Chapter 3 - The Traitor’s Price
By nightfall, the news of Luca Vital’s spectacular downfall was plastered across every television screen in Chicago. He was denied bail, locked away in a federal holding cell, realizing too late that the quiet, pregnant woman he had underestimated was the true mastermind behind his success.
Back at the Vital estate, Giana was frantically packing her designer bags. Her dream of becoming the new queen of the mafia empire had evaporated in a matter of hours. The federal authorities had already seized the estate’s bank accounts, and she knew the FBI would be knocking on the door to seize the property by morning.
Her phone buzzed. It was an unknown international number.
Giana answered it with trembling hands. "Hello?"
"Did the collar of his jacket give you away, Giana?" Elena’s voice floated through the speaker, terrifyingly calm and smooth.
"Elena! Please, you have to help me!" Giana sobbed, her toxic bravado completely shattered. "Luca forced me into this! He manipulated me! I have no money, the accounts are frozen, and his men are blaming me for the FBI raid! You’re my sister, you have to protect me!"
"I paid your tuition. I furnished your home. I loved you unconditionally," Elena replied, the steady rhythm of a fetal heartbeat monitor echoing softly in the background. "And in return, you helped a man forge documents to declare me insane so you could steal my child."
"I was stupid! I’m sorry!" Giana begged, falling to her knees on the marble floor.
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"You aren't sorry you did it, Giana. You are only sorry that the empire you tried to steal turned out to be made of ash." Elena paused, her tone dropping into absolute zero. "I am stripping you of the Rossi name. You will receive no trust fund, no protection, and no sister. You wanted Luca's bed. Now you can lie in the ruins of it."
The line went dead. Giana dropped her phone, staring around the massive, empty mansion as the distant sound of police sirens grew louder in the snowy night. She had gambled her own blood for power, and she had been left with absolutely nothing.
