“Lea, you don’t have to be afraid of her.”

Dante stepped forward and helped her to her feet before turning a cold look on me.

“So you’re the adopted daughter the Vittori family raised?”

He wrapped an arm around Lea’s waist possessively.

“Let me make something clear. Lea is my girlfriend now. A fake like you doesn’t get to bully her.”

The ballroom instantly erupted.

“Girlfriend? Dante Blanca is dating Lea?”

“But wasn’t he engaged to Valentina? The Blanca-Vittori alliance was practically settled already.”

“So what if it was? Lea’s the real Vittori daughter. What is Valentina supposed to be? Just an adopted girl.”

“This is humiliating. If I were Valentina, I’d disappear on the spot.”

Representatives from the surrounding families whispered excitedly to one another, their eyes full of amusement as they watched the scene unfold.

My expression darkened.

Dante was the only son of the Blanca family. More importantly, he was the marriage candidate I had personally selected for Valentina.

The Blanca territory had been shrinking for years under pressure from rival families, and they desperately needed the protection of the Vittoris to survive. Back then, it was Dante’s father who came to us personally to beg for the alliance.

Out of respect for old ties between our families, I agreed.

I never expected Dante to appear here tonight, and I certainly never expected him to stand in the middle of my ballroom with his arm around Lea, declaring she belonged to him.

“Valentina, since you’re here, I might as well make this official.” Dante tightened his hold on Lea and stared at me arrogantly. “The moment I met Lea, I fell for her. She’s the woman I’m going to marry.”

“As for you, my father tried to force that engagement on me, but I’ve never had any interest in women who throw themselves at me.”

Laughter spread through the room again.

I let out a quiet laugh of my own, though there wasn’t a trace of humor in it.

Throw herself at him?

The Blanca family was barely holding onto its position on the East Coast. Who stepped in and stabilized their business when rivals nearly swallowed them whole? Who ensured they still had the standing to attend a banquet like this?

The Vittori family did.

If anyone had been clinging desperately to someone else, it was the Blancas.

“Dante, don’t say that.” Lea tugged gently at his sleeve before lifting watery eyes toward me. “Valentina, please don’t be upset. Dante only gets angry when he sees me being mistreated.”

But beneath the softness in her voice, the triumph in her eyes was impossible to hide.

I stared at her face and felt something tighten painfully in my chest.

Lea had only been three years old when she disappeared. For seventeen years, I searched for her personally. Every lead, every rumor, and every possible sighting on the East Coast passed through my hands first.

And now she was finally back, only to become someone like this.

“Valentina, I know you probably wanted to marry into the Blanca family.” Dante adjusted his tie and looked down at me smugly. “But you should give up already. I’d never choose someone like you.”

“Who said I wanted you?” I finally laughed out loud. “Dante, I’m already married. Why would I want to marry you?”

The ballroom fell silent for a heartbeat.

Dante froze, then burst into laughter loud enough for half the room to hear.

“Married?” he mocked. “Valentina, who are you trying to fool? If you were really married, where’s your family ring?”

I glanced down at my hand.

He was right. I wasn’t wearing one.

Not because I didn’t have it, but because I never wore it publicly. The true head of the Vittori family was me, not Don Vittori. That identity could never be exposed openly, especially not in front of so many other families.

“Valentina… I’m sorry.” Lea’s voice softened again, sweet and trembling like she had suffered some terrible injustice. “But Dante and I truly love each other. You already took everything from me all these years. Can’t you let me have him?”

She lowered her head against Dante’s chest and clutched his jacket tightly, while Dante immediately wrapped his arms around her protectively and glared at me like I was some vicious enemy.

I watched them in silence, a dull ache spreading through my chest.

I had searched for Lea for seventeen years. I worried she might be hungry somewhere, cold somewhere, alone somewhere. Every night, I wondered whether my daughter was safe, whether someone had hurt her, whether she had anyone protecting her.

And this was the person who came back to me.

A girl who framed people effortlessly, stole another woman’s fiancé in public, and performed like an actress in front of an entire ballroom.

And the man she was fighting over was someone like Dante Blanca.

“Valentina, please!” When I still didn’t respond, Lea suddenly raised her voice, panic creeping into her expression. “You can’t take Dante away from me, especially when you’ve already been secretly involved with another man.”

She abruptly covered her mouth, as if she had accidentally revealed too much.

“Another man?” Dante’s expression darkened as he loosened his hold on her. “What other man?”

His voice dropped.

“Lea. Explain yourself.”

Lea bit her lip and looked between him and me, as if she regretted speaking at all.

“I’m sorry, Valentina. I really didn’t mean to say it out loud. I just don’t want Dante to be deceived.”

Then she reached into her handbag and slowly pulled out a photograph.

The ballroom lights flashed across the glossy paper.

In the picture, I was standing close to a man in a private corridor. My face was clear, while the man beside me was turned slightly away from the camera. What stood out was the ring on his left hand, catching the light just enough for everyone in the room to recognize the Vittori crest.

The room went quiet.

No one dared to say Lorenzo Vittori’s name carelessly.

After a long silence, someone whispered, “That’s the Don’s ring.”

Another voice followed, much lower this time.

“Why would Valentina be meeting someone wearing that?”

No one finished the thought aloud.

They didn’t have to.

In our world, the Don’s ring was not jewelry. It was authority. It meant orders, access, protection, and blood.

If Valentina had been photographed alone with a man wearing that ring, people would not merely call it improper. They would wonder whether she had stolen a symbol of power, forged the Don’s permission, or used the Vittori name for something filthy enough to embarrass the entire family.

Dante stared at the photograph as the color slowly drained from his face. Then he turned toward me, his gaze sharp enough to cut.

