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Chapter 3

Penulis: Echo
8:00 AM.

An hour and a half before the meeting.

A text from an unknown number appeared on my personal phone.

【Corinne, it's Edmund. I know you're back in New York. Let's cut the crap. I need you to do something for me. Find out everything you can about the new Don of the Vexille family. Rosalie said you were in Sicily for years, so you must have contacts.】

【This is important. Let me know as soon as you have something.】

The first time he'd contacted me in six years.

No hello. Not a single pleasantry. Just a demand.

Good thing I wasn't the same girl whose world turned on his every word.

I glanced at it once and put it out of my mind.

Ten minutes later, another text. This time, he was testing the waters.

【Are you still mad about what happened six years ago? Corinne, be mature. Rosalie and I are married. We have a child. Holding onto the past won't do you any good.】

【Help me this one time. Once Falcone is back on its feet, I'll consider getting you a respectable position in New York.】

I stared at the screen, almost laughing at his audacity.

He actually thought I was still single, that I'd fought my way up in Sicily, all because I was still "hung up" on him?

I placed my phone face down on the desk, my expression blank.

A soft knock on the office door.

Marco entered with a thick file, his face grim. "Don, while running our asset and background checks on the Falcone family, we found something."

"Go on."

"Five years ago, the Falcone family had a brief period of expansion, successfully taking over two blocks in Brooklyn. We compared their operational plans and business proposals from that time..." Marco laid out several charts in front of me. "The strategy they used is a 90% match for the New York port logistics plan you were working on six years ago."

I stared at the familiar structures and data analysis. My blood ran cold.

That was the plan I had stayed up all night writing, just before they tried to marry me off.

I was so naive back then. I thought if I could prove my value to the family business, they would let me be.

I had even shown the plan to Edmund, hoping for his support.

All I got was a cold dismissal: "It's naive."

I was crushed. And then he turned around, passed off my plan as his own, and used it to secure his position as the Falcone heir.

"Don, should we do something about this?" Marco's eyes glinted with menace.

"No," I said, a slow smile spreading across my face. "I'm not going to crush him with brute force. That's... uncivilized. Whatever he owes me from the past, right now, his life, and the lives of his family, are in the palm of my hand. He's at my complete mercy."

Just then, I saw a new message in the family group chat. It was Rosalie, spouting nonsense again.

【Rosalie: Everyone, don't worry! Edmund just told me, this so-called Vexille family is just a bunch of upstarts who crawled out of the Sicilian mud. They have no real foundation. They're new here, they wouldn't dare cross the Falcone family.】

【Rosalie: Edmund says when he goes to negotiate, they'll be begging to work with us. Once the contract is signed today, we can keep the house! Some people who aren't doing so well can just keep clinging to their little casino, hehe.】

Reading the fawning praise my parents were showering on Edmund, I finally laughed out loud.

Wouldn't dare cross Falcone?

Begging to work with them?

I couldn't wait to see the look on Edmund's face when he walked into this office and realized that the Vexille Don he "wouldn't dare cross" was me.

My smile vanished. I glanced at the clock on the wall.

8:30 AM.

I turned to Marco. "Get the front desk on the line. Cancel the 9:30 meeting."

Marco blinked. "Don, you mean..."

"Reschedule it for 12:30 PM."

"And tell Edmund the Don of Vexille is busy today. She has no time for small-time players. He can wait for three hours. Not a minute sooner."

I wanted him to understand his position. I wanted him to know exactly who was in charge now.
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  • He Begged the Don. It Was Me   Chapter 9

    I didn't resort to private justice. Instead, I had my legal team draw up an indictment. I sued my parents and my sister for kidnapping and extortion.When the cold steel of the handcuffs snapped around their wrists, they finally understood I wasn't playing a game.Rosalie sobbed hysterically in her holding cell, screaming Edmund's name, hoping he would hire the best lawyers in New York to save her.All she got was a divorce agreement delivered by his assistant and a public statement from the Falcone family disavowing any connection to her.When faced with his own ruin, so-called love was just a piece of paper, easily torn and discarded.The day before the trial, Edmund cornered me in the parking garage one last time.He looked like he had aged ten years. His eyes were sunken, his face covered in stubble. The dashing, arrogant prince was gone forever."Corinne..." he looked at me, his voice raspy, a bitter smile on his lips. "The Falcone family... it's over. The credit lines are frozen,

