I was at the bar playing dice games with a growing crowd of men.

My companions, Alessandro and Angelo, circled me. Plenty of other men who thought themselves attractive enough grew bold, crowding around my table to offer themselves up.

Round after round of dice clattered across the table. No matter what I rolled, they found ways to keep me entertained.

Glass after glass went down.

Valentina finally snapped. She stormed over, practically vibrating with fury and humiliation.

"Grazia! What the hell are you doing? Don't you have any shame? Who are these people?"

I lifted my head and gave her a lazy look, then smiled. The smile didn't quite reach my eyes.

"What's wrong?"

I threw her own message back at her, word for word. "Your brother gets to work hard out here for our future, but I can't?"

I paused, my gaze sliding past her to Vincenzo, whose expression had gone dark as thunder. "Or is it that Vincenzo's future doesn't include me anymore?"

Valentina's face flushed red, then white. I'd backed her into a corner, and she had nothing to say.

"Y-You're talking nonsense! Vincenzo was handling legitimate business!"

Vincenzo finally stepped forward, his expression murderous. He grabbed my wrist, his grip so tight my bones creaked.

"Enough. Come home with me right now. Stop making a fool of yourself."

Pain shot through my wrist. I frowned, but before I could say anything, Alessandro and Angelo both rose to their feet, blocking him from me.

Alessandro reached out. His movement was graceful, but his strength was undeniable as he separated Vincenzo's hand from my wrist.

"Signor, manhandling a lady is hardly gentlemanly behavior."

Angelo's voice was colder. "Signorina Gatti clearly doesn't belong to you tonight."

Vincenzo froze in place.

"Isn't that Vincenzo from the Rossi family?"

"How interesting. The engaged couple, one with a mistress, one with male escorts."

"Look at Vincenzo's face. He's green with rage. This is gonna be good."

To them, I was nothing more than Vincenzo's accessory—a pretty ornament with no place in their world of blood and bullets.

But I didn't care about their mocking or pitying stares. The moment Vincenzo betrayed me, he stopped being my fiance.

The stares and whispers stripped away Vincenzo's pride piece by piece. His face flushed with rage, and he raised his hand to strike.

Two massive club security guards stepped forward immediately. "Signor, we don't tolerate fighting. You'll be banned if you continue."

Vincenzo's hand hung in mid-air like he was a clown in a bad show. I stood slowly and smoothed out the wrinkles he'd left in my dress.

I raised my glass toward him and the club woman behind him, whose face had gone pale with fear.

"Vincenzo, happy New Year's Eve."

My voice wasn't loud, but it carried through the entire room. "I hope you both have a wonderful time."

Then I leaned in and pressed a bright red kiss onto Alessandro's sharp cheekbone. The entire club gasped in unison.

I saw the murderous rage blazing in Vincenzo's eyes. Under his murderous glare, I took Alessandro and Angelo by the arms and walked out of the club without looking back.

When I got home, my phone was practically exploding. Missed calls and frantic messages from Vincenzo and Valentina flooded the screen.

I put it on silent and tossed it into the corner of the couch like trash. I peeled off the gorgeous but freezing gown and changed into my most comfortable pajamas.

I stood in front of the mirror and stared at myself. My makeup was gone, leaving behind my pale face and exhaustion pooling beneath my eyes.

I was nothing like the young woman from five years ago. That person had been vibrant, her face always glowing with happiness.

I stood there for a long time. Then tears came without warning and rolled down to my lips, their saltiness spreading across my tongue.

For Vincenzo, I'd given up my chance to study abroad. I'd abandoned a promising career. I'd stayed in Emaly for him, carving out a little haven for us in a world of guns and smoke.

For five whole years, I'd poured everything I had into becoming a Rossi. I thought I'd be his everything. But it turned out I was nothing, just something disposable.

The sound of a key turning violently in the lock came from outside. I quickly wiped away my tears. When I turned around, I found myself face-to-face with Vincenzo's furious expression.

He burst in like an enraged bull. His eyes were bloodshot, and his suit jacket was thrown carelessly over his arm.

He reeked of another woman's cheap perfume. The smell was sharp and nauseating.

"Grazia! You've really grown some nerve, haven't you!"

He stormed up to me, reeking of alcohol, his voice a roar.

"How long have you been sleeping with those male escorts? Have you been cheating on me this whole time? Did you really throw away your dignity just to get back at me?"

I looked at him and suddenly found it all ridiculous. I laughed coldly.

"You're the one who was making out with another woman at the club. Not me.

"You're the one who had your tongue down someone else's throat. Not me."

