On Paper

Elena POV The gathering was supposed to be a show of unity. Dante's idea, another public appearance to prove the family wasn't splitting down the middle the way everyone suspected. I wore navy, something quiet, and stayed near the back while men twice my age traded handshakes and called it conversation. "You're cataloging the exits again," Dante said, appearing beside me with two glasses. He handed me one. "Old habit," I said. "A useful one." He glanced around the room. "This should be easy tonight. No vote, no clock running in the background. Just people pretending to like each other over appetizers." "You say that like it isn't exhausting." "It is exhausting," he admitted. "But it's the kind where nobody's trying to kill us. I'll take it." I almost believed him. I got about twenty minutes before the noise near the door changed. Isabella stopped a few steps inside the entrance, and she didn't look around for anyone. Within seconds, conversations near the front started dying d

Queens at War

Elena POV I thought we were done for the night. I should have known better. The party had started to thin, the kind of late hour where the real conversations were already over and everyone left was just finishing drinks they didn't need. I found Dante by the terrace doors, deep in something with Adrian that looked more like posturing than actual business, and caught his eye long enough to mouth that I needed a minute. He nodded, distracted, already turning back to whatever Adrian was saying. I headed for the coat check alone, grateful for a reason to leave the noise behind for a few minutes. My feet hurt, and honestly, so did my face from holding the same composed expression for three hours straight. I wanted my coat, the car, and twenty minutes of silence before I had to be anyone's queen again tonight. Isabella found me halfway to the coat check. "Walking away doesn't win you the room," she said, falling into step beside me. "I wasn't trying to win a room. I was tr

The Window

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'

A Queen's Lesson

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.

Old Scars

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

The Counterattack

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