""You're Not The Supermodel I Ordered,"" The Mafia Boss Sneered... Then She Made Him Eat His Words

The ballroom descended into utter chaos.

""Lies! Fabrications from a common thief!"" Silvio roared, slamming his cane against the floor. He spun toward his lieutenants, panic turning his withered face into a monstrous sneer. ""Kill them! Kill them both now!""

Two of Silvio’s bodyguards reached inside their jackets for their suppressed weapons, but they were too late. Teodoro Ainsley and six Sandoval marksmen appeared on the mezzanine railing above, laser sights painting crimson dots onto the chests of Silvio’s gunmen.

""Drop your weapons!"" Ainsley shouted. ""Anyone who moves dies where they stand!""

The syndicate capos, realizing that Silvio had been caught red-handed embezzling their money, backed away, leaving Silvio, Giuliana, and their four men completely isolated in the center of the hall.

""Silvio,"" said Salvatore Rossi, the senior-most elder of the five syndicate families, stepping forward with eyes full of cold executioner's rage. ""Is this true? Did you siphon eighty million from the council reserve?""

""Salvatore, listen to me, it's a frame job by the Sandovals!"" Silvio stammered, his arrogance evaporating into pathetic terror.

""The IP addresses and the cryptographic hashes are signed with your personal security key, Don Silvio,"" Marisol stated calmly, walking right up to him. ""In probate law, a forged ledger cannot account for real-time timestamped routing codes. You're finished. The Federal Harbor Commission and the Treasury Department received unredacted copies of these files twenty minutes ago. Even if you walk out of this room alive, you are facing twenty consecutive life sentences.""

Giuliana let out a shriek of hysterics, lunging toward Marisol with outstretched claws. ""You ruined my life, you filthy bitch!""

Marisol didn't even flinch. With the cool reflexes of a woman who had dodged flying ashtrays from angry heirs in court, she sidestepped Giuliana’s frantic lunge, caught her by the wrist, twisted her arm into an inescapable joint lock, and shoved her straight into the arms of two Sandoval security guards.

""Take her to the guest quarters until the feds arrive,"" Héctor ordered coldly, without sparing his former fiancée a single glance.

Silvio, realizing all was lost, lunged backward, pulling a small silver derringer from his coat pocket, aiming it straight at Marisol’s heart. ""If I go down, the bookkeeper’s bloodline ends tonight!""

Before Silvio could pull the trigger, Héctor moved with terrifying speed. He stepped in front of Marisol, shielding her entirely with his body, while swinging his heavy silver-headed cane with bone-crushing force. The wolf's head caught Silvio across the forearm with a sickening crunch, sending the gun clattering across the marble floor.

Silvio collapsed to his knees, clutching his broken arm, groaning in agony.

Héctor stood over him, towering like a vengeful god, his dark eyes ablaze. He rested the tip of his cane beneath Silvio's chin, forcing the old traitor to look up.

""You took my father,"" Héctor said, his voice dropping into a deadly whisper that made the entire room freeze. ""You took sixteen years of peace. And you took Ilona Vane, the most loyal soul this family ever had. You will spend the rest of your miserable life rotting in a supermax cell, watching your empire get dismantled brick by brick.""