Chapter 1

In the ten years I spent helping Dante Moretti secure his position as Don, he never once gave me the title I deserved.

The night before our anniversary, I sent him a design for a sapphire brooch, the kind reserved for the Don's own family.

Dante's call came through immediately. "Have you forgotten how we clawed our way out of that bloodbath? Stop bringing up frivolous things like this."

I quietly agreed and unsent the design, only to catch a glimpse of Dante in the private dining hall, personally pinning a brooch that symbolized the Family's authority onto a girl's gown.

"Dante, this is too extravagant... Sapphires are so rare. People will object if you use one to make me a brooch."

"You deserve the best. As long as it makes you happy, none of the Family's treasures are a waste." He paused. "Send whatever scraps are left over to Valentina. She's used to roughing it with me. She won't care what she gets."

Colette Marino gave a soft laugh. "So Valentina stuck with you through all the suffering, and I get to enjoy the power and glory. Is that it?"

Dante didn't deny it. A single low hum crushed every sacrifice I'd made in the past ten years.

My nails dug through the design sheet and into my palm, but I felt no pain at all.

The butler from the private hall approached with a deferential nod. "Ms. Russo, would you like me to cancel the design order? There's only one sapphire left."

"Don't cancel it. If the remaining sapphire isn't enough, use a ruby instead, the Family's one and only."

Chapter 1

By the time I entered the banquet hall, Dante had already left, hand in hand with Colette.

I walked to the window, where I could see the private helipad below.

Dante took off the custom black cloak that symbolized his status as Don and carefully draped it over Colette's thin shoulders, shielding her from the cold night wind.

Then he said a few words to the bodyguard beside him.

The bodyguard retrieved a gown encrusted with countless jewels from the back of the private helicopter and presented it to Colette.

It was the most prestigious ceremonial gown any Mafia family could commission. It took a hundred tailors a full year to make, and even the gold thread and pearls were exceedingly rare.

Dante leaned close to Colette's ear and whispered something. Her face flushed instantly, and she stood on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek.

I had seen that gown once, in the Family's book of ceremonial protocols. Back then, we had just found our footing, barely escaping rival organizations that wanted us dead.

I'd been flipping through the heavy volume, pointing at one of its worn pages.

"Dante, when we build our own organization someday, will you have a gown like this made for me? It's the Mafia's most solemn and exclusive mark of devotion."

He'd been weathered and hardened back then, his eyes filled with nothing but schemes and calculation.

He hadn't even glanced at it. "The mob survives on guns and influence. This kind of thing is useless. It's a waste of resources."

I never brought it up again. But now, the exclusive devotion I hadn't dared to ask for, he'd given willingly to someone else.

It turned out that what he'd dismissed as useless, he'd only considered useless when it came to me.

The men in the private hall watched the two figures below disappear into the distance, their voices tinged with envy.

"The Don really does care about the Princess. Every single day, he flies her around himself."

"And when she first arrived and didn't know any of the Mafia's rules or protocols, the Don walked her through everything himself. He taught her how to read people and find her footing in the black market. Everyone in the territory remembers it."

"Every day?" I echoed.

"That's right. Never missed a day."

A sharp pain stabbed through my chest.

I thought back to the night last week when remnants of an enemy faction ambushed our port. The defenses collapsed, and I was left alone to rally every available soldier and hold the line.

My arm had been torn by shrapnel, and I'd sent him three urgent distress messages in a row.

His only reply was, "You know the port defenses better than anyone. Handle it yourself. I'm dealing with something important."

And then, three days ago, there'd been a power struggle within the Family.

The old-guard capos had led the charge, pressuring me to hand over control of logistics. Cornered on all sides, I'd reached out to him for help.

His response was dismissive. "You've been with me for years. You can't handle something this small? Deal with it yourself."

I never made a fuss. I never clung to him. All these years, I understood how brutal his rise had been, how many times he'd cheated death to get where he was.

I'd believed that everything keeping him busy was for the organization, for our future.

But the truth? The "important business" he'd mentioned was just spending time with another girl. My tears fell before I could stop them.

This was the best view in the entire territory, yet I couldn't feel any of it.

Suddenly, one of the men rushed over, phone in hand. "Urgent call from the Don."

The moment I picked up, Dante's furious voice came roaring through.

"Where are you? The estate is completely unguarded, and the Family's logistics are a mess!"

For ten years on the run, I had been his only escape route and the unshakable force at his back.

When assassins came for him, I'd shielded him with my own body. When he lost a power struggle, I'd poured every cent and every connection I had into turning things around.

When he finally became Don, it was I who kept the Family's entire logistics operation running, navigating the politics among the capos.

He never bothered with the Family's day-to-day affairs or the feuds between factions. Because he was certain that no matter when he looked back, I would always be there, always cleaning up every mess he left behind.

I answered slowly. "I'm looking at my brooch design."

He scoffed. Then came a forceful command.

"Get back here now. I'm heading overseas tomorrow to negotiate an arms deal. Have all the classified files, routes, and personnel assignments ready before I leave."

Always taking me for granted. Always expecting it as his due. I said nothing and hung up.

