"Fifty million dollars."

Marco slid the bill file across the table to me.

"Seventeen transfers within the last month, all going to Miss Sofia's personal account."

As I checked the assets, I found my personal account held only three thousand dollars.

Not enough for Sofia's tea.

But the transfer records were pulled up, each bearing my digital signature.

I frowned. "I didn't authorize these transactions."

Marco looked uneasy. "The signature is real, and your private seal is on it. It looks like Don Ricci stamped it himself."

I was silent for a moment, then remembered that when we got married, I'd given Dante my private seal as a sign of trust.

"There's worse," Marco opened another file. "Three days ago, Don Ricci borrowed three hundred million dollars from the Escobar cartel in Colombia, in the family's name. He invested it in a crypto mining project with a ten percent weekly interest rate."

My fingernails dug into the table.

"Notify all core members. Emergency meeting in one hour."

The air in the conference room was even heavier than last time.

Dante's expression was blank.

"Elena, what drama are you trying to stir up now?"

I tossed the bill onto the table.

"Fifty million dollars. How do you plan to explain that?"

Dante glanced at the ledger. "Sofia wants to open a Vegas entertainment company. She needed seed money."

"Entertainment company?" I sneered. "Are you saying your "investment" lost eight million overnight at the casino?"

Suppressed gasps filled the room.

"That was just the cost of trying..." Dante rubbed his temples. "It was bad luck. These things happen. You called everyone here for this?"

"Bad luck?" I scoffed. "Then what about borrowing three hundred million at usurious rates in the family's name? Do you know Escobar's rules? If you don't pay it back in a week, they'll feed you to the sharks in the Caribbean Sea!"

"Enough!" Dante shot up. He thought I hadn't figured out the seal. "I'm the Don of this family! My decisions don't need your approval!"

"You're the Don?" My voice turned colder. "Then why is there less than eighty million left in the family accounts? Why is the FBI preparing indictments?"

Dante's face stiffened, then he dismissed it.

"So what? Even if it's lost, you're the one who makes money. Right?" He pointed at me. "You can just make it back!"

"What do you take me for? An ATM?"

Dante sneered. "Besides counting money and closing deals, what else are you good for?"

He walked up to me, looking down.

"Sofia needs attention, needs care," he said sarcastically. "And you, Elena Moretti, do you even know how to love, or are you just a machine for balancing ledgers?"

I looked at the face that once swore to love me forever and suddenly found him frighteningly unfamiliar.

I closed my eyes. "I don't want to deal with your messes anymore. I want a divorce. Figure out how you're going to give me my money back."

Just as I turned to leave, Dante grabbed my wrist. "I'm warning you, I'm not agreeing to a divorce. We have this alliance. I still need the Moretti family's resources, and you need to keep your Donna position solid for me."

I tried to pull my hand away. "Let go."

"Let go?" His grip tightened suddenly. "Who do you think you are? What is Moretti without the Ricci family?"

"I said, let go!"

Dante abruptly released my wrist.

I stumbled back, my hip hitting the sharp corner of the conference table.

The sharp pain made me gasp.

Marco rushed over. "Donna!"

I waved him away.

A flicker of panic crossed Dante's face, quickly replaced by defiance.

"You hit yourself," he said, his tone hard. "Don't try to pin this on me."

"Pin this on me?" I laughed. "Dante Ricci, you disgust me."

"Whatever you say." He grabbed his jacket. "Sofia's waiting for me. We're going to a private island for a few days. We can talk when you've calmed down."

"Talk about what?" I stood up straight, ignoring the pain in my side. "Talk about how you'll keep draining the family?"

Dante walked out without looking back. "Don't worry about Escobar's money. The project funds will be back in five days. Don't get jealous then!"

The door slammed shut.

In the conference room, Marco hesitated.

"Donna, should we..."

"Meeting adjourned," my voice was calm. "Everyone out."

"But..."

"I said, out."

After everyone had gone, I stood alone in the empty conference room.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling window, the sun was sinking below the horizon.

I walked to my desk and opened the bottom drawer.

Inside lay a business card.

My father gave it to me before he died. He said, "This is the Moretti family's last resort. Never use it lightly. But if it truly comes to that day..."

He didn't finish, but I understood.

After a moment's hesitation, I dialed the number.

I didn't see Dante again after that day.

I called him, a warning.

"That project is dirty. Be ready for the money to disappear."

He just brushed it off.

"How could it be? Sofia's a top finance graduate. How much could she possibly lose?"

But five days later, the crypto project collapsed.

The market value plummeted. Three hundred million in assets vanished, leaving only thirty million.

When he was desperate, Dante called.

"Do you have the money?"

"The family's account has only eighty million. Where would I get more?"

I opened the latest report Marco had given me.

"I told you that project had problems," my voice was calm. "Marco sent three risk assessments, and you ignored them all."

"Now it's blown up, that's your problem." I hung up.

Three seconds later, he called again.

"You better have the money ready. Your seal is on it!"

I said "oh" and hung up.

Then he called seventeen more times.

I turned off my phone.

The next morning, I was dealing with the alliance dissolution.

The office door was kicked open.

Dante's eyes were bloodshot.

Sofia hid behind him, tears streaming down her face.

"Elena, I knew you'd be here." Dante strode up to me. "You have to step in."

"I have to?" I didn't look up. "Why?"

"Because I'm your husband!" Dante slammed his hand on my documents. "This debt was taken out in your name. You have to pay it back!"

"The Moretti family's reserves must still have funds. Get them out now!"

I finally looked at him.

"You blew through my fifty million, then took out three hundred million in usurious loans in the family's name, and now you want me to bail you out?"

"I'll pay that money back!"

"With what?" I sneered. "With Sofia's asthma medicine? Or with the chips she lost in Vegas?"

"Elena, I don't have time for this argument!" Dante lowered his voice. "Escobar doesn't play games. If that money isn't paid by midnight tonight, they'll come after the family!"

I watched them, unmoved. "So? The Don should know this isn't my problem to solve."

In the end, Dante left.

After he was gone, Marco spoke cautiously, "Escobar doesn't play games. If Don Ricci gets hurt, the Ricci family will fall apart, and then..."

"And then the Moretti family gets hit too?" I finished his sentence. "So I should sacrifice myself for the greater good, to save a man who betrayed me?"

Marco fell silent.

That evening, Escobar's second-in-command, Carlos, arrived at the estate.

"Don Ricci." Carlos glanced at his watch. "Eleven fifty-eight. You have two minutes."

"Where's the money?"

"She's the one who stamped the loan!" Sofia yelled, pointing at me in terror, the dark muzzles of guns aimed at us. "She's the Donna Elena. You go after her! She has plenty of money!"

Dante turned to look at me, frowning.

"You're not going to bring it out?"

I stood aside, quietly watching the man who once swore he'd love me forever.

Even now, he still expected me to cover for him.

But then, Carlos went silent for a few seconds, and suddenly he laughed.

"Don Ricci, perhaps your eyes are playing tricks on you?"

"Look closely. That's your Ricci family crest printed on the contract!"