The Donna's Frozen Card

To make sure I was completely trapped, Christian rose from his seat and swept his gaze slowly across the room."Tonight, anyone who dares to step up and settle Iliana's tab makes themselves my enemy—and an enemy of the entire Messina family."In Manhattan's underworld, everyone knows Christian controls half the district's smuggling and casino operations. Nobody dares to cross a Don with that much firepower.A few table bosses and suppliers nearby—the ones who'd quietly profited from mining deals I'd greenlit—had started to rise, half-ready to bail me out. But the second they caught the bloody edge in Christian's threat, their faces went pale and they sank right back into their seats, terrified that even a second's hesitation would put them in Christian's crosshairs."You see that? Don Messina is dead serious this time.""All this over a little assistant? He's really going for the jugular against his own Donna.""Wife, schmife. These rich bastards treat marriage like grabbing a box of i

The middleman shot a glance at Christian, then handed me his phone.I took it and dialed immediately, telling whoever picked up to bring the money within thirty minutes.The next half hour passed in dead silence.The clock ticked down. Ten minutes left.Giselle couldn't sit still anymore. She shot up from her chair."I can't believe I actually bought that bullshit. What kind of broke losers does she even know who could scrape together that kind of cash?""Manager—get your men over here. Nobody's stupid enough to cross Christian and show up for her. Stop wasting everyone's time."The manager motioned, and four enforcers started closing in on me.I held up a hand."Wait. There's still ten minutes on the clock.""Ten minutes from now, someone will be here to pay."Giselle let out a sharp laugh."Fuck your ten minutes. You know what? Fine. If someone actually shows up with the money in ten minutes, I'll bite down on that raw steak myself and crawl out on all fours like a dog."I looked at

The mob bosses who'd been watching the show perked up again, arms crossed, circling in for a better view.In this world—where only violence and profit mattered—nothing got their blood pumping like a bloody spectacle."No idea how that woman got Francesca on her side, but a bet's a bet. This is gonna be good.""Heh, Giselle was running her mouth so hard earlier. Let's see how she talks her way out of this one."Giselle gritted her teeth, but the smugness crept right back onto her face."So what if I don't pay up? What are you gonna do about it? You think dragging Francesca in here is enough to bury me? Wake up—this is Messina turf. Christian calls the shots here."Christian ran his hand through Giselle's hair with that sickening tenderness, looking down at me like I was beneath him."Iliana, maybe one Francesca made you forget your place. But nobody here touches Giselle except me. You're just embarrassing yourself at this point."Francesca's brow furrowed. She shot a look at the tactica

Several guards rushed forward and pinned Giselle down.Giselle was crying, begging for mercy, her face soaked in blood."Christian, let me go! You're the one who said you wanted to get back at her for me...""Shut up! You seduced me!"Christian was raging."HAHAHAHA!" Giselle let out a desperate, hollow laugh. "You're good at passing the blame, aren't you? Christian, you think crushing me under your boot is going to make Victoria forgive you? Dream on."Giselle was right. Even if Christian beat her to death, I was never letting the Messina family off the hook.But Christian still hadn't figured that out.He turned to me, his voice dripping with pathetic pleading."Victoria, you're just angry, right? You love me—you wouldn't have hidden your identity and stayed with me for three years if you didn't. Just calm down, I'll get rid of this bitch right now, and we can start over..."He spun around and barked at the guards."Do it! Beat her! Beat her until she bites that meat and crawls!"The