Siena POV

Dante’s massive hand remained clamped on my shoulder, his grip a brutal reminder of the power he wielded. His dark eyes searched my face, stripping away my defenses.

"You screamed Chiara and Leo's names in your sleep," his gravelly voice sliced through the heavy silence of the Master Suite. "Did they hurt you, or were you planning to do something to them?"

My heart stopped. The air in my lungs turned to ice. *Does he know?* The terrifying thought flashed through my mind. *Did he remember the underground cell? Did he come back from the future too?*

I stared into his ruthless, handsome face, searching for any flicker of shared memory. But there was only the cold, calculating suspicion of a Dark Don analyzing a potential threat. He didn't know. To him, I was just his young, fragile wife waking up from a night terror.

If I let him see the truth—the pure, venomous hatred boiling in my veins—he would lock me away in the asylum wing before dawn. In our world, a Mafia Queen plotting against the Don's bloodline was a dead woman walking.

I needed a mask. And I knew exactly which one to wear.

A violent sob tore from my throat. I lunged forward, throwing myself against his rock-hard chest. My fingers curled into the expensive silk of his pajama shirt, gripping him as if he were my only lifeline. I let my body tremble uncontrollably.

"It was a nightmare," I choked out, burying my face in the crook of his neck, letting my tears soak his skin. "They were trying to kill me, Dante. The enemies... they took Chiara and Leo. They were torturing them to get to me. I was screaming at the men to stop, to let them go!"

I felt the dangerous tension in his muscles hesitate. Slowly, the lethal predator receded, replaced by the possessive protector. His large, calloused hand moved from my shoulder to stroke my hair, his touch surprisingly gentle.

"It was just a dream, Siena," he murmured, his deep voice vibrating against my chest. "No one is touching my family. Chiara arrives tomorrow. She will be safe here under my protection. And Leo is sleeping soundly in the nursery."

"I know," I whispered, keeping my face hidden against his throat.

He held me, believing he had calmed his terrified wife. But in the darkness of his embrace, my eyes were wide open and as cold as a morgue. *Yes, she arrives tomorrow.* The viper was coming, and my treacherous son was sleeping down the hall. I felt physically sick being surrounded by the ghosts of my executioners, but I forced myself to breathe.

Hours later, the first light of dawn crept through the walk-in closet.

I sat rigidly before the vanity mirror. Gia, my personal maid and a low-ranking Associate, was brushing my hair. She had no idea that the woman sitting before her had died a gruesome death, nor did she know I remembered how she had eagerly betrayed me to serve my sister in my past life.

"It will be such a blessing to have Lady Chiara here, *mia Regina*," Gia chirped, her voice dripping with sycophantic sweetness. "She is so gentle and clever. She can help you manage the estate, and I’m sure she will be wonderful at helping to raise the young heir, little Leo."

The brush snagged in my hair. The sheer audacity of her words—echoing the exact poison that had ruined my life—made my blood roar.

I met her gaze in the mirror. My expression was dead.

"Stop."

Gia froze, the brush hovering mid-air.

"Since when does a lowly Associate dictate who raises the Don's heir?" I asked, my voice a soft, lethal whisper that made her flinch. "To speak of the Don's bloodline and family matters so casually... Are you eager to test the Omertà? Should I have the Soldiers outside drag you to the cells for questioning?"

All the color drained from Gia's face. She began to tremble violently, her eyes darting toward the door in sheer panic. I could see the gears turning in her head, likely assuming my other maid, Rosa, had poisoned my mind against her. She couldn't comprehend why her usually soft-spoken Queen was suddenly wielding her title like a loaded gun.

"F-forgive me, my Queen! I meant no disrespect!" she stammered, bowing her head submissively.

"Change the arrangements," I commanded, ignoring her terror. "Chiara will not be staying in the luxurious East Wing Guest Suite next to the nursery. Put her in the standard rooms on the outer edge of the estate. Let her remember her place."

"Yes, my Queen," Gia whispered, too terrified to question the sudden demotion of my beloved sister.

