The Principessa’s Mafia Trial: From A Stripped Bride To A Crimson Queen Chapter 10
Shattered Crown
Cain handed me his phone.
I dialed a number I knew by heart and walked toward Dominic.
He was still on his knees. The concentrate had soaked through his suit jacket. His white shirt was stained so dark it looked black. His hands were shaking.
He kept looking at Lucia. She was breathing, barely, but the blood from her head wound was pooling fast.
“You’re insane,” he whispered. “You actually—”
I pressed the phone to his ear.
“Listen.”
The line connected. One ring. Two.
Then an older man answered, already shouting.
“Dominic?! Dominic, is that you?! What the hell did you do?!”
Don Falcone.
Dominic’s father.
Dominic grabbed the phone with both hands. “Dad! Dad, listen to me. The Cavallos attacked the estate. They brought trucks. They—”
“SHUT UP!”
The old man’s voice cracked through the speaker so loud I could hear every word.
“You stupid, worthless boy! Do you have any idea what you’ve done?! Don Cavallo just called me twenty minutes ago. He’s frozen every account we have. Every single one! The ports in Long Beach — sealed. Our warehouse in Phoenix — raided. The casino license — pulled!”
Dominic’s face drained of color.
“No. He can’t do that.”
“HE ALREADY DID! The Cavallos have been in this country for a hundred years, you idiot! They have connections you will never touch! And you put his daughter on her knees and ripped a necklace off her throat?! In front of cameras?!”
“Dad, I—”
“Every major family got those photos tonight. The Savinos, the Morettis, the DeLucas, all of them. They all saw what you did to Vivian Cavallo. And now none of them will touch us. We’re done, Dominic. The Falcone family is finished because of YOU!”
The line went dead.
Dominic lowered the phone slowly. His hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
He looked up at me from his knees, wine and blood dripping off his chin.
“Vivian—”
“Don’t.”
I took the phone back.
“Eight years.” I held up the Cavallo Heart, still clenched in my fist. Blood from the broken chain had dried on my collarbone. “Eight years I gave you everything. My family’s money. My father’s protection. My trust. My loyalty.”
I crouched down so we were eye to eye.
“And tonight, you stripped me naked in front of your men for a woman who’s been back in your life for six months.”
Dominic opened his mouth. Nothing came out.
“My father didn’t destroy you, Dom. You destroyed yourself. The second you touched this necklace, you ended the Falcone family.”
I stood up.
“Enjoy Vegas. You won’t have it much longer.”
I turned and walked toward Cain’s truck.
Cain’s men waved the paramedics in after the courtyard was secured.
She was being loaded onto a stretcher, her head wrapped in white gauze that was already turning pink.
Dominic crawled after me. Through the red water, on his hands and knees, reaching for my ankle.
“Vivian — please — I’ll do anything — tell your father I’m sorry — tell him I’ll make it right—”
I didn’t stop.
I didn’t look back.
Cain opened the truck door for me. I climbed in.
Before he shut it, he turned back to Dominic one last time.
“She gave you eight years, Falcone. You couldn’t even give her one night of respect.”
The door slammed.
The engine started.
And we drove through the shattered wall of the Falcone estate, leaving Dominic kneeling in the ruins of everything he used to own.
The Cavallo Heart sat warm and heavy in my palm.
Broken clasp. Dried blood. Scratched gold.
But still mine.
—