“Valentina,” he said slowly. “You’ve got a lot of nerve.”

As he spoke, his hand moved to the gun at his waist.

The room fell silent at once.

This was no longer about a broken engagement. This was an accusation that someone had abused the Vittori crest in front of twelve families.

Dante kept his hand on the gun while I watched his fingers without moving.

He didn’t dare draw it.

This was the Vittori estate. Outside the ballroom stood twelve armed guards loyal only to our family. If Dante Blanca pulled a gun here tonight, he would never leave this building alive.

His hand stayed there for several tense seconds before he slowly lowered it.

“Valentina…” Lea’s soft voice broke the silence at exactly the right moment. She sighed as if she were heartbroken for me. “Actually, there wasn’t only this photo. My people have seen you going in and out of private clubs, back corridors, and hotels more than once. And the men beside you…”

She lowered her eyes delicately.

“They weren’t always the same.”

She left the rest unfinished so everyone else could fill in the worst version themselves.

The attention in the ballroom shifted back to me.

“Valentina? Seriously?”

“Using the Vittori name for things like that?”

“If Don Vittori hears about this…”

The comments were quiet, careful, and deliberately incomplete.

No one dared insult Lorenzo.

But every unfinished sentence was aimed at me.

I looked at Lea quietly.

I truly never imagined that my own daughter would stand inside the Vittori family’s main estate and spread rumors like this about me in front of representatives from twelve different families.

“Valentina, the past is already the past.” Lea walked slowly toward me and reached out as if she wanted to take my hand. “I’ll help you keep this quiet. I won’t let Father and Mother know how far this has gone.”

Just before her fingers touched me, I took one step backward.

That was all I did. I never touched her, let alone pushed her.

But Lea suddenly screamed and threw herself backward, crashing onto the marble floor before rolling twice across it. Her dress twisted around her legs, and her hair spilled across the floor in practiced disarray.

The ballroom went dead silent.

Everyone there had just “seen” Valentina push Lea.

“Lea!”

Dante immediately crouched beside her to help her up.

At that moment, the slow, measured rhythm of leather shoes striking marble echoed through the ballroom. No one spoke as the crowd instinctively parted down the center of the room.

Lorenzo Vittori walked forward through the opening without any hurry at all.

He glanced once at Lea lying on the ground before lifting his eyes across the ballroom until they settled on me.

The other person in that photograph.

My husband of twenty years.

And the man Lea believed was her father.

“Father!”

Lea threw herself into Lorenzo’s arms, trembling as she cried, but every word was loud and clear enough for the entire ballroom to hear.

“I’m fine… Father, please don’t blame Valentina.”

Dante immediately stepped forward beside her.

“Lea, you’re too kind. She treated you like this, and you’re still defending her?”

Then he turned toward Lorenzo, his posture rigid and confident.

“Don Vittori, tonight is Lea’s welcome banquet. Every important family on the East Coast is here watching. Your biological daughter was humiliated in public. If this is ignored, who’s going to respect the Vittori family after tonight?”

The accusation hit hard enough that the entire ballroom went quiet, and every eye turned toward Lorenzo.

But Lorenzo never looked at Dante.

He glanced briefly at the crying girl in his arms, frowned slightly, and said in a flat voice, “Stand up first.”

Lea froze for a second before slowly straightening herself, her shoulders still shaking with soft sobs.

“Father, I only…”

“You said Valentina bullied you,” Lorenzo interrupted calmly. “Where is she?”

“She’s right there!” Lea spun around immediately and pointed directly at me.

Dante followed her lead at once.

“Don Vittori, it was your adopted daughter. The moment she arrived, she started attacking Lea. Everyone here saw it happen. With this many witnesses, she can’t deny it.”

Several nearby guests immediately joined in.

“We all saw it.”

“Valentina really did push Lea.”

“An adopted daughter bullying the real one? That’s hard to defend.”

The agreement spread quickly through the room.

Only then did Lorenzo follow the direction of Lea’s hand, and his gaze settled on me.

For two full seconds, he simply looked at my face.

Then the slight tension in his expression disappeared.

“Lea,” he said evenly, his voice calm but clear enough for every person in the ballroom to hear. “You said Valentina pushed you.”

Lea nodded quickly, tears gathering in her eyes again.

“Yes.”

“Valentina is in Europe.”

The entire room froze, and Lea’s body stiffened instantly.

“Three days ago, I personally signed her travel authorization. She’s in Sicily handling family business with one of our teams. She won’t return until next week at the earliest.”

Lorenzo spoke as though he were discussing an ordinary business arrangement.

“So according to you, she flew back from Europe, pushed you in front of half the East Coast, and then flew back to Sicily to continue working?”

The silence in the ballroom became absolute.

Lea opened her mouth but couldn’t force out a single word.

Even Dante’s expression changed.

“That’s impossible…” Lea finally whispered weakly. “Then who is she? Father, you can’t seriously protect Valentina by…”

“By what?” Lorenzo asked quietly.

His voice never rose, but Lea instantly fell silent beneath his gaze.

Around us, the crowd’s attention slowly shifted away from me and back onto her.

“Then who is this woman?”

“If Valentina is in Europe, then…”

“Wait. Did she ever actually say she was Valentina, or did everyone just assume it?”

The whispers grew louder and louder.

Lea’s face lost color inch by inch.

She looked at me again, and this time there was no smugness left in her eyes.

Only panic.

Lorenzo no longer spared her a glance.

He stepped past the people blocking his path and walked toward me slowly. The crowd instinctively moved aside for him, and when he finally stopped in front of me, the entire ballroom held its breath.

He lowered his eyes to meet mine.

Then, in front of every major family on the East Coast, the Don of the Vittori family spoke calmly.

“Donna.”