One of the men handed me the ruby he'd fetched. I turned the flawless pigeon's blood ruby over in my fingers, satisfied.

After entrusting it to a jeweler to craft into a brooch, I ordered my men to take me to the castle.

Chapter 2

Dante's private helicopter sat on the lawn outside headquarters. He must have returned early.

The moment I stepped out, the guard at the entrance handed me a ring studded with small diamonds. "The Don asked me to deliver this to you."

I glanced at it and didn't take it. Instead, I told him to pass it along to the garbage collector in the morning.

I pushed open the castle's ornate doors. This ten-story Gothic manor was the gift Dante had given me to compensate for the ten years I'd spent by his side after he'd claimed the title of Don.

Everyone assumed he'd shown me plenty of respect, but every property deed and ownership stake in the organization was in his name alone. None of it had anything to do with me.

All I got was the grunt work of logistics.

He said that at his level, no outsider could be trusted. So I was the one dodging bullets. I was the one weathering every political battle. I was the one managing every mundane task for the Family.

Suddenly, a crackling burst cut through the air, and everything went dark.

A short in the surveillance system had blown the castle's circuits.

Static hissed through the cavernous hall, and the security system was partially disabled.

In the past, whenever anything went wrong, I would always stay up through the night to diagnose and fix it.

But this time, standing in the empty hall, I had no strength left.

I sank to the floor, and right then, my best friend, Lucia Bennett, called from overseas. She was a world-class arms designer. Years ago, I'd turned down her offer to work together so I could help Dante build the organization.

"Val! I heard Dante is about to finalize the Family's marriage contract. Ten years by his side, and you're finally getting your happy ending? I've already loaded up ten cargo ships of munitions as a wedding gift for you!"

The old wound on my arm throbbed. I said flatly, "There won't be a wedding."

"Valentina, are you out of your mind?!" Lucia's voice shot up on the other end. "Back when Dante was just a street thug, you threw away your future, risked everything to help him build connections, dodged assassins, and founded the whole operation! You stood by him from nothing all the way to Don, and now that he controls both sides of the law, you're just going to walk away?"

I listened to her outrage, unsure how to begin. "Lucia, did you know I ordered a custom ruby brooch tonight? Before, I wouldn't have even dared to dream of it!"

Lucia said nothing, just listened quietly.

"I live in a ten-story mansion now, wearing a pigeon's blood ruby worth a fortune, answering to one man and commanding thousands. But none of it compares to the days when we hid in abandoned warehouses fighting rats for bread, or lay side by side in trenches dodging bullets. Back then, the suffering went both ways. Now, the sweetness has nothing to do with me."

A long silence hung on the other end before Lucia spoke, her voice choked.

"Val, I'll always be on your side. There's an opening for a lead designer at our headquarters in Europe. Your talent never went anywhere. Come back whenever you're ready. The position has always been yours."

I blinked back the heat behind my eyes. "Thank you."

Just then, a citywide broadcast rang out. "Happy eighteenth birthday to Princess Colette. May every year bring her joy, and may she keep his devotion all to herself."

I followed the sound outside. A massive airship hovered overhead, while intimate photographs of the two of them filled the sky.

That airship was a classified asset from the organization's research division, authorized for emergencies only. Its construction cost was astronomical, and it burned through several million dollars every minute it stayed airborne. Even when a bullet had torn through my abdomen and I was barely clinging to life, he hadn't been willing to deploy it.

Now he'd rather risk exposing a classified asset than miss the chance to make Colette smile.

People poured into the streets, buzzing with talk.

"Don Moretti's not even trying to hide it anymore. She's as good as family already!"

"She's from a respectable family, and she's sweet and gentle. No wonder the Don fell for her. He's suffered long enough and finally found someone tender."

Watching it all, I knew it was time to walk away.

Chapter 3

I turned and headed for the castle's basement, where my toolbox and design blueprints had been sealed away for years, untouched.

The moment I wiped the dust off the precision instruments I hadn't used in ten years, they gleamed as bright as the talent that had never left me.

I inspected every piece carefully for damage.

Years ago, when Dante's funding had collapsed and rival organizations had intercepted his arms shipments, it was I who'd stayed up night after night, modifying weapons, machining precision components, and earning enough from one contract after another to stabilize the situation.

I'd hidden my talent and made myself smaller, choosing to support him from the shadows for ten years. From now on, I would live only for myself.

The next morning at dawn, a sharp pounding shattered the silence.

I opened the door to find Dante in full black tactical gear, his expression carrying its usual cold severity.

"You were gone all night. The estate had no one on watch, and logistics fell apart. Do you have any idea how close we came to a security crisis?"

Instead of scrambling to apologize the way I always had, I kept my head down and continued organizing my design instruments.

Seeing that I didn't react, Dante's gaze swept over the equipment in my hands, his tone dripping with contempt. "Why are you still holding on to this outdated junk?"

Junk?

"Dante, have you forgotten that this so-called junk is exactly what turned the tide for you?"

Dante's face darkened. He had no understanding of my restraint or my heartbreak. He pressed impatiently, "Did you finish preparing everything I assigned you yesterday? I'm leaving soon."

