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Chapter 3

Author: Witch Lion
"Vincenzo put me in charge of the charitable foundation. It's a money-laundering front. Money from the docks is funneled through the charity accounts and comes out clean. That's how I found the shipping activity buried in the foundation's books. A payment goes out for 'medical equipment,' and a shipment leaves the pier. A 'donation' comes in, and it means somebody on the pier has been bought."

"He let you near that?"

"He had me do the spreadsheets. He never knew I could read them."

Antonio went quiet, then turned to the second page.

It listed the exact schedules for all three routes: how the cargo was disguised on each route, the name of the man in charge, and the code phrase.

"Do you know what this could do?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Route one, White Eagle Harbor, Pier 12. Medical equipment is unloaded at three in the morning every Thursday. It's guns. There's a row of ventilation ducts behind the warehouse. Go in through them, and you'll come out in the container yard. Bring your men and wait there at half past two.

"Route two, Cold Pine Harbor, Pier 2. In the middle of every month, a load of red wine leaves for Europe. The bottles are filled with high-grade product. Tip off the feds and have them wait until the container is loaded and sealed before moving in. They can catch the cargo and the men in one sweep. Vincenzo loses a shipment, and several of his people go down with it."

Antonio set the pages down. "So you're giving me a choice. Steal it or report it."

"Why choose? Do both. Take his cargo first, then report the shipment. Cut off his cash flow once, and the capos under him will start wondering whether he can still pay everybody. The Casanovas buy loyalty. Cut off the money, and people scatter."

"And route three?"

He watched me for a moment.

"Route three is the one Vincenzo personally oversees. You're not getting it."

"What are you saving it for?"

"If the first two aren't enough, or if I get caught, I can trade him the sailing schedule for route three and buy my life back." I looked at Antonio.

"What moves on that route is worth more than the other two combined. It brings in most of his profits every year. As long as he knows I have the schedule, he won't kill me."

Antonio picked up his whiskey and took a sip, the ice clinking against the glass.

After a moment of silence, he held out his hand.

"Deal."

His hand closed around mine.

The handshake was brief and firm, with nothing suggestive about it. It was simply an alliance made official.

He pulled a key out of his pocket and tossed it to me.

"Third Street, East District. It's an old warehouse converted into apartments. You can stay there. It's beyond Vincenzo's reach."

I caught the key. "Thanks."

"Don't thank me." He smiled. "We're partners."

I pushed the door open and walked out into the night air, gripping the key so tightly that the teeth left shallow marks in my palm.

For the first time in nine years, I had broken free of Vincenzo and stepped beyond the Casanovas' control.

A thin line of pale light appeared on the horizon. Dawn was close.

I had no time to sleep. I had to get settled first, then turn everything I knew into a weapon I could actually use.

Tomorrow, I would show Vincenzo that the woman he'd brought into his estate nine years ago to settle a debt wasn't as helpless as he'd thought.

He had brought in a bomb.
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  • He Bet I'd Come Crawling Back, But I Left   Chapter 10

    Three days later, I entered the alliance conference room in the Neutral Zone.Representatives from all the major families were there. The neutral mediator sat in the middle.Vincenzo sat across from me with several empty chairs behind him.The mediator opened the folder.Inside were the advisor's handwritten letter, photocopies of the dock unloading records, and a summary of Victor's statement.Every page told the same story. This was how the Villanis had been destroyed."Nine years ago, someone emptied the Villani accounts. Someone slipped contraband into a Villani shipment. Someone called the feds."The money was gone. The cargo was gone. Our men were either arrested or forced into hiding. Then the Casanovas appeared as creditors and forced me to sign a marriage contract."I looked Vincenzo in the eye."You know this, Vincenzo. Your father did it. I have proof of every step."I turned to the last page.There it was in black and white: the old deed to Pier 12 at White Eagle Harbor. Th

