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chapter 177
publish date:
2026-08-29 12:20:25
Latest chapter
The Don's Ruthless Empire chapter 520
POV: Matteo"Do not thank me yet, uncle." Emilio pushed Corvin gently into the lantern light. "Thank me when you understand what I am giving you, and what it will cost all of us."I am Matteo, and the harbor tower at ten past four in the morning was the coldest place I have ever stood. Wind moaned through the open stone arches, carrying salt and the smell of rotting rope. The great bronze bell hung above us in the dark, green with age, its heavy rope looped around an iron hook. Below, the black water slapped the pilings. Isabella stood at my side with her coat pulled tight, and I could feel her shoulder trembling against mine, though she would never admit to the cold.We had argued about coming here. She had wanted me to stay home and nurse my ribs. I had told her I would sooner lose my legs than let her climb those stairs alone. She had answered that I was a stubborn old man. I had answered that she had married one. Then she had laughed, in spite of everything, and we had come togeth
The Don's Ruthless Empire chapter 519
POV: Isabella"You knew for hours, and you let me smile." Dario's voice was barely a whisper. "You let me stand up there and thank the council for believing in me."I am Isabella, and I would have taken a knife between the ribs rather than say what I had just said. We stood on the back steps of the council house, alone, under a sky heavy with unfallen rain. The lamp above the door hummed and drew moths. Dario held his new council ring in his fist, the metal still bright and unscratched, and he was staring at it as if it had turned into something poisonous."Yes," I said. "I knew. I am sorry, Dario. I wanted to tell you before the vote, and Matteo asked me to wait, and I agreed. That was my choice. I will not hide behind his.""Forty thousand." He laughed, a raw, dreadful sound. "Do you know what I did with the campaign money? I bought bread for the dock families and paid a printer. I felt so proud. I told my mother I had earned it, every coin.""You did earn the votes. The votes were
The Don's Ruthless Empire chapter 518
POV: Matteo"They have my daughter, Matteo." Carmine's voice broke in the small back room. "Every month I signed their payments, I told myself I was buying her life. Tell me I was wrong."I am Matteo, and I had faced men who had murdered for far less than fear. But I had never seen a man so hollowed out by it. Carmine Marchetti was gaunt, unshaven, his collar stained with sweat, his eyes ringed dark from sleepless weeks. He sat on the edge of a narrow bench with Camilla's arm around his shoulders, and Isabella stood beside the door, silent, watching him with her head tilted."How old is she?" I asked."Nine. Bianca." He wiped his face with the back of his wrist. "Eleven weeks ago, she did not come home from her school in the harbor district. A man left a note with the porter. It said that if I ever stopped paying, or told anyone, she would be sent away on a ship, and I would never see her again.""And you paid," Isabella said gently."From the Marchetti freight accounts. Every month,
The Don's Ruthless Empire chapter 517
POV: Isabella"Thirty years ago I paid a man to lie, and I have never once regretted it. That is the part that frightens me most." My voice shook, but I did not stop.I am Isabella, and the chamber I had helped build felt like a stranger's room as I stood there, my palms damp, my mouth dry as old paper. Every face was turned toward me. Matteo had stopped a few steps from Ottavio, and I saw him look back at me, waiting, and I gave him the smallest shake of my head. Let me. This is mine."You must understand what that night was," I said. "The flood took the lower harbor. Matteo's men were pinned inside a customs house, eleven of them, three were boys younger than Dario. The harbor guard had orders to keep the doors locked until an official inspection cleared the building.""An official inspection," Ottavio said with a frown, "on a night like that?""Yes. Because the inspector was hunting a name on a list, and the name was Matteo's. If the doors opened, the boys would walk out and the in
The Don's Ruthless Empire chapter 516
POV: Matteo"Read it aloud, Ottavio." My voice came out low and dangerous. "If you have the courage to hold that page in front of this chamber, have the courage to finish it."I am Matteo, and I had promised Isabella I would sit silent at the back of the council chamber and let the institution govern itself. I had kept that promise through the opening prayers, through Dario's calm speech, through Enzo Brandi's practiced one. Now my chair scraped the stone floor as I rose, and every head turned. Isabella sat three seats away, her face pale and perfectly still, her hands folded in her lap like a woman waiting for a verdict."Sit down, Matteo," Ottavio said mildly. "You are an advisor now, not a voter.""And you are holding an envelope you did not write." I walked forward slowly, my ribs burning with every step. "Who gave it to you?""A friend of the council." Ottavio smiled thinly. "It arrived at my door last night. I confess I did not know what to do with it, so I brought it here, wher
The Don's Ruthless Empire chapter 515
POV: Isabella"Do not scream, and do not move." The whisper came from the darkness inside the container, and a cold hand closed around my wrist. "There are men laughing outside, and one of them just said your name."I am Isabella, and I have felt many kinds of fear in my life, but nothing like the fear of that iron box at midnight. Rain dripped from a broken seam in the roof, drop after slow drop, ringing against a metal floor. Rosa crouched at my shoulder, one hand pressed over her own mouth. Nico stood at the door with his knife drawn. And in front of us, blinking in the beam of my small lamp, sat Luca, alive, shaking, holding the brass tag against his chest like a child holding a doll."Luca," Rosa breathed, and pulled him into her arms so hard that he gasped."Mama, please. Quietly. They are just outside." He was crying and trying not to. "I only wanted to see it. I saw the boat come in, and I climbed onto the pier, and I found this one because the number matched. Then two men cam
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