"No." My voice was flat as I continued packing my things.

"Valentina!"

His tone turned sharp, carrying the full weight of the Don's authority. "This deal determines the Family's survival. Can you afford the consequences of holding things up?"

"Handle it yourself." I straightened and met his gaze, my eyes holding nothing but indifference. "I'm tired. I don't want to clean up after you anymore."

Dante stared at me in disbelief, as if seeing me for the first time. "You sit around in logistics all day with everything provided for you, and handling a few small tasks wears you out? Stop throwing a tantrum."

He turned and sat down on the sofa. A servant came in from outside, wheeling in a three-tiered buttercream cake. The moment the servant noticed me, his expression tensed, as if he were hiding something.

It obviously wasn't meant for me. Colette's name was written across it.

I remembered ten years ago, right after we'd survived the most dangerous faction siege, hiding out in a border town just to stay alive.

A bakery window on the street had displayed cakes of every kind. Dante had pulled a burger from inside his jacket and pressed it into my hands. His voice was quiet. "Do you want some cake?"

We'd just barely escaped with our lives. We had no money.

I shook my head quickly. "Just looking. I like burgers better anyway."

Dante slammed his fist into the snowbank on the roadside and swore to me, "Val, once I've made it, I'll buy every bakery on this street and have them all bake for you."

But later, when we were out and passed a bakery and I was about to bring it up, he'd cut me off with irritation. "How old are you? You still want kid stuff?"

Those promises had just been empty words to keep me going.

I took out my phone and calmly called the Family's ceremonial office, canceling the engagement ceremony that was supposed to formalize our ten years together.

Dante's eyes went cold. "Why are you canceling the engagement ceremony?"

"It's off. Our engagement is void."

Dante studied me for a long time, dismissing it as a tantrum. His reassurance was half-hearted at best. "We've been together ten years. A title is just a formality. There's no need to make an issue of it."

I looked up at him suddenly.

"If I left one day, walked away from you for good, what would you do?"

Dante froze for a moment, then laughed out loud, dripping with arrogance. "Valentina, everything you have came from me. Without my protection, where would you even go? You wouldn't dare leave, and you couldn't if you tried."

Every word was a blade, crushing the last trace of attachment I had left.

After everything I'd given him over ten years, he saw it as nothing more than a way for me to cling to him for survival.

Chapter 4

I was about to speak when a commotion erupted outside. "Princess, you can't go in there. This is Ms. Russo's private residence."

Colette ignored my bodyguard's attempts to stop her and barged straight in.

Dante immediately rose to greet her, a tenderness in his eyes I had never seen before.

"Dante, I'm here!"

Dante never allowed anyone in the organization to address him as anything but "Don."

Even in front of the staff, I could only call him "Don Moretti."

Colette's eyes lit up at the sight of the buttercream cake. "Dante! You actually made me a cake yourself!"

Dante was allergic to eggs and never went near anything made with them. A cook who'd joined the staff once made the mistake of asking about it, and by the next day, the cook had vanished.

Colette ignored my presence entirely, smiling as she drew a revolver from the holster at her hip. "Dante, I've been practicing my aim. It's gotten so much better. Want me to show you?"

She scanned the room for a target, and her gaze landed on me. "How about her?"

My bodyguard stepped forward. "Watch yourself. This is Ms. Russo. She's the underboss of this organization."

Tears spilled down Colette's cheeks. "I'm sorry! I just got here. I didn't know. It's just... Dante told me I wouldn't have to answer to anyone once I joined the organization."

Dante raised a hand to stop her apology, his tone indulgent. "It's fine. Not your fault. Valentina's tough. A few bullets won't kill her."

Ten years of taking bullets for him. Ten years of surgical pins holding my bones together.

Colette winked playfully, deliberately glancing my way. "Someone with skin as delicate as mine definitely can't compare to a battle-hardened veteran like Valentina."

Dante sneered. "She's as rough as they come. Nothing feminine about her. Why would you even compare yourself to that?"

One careless sentence erased ten years of sacrifice and restraint. I clenched my jaw, fighting back tears, grabbed my bags, and walked to the door.

This might be the last time I'd ever see him. I turned and said quietly, "Dante, I'm leaving."

But he was too busy cutting cake with Colette to spare me even a glance.

In the days after I left, Dante was busy taking Colette on trips around the world, leaving the organization's affairs completely unattended.

Whenever his men called, all he said was, "Ask Valentina," before hanging up.

When he finally returned, the Family was in chaos. He tried to confront me about it, only to find that he couldn't get through no matter how many times he called.

He went to the castle. It was empty.

In Dante's mind, I was just angry about what had happened.

He was busy figuring out how to placate me when a headline in the latest newspaper caught his eye.

"Welcome Back, Elite Designer Valentina Russo: A Triumphant Return."

At the European International Arms Design Summit, I stood under the spotlight in a crisp, tailored suit.

Precision blueprints in hand, a calm and confident smile on my face.

He traced his fingers over the photo in the newspaper.

In the picture, I looked poised and self-assured, the exhaustion that once marked my face replaced by a radiance he had never seen before.