LOGINThe screams echoed through the underground room.Sharp.Agonizing.Relentless.But the prisoner still refused to talk.Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.His face had swollen beyond recognition.One eye was completely shut.His breathing came in ragged gasps.Yet somehow, he was still holding on.Don Lorenzo stood several feet away, watching with cold, unreadable eyes.The torture had gone on for nearly an hour.Questions.Demands.Threats.Pain.Nothing worked.The prisoner simply refused to break.Luca stood beside Don Lorenzo, becoming increasingly frustrated."Tell us who hired you."Silence.A Valenti guard drove a fist into the prisoner's stomach.The man groaned.Coughed blood.But still said nothing.Don Lorenzo's jaw tightened.This was becoming ridiculous.Nobody was this loyal.Nobody.Eventually everyone talked.Eventually everyone chose survival.Yet this man seemed determined to die.And that fact bothered Don Lorenzo more than the hijacked operation itself.Bec
The moment Alessandro entered his room, he shut the door behind him and locked it.His pulse was still elevated from everything happening downstairs.The captured man.The tension in the mansion.The look on Luca's face.None of it was good.And if his suspicions were correct, things were about to get much worse.Alessandro crossed the room quickly and grabbed his phone from his desk.Without hesitation, he dialed Valeria.The call connected after only two rings."Alex?"Her voice came out low and cautious.Alessandro immediately moved toward the window."I think we have a problem."Silence.Then..."What happened?"Alessandro lowered his voice."My father's men brought someone in."Valeria's stomach tightened."What kind of someone?""A man. I don't know him."He glanced toward the hallway."They dragged him straight to the torture room."For a second, Valeria said nothing.Then her voice became tense."Why would that be a problem?"Alessandro frowned."Because the whole mansion is o
An hour later, the atmosphere inside the Valenti Mansion grew even heavier.The tension that had lingered all morning suddenly sharpened.Something was happening.Everyone could feel it.The front doors burst open as several Valenti men entered the mansion.Between them was a man.A stranger.His hands were bound behind his back.Blood stained his shirt.One eye was swollen shut.His face looked barely recognizable after whatever beating he had received during his capture.The man stumbled forward as one of the guards shoved him."Move."The prisoner nearly fell.Luca appeared from a nearby hallway immediately.His expression hardened the moment he saw the captive.Good.Very good.They finally had someone who could answer questions.Questions that Don Lorenzo desperately wanted answered.Questions that would determine who lived and who died."Take him downstairs," Luca ordered.The guards nodded.Without hesitation, they dragged the prisoner toward a restricted section of the mansion
Don Lorenzo sat behind his desk, a glass of whiskey untouched beside him.Several documents lay spread across the polished wood surface, but his attention wasn't on any of them.His thoughts were elsewhere.On a shipment.A betrayal.A hijacked operation.And a growing feeling that things were beginning to slip beyond his control.The knock on the door came sharp and deliberate.Lorenzo didn't look up."Come in."The door opened.Luca entered immediately.Unlike earlier that morning, there was purpose in his stride.Something had changed.Lorenzo noticed it at once."You found something."It wasn't a question.Luca nodded."We have a lead."That got Lorenzo's attention.Slowly, he set down the file he had been pretending to read.His eyes locked onto Luca."Talk."Luca stepped forward."The men I sent out found one of the hijackers."Lorenzo's expression hardened instantly."What?""He was trying to leave the city.""They caught him two hours ago."A dangerous silence settled over the
Luca did not sleep.Not properly.Not after what had happened.Not after watching Don Lorenzo Valenti point a gun at his head.Not after seeing millions disappear overnight from an operation that only a handful of people knew existed.And certainly not after realizing he had made a mistake.A potentially fatal one.After he let Isabella enter Don Lorenzo's study, Luca found himself standing outside Nico's bedroom door.His jaw was clenched.His eyes hard.His patience thin.For several seconds, he simply stared at the door.Then knocked.Three sharp raps.Inside, Alessandro looked up from where he sat on his bed."Come in."The door opened immediately.Luca stepped inside and shut it behind him.The tension in the room became instant.Luca didn't bother sitting.Didn't bother with greetings either.He stood near the door with folded arms.Watching him.Studying him.Like an interrogator preparing to question a suspect.Alessandro forced himself to remain calm."What happened?"Luca ig
The atmosphere inside the Valenti Mansion felt wrong.Isabella noticed it the moment she stepped out of her room the next morning.Something had happened.Something bad.Inside the mansion felt like a storm waiting to explode.Guards stood at their posts with unusually rigid expressions.House staff moved quickly through the halls with their heads lowered.No one lingered.No one smiled.No one spoke above a whisper.Isabella frowned.Her footsteps slowed as she descended the staircase.Two guards near the entrance were murmuring among themselves.The moment they noticed her, they immediately fell silent.One of them even looked away.As if afraid of being caught speaking.Isabella's stomach tightened.What happened?She continued walking.The deeper she moved into the mansion, the stranger the atmosphere became.Several Valenti soldiers stood in small groups discussing something quietly.One man looked furious.Another looked worried.A third simply looked scared.And that frightened
Don Lorenzo Valenti, also known as The Butcher, downed his fifth glass of whiskey, the burn doing nothing to calm the storm raging inside him.Anger simmered beneath his composed exterior.This trip was supposed to be a vacation, a brief escape from the chaos of his world.But men like him didn’t e
Isabella Lombardi froze at the school entrance, her breath catching in her throat.Standing there, as if he had stepped straight out of a dream, was Alessandro Valenti—the most popular, most desired boy in school, holding a bouquet of fresh red roses.Waiting for her.Her heart skipped.Today was h
Isabella stood in front of her closet for what felt like the hundredth time, her fingers gliding over fabrics she barely recognized as hers.Silk. Satin. Velvet.Dresses that whispered confidence… boldness… attention.None of them felt like her.She pulled one out, a red bodycon dress, and held it
Don Lorenzo Valenti didn’t bother hiding his irritation when the door to his study opened again.His gaze lifted sharply—cold, unreadable.And there stood his son.Again.A scowl immediately formed on his face.“Shouldn’t you be in school?” Lorenzo asked, his voice edged with impatience.Alessandro







