Chapter 4

It was barely 3:00 pm when my plane landed. No one even knew I'd already left.

The second my phone reconnected to the network, notifications flooded the screen.

"Didn't we just agree we'd pick a date and get married? What are you up to now? I'll take you out to dinner tonight to make it up to you, okay?"

"Take back what you said about breaking up. We'll sit down and talk this out tonight."

"Joy just told me you submitted a resignation letter. Are you actually serious this time?"

"I'm not approving it."

I couldn't help laughing at the messages.

Just as I'd expected, Adrian had never bothered to read the paperwork I sent him. Even now, he still thought this was nothing more than another tantrum.

I didn't bother responding.

The people sent to pick me up were already waiting beyond the barrier. They raised a hand when they spotted me, and I walked over.

The Ricci crest was mounted on the front of the car. The last time I'd ridden in it was five years ago.

Back then, I'd been using it to leave this place behind.

By the time we entered the estate, dusk had begun to settle over the grounds. As familiar buildings came into view along the road, I looked out the window with a strange sense of disbelief.

"Did I seriously walk away from all this because I got sick of being an heiress?"

Enzo was waiting at the front entrance.

He wore a charcoal-gray coat and a brown newsboy cap, his back slightly stooped with age. As soon as the car stopped, he stepped forward and opened the door himself.

"Welcome home, Principessa."

I got out and gave him a small nod.

"I didn't think we'd ever see each other again. It's good to see you, Enzo."

He smiled and handed me what he'd been holding.

"Your Padre asked me to tell you something. Your name was never removed from the Ricci family. Not once. And every payout you were entitled to over the last few years has been kept for you."

"Grazie, Enzo."

For years, I'd worked myself to exhaustion for someone else's family.

I had spent all that time keeping the Castellanos out of legal trouble, and in the end, I had nothing to show for it.

Not even the people there had ever truly considered me one of their own.

Had everything I'd been chasing all these years already belonged to me from the beginning?

When I entered the main hall, I saw Padre sitting at the far end of the long table.

He looked much older than he had five years ago.

I had expected him to be angry with me.

When I'd walked away from the family all those years ago, determined to make something of myself, he had warned me, "If you leave, don't ever come back."

And yet, after I'd gone out into the world and gotten hurt, the people making sure I had somewhere safe to land were the very ones I'd left behind.

"You're home. That's all that matters," said Padre quietly.

…

The next morning, Padre summoned several of the family's Consiglieri and called me into his private study.

After five years away, I recognized barely half the faces around the room.

Enzo sat in the first chair to Padre's left.

He was one of the family's Consiglieri and had been at Padre's side since before I was born. When I was little, he'd been one of the men who carried me around in his arms.

Four Capos had also been called in, each responsible for a different section of the family's territory.

Rocco Conti controlled the northern docks. A scar cut across his face, and I didn't remember him at all, which meant he'd probably risen to Capo sometime after I left.

Dante Capone ran the south side. He had been around since I was a child and was practically an uncle to me.

Piero Grasso controlled the west, while Marco Bianchi handled the east. I didn't know either of them particularly well, but both had reputations for being ruthless when business required it.

The purpose of the meeting was to audit the books.

Padre had put me in charge.

When Enzo handed over the records, he said, "Principessa, this is Don Ricci's test for you. These books are a disaster. He wants to see whether you can clean them up."

Every business operating within Ricci territory paid the family for protection.

In exchange, we made sure they could run their businesses without interference. If trouble came looking for them, the family stepped in and handled it.

Dante was the first to speak.

"Starting last fall, payments began drying up. It's been getting worse ever since. At this point, almost half the businesses aren't paying anymore. I looked into it, but all they keep telling me is that business is slow."

I thought about it for a moment.

"Send someone back, but don't let them know he's with the Riccis. Have him ask around and find out whether someone else has been making the rounds and offering protection for less."

The books from the docks had problems of their own.

Starting three years ago, everything coming in had been recorded normally. The discrepancies appeared when goods went back out.

Roughly 20% of the inventory disappeared every time.

No one could explain where it was going. The goods simply kept vanishing.

That was when Rocco finally spoke.

Instead of looking at me, the person who had raised the issue, he addressed Padre directly. "I've only been running the docks for a little over a year. I can't answer for whatever happened before I took over."

Padre glanced my way but said nothing.

After the meeting ended, I went back to my room, sorted the documents into categories, and began working through every account in detail.

Padre had personally overseen these books for years, and there had never been any issues.

It was only during the past two years, as his health had steadily worsened, that people had started finding ways to take advantage of the gaps.

I began reviewing the records that morning and didn't stop until late the following night.

By then, I had finally untangled the entire mess.