Chapter 3

Day five of this little game, I was officially ready to cut ties with the Fontana family for good.

Years ago, when Luca and I met and fell in love in New York, he refused to rely on his family name, choosing instead to stay behind and build a domain of his own.

Back when he barely had a foothold, I was the one at his side, closing deals, running the docks, and cleaning up the filthy messes that couldn't see the light of day.

We even spent months sleeping on the concrete floor of an abandoned warehouse at our lowest point, yet neither of us gave up.

Through sheer grit and endless hustle, we built a thriving empire and earned the respect of countless business partners.

The day we made our triumphant return to Naples, Luca turned to his men and declared, "Viola isn't just my wife. She's the partner who dragged me out of the dirt. From today on, you answer to the Donna just as you answer to me."

Yet now, he had completely forgotten every battle we fought shoulder to shoulder. He was still convinced that my leaving was just another move in their stupid game.

He sent me a single text: [Go ahead and leave. Come back when you're done throwing your tantrum.]

I returned to the estate strictly to hand back everything that belonged to the Fontana family and sign off on the final transfers.

As it happened, tonight was the victory gala for a massive deal we had just closed.

Luca stood at the center of the grand hall in a tailored suit, laughing and sharing drinks with the bosses of the other families. Beside him, Isabella wore the ancestral emerald brooch, her arm linked with his as she helped him work the room.

I stood a short distance away, watching the spectacle unfold, suddenly hit by how absurd it all was.

I was the one who had pulled off endless sleepless nights to broker this deal. Without me, there wouldn't even be a victory gala tonight. Yet Luca hadn't uttered my name once.

He had put Isabella in the gown custom-made for me, and every time someone addressed her as "Donna," she'd flush and look at Luca, who only smiled, never offering a word of correction.

I didn't bother stepping forward, taking my personal belongings and heading straight for the side exit.

Unexpectedly, I bumped into one of the crew members who had bled alongside us for years. He blinked in confusion, blurting out, "Donna?"

I stopped in my tracks.

He stared at me, bewildered. "Donna, why aren't you in your evening dress? Are you heading out?"

A silence rippled through the banquet hall.

One of the guests glanced between me and Isabella, frowning. "Donna? Then... who is that lady over there?"

Murmurs quickly began to spread through the crowd.

"Wait, isn't she the Donna who negotiated our deal?"

"So if the lady next to the boss isn't the Donna, why is she wearing the matriarch's brooch?"

"Is she the Don's new bride? How come no one mentioned a wedding?"

Before the rumors could spiral out of control, someone nearby lowered his voice to interject. "Haven't you seen the videos floating around among Luca's inner circle?"

"Viola's the one clinging on for dear life, refusing to let go."

"Luca brought Isabella right in front of the whole family, but Viola won't let go of her spot, forever reminding everyone that she and Luca built this business together."

"At the end of the day, she just can't bring herself to give up the title of Donna."

I stood on the fringe of the crowd, keeping quiet.

Beside me, a guest handed a phone to another, the screen playing a short clip.

A single glance was all it took for me to recognize myself in it.

The video showed me sobbing as I tried to tear off Isabella's nightgown, storming into the master bedroom with bloodshot eyes, screaming at her to get out, making a complete fool of myself at the family dinner, storming off under everyone's utter contempt......

Every single clip captured me at my absolute lowest.

What the video didn't show was Luca chasing after me afterward, brushing it off with "it's just a game." Nor did it tell the onlookers that the entire thing had been staged by them from the start.

Over the last three years, every time one of these "games" pushed me to a mental breakdown, I was expected to smile through the crowd's jeers and admit, "I only lost my head because I loved him so deeply."

It turns out they recorded every last second of my anguish, saving my loss of control as leverage for their own cheap entertainment.

And now, they've dragged those old videos out all over again—using them as proof that I was the one "refusing to let go."

Just as I opened my mouth, footsteps echoed behind me, hushing the room instantly.

Luca cut through the crowd, walking straight up to me.