Chapter 1

I left the banquet hall. Lucas followed me into the wine cellar moments later.

"You know what's at stake tonight.

"Taking off that ring in public will embarrass the family."

I held up my bleeding wrist.

"So that's all you see? The family's embarrassment?"

Only then did he frown.

"Who did that?"

"Sophia matters. The truce matters. Both families' reputations matter. I'm the only one who doesn't."

"There's a reason she's sitting there."

"So you just gave away my seat?"

Sophia walked in carrying a first-aid kit.

"The old guard trusts only me. I moved closer to the head of the table to keep the truce alive."

I pulled away from her hand.

"Your authority as a negotiator doesn't let you bypass both consiglieri.

"The moment you sit beside Lucas and he defends you, everyone at that table sees you as being under his personal protection.

"And if he throws you out, you can take that humiliation back to the hawks and use it to kill the truce."

Lucas still defended her.

"She wasn't trying to target you."

The official list sealed by both sides had never been changed.

Sophia had gone around the Vitali records team and privately asked the estate manager to switch the place cards.

Lucas knew the request hadn't gone through Enzo or Adrian, and still approved it himself.

"Maybe she didn't mean to. What about you?"

Lucas fell silent.

"You knew mine was the only seat left, and you still made the decision for me because you were sure I'd give in."

"Four days. Once the truce is signed, I'll deal with this."

"You're making me wait again?"

I pushed the ring toward him.

"In four days, I'll perform my last public duty to this family.

"Once the signing is over, I'm ending our family contract."

Lucas's voice turned cold.

"Are you threatening me?"

"I'm telling you."

After the banquet, Adrian, Roman, and North District capo Carlo Rizzo summoned Lucas to a meeting.

A few days later, I read the minutes of that meeting in the accountability report Adrian had filed with the council.

"That wasn't just a chair you gave away. It was the seat reserved for the woman at the head of this family."

The Vitali hawks were already using the incident to question the Viscontis' commitment to the truce, while people inside the family had begun to wonder whether their boss could protect his own.

Lucas said only that he would publicly acknowledge our marriage after the truce was signed.

Adrian asked, "Are you protecting the truce, or are you still trying to repay Dominic for saving your life?"

Lucas didn't answer.

The minutes noted that before the meeting ended, Lucas placed the ring I'd left behind beside Dominic's old service medal.

He had opened the draft marriage announcement several times, but he'd never hit Send.

He wasn't unaware that the two were in conflict.

He simply chose, once again, to make me wait.

Back in the west wing, I discovered that my port clearance had been suspended.

The order carried a legacy admin credential that former consigliere Marcello Bianchi had secretly retained.

That legacy credential couldn't open lower-level security gates or alter independent records. It could only make a forged order look legitimate enough to fool the estate manager and rank-and-file guards who relied on manual checks.

Someone had already smuggled a backdoor into the estate's systems.

I secured my passport and the ledger, contacted an independent captain, and booked passage on a ship leaving the night of the truce signing.

In four days, I would fulfill my obligation and leave with my father.