Chapter 2

The dull throb in my ankle was nothing compared to the creeping chill in my heart.

I limped back to my room. I pulled out every file related to the Vito Borgata and every comm card marked for family business, then laid them out neatly in the center of the desk. It was my final accounting to this borgata.

Looking around the empty bedroom, I felt surprisingly calm.

That night, the city's underground press flooded every channel with the news, hyping up the powerful alliance between Luca and Ella and proclaiming that the Vito Borgata was about to enter a new era.

When I saw the photos of Luca bringing Ella to the Vito family banquet, the last bit of resentment in my heart finally fell silent.

Only a month earlier, Luca had held my hand tightly under the night sky on the terrace and made me a solemn promise.

"Lia, at this banquet, I'm going to announce to everyone in the family that you're the future Donna of the Vito Borgata."

As a child, I had watched my father cheat and my mother jump to her death because of it. Before my mother died, she told me one rule for survival: never trust a man too easily. And I lived by it.

But faced with the earnestness in his eyes, my heart still stirred. I nodded and agreed to wait for that night.

On the night of the banquet, though, the Underboss, Emilio Rizzo, came and took my custom-made gown straight out of the walk-in closet.

"Ms. Summers, something's come up on Don Luca's end. You won't need to attend the banquet tonight."

I didn't cry or argue. I quietly pressed the gown smooth and handed it over.

I looked around this estate that Luca and I had run together. The cabinets were filled with the gifts he had given me over the years.

The moment the scales of profit tipped, everything I had given was wiped away.

I wasn't just his lover. I was also the assistant who had shouldered countless chores for him. But once someone more useful came along, all my years of hard work suddenly seemed to count for nothing.

We were supposed to stand side by side. Now the scales had tipped completely.

I took a deep breath to suppress the sharp ache in my chest, then took out a hiking backpack and methodically packed up my personal belongings.

I took inventory of every valuable he had given me. Later, I would sell them all and count the money as my wages for these past years.

The lock turned. Luca was back, and Ella was right behind him.

When Luca saw me packing, he frowned deeply. "What are you packing all this for in the middle of the night?"

My gaze shifted to Ella. She was wearing the very gown that had been tailored for me to wear to the banquet. It didn't quite fit; the seams at her waist were pulled tight.

"Luca, that gown was originally made for me. If I'd known you were going to lend it to Ms. Larsen, I could have had it altered. Then she wouldn't look so constricted in it."

Ella's face instantly went cold. She looked up at me and spoke with condescension. "Lia, you're just an assistant. I'm here to handle a deal that's life or death for this family. My value is something you'll never understand. Don't try to change the subject with something as petty as what I'm wearing."

I kept my calm smile in place and turned to Luca.

Years ago, a matriarch from another family had publicly belittled me for coming from a small town, saying I wasn't fit to stand beside Luca.

Luca had torn into her on the spot, struck back publicly, and forced her family to issue me a formal apology.

Back then, everyone was sure of one thing: even if I wasn't the high-born Donna the Vito family wanted, I was one of a kind in Luca's heart.

But now, hearing Ella belittle me, Luca only frowned slightly.

"Lia, don't make a scene."

His voice was full of exhaustion.

"Ella just got back from Marovia. She doesn't know how things work socially around here. Don't hold it against her."

Staring at that face, so familiar and yet so foreign, I saw everything clearly.

I looked at the man in front of me calmly.

"Okay."