Chapter 3

“Another man?” Dante’s expression darkened as he loosened his hold on her. “What other man?”

His voice dropped.

“Lea. Explain yourself.”

Lea bit her lip and looked between him and me, as if she regretted speaking at all.

“I’m sorry, Valentina. I really didn’t mean to say it out loud. I just don’t want Dante to be deceived.”

Then she reached into her handbag and slowly pulled out a photograph.

The ballroom lights flashed across the glossy paper.

In the picture, I was standing close to a man in a private corridor. My face was clear, while the man beside me was turned slightly away from the camera. What stood out was the ring on his left hand, catching the light just enough for everyone in the room to recognize the Vittori crest.

The room went quiet.

No one dared to say Lorenzo Vittori’s name carelessly.

After a long silence, someone whispered, “That’s the Don’s ring.”

Another voice followed, much lower this time.

“Why would Valentina be meeting someone wearing that?”

No one finished the thought aloud.

They didn’t have to.

In our world, the Don’s ring was not jewelry. It was authority. It meant orders, access, protection, and blood.

If Valentina had been photographed alone with a man wearing that ring, people would not merely call it improper. They would wonder whether she had stolen a symbol of power, forged the Don’s permission, or used the Vittori name for something filthy enough to embarrass the entire family.

Dante stared at the photograph as the color slowly drained from his face. Then he turned toward me, his gaze sharp enough to cut.

“Valentina,” he said slowly. “You’ve got a lot of nerve.”

As he spoke, his hand moved to the gun at his waist.

The room fell silent at once.

This was no longer about a broken engagement. This was an accusation that someone had abused the Vittori crest in front of twelve families.

Dante kept his hand on the gun while I watched his fingers without moving.

He didn’t dare draw it.

This was the Vittori estate. Outside the ballroom stood twelve armed guards loyal only to our family. If Dante Blanca pulled a gun here tonight, he would never leave this building alive.

His hand stayed there for several tense seconds before he slowly lowered it.

“Valentina…” Lea’s soft voice broke the silence at exactly the right moment. She sighed as if she were heartbroken for me. “Actually, there wasn’t only this photo. My people have seen you going in and out of private clubs, back corridors, and hotels more than once. And the men beside you…”

She lowered her eyes delicately.

“They weren’t always the same.”

She left the rest unfinished so everyone else could fill in the worst version themselves.

The attention in the ballroom shifted back to me.

“Valentina? Seriously?”

“Using the Vittori name for things like that?”

“If Don Vittori hears about this…”

The comments were quiet, careful, and deliberately incomplete.

No one dared insult Lorenzo.

But every unfinished sentence was aimed at me.

I looked at Lea quietly.

I truly never imagined that my own daughter would stand inside the Vittori family’s main estate and spread rumors like this about me in front of representatives from twelve different families.

“Valentina, the past is already the past.” Lea walked slowly toward me and reached out as if she wanted to take my hand. “I’ll help you keep this quiet. I won’t let Father and Mother know how far this has gone.”

Just before her fingers touched me, I took one step backward.

That was all I did. I never touched her, let alone pushed her.

But Lea suddenly screamed and threw herself backward, crashing onto the marble floor before rolling twice across it. Her dress twisted around her legs, and her hair spilled across the floor in practiced disarray.

The ballroom went dead silent.

Everyone there had just “seen” Valentina push Lea.

“Lea!”

Dante immediately crouched beside her to help her up.

At that moment, the slow, measured rhythm of leather shoes striking marble echoed through the ballroom. No one spoke as the crowd instinctively parted down the center of the room.

Lorenzo Vittori walked forward through the opening without any hurry at all.

He glanced once at Lea lying on the ground before lifting his eyes across the ballroom until they settled on me.

The other person in that photograph.

My husband of twenty years.

And the man Lea believed was her father.