I stood up, dismissing her with a wave of my hand. I pulled a custom cashmere shawl over my shoulders, smoothing out the invisible wrinkles. It was time for the morning coffee ritual. I turned my back on the trembling maid and walked out, heading toward the East Wing to pay my respects to Elder Adeline Castillo.

Siena POV

The click of my heels on the cold marble of the East Wing corridor sounded like the ticking of a bomb.

This exact hallway was a graveyard of my past mistakes. In my previous life, I had walked this path with Chiara clinging to my arm, arriving late to the morning coffee ritual. We had found Valentina—the loyal widow of a Castillo Soldier—pinned to this very floor by two female Enforcers.

Elder Elmira Castillo had ordered the punishment. Valentina’s crime? Defending my commoner blood against the sneers of the high-ranking women. I had wanted to scream, to invoke my absolute authority as the Mafia Queen, but Chiara’s nails had dug into my wrist.

*"Don’t, Siena,"* my sister had whimpered, her eyes wide with manufactured terror. *"You’ll start a war with the Elders over a lowly widow. Please, I’m so scared."*

I had swallowed my power to protect my sister’s fragile feelings, leaving Valentina to be brutally slapped while Elder Adeline watched from her velvet chair.

That cowardice cost Valentina her life.

Days later, Chiara had volunteered to visit Valentina’s cramped apartment in the Associates' District to "comfort" her. That night, Valentina hung herself with the silver Castillo rosary I had gifted her. Her last words to her maid echoed in my nightmares: *"I cannot be a weakness to the Queen anymore."*

I had knelt outside Dante’s study, weeping until my throat bled, begging the Dark Don for a Vendetta. When his elite Enforcers ruled it a suicide, Chiara had whispered poison in my ear, twisting my grief into a blind hatred for Elmira.

Now, as I approached the heavy oak doors of the East Wing Suite, the truth was a sickening weight in my stomach. Elmira had struck the physical blow, but it was Chiara who had slithered into that apartment and psychologically butchered a grieving widow. My sweet sister had likely threatened Valentina's child to force her hand, neatly severing my most loyal wing.

I stopped just outside the suite. The voices inside bled through the crack, sharp and venomous. History was repeating itself, right on schedule.

"It’s an insult to the Castillo bloodline," Isabella, a Capo’s wife, sneered. "First a commoner Queen, and now we are expected to host her low-born sister in the estate? They are polluting the air we breathe."

"The Queen’s blood is the Don’s choice," Valentina’s voice rang out, trembling but fiercely defiant. "You disrespect the Don by questioning his wife, Lady Isabella."

A heavy silence fell over the room, followed by the sharp scrape of a chair.

"How dare a lowly widow speak to a Capo's wife like that?" Elmira’s voice was a whip crack of aristocratic fury.

"She meant no disrespect, Elmira," Lucia, another Capo's wife, murmured nervously, trying to de-escalate. "She is under the Queen's protection..."

"I don't care who she hides behind!" Elmira snapped, her voice dripping with absolute disdain. "She broke the hierarchy. Drag her out to the corridor. Let the Enforcers slap the insolence out of her before our *gracious* Queen arrives."

The heavy double doors swung open violently.

Two massive female Enforcers dragged Valentina out by her arms, throwing her onto the freezing marble. Elmira and Isabella stepped out behind them, their faces twisted in cruel, self-righteous satisfaction.

But this time, Chiara wasn't here to dig her nails into my arm.

I stood dead center in the corridor, my eyes locked on Elmira as the Enforcer raised her heavy hand to strike.

Siena POV

"Stop."

My voice wasn't a scream. It was a cold, sharp command that sliced through the freezing air of the corridor.

The massive female Enforcer froze, her heavy hand hovering just inches from Valentina’s pale face. I didn't wait for her to process the interruption. My heels clicked against the marble as I closed the distance, stepping directly in front of the trembling widow, shielding her with my own body.

Elmira Castillo’s eyes narrowed into slits of pure venom. Beside her, Isabella scoffed, while Lucia hovered nervously a few steps back.

