Semua Bab I Gave Him Ten Years. Then I Took It All Back: Bab 1 - Bab 10

In the first year of our marriage, one of Valentina Falcone's warehouses was raided by the police. News spread fast, and the rival families started pressuring the Falcone family to give up control of several key territories.Valentina claimed I was the one who leaked the information. She said I was the only outsider in the family and I had every reason to betray them. A few of the old-timers believed her, and they demanded that Marco hand me over to prove the family's loyalty. Marco said nothing the whole time. When the family guards took me out of the room, he did not look up. I spent six hours in a windowless room that night and was not let out until morning.When I got back to the bedroom, Marco handed me a glass of warm water. "The timing is not right yet, I can’t move against Valentina openly," he said quietly. "I hope you understand."I swallowed everything I wanted to say. Later that night, I went downstairs for water and heard him on the phone outside his study."At least it w

"Take what? The freight lines? The docks?" Sofia came out from behind Marco, her voice sharp. "Marco built this empire. Conti's connections helped him. What did you build? Being Falcone's wife for ten years was already more than you deserved, and now you want to walk away with the businesses?"She caught herself and bit her lip. She stepped back and tugged Marco's sleeve, her voice dropping. "I am sorry, Marco. I got upset for you. I should not have interrupted. This is between you two. Please do not be angry with me."I ignored her and kept my eyes on Marco."Don, I already told you what I am taking. Keep the rest and start over with her. Clean break.""Ginevra..." He stepped toward me, fast and careful.I held up my hand to stop him."Let us make this clean. We were both using each other from the start, and now it is time to go our separate ways."Before I left, I looked at the four of them."The worst thing that ever happened to me was being found by the Conti family."If I had not

By the time the plane landed, the news had already cycled through a new round. Falcone Donna Ambushed on Highway. The photo showed my face lit by the flashes. Hair disheveled. A thin line of blood at the corner of my mouth. I did not open the comments. I had more important things to do.A friend had an empty office in the suburbs. It was not large. A desk, a chair, a window facing a quiet street. I sat down, opened my laptop, and logged into the legitimate business accounts I had built. I reassigned the permissions one by one, all back to my own name.The books I had managed for the Falcone family. The trade channels I had set up. The port personnel I had placed in key positions. Every line of it was mine. I had written it all.My phone rang. The lawyer's voice came through low."Ginevra, Mr. Falcone insists on meeting with you in person. He says he is willing to compromise.""What is he offering?""Your return as Donna. He will sign over the operations to you if you come back."I put

Marco's expression shifted. Something had landed. He opened his mouth, but I spoke first."Don, you forgot something. Ten years ago, I heard you say that Sofia would never have been able to handle what I handled.""Ginevra, I was young then." His voice tightened. "Ten years changes a person. Can you not see how much I have changed?"I looked up at him. "Because you changed, I am supposed to pretend none of it happened? If Sofia had not run away, would you have sent her to those negotiations, into those assassinations, to take the hits I took?"He did not answer. His hand pressed against the edge of the desk. His knuckles went white."Ginevra, does it have to be like this?"I nodded and gave him a dry smile. "Calling those ten years a transaction is fair for both of us."He took a deep breath, holding something back. "You never let anyone in. I thought we had something real."He turned and walked out.He did not know that in the hours he spent driving away, five men were assembling guns

Three days later, I was reviewing the port's monthly volume report. A notification appeared on my phone. I read it and sat up.Lorenzo was back. Marco's half-brother had been hiding on the East Coast since he was pushed out of Chicago. Now he had surfaced with a will that was supposedly signed by the old man before his death. It said sixty percent of the Falcone assets should go to Lorenzo because the old man had changed the distribution a month before he died, and Marco had used his authority to hide the document.Lorenzo did not go to the tabloids. He went to an underground financial journal that specialized in digging up family accounts. The report included screenshots, file numbers, and a memo from a law firm. It looked real.Within hours, Falcone stocks started slipping. The banks that had stayed quiet began calling. Marco's people said the will was forged, but no one believed it. Lorenzo's material was too detailed. The kind of detail only someone close to the old man could have.