My Mafia Husband Only Fucks Virgins. So I Married The Don. Chapter 09
Queen
The next morning, I walk into Ricci headquarters as majority shareholder.
The old board is already in the conference room. Old capos. Old bookkeepers. Men who wore my father’s name before Lorenzo swallowed it. Men who watched me grow up. Men who let Lorenzo strip us for parts and never said a word.
They sit there with folded arms and half-lifted mouths. The kind of smile you give a girl in a costume.
“Miss Ricci.”
One of them leans back. Doesn’t even bother to hide it.
“With all due respect. The company is a corpse. Payroll for next month doesn’t clear. What exactly do you think you’re going to accomplish by walking in here in heels?”
The others chuckle.
I don’t sit down.
I drop three files on the mahogany table. Three separate thuds.
“Salvatore Enterprises’ exclusive shipping contract. Three years. Signed this morning.”
Thud.
“Priority rights on the new Eastport development. Salvatore-backed.”
Thud.
“And a five-hundred-million-dollar personal wire from Mr. Salvatore. Lands on our books at three PM.”
Dead silence.
I let it sit.
Then I lift my eyes.
“Any other questions about my heels, gentlemen?”
The smiles are gone. Face after face — condescension, then disbelief, then that ugly, greasy softness that men like this switch on when the wind changes.
Thirty seconds. That’s all it takes.
I look at them, one by one. Every man in this room let Lorenzo grind me down for eight years and did nothing.
I don’t say it out loud. I don’t have to. They can feel it.
Nico slams the door open five minutes later. Eyes wet. Grinning like a lunatic.
“Elena! You’re a god! The same guys who wouldn’t take my calls last week are camped outside! They want in! They want anything!”
I lean back in the chair that used to be my father’s.
Tap the desk once.
“Let them wait.”
“Tell them if they want a seat at the table, they bring triple the offer.”
—
When Lorenzo’s name finally disappears off the front pages, I don’t feel empty.
I feel clear.
I don’t want to be anyone’s wife. I don’t want to play their pretty little wars.
I open my laptop and start writing.
The Sanctuary Fund.
Every dollar the courts awarded me out of the Moretti estate. Every asset they clawed back from Lorenzo. All of it — into one foundation.
For the women who ended up where I ended up. Who signed the paper at eighteen because someone was holding their family over a fire. Who stayed because the leash was made of medical bills. Who woke up one morning and realized their husband hadn’t touched them in seven years and had been raping teenagers on their dime.
Legal help. Safe housing. Therapy. Seed money for a new life.
I’m not trying to save anyone.
I just want them to know:
Leaning on a man is the highest-risk investment on earth.
The only safe bet is yourself.
—
I work through the night.
The office empties out. The cleaning crew comes and goes. My assistants pack up. The lights on the floor click off one by one until it’s just my desk lamp and the city below me.
The door opens softly.
Dante.
He’s got takeout in one hand. Doesn’t say anything. Sets the container on my desk. Pulls a chair over. Sits behind me.
He reads over my shoulder in silence.
I brace for it. For the sigh. For the come home, Elena. For the isn’t this cute. For Lorenzo’s voice in a different body.
It doesn’t come.
He just reads. Slow. Careful.
I finish the last slide. Save. Turn.
His eyes are on my face, not the screen.
“I’ve been waiting.”
His voice is quiet. Almost rough.
“Not so you’d need me.”
I go still.
He leans in. Elbows on his knees. His face is closer than it’s been. Not the Don. Not the hunter. Just the man.
“So I could watch you burn.”
My throat closes.
This man has seen every dirty piece of me. My rage. My ambition. My cold, sharp little heart. And every part he’s seen, he’s respected.
I don’t know what to do with that.
He brushes a knuckle down my cheek. Warm.
“Elena. Lorenzo was the appetizer.”
His eyes sharpen. That look he gets right before he moves on someone.
“My family is a whole different animal.”
He tilts his head.
“They’re coming for you next.”