Chapter 4 - The Fall of the Queen
The rain beat down in relentless sheets against the concrete of Pier 31, but nobody moved. Victoria stood frozen, her designer coat soaked through, staring at me as if she were seeing a ghost.
"That's impossible," she stammered, shaking her head violently. "Father would never do that to me. I was the one who managed his finances! I was the one who stayed by his bedside!"
"You were the one who stole from his medical trust to fund your designer wardrobe," Dante answered, his tone ice-cold. He motioned with two fingers toward his security team.
Four heavily built men in dark suits stepped forward from the shadows of the Escalade. Among them was Marco, Dante’s right-hand enforcer who had served the Moretti family for over twenty years.
"Marco," Dante commanded, not even looking back at his wife. "Escort Mrs. Moretti back to the lakefront estate. Lock down her private accounts. Confiscate her passports, her jewelry, and every device with network access. She is confined to the west wing until the dissolution papers are finalized."
"Dante, you can't do this to me!" Victoria screamed as Marco stepped firmly into her path, his massive arm blocking her from reaching Dante. "I am your wife! The commission will hear about this! You cannot cast out a Carter like a stray dog!"
"You ceased being my wife the moment you hid my son from me," Dante said, his gaze hard as flint. "And as for the commission? Elena just informed us that Carter Shipping belongs to the heir of the Moretti bloodline. The capos don't care about your ring, Victoria. They care about supply lines and loyalty. You have neither."
"Elena!" Victoria turned toward me, her eyes wild with pleading desperation. "Elena, we’re sisters! Blood! You can't let him ruin me! I was only trying to protect our family's legacy!"
I looked at the woman who had watched me cry myself to sleep night after night while planning her wedding to the man I loved. I remembered the lonely hospital room in Zurich where I gave birth to Leo with no family by my side, wondering how my own sister could have taken the only happiness I ever had.
"You gave up our sisterhood the day you put that ring on your finger, Victoria," I said, my voice steady and unwavering. "Get in your car."
Marco gently but unyieldingly steered Victoria toward the waiting vehicle. Her shrill protests were muffled the second the heavy tinted doors slammed shut, and within moments, the convoy sped away from the pier, leaving only Dante, myself, and the idling SUV behind.
The sudden silence was heavy with eight years of unspoken heartache.
Dante turned to me slowly. The ferocious Don who had just dismantled an empire's internal treason looked utterly defenseless before me. The rain dripped from his dark eyelashes as he took a cautious step toward the SUV.
"Can I... can I meet him?" he asked, his voice cracking slightly on the last word.
My heart squeezed tight in my chest. For years, I had dreamed of this moment with bitter anger, but looking at Dante now—seeing the raw vulnerability in the eyes of a man who ruled an entire city—I knew that keeping a child from a father who truly loved him was a cruelty I couldn't bear.
I walked to the rear door of the SUV, unlocked it, and pulled it open.
Mia looked at me with wide eyes, then gave me a supportive nod before stepping out of the front seat to give us space.
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Inside, little Leo was sitting strapped into his booster seat, his small fingers holding his wooden toy plane. When the door opened, he looked up, blinking at the tall, broad-shouldered man standing in the rain.
Dante dropped to both knees directly onto the wet pavement, bringing himself down to eye level with our son.
