เข้าสู่ระบบIsabella POV I spent the morning going through what was left of my own accounts, the ones that hadn't been quietly choked in the last two weeks. The number was worse than I'd admitted to anyone, including Konstantin. Ricci called four times that afternoon. I let each call go to voicemail before finally answering the fifth. "You need to explain something to me," he said without greeting. "I don't explain myself to men who can't keep their own house in order, Ricci." "Vincenzo thinks I'm working against him. I think he's doing the same to me. Someone fed both of us the same poison, and I want to know if it was you." "Does it matter who fed it to you? You drank it either way. Perhaps you should ask yourself why two men who've known each other for a decade suddenly can't trust a word out of each other's mouths. That crack was already there, Ricci. Someone simply found it." He hung up without answering. I set my phone down and looked up to find Konstantin standing in the door
Elena POV The financial records Luca had pulled on Dario’s shell company contained another set of payments he’d initially dismissed as unrelated. “These don’t match the Dario pattern,” he said, spreading the printouts across my desk three days after the Counterattack. “Smaller amounts, different routing, same originating account. Someone’s been paying two other people out of Isabella’s money.” “Who?” “I’m still confirming the names, but both numbered accounts are tied to Board members.” I examined the printouts. “If she’s paying two Board members separately, she’s probably promised them different things.” “Why does that matter?” “Because men like Ricci and Vincenzo don’t share power well.” I tapped the page. “If Isabella has promised each of them a reward when she regains control, neither will be happy to discover the other has received the same promise.” Luca leaned back. “You think you can prove that?” “I don’t need to. I just need each of them to believe the other already
Dante POV By six that evening, I had Isabella’s known properties spread across the war room table, along with a map marking each location. I’d spent the drive back from the warehouse deciding what to do about the article, and my mind hadn’t changed. “Three locations,” I said, tapping the map. “The textile warehouse, the storage facility on the south docks, and the apartment she’s been using near the harbor. I want all three hit tonight.” Luca stood opposite me, his arms crossed. “What exactly do you mean by hit?” “I want her operation dismantled. Whatever she’s keeping in those buildings, whatever she’s using them for, I want it gone.” "You're talking about burning three buildings to the ground over a newspaper article." "I'm talking about making sure she understands there's a cost to what she did." I kept my voice level, though the effort it took was beginning to irritate me. "She put Elena's name in every outlet in t
Elena POV Rina from the kitchen found me first. She rarely came looking for me, so I knew something was wrong before she even spoke. “You need to see this.” She held out her phone. I took it. The headline loaded before I'd even finished reaching for a chair. THE FIVE MILLION DOLLAR BRIDE: INSIDE THE MORETTI AUCTION SCANDAL I sat down and read the article, forcing myself to take in every detail before reacting. It wasn't vague gossip. The amount, the room, and the events of that night were all described with a precision no outsider should have had access to. "Who wrote this," I asked, turning to Rina. "I don't know. It's everywhere already. Three outlets by this morning, Miss Elena." Something in my chest went cold. The phone felt heavier in my hands than it had a second ago. I looked back at the screen. Whoever had written it knew far too much to have relied on rumours alone. Either they'd been in that room or someone with direct access to the details had given them
Isabella POV Konstantin knocked once and came in without waiting for an answer. "You didn't sleep." "I didn't need to. I needed to think." "About the banquet," he said. I looked up at him. "How do you already know about the banquet?" “You've been in this room since four in the morning. I didn't need a report. I just needed to see your face.” He crossed the room and took the chair across from my desk. "Tell me." “She took me apart. Calmly. Without raising her voice once.” I said it as plainly as I would report a loss on a balance sheet. “I've had Board members twice her age who couldn't manage that.” “So she's good.” Konstantin leaned back in his chair. “She’s better than good.” I stood and crossed to the window. “She's starting to believe it, which is worse. A frightened girl makes mistakes. A confident one doesn't. I built my entire approach around the assumption that she was still the first kind.” “You could stop approaching her altogether,” Konstantin said.
Dante POV The office at the east warehouse smelled like diesel and cold coffee, which was about right for how the week had been going. The Board's clock was running in the background of everything I did now. A dead article was still circulating that I couldn't unprint, and now a shipment discrepancy had taken three men most of the afternoon to untangle. I had come down personally because the numbers hadn't made sense on paper, and numbers that don't make sense usually mean someone's been helping themselves to more than their cut. I was going through the ledgers when Luca knocked. "Gomez is here," he said. "Send him in." He walked in a minute later with two men behind him. Luca took his place by the door. I stayed behind the desk. "Dante." Gomez spread his hands like we were old friends. "Thanks for making time." "You're twelve minutes late." I nodded toward the chair across from me. "I don't like people wasting my time. Sit." He sat, leaving his men standing behind him. "I'
The room felt suffocating as I followed Dante out of the auction hall. Every step I took made my chest tighten, every echo of my heels against the floor reminded me constantly that I had no real choice anymore. My mind was a mess of questions, panic, and a deep, heavy fear. Why me? Why him of all pe
The room fell into an almost unbearable silence after my name was announced. Every eye turned toward me at once, and I could feel the weight of their attention pressing down like something physical. The lights above me felt hotter now, the air thicker. My chest tightened, my palms were slick with sw
The room smelled faintly of expensive perfume and polished leather, a mix that should have felt luxurious but only made my stomach twist tighter. My heels clicked painfully against the marble floor, each step echoing in the vast, high-ceilinged room. I tried to keep my head down, to disappear into m
"No! I won't go!" I shouted, my voice cracking. My hands flailed as I tried to push the men back, but their grips were iron. Fear surged through me like fire, every instinct screaming to run, to fight, to disappear. "Elena… please! Listen to me!" my father's voice broke through the storm in my che







