Chapter 4 - The Former Fiancée
Isabella Vanci walked up the marble steps with the supreme confidence of a woman who believed she owned everything her eyes fell upon. Her red-soled heels clicked sharply against the stone, echoing in the quiet courtyard.
"Marco," Isabella said smoothy, stopping five feet away. "Move aside."
"Signorina Vanci," Marco replied, his voice flat and unyielding. "You are not welcome on the Moretti estate. Signor Luca is currently in Milan."
"I know where Luca is," Isabella sneered, her eyes shifting past Marco to lock onto Sophia. She scanned Sophia’s simple sweater, jeans, and flour-dusted sneakers with undisguised contempt. "So this is the little debt-settlement bride from America. My goodness, Luca's standards have fallen lower than I thought."
Sophia stepped out from behind Marco, gesturing for him to stand down. "Can I help you, Ms. Vanci? Or did you just come all the way up the mountain to critique my wardrobe?"
Isabella’s blue eyes narrowed. "I came to give you a warning, girl. You think because you put a cheap platinum ring on your finger that you're the Signora of this house? You're a temporary placeholder. A financial transaction."
"A legal transaction," Sophia corrected calmly, crossing her arms over her chest. "Which makes me the Signora. You, on the other hand, are trespassing."
Isabella let out a harsh, bitter laugh. "Do you even know why our engagement ended, Sophia? Luca broke it off because he knew what he was—a monster. A man too big, too brutal, too terrifying for a civilized family. I left him because looking at him made my skin crawl."
Sophia felt a flare of white-hot anger ignite in her chest—not for herself, but for the quiet, gentle giant who spent every day believing he was unlovable because of people like Isabella.
"You didn't leave him because he's a monster, Isabella," Sophia said, her voice dropping into a deadly, steady quiet that made Isabella falter. "You left him because you're weak. You looked at a man of real strength, real power, and real honor, and you were too small-minded to see past his height."
Isabella’s face went pale with fury. "How dare you—"
"I dare because this is my house now," Sophia interrupted, taking a firm step toward the blonde woman. "Luca is my husband. And if you ever speak about him with that condescending tone again, I won't just have Marco throw you out—I'll carry you down the driveway and throw you through those iron gates myself."
Marco had to turn his head away to conceal a wide, triumphant grin.
Isabella stood frozen, humiliated and shocked by the sheer defiance coming from a woman half her size. She snapped her sunglasses back over her eyes, her lips trembling with rage.
"Enjoy your little fairytale while it lasts, Sophia," Isabella spat, backing away toward her car. "Matteo will have Luca’s head by the end of the week. And when Luca falls, you'll be left with nothing."
She slammed her car door shut, and the sedan sped down the driveway, gravel spraying in its wake.
In Milan, inside the opulent, smoke-filled boardroom of the Moretti Syndicate, Luca sat at the head of a long mahogany table. Surrounding him were ten veteran mob bosses, their faces hardened by decades of bloodshed and power struggles.
Matteo sat directly across from him, looking thoroughly displeased.
"The marriage is registered with the church and the state, Don Luca," an elderly boss named Don Antonio announced, reviewing a stack of legal documents. "The terms of your father's charter have been met. Your leadership of the Syndicate remains absolute."
Matteo slammed his hands on the table. "This is a farce! He married a nameless American baker to exploit a loophole! She doesn't belong to our world! She probably cowers in fear every time he enters the room!"
Luca slowly leaned forward, placing his heavy forearms on the table. The sheer physical menace radiating from him caused the room to go dead silent.
"My wife," Luca said, his voice like grinding stone, "has more courage in her little finger than you have in your entire body, Matteo. She took one look at me and didn't blink. She accepts me. And if you ever question her place at my side again, I will consider it a declaration of war against my house."
Before Matteo could reply, Luca's phone vibrated on the table. It was a text message from Marco.
Signorina Vanci arrived at the estate. Tried to intimidate Signora Sophia. Signora Sophia told her she was weak and threatened to throw her through the iron gates herself. Signorina Vanci left in tears.
Luca stared at the screen for a long moment.
May you like
Slowly, deliberately, a dark, incredibly proud smile spread across his face—a look so fierce and triumphant that even the old bosses around the table exchanged uneasy glances.
Luca stood up, buttoning his suit jacket. "The meeting is over. I am going home to my wife."
