing how to cook."

"If you'd like, I'd be happy to teach you."

"After all, once a woman is married, the most important thing is taking good care of her husband."

Then her gaze drifted to the Phantom waiting out in the courtyard, flanked by two of my men.

"That Phantom is yours, isn't it?"

"Mr. Vitale is so good to you, buying you a car that expensive."

Just the right amount of envy surfaced in her eyes.

"I really do envy you."

"Not like me. I have to work for everything myself."

Bianca jumped right in.

"Exactly!"

"Sister-in-law's been married into this family three years, and we've never once eaten a meal she cooked."

Rosaria set her fork down and folded her hands with deliberate precision.

"Adriana, it's not that I want to lecture you."

"But as a daughter-in-law, you really haven't done enough."

At last I smiled.

"Oh?"

"And who does Mamma think has done well?"

"Carmela?"

The dining room went silent in an instant.

I walked unhurriedly to the table, my eyes moving over each member of the Vitale bloodline.

"True enough."

"She gets up early to make breakfast, she does whatever you tell her, she keeps you all happy and smiling."

"But here's the thing."

"Can she hand each of you an unlimited tribute line?"

"Can she put you up in a compound worth more than a billion?"

"Can she buy you cars and put a driver in every one, so not one of you ever has to walk a step on your own?"

"Can she?"

Question after question came down on them.

Rosaria was struck speechless.

Bianca sat there with her mouth open, nothing coming out, her chin sagging from the height she'd been holding it.

Even Carmela froze with the plate in her hands.

I stepped up to her and bent down slightly.

"And one more thing."

"I'm not the kind of kept wife you imagine, living off a man."

"If you'd spent any time at all looking into the Falcone name, you'd never have said what you just did."

The color drained a little from Carmela's face.

Clearly, she'd never seriously looked into me.

Or rather.

No one in this family had ever told her what the Falcone name meant. That the money keeping every Vitale soldier fed came out of a Falcone vault.

It was right then that Vincenzo brought his cane down twice against the floor, then slammed his hand on the table.

The teacups jumped.

"Adriana Falcone!"

"What kind of attitude is this?"

"You make it sound like the whole Vitale family lives off of you!"

I turned to look at him.

My voice was calm to the point of indifference.

"Papà."

"Since you feel you don't need to rely on me."

"Then it works out perfectly."

"From now on, you can stop drawing on the Falcone line too."

One sentence.

It turned Vincenzo's face an iron gray. His cane found no room to silence anyone now.

I couldn't be bothered with them any longer. I sat straight down, picked up a breakfast roll, and took a bite.

I set it back on the plate the moment I'd tasted it.

"Mediocre."

"Nowhere near what our chef makes."

I pulled out a napkin and wiped my hands. As I did, I slid my wedding ring a quarter-turn around my finger.

"Since you all enjoy the breakfast Carmela makes."

"Let her make it every day from now on."

"As for our chef, going forward he only needs to cook for me."

Bianca let out a cold laugh.

"Sister-in-law, you really have no sense of danger, do you."

"Carmela's younger than you, prettier than you, and more devoted than you."

"Keep acting up like this and you'll find my brother doesn't want you anymore."

I looked straight at Salvatore.

"You want to dissolve the alliance?"

"Fine."

"Bring the papers."

"I'll sign them right now."

The air went still. The kind of stillness that falls over a room when men reach for what's under their jackets.

Salvatore's face changed at once.

He shot Bianca a vicious glare.

"Shut up!"

Then he hurried around behind me and started kneading my shoulders on his own.

His voice went soft.

"Sweetheart, Bianca just talks too fast."

"Don't lower yourself to her level."

"We're all one famiglia. There's no need to blow this up."

That said, he immediately called out to the others, laughing one beat too long and clapping a heavy hand on his father's shoulder.

"All right, everyone, eat up."

"Any longer and it'll go cold."

Only then did they reluctantly sit.

They'd barely picked up their forks.

When Carmela suddenly lowered her head, eyes reddening.

Her voice was so pitiful she sounded ready to cry the next second.

"Mr. Vitale."

"I'm so sorry about wrecking Mrs. Vitale's car last time."

"My driving is just terrible."

"How could I be so clumsy…"

With that, she bit her lip in distress.

That helpless, pitiable picture would have softened anyone's heart.

But I found myself smiling.

Three cars.

One into a tree.

One driven into a river.

One totaled outright.

A track record like that.

You couldn't call it bad driving anymore.

You'd have to call it precision work. The kind a soldier gets paid for.

Salvatore jumped in at once, his voice smooth as poured grappa.

"It's fine. If you can't handle the wheel yet, just practice slow."

"Every good driver had to learn somewhere, right?"

Carmela bit her lip, the picture of embarrassment.

"But Don Vitale, the crew's cars are all shared. There's no other car for me to practice on."

As she said it, she stole a glance at me.

"Honestly, I really love your wife's Phantom."

"But I doubt she'd be willing to lend it to me."

I set down my fork and spoke flatly.

"If you already know I won't lend it, then you shouldn't have brought it up."

"And another thing, Salvatore. You still haven't paid back what you owe me for my Cullinan."

"If that money never shows up, I might just feed this little courier of yours to the Feds."

The dining room went silent.