  • He Bet I'd Come Crawling Back, But I Left   Chapter 9

    Two days later, I registered Villani Holdings. The thirty million my father had left became my startup capital.Antonio found me a legal team familiar with the underworld families. They finished the rest of the filings overnight.By early the next morning, a notice appeared on the Rivoli commercial registry website. "Villani Holdings Reenters the Rivoli Market."No press conference. No press release. Just one name back on the map: Villani.Vincenzo reacted faster than I expected.That afternoon, Antonio sent me a message. "He's checking where your registered capital came from."I wrote back. "Let him."A week later, the feds intercepted a gun shipment at Pier 12 in White Eagle Harbor with perfect timing.At Cold Pine Harbor, Pier 2, a container of red wine vanished.Antonio's men had taken it without leaving a trace.The Casanovas started falling apart from within. Vincenzo made twenty calls. Thirteen went unanswered.He assumed there was a traitor inside the family. It never occurred

  • He Bet I'd Come Crawling Back, But I Left   Chapter 8

    It took me two weeks to put everything together: the scan of the advisor's handwritten letter my mother had found, the recording of Victor's statement, and proof that the original debt agreement from nine years ago had been forged. I made three copies. One went to Antonio. One went into a safe at the law office in the Neutral Zone. I kept the last one.I barely left the apartment during those two weeks.I checked every sentence, every name, and every date over and over.My mother came by every other day, sometimes with food, sometimes just to keep me company.The day I finished, I spent the whole day at her apartment. I only went downstairs once, to get coffee from the end of the alley.Antonio had just arrived. He got out of the car and held out a steaming cup."Perfect timing," he said. "Picked it up on the way."I laughed as I took it."Every time you come, it's either perfect timing or you were just passing by.""I was just passing by."He smiled and leaned against the car door, ma

  • He Bet I'd Come Crawling Back, But I Left   Chapter 7

    Three days later, Victor walked into the conference room at the law office.He sat across from me, opened the settlement documents, and started reading.Fifteen minutes later, the back door opened. Before Victor could make a sound, Antonio's men grabbed him.They took him to a safe house Antonio had arranged.By the time I arrived, he was cuffed to a chair. He had no visible injuries, but his lips were pale.Antonio's men were efficient. They hadn't touched him. They'd only made one thing clear. He had to talk or he died here.I sat across from him and placed my father's last note on the table. It read: Pier 12. Tony.Victor glanced at it, and his pupils constricted."You know what this is."He said nothing."You know my father's handwriting. You know there was an agreement between the Villanis and the Rosarios. And you know exactly who ruined that deal."His lips moved. I did not wait for an answer."Eighteen years with the Casanovas, Victor. You have money. You have power. But you ha

  • He Bet I'd Come Crawling Back, But I Left   Chapter 6

    My mother nodded."Your father did owe money, but he never knew the debt had been set up from the start."Your grandfather held the perpetual lease on Pier 12 at White Eagle Harbor. Three generations of Casanovas tried to take it. Your father finally made a deal with Tony's father, but before they could sign it, he..." Her voice shook."In the end, you handed the Casanovas exactly what they wanted."Vincenzo never needed an agreement. He only needed everyone to believe our properties now belonged to him. But Pier 12 was never formally taken over by any family. If the legal Villani heir came back and proved the debt was fake...""Then we can take the pier back," I finished for her.She looked at me. Her eyes were red now."So, Emma, we have what you know about the piers and the money network, what Vincenzo thought you'd only stumbled across, and all the evidence I've found. Put it together, and we have enough to bring down the Casanovas."I stared at the papers spread across the table.

  • He Bet I'd Come Crawling Back, But I Left   Chapter 5

    I was eating breakfast when the doorbell rang."Emma." It was Antonio.I opened the door, and he stepped closer, still smelling of cigarettes."Somebody wants to see you. I was going to wait until you found out, but you're moving faster than she expected. She's worried that if you go any further, you'll put yourself back within Vincenzo's reach.""Who?"Antonio looked at me steadily, like a man who had prepared himself for this."Your mother."My fingers tightened around the hem of my shirt."What did you say?""She's alive. She left the Neutral Zone two years ago, but she never came back to Rivoli."She didn't try to contact you. She stayed hidden in the Neutral Zone all these years and only dared to come back after you left the Casanovas. All this time, she has been digging into what happened to the Villanis."My mind reeled.Mom is still alive."Where is she?"Antonio said, "When you're ready, we can—""Where is she?"He looked at me then led the way.We went to the third floor of a

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