INICIAR SESIÓNEight months is not a condition. It is a siege.My body has been annexed. My lungs are compressed, fighting for every breath against the intrusion of the heir’s feet. My spine is a bowstring pulled too tight, aching with a dull, constant throb that radiates into my hips.I am a planet. I have my own gravity. I have to navigate the world with a wide berth, calculating turn radiuses around furniture that never used to be in my way.I sit behind the massive mahogany desk in the office.Usually, I sit in the high-backed leather chair. Today, I am perched on the edge of the seat, legs wide, trying to find a position where my ribs don't feel like they are cracking.The desk is covered in maps. Not just Palermo anymore. We are looking at the Mediterranean.The Corsican issue has escalated. Spadino’s "loud" message—a car bomb that took out their forward operating base in Marseille—was received, but they are stubborn. They are probing our supply lines, looking for weakness."They shifted the r
Peace is expensive. It costs vigilance. It costs sleep. And apparently, it costs a significant amount of patience that I no longer have.I am sitting in the sunroom of the mansion. It is a space I reclaimed from the ghosts of Aureliano’s ancestors. I replaced the heavy, dusty drapes with sheer linen that lets the morning light flood in. I filled the corners with ferns and jasmine.It is my nesting ground.I have a laptop open on the glass table, scrolling through the architectural plans for the new community center we are funding in the North Quarter—part of the "legitimacy" initiative.Aureliano is with me.He is sitting on the plush sofa, reading a hardcover book, his long legs stretched out. He isn't working. He is just... existing. It is a rare, beautiful thing to see the King at rest.He reaches out without looking up from his page. His hand finds my ankle, resting on his knee. His fingers curl around the bone, his thumb stroking the arch of my foot through my silk stocking."You
The call comes at 0700 hours.I am in the nursery, nursing Matteo. The morning sun is filtering through the blinds, painting stripes of gold across the rocking chair. It is a peaceful scene, a Madonna and Child moment that feels stolen from a different life.Then the phone on the side table buzzes."Donna," Luca’s voice is shaky. "There has been... a personnel change.""What kind of change?""Captain Moretti. He has... retired. Effective immediately."I lower the phone. I look at Matteo’s sleeping face. I feel a cold knot form in my stomach—not fear, but the heavy, leaden weight of inevitability."Where is he?" I ask."Warehouse 4. The old textile plant.""And Ciro?"Silence. Then, a whisper."He's with him."I hand Matteo to the nanny. I don't change out of my silk blouse. I don't put on armor. I put on my heels.I drive myself.Warehouse 4 is a cavernous brick skeleton on the edge of the industrial district. It smells of rust and pigeons.I park the car. I walk through the side door
The boardroom table is a battlefield of scratched mahogany and spilled espresso.Twenty men sit around it. They are the captains of the regime. Some are old, with faces like tanned leather and eyes that have seen three decades of Vitale rule. Some are young, hungry wolves Ciro promoted from the street.They are all looking at me.I sit at the head of the table.Aureliano stands to my right, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed. He is not sitting. He has ceded the chair. The visual impact of the King standing while the Queen sits is a sledgehammer to the traditionalists in the room."The numbers," I say.Luca, the accountant, projects a spreadsheet onto the wall."Quarterly profits are up twelve percent," Luca stammers. "Due to the consolidation of the Greco shipping lanes.""Excellent," I say. "Now, look at column D."The captains squint at the screen.Payroll Allocation."Effective immediately," I announce, my voice cutting through the hum of the projector, "base pay for all so
Numbers are colder than blood.Blood is messy. It stains. It clots. It has a temperature and a smell. But numbers? Numbers are absolute. They do not care about loyalty. They do not care about love. They simply equate.I sit at the mahogany desk in the office. The room is dim, lit only by the green bankers lamp and the glow of Luca’s laptop screen. It is late—past midnight—but the house is awake. It is always awake now.Luca, the family accountant, sits across from me. He is a small man with nervous hands and a mind that can launder a million euros in three clicks. Right now, he looks like he wishes he were anywhere else.He slides a spreadsheet across the polished wood."The breakdown, Donna," he whispers.I look at the columns.Asset Allocation: Vitale Estate.I trace the lines with my finger. The paper is crisp, sharp.Graziella Vitale (Trustee): 40% Aureliano Vitale: 35% Ciro Vitale: 12.5% Spadino Vitale: 12.5%The math is simple. Brutal.With the activation of my mother’s trust
The envelope on the desk is heavy.It sits on the dark mahogany, a rectangular bomb wrapped in yellowed paper and sealed with cracked red wax. It smells of dust and time.I sit in Aureliano’s chair. The leather is still warm from his body, but tonight, I am not borrowing the seat. I am occupying it.My wolves surround me.Aureliano leans against the edge of the desk, his arms crossed, his tuxedo jacket straining across his shoulders. He watches the lawyer with the cold, unblinking stare of a predator assessing a potential meal.Ciro stands directly behind my chair. He is a looming shadow, a wall of heat and muscle. His good hand rests on the back of my neck, his thumb stroking the sensitive cord of muscle there. It is a grounding touch, but also a warning to the stranger in the room: She is mine. Do not bore her. Do not threaten her.Spadino prowls the perimeter of the room, playing with the letter opener, but his eyes dart to the envelope every few seconds. He smells the money. He sm
The silverware sounds like swords clashing.Clink. Scrape. Clink.It is our final meal. The Last Supper. But there is no messiah at this table, only three Judases and the woman they sold for thirty pieces of silver.I sit in the chair to Aureliano’s right—the Queen’s chair—one last time. I am weari
The house settles into an uneasy silence after the brawl. The maids have swept up the glass in the foyer, but the stain of violence hangs in the air like cigar smoke.I am sitting on the window seat, knees pulled to my chest, watching the moon reflect off the black water below.Five days.One hundr
It is two in the morning.The house is sleeping. The monsters are in their caves.But the light under the library door is still on.I stand in the hallway. I am wearing my oversized t-shirt, my bare feet cold on the marble. I am shivering, but not from the temperature.I am shivering because I am a
The house is screaming.Downstairs, in the main drawing room, the Dowager is tearing her sons apart. I can hear her voice echoing up the grand staircase—a shrill, terrifying sound that cuts through the stone walls like a diamond drill."You have let this house rot!" she shrieks. "Discipline is dead







