All Chapters of The Don's Ruthless Empire: Chapter 201 - Chapter 210

POV: Isabella"Someone keeps sending me messages, Salvatore, and every single one leads directly back to secrets you have kept buried inside this family for years." I set my phone down on his desk without preamble, watching his face carefully for whatever reaction might slip past his usual composure.Salvatore read the message slowly, and something in his posture shifted, subtle but unmistakable, like a man bracing for a blow he had known was coming for a very long time. "I suppose it was foolish to believe I could keep this buried indefinitely," he said quietly."Keep what buried," I said. "Salvatore, I am tired of learning this family's secrets one devastating fragment at a time. Tell me now, completely, or I will find someone else who will."He sank into the chair behind his desk, looking older than I had ever seen him look, older even than the night Matteo had confronted him about Costa's true identity. "Vittoria did not simply recruit Costa and Marco," he said. "Years ago, before

POV: Matteo"I financed her, Matteo, believing I was burying a family shame instead of building the war that eventually killed your father." Salvatore's confession landed in the study exactly the way he must have feared it would, heavy and irreversible, stealing whatever fragile peace I had managed to construct since the previous night's gala.I stood motionless for a long moment, grief and fury colliding violently against decades of trust I had placed in the man who raised me after my father's death. "How long," I said finally, my voice dangerously quiet. "How long did you know your money was funding Vittoria's conspiracy.""I suspected within the first year," Salvatore said, his voice unsteady in a way I had never once heard from him. "I told myself I could still manage the consequences quietly. By the time I understood the true scope of what I had helped create, your father was already dead, and confessing felt like confessing to his murder alongside her.""That is exactly what it

POV: Isabella"If you go behind Matteo's back on this, Isabella, you will not like what it costs you." Enzo's warning stopped me cold in the hallway, because I had not told a single soul where I was going that morning.I turned slowly, my pulse loud in my own ears. "How did you know where I was going.""Because I know this house better than anyone still breathing in it," he said, his easy smile not quite reaching his eyes. "You are asking questions about the terrace. About who chose it that night. Someone mentioned it to me."I studied his face, searching for the man I had trusted since my first frightened week inside Rossaro walls, and found only the same warmth I always found, which frightened me more than suspicion ever could. "Should I be asking someone else, then," I said carefully. "Or should I be asking you.""Ask me anything you want," Enzo said, spreading his hands. "I have nothing to hide from you, Bella. Whatever you think you have found, I promise you I am not your enemy."

POV: Isabella"You cannot possibly believe Enzo would ever hurt me, Bella, not after everything he did to keep me alive on that warehouse floor." Nico's voice cracked with an anger I had not expected, and it stopped every careful question I had planned to ask him.I sat carefully on the edge of his bed, choosing my words the way I had learned to choose them throughout this entire war, gently enough not to break something already fragile. "I am not saying he hurt you, Nico. I am saying we found something that worries us, and I need to understand what actually happened that night.""He carried me two blocks with a bullet still in my side," Nico said, pushing himself upright despite the wince that crossed his face. "He could have left me there, Bella. Whatever you think you found, it cannot erase that.""I know," I said softly, taking his hand carefully in mine. "I have not forgotten that either. But Nico, please, tell me exactly what he said to you while he was carrying you. Every detai

POV: Isabella"Say it again, Enzo, because I need to hear it a second time before I let myself believe any of this is actually true." My voice shook despite every effort to keep it steady, standing in Matteo's study at nearly two in the morning with the truth finally laid bare between us."My mother worked for the Rossaro family before I was born," Enzo repeated patiently, exhaustion and relief mixing plainly across his tired face. "She vanished after discovering something about your father's arrangement with Matteo's, Isabella. I have spent my entire life trying quietly to learn what actually happened to her."I studied him carefully, searching for any trace of the deception I had feared for days and finding instead only grief worn smooth by decades of carrying it alone. "That is why you suggested the terrace," I said slowly. "Elena's family kept records from that era.""Yes," Enzo said. "I hoped something there might finally explain what my mother found before she disappeared. I nev