Chapter 2

Enzo Profaci called that night just after I had showered.

We only spoke for a few minutes.

He told me that when the time came, all I needed to do was return to the Ricci family. I didn't have to worry about anything else. Padre had already notified everyone who needed to know and made all the necessary arrangements.

This time, the Principessa who had spent years away from home was finally coming back.

When I ended the call, Adrian was still sitting in the living room with his head down, replying to messages on his phone.

I walked over and glanced at the screen.

A photo was open in the chat.

Iris had sent him a picture of the front entrance to her family's old residence.

She wrote, "I didn't realize how run-down our place had gotten until I took you home with me last time. The house really needs repairs, but I'm a little scared to go back there by myself."

"Don't be scared. I'm here."

Adrian's expression was relaxed as he sent the message.

Then, he seemed to notice me standing beside him. He quickly added, "It's getting late. You should probably get some sleep."

After putting his phone away, he looked up at me. His brows immediately drew together.

"What are you doing here?"

I had heard movement outside while I was on the phone and worried he might have overheard part of my conversation, so I had come out to check.

Before I could answer, Adrian spoke first.

"I need you to move these to the top of your list and review them tonight. I don't want any of our guys getting burned because somebody missed something."

He handed me several last-minute assignments as though they were automatically my responsibility. "You always take your time with paperwork, but these can't wait. If you have to stay up all night, then stay up all night. Just get them done."

I lowered my gaze and flipped through the files.

I remembered every one of them.

They were proposals Iris had submitted and failed to get approved.

If the Castellanos actually followed her versions as written, no amount of influence would keep the family out of prison.

Now, Adrian was slipping the documents to me under the table because he wanted me to fix Iris' mistakes without giving me any credit for it.

"I have other work to take care of," I said. "These weren't assigned to me when responsibilities were divided, so I can't take them over. I can give you a quick outline of what needs to be changed and how you should present them."

Then, I turned around and went back to the bedroom.

Once inside, I pulled up the reports my secretary had sent me on the Ricci family's operations over the past several years. They included detailed figures on individual projects and their profits.

I worked through the information slowly, calculator and pen in hand.

It had been five years since I left the Riccis.

Although I had continued practicing law for another family and spent those years protecting the Castellanos from legal exposure, I hadn't been involved in high-level management in a long time.

Even much of what I learned growing up no longer matched the way the family operated today.

Fortunately, helping the Don run the family was something I had been trained to do since childhood.

I might have been out of practice for a few years, but I knew it wouldn't take me long to get back up to speed.

"What are you doing with financial reports?"

Adrian's voice suddenly came from beside me. Before I could stop him, he picked up the sheets covered in my calculations and looked them over.

"You're a lawyer. Since when do you know anything about this stuff? Just stick to contracts and legal documents. There's no point wasting time trying to learn everything else."

Fortunately, I had already made sure the pages themselves contained nothing that could identify the Ricci family.

"Did you need something?" I asked.

There had been a time when I constantly waited for Adrian to come find me.

Whenever he did, I would be over the moon. Sometimes, I even felt strangely honored just because he had chosen to spend time with me.

Now, I could barely bring myself to care.

The numbers I had been working on were more interesting than he was.

Adrian looked surprised by my indifference. A trace of awkwardness crossed his face as he said, "Actually, there's something I wanted to talk to you about."

I raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Iris has handled several projects recently, and they all turned out pretty well. I'm thinking about promoting her to Consigliere. What do you think?"

He said it as though he wanted my opinion, but I knew the appointment letter was already written.

I gave a faint, humorless smile. "Why are you asking someone who isn't even a Castellano? It's your family. Do whatever you want."

Adrian didn't notice the sarcasm in my tone.

He nodded.

After a brief pause, he looked at me. "The problem is, there are only so many positions available. If somebody moves up, somebody else has to move down.

"You haven't done much lately, and Iris has been handling a lot of the paperwork anyway. So, I'm planning to move you down to the lower ranks for a while. You can spend some time with the men and find out what they really think of me as Don. Consider it a favor."

Then, he slipped an arm around my shoulders.

"You're my fiancee. I'm not going to leave you there forever. As soon as the right position opens up, I'll bring you back."

I smiled.

He still had no idea that I would be gone the day after tomorrow.

Adrian could tell when Iris was upset from the smallest change in her expression. He would lower himself and coax her over the most trivial things just to make her smile.

Yet, when it came to me, he couldn't even be bothered to read an email.

"I already sent the order out," he added.

His expression darkened, and there was an unmistakable threat in his tone.

"So, even if you don't like it, it's too late to change anything. You're nothing but a lapdog working for my family. If you walked away from the Castellanos, do you really think you could even support yourself?"

He truly believed I would never leave.

In the past, he would've been right.

Adrian and I had built the family together from the ground up. I couldn't imagine walking away from it.

But legally and officially, none of it had ever been mine.

"I'm fine with it."

That was all I said.

Then, I picked up the hair dryer and started drying my hair.

Years ago, I barely had time to turn it on before Adrian would come over, take it from my hand, and dry my hair for me.

Now, he simply sat on the bed and watched.

"Didn't you always keep that picture from our trip to Iridia on your desk? Where is it? Did you put it away?" he asked.

"It fell a couple of days ago."

I finished drying my hair, and we went to bed.

All of a sudden, my phone lit up with a new notification.

It was the check-in reminder for tomorrow's flight.