Vincenzo choked on his words. The fury on his face slowly gave way to guilt and panic.

"Grazia, I was wrong. I just drank too much and wasn't thinking straight. It was just for show.

"I swear, you're the only one in my heart. You've always been the only one. Please forgive me this once, okay?"

He started playing his favorite card—the emotional manipulation. It was his go-to weapon after every mistake, and it had never failed him before.

In the past, I'd always softened. But today, watching his clumsy, fake performance, I only felt disgusted.

I yanked my hand away from his like I'd touched something filthy.

"Vincenzo Rossi." My voice came out steady and cold. "We're done."

The room went silent. Vincenzo stood frozen in place, like he was seeing me for the first time.

A few seconds later, he suddenly laughed. The sound was full of contempt and disdain.

"Done?"

It was like I'd just told the world's funniest joke. He clenched his jaw, his eyes dark as they raked over me from head to toe.

"Grazia."

He moved closer, step by step, his voice dripping with the arrogance of someone who thought he owned me.

"This house you're living in? I bought it. That car you drive? I gave it to you. Every breath of air you take on this land, I'm the one paying for it."

He grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him. "Without me, how are you going to survive?"

Faced with Vincenzo's contempt, I didn't argue. I looked at him quietly, like I was watching a clown perform.

I turned and walked into the study. When I came back out, I was carrying a slim laptop.

I sat down on the couch in front of him, opened the laptop, and clicked on an encrypted folder on the desktop.

"What kind of game are you playing now?" Vincenzo frowned impatiently.

I slowly turned the laptop screen toward him. On the screen was the speech Vincenzo had delivered at last year's mafia family council meeting, his first as a Capo.

Next to the speech sat another document. It was my original draft, covered in dense red markings and revisions.

The fake smile on Vincenzo's face froze instantly. His eyes locked onto the screen.

I clicked open the next file, my voice flat and emotionless.

"The restructuring plan that made your name and let you take over the entire south side territory. This is my first draft. It contained 12 core strategies for eliminating your rivals, and you used nine of them.

"The interview that put you on the cover of Underground Order and earned you the title of 'the Rossi family miracle.' This is the word-for-word script I wrote for you. I even marked out how many puffs of your cigar to take and how long to pause when the family elders questioned you.

"These are the escape plans for every internal family power struggle you survived.

"These are the declarations of war I wrote before every external conflict you faced."

With every file I opened, Vincenzo's face grew paler. I lifted my head and looked straight into his eyes, which had started to dart away, clouded with dread.

"Vincenzo, the prestige you wear like a new suit, the Rossi name you're so proud of, your position as Capo… I stitched every piece of it together for you.

"Where do you get the confidence to think you climbed to the top on your own?"

His expression shifted from shock to undisguised fear, and his lips trembled. The same mouth that had ordered countless executions couldn't form a single word.

I opened a photo on my phone and tossed the phone onto the coffee table in front of him. It was a screenshot of a secret bank transfer. The staggering number on the screen was enough to suffocate him.

"The foundation you used to enter the Rossi family was the three million dollars I gave you. That money was the last thing my papa left me before he died."

I watched his face drain of all color as I peeled away his final layer of pretense. "You held my hand and kneeled with me in that church. You told me you'd claw your way to the top, that you'd owe me for the rest of your life."

Vincenzo's body shook violently. With a heavy thud, he dropped to his knees on the cold marble floor. He knew that with one tap of my finger, I could send all of this to the Don.

He'd plummet from Capo straight into hell, from the feared and respected "most valued godson of the Rossi family" to a family traitor and laughingstock who stole a woman's strategies and conned her out of her inheritance.

"Don't… Please, don't…"

He grabbed the hem of my velvet dress like it was his last lifeline, his pleas desperate and pathetic. "I can't lose what I have now! I know I screwed up!"

Just then, his phone rang at the worst possible moment. It was Valentina calling.

I picked up his phone and put it on speaker. Valentina's shrill, tearful voice immediately filled the room.

"Vincenzo! That woman is out of control! She's nothing but a gold digger! Now that you have money, she wants to make a scene so she can take more of it! Don't you dare go soft on her!"

Vincenzo listened to his sister's stupid, vicious shrieking and forgot to even beg. I looked down at the pathetic man kneeling on the floor and suddenly smiled.

"Vincenzo, your entire future is in my hands now."

I picked up my own phone. Right in front of him, I called Dario Abate, the Don of the Rossi family's most powerful rival.

"You were right. The man I've been with can't be trusted. That offer you made? I accept."