Alle Kapitel von Godfather, Your Wife Is Done Waiting: Kapitel 21 – Kapitel 30

Viola’s POVSelena did not leave.She took a velvet box from one of the gift bags.My old access card lay inside.The one for the villa on the south side.“I found it while tidying,” she said. “The servants didn’t know what to do with it. I thought I should return it myself.”I stared at the card.At last, she had produced what she had really come to show me.“Keep it.”“Viola, I never meant to move into your house.”“You can live there.”I looked up.“But this isn’t that house. You don’t get to turn this place into somewhere you announce you’ve won, too.”Her face slowly paled.Behind me, a colleague opened an office door.Selena suddenly caught my hand.“I’m only trying to explain. Why do you insist on treating me like this?”The wound on my arm had not healed.Her grip sent a sharp pain through it, and I flinched.The gift box fell.Lucia jumped to her feet in fright.I did not shove Selena.With my other hand, I pried her fingers loose one at a time.“Let go.”My voice was steady.

Dante’s POVAfter the car door closed, Enzo handed me a document envelope.Inside was a printed communication log.On the night of the attack, Selena’s threatening letter had not come to me first.It had gone directly to Carlo.Twenty minutes later, the guard reassignment order had been prepared.Only after that had I received her call.I turned the page.The stationery used for the letter came from a private office-supply order for the villa on the south side.The order had been approved before she moved in.“Had she been preparing to move there?” I asked.Enzo did not draw a conclusion.“At the very least, someone knew what you would decide before you made the decision.”I put the papers away.In the distance, a light came on on the foundation’s third floor.Viola sat by the window, her head bent over her work.She did not look down again.For the first time, I realized—I might have lost more in that attack than my wife’s trust.I might also have lost the judgment I had always belie

Viola’s POVAn unknown number sent me a photograph.The printing factory.Taken from directly across the street.I stared at the screen, cold spreading down my back.Then a second message appeared.Stray too far from home, and no one will reach you in time.I did not delete it.I did not call Dante.Mr. Benedetto accompanied me to report it to the police.The investigator who met us was a woman named Ada Marini.She did not ask why I had become entangled with the Vitales.She asked only, “Do you have somewhere safe to stay right now?”I shook my head.Admitting I was afraid was harder than I had expected.Ada closed her notebook.“Then let’s take care of tonight first.”That day, I learned for the first time that asking for help did not always mean surrendering my freedom.I could not stay at the printing factory for now.I moved into a short-term apartment provided by an organization partnered with the foundation.Only my lawyer and my parents had the address.When Dante arrived at th

Dante’s POVHe was not provoking me.That made it more humiliating.Once I was in the car, Enzo handed me a new report.Carlo’s private accounts showed a payment from a company linked to a rival family.The payment predated the attack.I turned to the last page.The amount was not large.Small enough to make me furious.Viola’s life. Luca’s life.To some people, they were worth no more than a number that could disappear among ordinary expenses.Viola’s POVMr. Benedetto finally obtained the complete accounts.Of the twenty-four million dollars, only a small portion was a genuine loan to my father’s company.The rest consisted of duplicated guarantees, unsupported security charges, and something called “family credit compensation” that we had never agreed to.“They haven’t been waiting for you to repay the money,” he said.“They’ve been waiting for you to believe it can never be repaid.”I turned the pages, my fingers gradually growing cold.My father had also placed a warehouse and a b

Dante’s POVHer calm frightened me.I would rather she cursed me.Rather she asked why, the way she once had.“I’ve withdrawn Selena’s special arrangements.”Viola looked up.“That’s your decision.”“I’ll review everything.”“That’s your responsibility.”Suddenly, I could not go on.She was not trying to win.She was not pleased that Selena had lost her place.She simply sat there, waiting for a conversation to end.I touched the edge of the desk.“What else do you need?”Benedetto was about to speak.Viola answered first.“Your signature.”Two words.Harder to face than any report of losses at the port.Viola’s POVDante did not sign.He said we had to wait until the investigation was over.I looked at him.“A divorce won’t stop the investigation.”“There are still people out there—”“Then let the investigators keep investigating.”I did not raise my voice.But with every sentence he spoke, one thing became clearer.He was finally willing to admit he had been wrong.Yet he still wante