The smile on Salvatore's face stiffened for a beat.

Then it smoothed over. He laughed, one beat too long, and dropped a heavy hand on his own knee.

"Cara, don't you trust me?"

"When have I ever shorted you a cent?"

"Once this month's tribute comes in, I'll move it to you right away."

Bianca lifted her chin at once, flipping her hair back over her shoulder.

"Don't go looking down on my brother, Adriana."

"His operation's been running incredibly well these last couple of years. He's about to take fresh money and expand the whole territory."

"Even without the Falcones, the Vitale name belongs at the top table all the same."

Then she turned to Salvatore, smug.

"Go to the vault today and draw a new line, Salvatore."

"And set tribute accounts for the whole family."

"We don't even want to touch Adriana's money anymore."

"From now on, even if she begs us to spend it, we won't!"

I almost laughed out loud.

The Vitales would never grasp it.

Without the Falcones funneling years of steady cash and protection their way, Salvatore's so-called soon-to-expand operation would have collapsed three years ago, when the money ran dry and the debts came calling.

A pity.

A frog at the bottom of a well never sees the sky beyond it.

After breakfast, I picked up my bag to head out.

"I've made plans with a friend to go to the spa."

"Don't wait for me at dinner."

Once I'd left the estate, the first thing I did was call a man who found things out for a price.

Subject of inquiry.

Carmela.

What she wanted was written all over her face.

She wanted to move up.

She wanted to replace me.

And Salvatore?

Of course he knew.

He was just playing dumb on purpose.

A pretty young thing circling him with worship in her eyes.

What man wouldn't enjoy that?

One willing to give, one willing to take.

A perfect match, really.

That afternoon.

My friend and I were lying back at the spa for a treatment.

My phone buzzed.

A transaction alert from the Falcone vault popped up.

【Your tribute line ending in 8888 has been drawn down by $12,000,000.】

I shot upright.

Twelve million?

And the point of purchase was a Rolls-Royce dealership.

That number.

It was exactly the price of a Phantom.

I opened my purse to check at once.

The next second, my expression went cold.

A card was missing.

Someone had stolen my access to the vault.

At almost the same moment.

A new post refreshed onto my social feed.

The person who'd posted it.

Carmela.

In the photo, she leaned against a brand-new Rolls-Royce Phantom.

Sunlight spilled across the body of the car.

She was beaming.

The caption was even more grating.

【Found myself a saint of a boss~】

【He knows my driving's bad, so he just gave me a Phantom to practice on!】

【Finally don't have to borrow other people's cars anymore~】

Three bashful emojis underneath.

As if afraid I might miss it.

Within a minute.

She sent the photo straight to me.

"Donna Vitale, I won't be asking to borrow your car anymore."

"Don Vitale was worried I'd wreck yours again, so he bought me a brand-new one."

"He said I can drive it however I want."

"If I crash it, he'll just buy another."

I stared at my phone screen.

Then I laughed.

Laughed in a way that made even my friend beside me sense something was off.

"What's wrong?"

She peeled off her face mask and asked.

I rose unhurriedly to my feet, and as I did, I slid my wedding ring a quarter-turn around my finger.

"Nothing."

"Just that someone stole my line to the vault."

"And helped themselves to twelve million while they were at it."

My friend sat bolt upright.

"What?"

I picked up my coat.

"Come on."

"Come catch a thief with me."

Half an hour later.

My friend and I appeared in the lobby of the Vitale front office.

The moment we walked in.

I saw Salvatore and Carmela coming back from outside.

The two of them were chatting and laughing.

A few associates trailed behind them.

Carmela had clearly already claimed that Phantom as her trophy.

When she spotted me.

Her eyes lit right up.

"Donna Vitale!"

She strode straight up to me.

Showing off, and not even trying to hide it.

"Did you come all the way here just to see my new car?"

"It's nothing special, really."

"Just a Phantom."

At that point.

She paused on purpose.

"Oh, that's right."

"Mine's got a slightly higher trim than yours."

The few associates beside her broke into envious looks.

And Salvatore showed not a trace of guilt.

If anything, he looked like it was all perfectly natural.

"Cara."

"Whose fault is it that you wouldn't lend Carmela the car to practice on?"

"All I could do was buy her a new one."

Carmela picked up the thread at once, smiling.

"Donna Vitale, if you ask me, you should've just lent me the car from the start."

"Then Don Vitale wouldn't have had to spend all this money."

"Don't you agree?"

As she spoke.

She deliberately took a step closer.

Almost up against my face.

That look of a petty soul reveling in its small victory.

She might as well have had the word "gloating" written across her face.

But just then.

A rush of hurried footsteps came from the lobby entrance.

A dozen-odd soldiers in black charged in.

Conversations died. The associates pressed themselves back against the walls, hands drifting to their sides, none of them daring to move.

Before anyone could react.

Two of them had already seized Carmela's arms, one on each side.

A muffled thud.

Carmela was slammed hard against the wall.

The color drained from her face in an instant.

Her scream rang through the entire lobby.

"Aah——"

"What do you think you're doing?!"

And I simply put my phone away, taking my time. In the silence after the strike, no one came to her aid. Not Salvatore. Not one man on his payroll.

I looked at her and spoke flatly.

"Catching a thief, of course."