I thought giving my husband’s mistress his family ring meant I was finally free—until the man waiting outside told me I had just signed my own death warrant.

The subterranean vault beneath LaSalle Street was dead silent, insulated by ten feet of reinforced concrete and biometric titanium alloy.

I stood in front of the master vault box marked with the Moretti eagle crest.

"Vocal verification required," the automated terminal chimed.

"Evelyn Moretti. Sovereign succession code Alpha-Nine-Zero."

"Retinal scan confirmed. Welcome, Director Moretti."

The heavy mechanical locks clicked open with a deep, resonant thud. Inside lay the black leather ledger containing the master bank ciphers, the encrypted hard drives holding the offshore logistics contracts, and the private surveillance files my father had compiled on every syndicate boss in the Midwest—including Roman Castellano.

As Dante and I secured the drives into an encrypted briefcase, my burner phone buzzed against the table.

The caller ID displayed an unknown encrypted number from within the Castellano private network.

I answered and put it on speaker. "Speak."

"Evelyn... please... oh God, Evelyn, please don't hang up!"

It was Vanessa Lane. Her voice was shredded by tears, gasping between terrified sobs. In the background, the faint sound of furniture smashing and distant shouting echoed through the line.

"Vanessa?" I said coldly. "How does the sapphire feel on your finger?"

"He's going to kill me, Evelyn!" she wept hysterically. "Roman locked me in the wine cellar! My father tried to get me out, but Roman’s men opened fire on my father’s car! Roman lost his mind when he heard the ambush at LaSalle failed! He says if he can't have the Moretti trust, he’s going to execute me and frame Dante for it to force the High Council into a blood feud!"

I glanced at Dante. His expression hardened into pure slate.

"Why are you calling me, Vanessa?" I asked, keeping my voice level. "You walked into the Drake Hotel holding his arm. You wore the dress he bought with my father's money. You wanted my life."

"I was stupid! I was a pawn!" she cried out. "He told me you were weak, that you were just a signature he was waiting to replace! He told me he loved me! But he's a monster, Evelyn! He killed your father!"

The air left the vault.

Dante’s eyes snapped to the phone. My grip tightened on the edge of the steel table until my knuckles went stark white.

"What did you say?" I whispered, each word laced with venom.

"I found his private safe in the master bedroom while he was distracted," Vanessa choked out, words spilling out in a desperate bid to save her own life. "There’s a medical toxicology report... from four years ago. Roman bribed your father’s oncologist. He poisoned his chemotherapy bags with synthetic potassium chloride to speed up the heart failure before your father could disinherit him! The original lab results are in the safe right now!"

Tears of pure, burning fury welled in my eyes, but I didn't let them fall.

All these years, I had blamed myself for not being strong enough to save my father. All these years, Roman had held me while I wept, whispering that he would take care of me now that my father was gone.

He hadn't just stolen my youth. He hadn't just imprisoned me in a golden cage.

He had murdered the only man who ever truly loved me.

"Vanessa," I said, my voice so deadly quiet it startled even Dante. "Stay in the cellar. Barricade the inner reinforced door. We are coming."

I hung up and looked at Dante.

"Get your men," I said, my voice shaking with cold, absolute resolve. "We aren't going to the High Council meeting at noon. We're going to the Castellano estate. And Roman isn't going to prison."