Chapter 2

Before Javier could speak, a muffled thud came from the walk‑in closet.

He snapped his head toward it, looking even more terrified.

“Someone’s in there?!”

I sighed.

“Looks like more than one person decided to disobey tonight.”

I told my men to hold Javier, then walked to the closet.

I opened the door.

A young man was pinned against the wall by my bodyguard, his face twisted with anger and embarrassment.

It was Noah Carter.

The youngest son of the underboss of the largest Mafia family in the Italian Quarter.

He’d been an intern at my company.

Back then, he wore cheap hoodies and jeans, pretending to be quiet and harmless. He brought me coffee, ran files, and “randomly” ran into me every day.

His acting was so bad it was funny.

But he was good‑looking, and not completely stupid… so I let him play his game.

I later found out: he was a spy sent by the Carter family to get close to me.

Once Sophia posted her bounty, the Carters played along—pretending to stay neutral, but secretly watching my every move.

Noah had hidden in my closet to steal evidence.

I looked at him.

“When did you get in, Noah?”

He looked away, refusing to answer.

My men pulled a micro SD card, a signal detector, and a lockpick from his pockets.

The evidence was undeniable.

I knelt down and spoke softly.

“Your family’s gotten bold lately.”

Noah looked up, his eyes complicated.

“I never wanted to hurt you.”

I laughed.

“So you just broke into my home, stole private information, and dug up dirt for Sophia?”

He gritted his teeth.

“I never gave her anything.”

“Because you didn’t get the chance.”

I stood and ordered my men coldly:

“Take him out.”

Noah panicked.

“Mia, wait—I can help you!”

I paused.

He clung to the last hope.

“Sophia hired Javier, me, and Leo. She said if we get dirt on you, she’ll stop the Yue family from taking you back.”

I studied him for a long moment.

“Why tell me now?”

Noah lowered his voice.

“Because I realized she doesn’t care about protecting herself.”

“She’s using us. If anything goes wrong, she’ll let us take all the blame.”

He wasn’t wrong.

Sophia was never the helpless fake princess she pretended to be.

She knew she wasn’t the real Yue daughter. She also knew the Yue family was falling apart—inner conflicts, failing money, broken supply chains.

If I returned, she wouldn’t just lose love and status.

She’d lose the illegal profits she’d been stealing from the Yue family for years.

I went back to the living room.

Javier sat on one side, Noah stood on the other—both miserable.

I threw a file on the coffee table.

It showed years of Sophia embezzling money using the Yue family name.

Javier’s face twisted.

Noah frowned hard.

I said calmly:

“You think Sophia’s a poor, trapped fake princess?”

“She’s just using you to clean up her mess.”

Javier finally mumbled:

“She said you’re the real Yue daughter. She said if you come back… you’ll destroy everyone who ever worked with her.”

I smiled.

“She’s good at turning people against each other.”

Javier went silent.

Noah asked:

“What are you going to do?”

I looked at both of them.

“Simple.”

“You give me every chat log, payment record, and detail of Sophia’s bounty.”

“And I’ll forget about tonight.”

Javier looked unhappy but dared not refuse.

Noah pulled out his phone and sent me everything first.

Javier hesitated, then followed.

I watched the evidence roll in and nodded with satisfaction.

Sophia wanted to turn me into a scandal.

Too bad she picked the wrong girl.