The Don’s Regret After Signing the Divorce Papers Without Reading Them

When I pushed open the conference room doors, Victor was pinning the black diamond brooch on Irene.

He did it carefully, as if he were afraid of hurting her.

Three years earlier, on the night before our wedding, he had stood behind me just like that and pinned the same brooch to my dress.

That night, he had said, "From tonight on, no one in the Rinaldi family will go over your head."

Now he had put it on another woman.

Irene looked down at the black diamond and touched it, her eyes red.

"Is this really all right? Won't Adriana be upset?"

Victor said, "As long as I'm here, nobody gets to upset you."

Irene saw me and shot to her feet as if she'd been caught doing something wrong.

"Adriana, I'm only standing in for you at tonight's negotiation."

I looked at the chair.

The metal nameplate on the back of the chair had been removed. A new temporary one lay beside Irene's hand.

My South Port proposal was next to it, and my mother's necklace was around her neck.

A few captains I had personally promoted lowered their heads and refused to look at me.

I asked, "Who told you to touch my things?"

Irene gripped her skirt, but before she could answer, Victor turned around.

He wore a black suit, his cuffs neatly fastened. His voice was cold, as if I were the intruder. "You've been losing control of yourself too easily lately. You don't belong at this table."

The Rinaldi family advisor, the captains from every district, and the South Port representatives were all in the room.

They all knew that tonight's business involved the port my father had left me.

Three years earlier, Victor's hold on the Don's seat was not secure.

Three docks had refused to hand over their books, and his uncle had brought men to force him out. I had cut off the traitors' shipping lines, brought South Port into our marriage, and kept him in the Don's seat.

He had once held my hand in this room and told me my place would always be beside him.

Today he sat at the head of the table.

I stood in the doorway.

Irene sat in my chair.

I looked at the proposal on the table. "Why is my plan in her hands?"

Victor said, "She needs something on her record."

Three months of work, my father's port, and the negotiation strategy I had developed for him—all of it had been reduced to a single line on Irene's record.

Even the necklace my mother left me was around her neck.

I had kept it locked in the safe, and Victor was the only person who knew the combination.

He knew exactly what it meant to me, yet he had taken it out anyway just so another woman could wear it with her dress.

Irene saw the look on my face as I stepped closer, and her eyes turned red on cue.

"The Don is only trying to help because he feels sorry for me. I have no husband and no one in this family to rely on. If it bothers you, I won't go."

She reached up to take the pin off.

Victor caught her hand and gave me a cold look.

"It's a pin. Don't humiliate her in front of everyone."

I raised my hand, my fingertips hovering in midair.

"I only want my mother's necklace back. It was the last thing she gave me, and it's my most precious possession."

"I know, Adriana." He frowned. "Irene is only borrowing it for one night. Don't make such a big deal out of something so small."

My mother's necklace. My seat. The port my father had left me. All of it could go to Irene for a night, and all of it was too small to matter.

I said, "Give me the necklace back. And I'm not handing South Port to her."

Victor's expression hardened.

"South Port isn't yours alone. The Rinaldi family has been protecting it all these years."

Three years earlier, he had sworn at my father's grave that he would never treat South Port as Rinaldi spoils.

Now, he broke that oath in front of everyone.

Irene clutched his cuff, her voice trembling. "Let it go, Victor. I'll apologize to the clients and tell them I'm not qualified to sit at this table yet."

Victor closed his hand around hers.

That was the moment I saw it clearly.

It wasn't that he didn't know she was pushing me aside. He was willing to push me aside for her.

"As of today, you're off the council." Victor looked at me. "When you learn to control your jealousy, I'll give you your seat back."

Not one person in that room spoke up for me.

I dug my nails into my palm until blood seeped between my fingers, then nodded.

"All right."

Victor's expression softened slightly.

He thought I had finally given in.

"You don't need to be at tonight's negotiation, either. Go to your room and cool off."

It was our wedding anniversary. I had made a dinner reservation at the South Port lighthouse.

That was where he had first told me he wanted to put his future in my hands.

I looked at him. "After tonight, you won't have to give me the seat back."

He didn't understand what I meant. He waved impatiently for someone to close the door.

Behind me, Irene asked quietly, "Have I made Adriana angry?"

Victor didn't bother to lower his voice. "Don't worry about her. She's just used to everyone giving in to her."

I paused for a second, then kept walking.

Back in the bedroom, I locked the door, took off my wedding ring, and put it in an empty velvet box.

Three years earlier, when Victor put that ring on my finger, his hands were shaking.

He had said that once he regained the docks and secured the Don's seat, he would give me a real wedding.

He got the docks back. His hold on the seat was secure.

He never gave me the real wedding he had promised. He forgot our anniversary. And he personally handed my seat to someone else.

I began gathering my passport, the South Port contracts, and my father's old lists. Then I opened my laptop and emailed my lawyer.

[Prepare the dissolution of the Rinaldi-Vitale marriage contract. Begin withdrawing the South Port special authorization at the same time.]

After the email went through, I shut the laptop.

Beyond the window, the South Port lighthouse glowed in the distance.

Three years earlier, at that lighthouse, Victor had asked me, "Will you always stand beside me?"

I said I would.

Now I had decided to turn around and leave.