"Step aside, Siena," Elmira sneered, her aristocratic mask slipping to reveal the cruelty beneath. "Or are you so eager to break the family's hierarchy for a lowly Soldier's widow? If you want to protect her, perhaps you should take her punishment."

I didn't flinch. Instead, I closed the distance between us, my eyes dead and hollow. I had died with a wire around my throat; a slap from an Enforcer was nothing but a joke.

"I dare to kneel here and take her punishment," I said, my voice dropping to a lethal whisper that echoed off the stone walls. "But do you dare to strike me, Elmira? Guess what kind of *Vendetta* Dante will order if he comes home to find a handprint on his Mafia Queen's face."

The color instantly drained from Elmira’s face. The sheer terror of the Dark Don’s possessive, bloodthirsty nature paralyzed her. She knew Dante would burn the entire East Wing to the ground for a single scratch on my skin.

Before Elmira could formulate a retreat, the heavy oak doors of the suite clicked open. Greta, Elder Adeline’s high-ranking maid, stepped out with a perfectly practiced bow. "Elder Adeline invites you all inside for morning coffee."

The standoff shattered. I glanced down at Valentina. The widow was staring up at me, her eyes wide with a mixture of absolute shock and a profound, desperate gratitude. I gave her a subtle nod of dismissal, ensuring she was safe, before turning on my heel and walking into the lion's den.

The East Wing Suite smelled of bitter espresso and expensive, suffocating perfume. Elder Adeline Castillo sat on her velvet armchair like a queen holding court. She was a master of psychological warfare, and the moment we took our seats, she began her play.

"Whatever was that noise in the corridor, Elmira?" Adeline asked, sipping from her bone china cup, feigning ignorance.

Elmira eagerly took the bait, exaggerating Valentina's disrespect and my "unreasonable" interference.

Adeline sighed, casting a pitying look at the older women. "Siena has the Don's absolute favor now. Even as an Elder, it is not my place to intervene. I suppose those of us with old Castillo blood must simply endure being sidelined by... newer influences."

It was a masterful manipulation. Instantly, Isabella and Elmira began murmuring their bitter agreements, lamenting how their ancient bloodlines were losing to a commoner's pillow talk. Adeline was rallying the traditionalists, building a united front of hostility against me.

I sat on the velvet sofa, lazily stirring my coffee. In my past life, this unified hatred would have terrified me into submission. Now, it was just pathetic. Their coordinated venom was nothing but the impotent rage of women who knew they couldn't actually touch me as long as Dante's shadow covered me.

I placed my silver spoon down. The sharp clink silenced the room.

I didn't look at Adeline. Instead, I turned to my loyal maid standing behind me. "Rosa."

"Yes, *mia Regina*," Rosa replied instantly.

"Go to the estate manager. Tell him to lock the East Wing guest suite next to the Master Suite," I ordered, my voice loud and clear. "As for Chiara, have her belongings moved to the standard rooms in the Associates' District at the very edge of the estate."

A stunned, breathless silence fell over the suite.

"Siena!" Adeline snapped, her facade of calm completely shattering. "Chiara is your own flesh and blood! You would banish your sister to the slums where not even formal Soldiers bother to tread? What is the meaning of this?"

I picked up my espresso, taking a slow, deliberate sip before meeting the Elder's furious gaze.

"I haven't been sleeping well lately," I said, offering a smile that didn't reach my eyes. "Besides my Don, I simply don't want to hear anyone else breathing near my quarters. If you pity her so much, Aunt Adeline, why not let her stay in your suite?"

The sheer, unapologetic arrogance of my excuse left them speechless. They stared at me as if I had lost my mind, horrified by my cold-blooded treatment of my "sweet" sister.

Let them think I was a tyrant. I preferred their fear over their fake smiles.

I stood up, smoothing the skirt of my dress. "Enjoy your coffee, ladies."

I left the suite without looking back, my heels clicking rhythmically against the marble. It was time to head back to the Master Suite balcony. My treacherous sister was due to arrive any minute, and I wouldn't miss her humiliating welcome for the world.