Chapter 18
The ride to the Del Vale fortress was quiet. Michael was reading files on his phone, and Niko was scrolling through photos of every guest attending–highlighting threats and allies. I just stared at the passing lights, counting the seconds.
When we arrived, the air shifted. Cameras weren’t allowed, but eyes were sharper than lenses. The fortress doors opened, and everything slowed. We stepped through marble halls lined with gold and guards. The old Del Vale blood greeted us, their patriarch kissing both of my cheeks. ike we were long–lost allies.
‘Don Domino’s daughter,” he said, “is more beautiful than rumor.”
Michael responded first. “She is the future of the Montenegro lineage.”
Viko stepped forward. “And she’s the only reason half the names in this room didn’t burn last month.”
We entered the grand ballroom. Chandeliers glowed. Music played softly from a string quartet. Men in black suits and women dripping in diamonds turned to look at us. Whispers followed our steps. No one recognized me yet. And that’s what I wanted.
kept my voice low, my lips barely moving. “Let them guess. A queen never needs to explain her
crown.”
Michael nodded beside me. “Just be ready. These people would poison champagne if it meant gaining an inch.”
Viko smirked. “Let them try. I’ve got blades on me in six places.”
We moved toward our designated table. Our nameplate was blank. Power didn’t need labels.
Across the room, I saw the Salvacion crest flash on someone’s ring.
didn’t blink. I just smiled.
Because tonight, I wasn’t a woman in hiding. I was the storm they never saw coming.
The crowd was still buzzing about my presence when Niccolo–my fucking bastard ex–husband- finally appeared like the poison I knew would crawl through these walls tonight. He stepped intc the ballroom in a sharp black tux, arrogant and cold, with Luca right behind him like a loyal mutt dressed in silk.
Michael leaned closer to me without turning his head and said, “He’s arrived. Position’s right side of the ballroom, flanked by two.”
‘I felt it before I saw it,” I replied under my breath and kept my eyes forward. “Let him breathe the air I own now, brother.”
didn’t flinch. I didn’t even blink. My hand lifted a flute of champagne as if I had no history with the man pacing toward the middle of the room with murder in his eyes and my name likely bleeding in his mind.
In my ear, the soft click of my encrypted comm buzzed. Our surveillance tech whispered, “Margot Salvacion has entered. Blood–red gown, silver mask. She’s trailing your ex.”
I smiled not the kind that meant joy. It was satisfaction. “Of course she is.”
Chapter 18
2/2
55 30
0471
“She’s lurking behind the eastern pillar. We have eyes.”
“Good,” I murmured. “Let the whore watch me from the shadows like she belongs there.”
I turned my attention back to the international players surrounding me. The Saudi prince toasted to future trade, and I met his glass with grace and steel. The Russian mafia widow eyed me with silent respect and nodded, and I returned the gesture with a sip. The Japanese smuggler handed me a folded card of intel in exchange for a whispered promise of cooperation. Michael slid the data to Niko without a word.
“We’re making a statement tonight,” Niko whispered. “The room feels it.”
“We’re not here to blend in,” I told them. “We’re here to remind them that the Montenegros nevei vanished. We just waited.”
And then I walked.
I moved across the ballroom, past Niccolo. I felt him pause, his body tensing as if someone had just pressed a blade to his back. His eyes locked onto me, almost. Almost. But he didn’t see me behind the mask, behind the dress, behind the fire I now wear like skin. He just felt something.
I heard his voice, low and sharp to Luca.
“Who the hell is she?”
Luca’s reply didn’t reach me. But I saw the way his eyes narrowed. He was reading me. His instincts weren’t dull. He just didn’t know he was staring at the consequence of everything they buried.
I didn’t stop. I let the silence wrap around me as I climbed to the VIP balcony box overlooking the auction floor. My place. My throne tonight.
Michael and Niko took their seats beside me as the auction began. One by one, treasures of corruption and decadence were paraded across the stage. A Monet from a stolen vault. A deed to a private island off the Italian coast. Black–market Al software for drone warfare. The crowd went wild.
And then it came–the port code.
Encrypted. Dangerous. Salvacion–stamped. One of the very codes we intercepted from the hijacked shipment I ordered rerouted to Montenegro–controlled waters.
“Do it,” I whispered.
Michael nodded once. Our bidder raised the card.
The numbers escalated fast. Niccolo’s bidder tried to keep pace. I didn’t blink.
When I outbid him by three million, the hammer came down.
Sold.
To me.
Michael leaned closer and said, “You just bought back what he lost. While he bleeds trying to chase shadows.”
And I finally turned my head just enough to look down at Niccolo. He was clenching his jaw so tight, I thought it would snap. He doesn’t know who I am tonight. But he knows what power smells like. And I will make sure he drowns in it. Then the music started.
Chapter 18
12:55 pm Pppp.
Through the earpiece, my spy told me that Margot’s eyes were on me because Niccolo kept staring at me. Told me Margot was so mad that her hand almost broke the wine glass. Told me Niccolo was whispering again to his right hand, Luca, asking who I was, asking for names, trying to get past the mask.
I didn’t flinch. I just kept dancing. My smile never left my lips even as my mind burned. I let the prince guide my steps across the floor like I wasn’t watching Margot’s every twitch and Niccolo’s every stare.
The music shifted again. I twirled, and I could feel Niccolo stepping toward me like a hound catching scent, and just when he tried to cut in, I slipped away, laughing politely and nodding toward the violinist like I had somewhere else to be.
I walked toward the powder room, head held high, hands cold but steady, and heels striking the marble like war drums. I didn’t blink when I saw her reflection waiting by the sink.
