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Chapter 2

Author: Ellie C
The next morning, I gave Gianna the keys to my armored car.

The first thing she did after getting the car was have the silver crest removed from the hood and replaced with her initials in gold.

Standing on the front steps, she smiled and said, “Gold suits the new Donna much better.”

The servants glanced at me uneasily.

I did not stop her. Before the driver could pull away, I opened the back door and retrieved a compact pistol and an encrypted communicator from the hidden compartment.

Gianna frowned.

“Why are you taking those?”

“You can have the car. But what’s inside it doesn’t belong to you.”

I shut the door before she could question me further.

Back in my study, I finished dealing with the last stack of documents on my desk.

The security detail escorting a northern shipment needed a new route. Two of our marksmen had been identified, and one safe house had to be cleared before nightfall.

The warning had come from scouts I had personally trained. Their reports came to me, not to Moretti command.

I drew up a new protection plan anyway, intending to help Raffaele one final time.

His study door stood slightly ajar. From inside came the voices of Raffaele and his underboss, Enzo.

“Don’t you think you’ve gone too far this time?” Enzo asked quietly. “You let Gianna take Sofia’s wedding ring, and now you’ve taken Sofia’s car for her too.”

“Are you really trying to drive her away?”

My raised hand stopped just short of the door.

Raffaele’s cold reply came a moment later.

“Where would she go?”

“I brought her to this estate eight years ago when she had no memory. She has no family and no identity. Without the Morettis, she has nothing.”

“I gave her too much power over the years. She forgot who the real master of this family was. If Gianna is going to replace her, Sofia needs to learn how to bow her head.”

Enzo fell silent for a moment.

“Aren’t you afraid she might actually leave?”

Raffaele gave a contemptuous laugh.

“Sofia loves me enough to die for me. She will never leave me.”

I looked down at the papers in my hands, and the last of my hesitation disappeared.

Eight years ago, Raffaele had found me gravely injured beside the wreckage of a car, unable to remember even my own name.

Though I was badly injured, the moment a gunman took aim at Raffaele, muscle memory took over. I raised a fallen guard’s pistol and shot him dead. Afterward, Raffaele took me back to his estate.

He gave me shelter and doctors when I had nowhere else to go. That much was true.

But since then, I had taken three bullets for him and kept him alive through more ambushes than he ever understood. My gun had cleared the path that carried the family’s bastard son to the Don’s seat.

Whatever debt had once existed between us had been paid long ago.

I returned to my own study and fed the security plan I had prepared for Raffaele into the fire, leaving behind only the bare minimum needed for a formal handover.

Then I dialed an encrypted number.

“Pull every marksman I trained from the northern route. Recall everyone assigned to my protection detail.”

The voice on the other end responded respectfully.

“Understood.”

The flames were consuming the final page when Gianna walked into the room.

The estate’s housekeeper and several servants followed behind her.

“Sofia, I’ve only just taken charge of the estate, and I don’t have anyone I’m used to working with.”

“These people have served you for years, so they must know better than anyone what a Donna needs. From now on, they all work for me.”

Opening a drawer, I removed the staff ledger and a ring of keys and set both in front of Gianna.

“There’s no need to take things one at a time.”

“The staff, the wine cellar, the kitchens, and the banquet hall are all yours. You are the Donna now. The entire estate is your responsibility.”

Gianna clearly had not expected that. She had only wanted to provoke me, not have every duty that came with the title thrust into her hands.

“Three southern capos are dining here tonight. Their seating arrangements, dietary restrictions, and security protocols are listed in the back of the ledger.”

I slid the final key toward her.

“Try not to make a mistake.”

Gianna flushed, then went pale. At last, she snatched up the keys and left.

An hour later, she returned with the housekeeper and several servants behind her.

In front of them, she gave me her third and final command.

“Move out of the master bedroom. It belongs to Raffaele and me now.”

I did not wait for the servants to pack for me. I took out a black travel bag and filled it with a few changes of clothes.

I left behind every piece of jewelry and every gown that had come from the Moretti family.

Before leaving the master bedroom, I looked back one last time.

The room held eight years of memories with Raffaele.

Yet once I had truly decided to go, I realized how little there was worth taking.

I closed the door and moved into the most remote guest room in the east wing.

It was ordinarily used for storage, and the air carried a faint smell of mildew.

The De Luca convoy would arrive in less than two days.
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