Chapter 2

The next morning, I received a confidential letter from Julian Ferro.

Julian had been a student of my father's old friend and now handled cross-border shipping disputes for the port city's Family council. His letter was clear: the Volkov family had never demanded Lucia by name. What they had actually proposed was three years of priority purchasing rights for grain, medicine, and winter fuel along the northern route, plus a port corridor free from Moretti inspections.

The claim that the marriage required Lucia was a lie Viola had fabricated after bribing a Volkov underboss.

She needed a replacement valuable enough to clean up the mess she'd caused. And Matteo needed a respectable ceasefire deal, so he had written my sister's name into it without a second thought.

I brought the letter to Matteo. He was in the underground meeting room, listening to reports from the district heads. Both sides of the long table were packed. Viola sat at his right, and in front of her lay a set of dock ledgers she should never have had access to.

I pressed the letter flat on the table. "Call off the marriage. The Volkovs want supplies and a route through the port, not Lucia."

Matteo glanced at it but didn't stop the meeting. "Julian speaks for the neutral mediators, not the Volkovs. The marriage pact has already been submitted to the council. Pulling out now would be taken as a provocation."

"Then use the Belardi transport network to negotiate with them."

Several men at the table exchanged glances. Before he died, my father had entrusted seven secret freight routes between the port city and the northern territories to seven independent convoy crews. Each crew recognized a single brass bell token as its authority. With all seven tokens together, the entire network could be mobilized; without even one, the most critical mountain passes and warehouses stayed closed.

On his deathbed, my father had given six to me. The seventh was left with the Moretti Family as a guarantee of our alliance.

"Give me the seventh token," I said. "I can broker a new deal before the wedding."

Matteo leaned back in his chair, his gaze cold. "Your father is dead. Those convoys may not answer to anyone anymore. Besides, the Belardis only ran errands for the Morettis for a few years. It's not worth risking the entire Family's safety over."

The room went silent.

I looked at Matteo. He had survived the siege on my father's routes, bought loyalty with my money, and built his empire from Belardi warehouses. I realized he hadn't forgotten. He had simply climbed high enough to erase the names of everyone he'd stepped on.

"A few years of errands?" I let out a short laugh. "Without those years, you wouldn't even have the chance to sit here and look down on him."

Viola closed the ledger and spoke gently. "Sera, everyone knows Mr. Belardi helped the Family. But old debts can't stop the shooting. At least if Lucia marries into the Volkovs, she'll be alive."

"Easy for you to say, since you're not the one being thrown to the wolves."

Matteo raised his hand to cut me off. "The marriage stands, and the seventh token stays with me. Until the wedding is over, you and Lucia remain at the estate. No visitors without my permission."

Two bodyguards moved to stand behind me. I didn't resist. I simply tucked Julian's letter away. "You can hold me for a few days. You can't hold me forever."

"I never intended to hold you forever." He frowned. "When this is over, things will go back to the way they were."

I looked at him and finally understood. Some people's cruelty doesn't come from hatred. It's precisely because they're certain you'll never leave that they dare to cut you again and again.

That night, I borrowed a phone from one of the maids. I said only three things: "Tell Julian I agree to my father's contingency plan. Get the leaders of all seven convoys into the city. The seventh token, I'll handle myself."