  • He Begged the Don. It Was Me   Chapter 8

    After Rosalie was thrown out of Vexille Tower like a piece of trash, I had a week of blessed silence.Then, my father called.I answered. His voice was old and trembling, thick with unshed tears. "Corinne... your mother is dying. A massive brain hemorrhage. The doctors say she won't make it through the night. Her last wish is to see you. I'm begging you, come home. See her one last time."My hand tightened on the phone, my knuckles white.After a long pause, I agreed. "Fine. I'm on my way."My car had just pulled up to the house when my father rushed out to meet me.He looked years older, his eyes darting around, unable to meet mine.When Marco and four armed bodyguards prepared to follow me inside, my father blocked the door."Corinne, your mother needs absolute quiet! Are you trying to scare her to death, bringing these... these killers inside? Make them wait out here!"I noticed it immediately. His face held none of the grief of a man about to lose his wife. Instead, there was a str

  • He Begged the Don. It Was Me   Chapter 7

    The next morning, New York's high society exploded.The news that I was the mysterious new Don of the Vexille family spread like wildfire.My personal phone was bombarded with messages.The socialites who once sneered at me at parties, the business tycoons who wouldn't have given me the time of day, even "old classmates" I barely knew—all of them were suddenly sending texts.Every word oozed with sickening flattery.Some went even further, sending invitations and expensive gifts to Vexille-owned businesses, trying to pull strings to get an audience with me.I looked at the thick stack of invitations on my desk with disgust."Don, about these meeting requests..." Julian asked quietly."Reject them all," I cut him off. "Send out the order. From now on, anyone claiming to be an old friend or a relative is not to be let in. Anyone who tries to get them an audience is out of Vexille. Immediately.""Yes, Don." Julian's expression hardened as he left to carry out my command.But some people,

  • He Begged the Don. It Was Me   Chapter 6

    As I expected, Edmund didn't give up.He called twenty-seven times that afternoon, begging for a private meeting.I rejected every single one.But his persistence went beyond what I'd anticipated.Half an hour later, the front desk informed me that he was blocking the main entrance to Vexille Tower.He had abandoned all pretense of dignity, trying to force his way past security, shouting my name in the lobby and causing a scene."Don, should I have security throw him out?" Marco's voice came through the intercom, cold as ice."No. A scene in the lobby is bad for business," I said, closing a file and straightening my suit jacket. "Tell the driver to meet me in the sub-level garage. We'll use the private exit."I thought that would be the end of it, but I had underestimated the desperation of a drowning man.As my private elevator descended to the garage, a disheveled figure lunged from behind a concrete pillar."Corinne!"Edmund's voice was raw and broken, echoing in the vast, dim space

  • He Begged the Don. It Was Me   Chapter 5

    "Corinne... how can it be you? This is impossible... You were in Sicily..." he stammered, the shock completely shattering his reality."My time is valuable, Edmund," I said, glancing at my watch, my voice cutting through his confusion. "You have a thirty-minute appointment. Three of those minutes are already gone."The words "thirty minutes" snapped him back to the present.Though his eyes were still wide with disbelief, the desperation of his family's ruin forced him to pull himself together.He began to stumble through his proposal."I... We, the Falcone family, wish to enter into a deep partnership with the Vexille family," Edmund stammered, swallowing hard to make his voice sound stronger. "We are willing to cede control of our key port on Third Avenue. In exchange, we request one year of Vexille's protection and a capital injection of twenty million dollars to help us survive this... this cash flow crisis."I said nothing, just slowly flipped through the file in my hands. The only

  • He Begged the Don. It Was Me   Chapter 4

    9:00 AM.My phone lit up again. A text from Rosalie, her tone now a furious accusation.【Corinne, why didn't you answer Edmund's message? Do you have any idea the pressure he's under? If this deal with Vexille falls through and the Falcone family goes bankrupt, it will be all your fault! You'll be a traitor to this family!】Immediately after, the phone rang. The screen read "Mother."I answered. Before I could speak, her shrill voice shot through the receiver. "Corinne! What is your problem now? Your sister said you're ignoring Edmund! Do you have any respect for this family? All we asked was for you to take ten minutes to ask about the new Don, and you're putting on airs?""I'm not putting on airs.""No? Then what? You think you're so great after six years in Sicily? Let me tell you, you've done nothing for this family in six years! Now that we're in a crisis, you won't even do this one small thing. How could I have raised such a cold, selfish daughter!""I'm warning you, if this deal

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