Chapter 2

In the middle of the night, I heard the front door unlock.

Matteo came back carrying a paper bag. He still smelled of Cecilia's sweet perfume, yet he walked up to me as though nothing had happened and cupped my face in his hands. "Elena, I know tonight was rough on you. I stopped by your favorite restaurant and picked up pesto pasta. You said once that a single bite could make any bad day better."

He opened the container, and the heavy scent of basil and pine nuts filled the room.

I glanced down.

That restaurant made its pesto with roasted pine nuts. Three years ago, I'd accidentally eaten pine nuts and my throat had swollen shut. I'd spent the whole night being resuscitated at the Family hospital. Matteo had stood outside the door the entire time, nearly drawing his gun on the doctor and demanding that he stake his own life on saving mine.

There was no way he'd forgotten.

But pesto was Cecilia's favorite.

"Matteo, I'm allergic to pine nuts." My voice was perfectly calm.

He froze. The smile faded from his face inch by inch. "I'm sorry, Elena. Between Cecilia and the port alliance, I've been so exhausted I can't think straight. I'm a goddamn idiot. I'll have someone bring something else right now."

"Don't bother. I'm going to bed."

My calm rattled him. He grabbed me and pulled me close, his voice cracking. "Don't look at me like that. Yell at me, hit me, put a bullet in me if you want. Just don't go quiet on me like this."

He tightened his arms around me like a man clinging to a lifeline. "Your birthday's next week. I'll take you to Iceland to see the Northern Lights. We've been talking about that trip for five years. This time, I promise, it'll just be the two of us."

I didn't struggle. I didn't respond.

I was just thinking about how many times I'd heard "one last time" over the past nine years.

The next morning, the DeLuca Family held its regular inner-circle meeting.

When I walked into the boardroom, several capos were already seated around the long table. Matteo visibly relaxed at the sight of me. He still thought I was the same old Elena, that as long as I showed up the next day like nothing had happened, everything could be swept under the rug.

He set a cup of warm milk by my hand and leaned in, lowering his voice. "We won't let the meeting run late today. Afterward, I'm taking you to dinner."

So tender, so intimate, as if he weren't the same man who'd slipped a ring on another woman's finger in front of every Family in the city just last night.

I pushed the cup aside and opened the ledger in front of me.

The meeting quickly got down to business. Matteo pointed to the shipping routes on the wall, switching to his all-business Don's tone. "Cecilia just joined the inner circle, and she doesn't have a single route that commands respect. The men under her are bound to push back."

His finger landed on the North Sea port route. "So starting today, the Montero Family's cross-border shipping line and all warehouse access will be transferred to Cecilia. Elena, hand over every account, password, and agreement you've been managing."

The room went dead silent.

Everyone in that room knew I'd spent three years negotiating that route. It carried nearly forty percent of the DeLuca Family's legitimate shipping revenue and was tied to the most sensitive interests of several European crime families. The Montero Family's leadership was deeply suspicious by nature. Their contracts were rigged with dozens of breach traps, and a single misstep during the handover could be treated as an act of betrayal.

I looked up at Matteo. "Cecilia has never handled a cross-border port agreement, and she's had no contact with the Montero Family. Are you sure you want her stepping in cold?"

Matteo's expression darkened, but he kept that sickeningly gentle tone. "It's her first day in the inner circle. Only a route at this level will make people take her seriously. You're her own sister. Coaching her behind the scenes would be nothing for someone with your ability."

Cecilia's eyes immediately welled up. She stood and tugged at my sleeve. "Elena, if you don't want to, I won't take it. I can live with people thinking I only got in because of Matteo and Dad. I don't want one shipping route to come between us."

The moment she finished that calculated show of backing down, Matteo yanked my hand off her and shielded her behind him.

"Elena, look how much she cares about your feelings. You're more than capable enough to negotiate new routes. She just went through a divorce and needs to establish herself in the Family. Do you really not understand what it means to support your own flesh and blood?"

That was how he always operated. He'd dress up plunder as a plea from the weak and paint my resistance as cruelty.

I looked at them in silence for a few seconds, then unclasped the silver drive containing the route encryption keys from around my neck and pushed it across the table to Cecilia.

"If the Don thinks you can handle it, then it's yours."

I transferred the contact lists and account access along with it, my voice even. "I hope you can manage the handover and hold on to the route."

Matteo blinked, then his eyes lit up with delight. "That's my Elena."

He thought his tactics had worked once again.

What he didn't know was that the Montero Family despised last-minute personnel changes and nepotism above all else. Every core clause in those contracts had been custom-drafted against the DeLuca Family's history of violations. Only I knew which terms could be touched and which codes must never be altered.

What I'd handed over wasn't a golden shipping route.

It was a ticking bomb capable of blowing up half the DeLuca Family's business.

After the meeting, I excused myself early, claiming I wasn't feeling well. I'd barely gotten back to the apartment when Sophia called.

"Elena, check your sister's Instagram right now. Didn't Matteo say he was taking you to Iceland?"

I opened Cecilia's profile.

She'd posted a photo of two first-class tickets to Iceland, booked for travel on my birthday. The caption read:

Thank you, Matteo, for this Northern Lights trip. See you next week!

The comments were flooded with congratulations from relatives and Family members on both sides. My father, my mother, uncles, aunts, even a few capos who owed me favors were all fawning over what a perfect couple they made.

I stared at it for a long time, then closed the screen.

This time, not a single tear came.