Chapter 3

When the ceremony ended and guests began filtering toward the banquet hall, I had barely risen from my seat before I was surrounded again.

Victoria walked over to me.

"Now the real game begins."

She patted my cheek.

"Do you know why I'm marrying him?"

I looked at her and said nothing.

"Because I'm going to use the Costa family as a stepping stone to get into the New York Family Alliance."

She leaned close to my ear, her voice soft as a snake uncoiling.

"And you? You're just an old toy he got tired of."

I laughed.

She blinked. Thrown off.

"What's funny?"

"Nothing," I said pleasantly. "I just realized you might have something wrong."

Her expression cooled.

"What?"

I raised my eyes toward the entrance of the banquet hall.

"Some circles," I said, "aren't open to everyone who wants in."

And then — a commotion outside.

Several black armored cars rolled to a stop at the gates of the estate. Doors swung open. A dozen men in dark suits stepped out in sequence, unhurried and precise. Their bearing wasn't that of hired security. It was something else entirely — the weight of people who had spent years at the center of power.

The last car door opened.

A pair of polished shoes met the pavement.

Someone nearby inhaled sharply.

"The Cavalier family?"

Victoria's expression flickered.

Across the room, Leonardo looked toward the entrance without thinking.

And I slowly rose to my feet.

The curtain was going up.

……

When the doors to the banquet hall swung open, the room went silent as if someone had cut the sound.

Every eye drifted toward the entrance.

The armored cars were lined up outside, and the men who stepped through the doors moved in formation — black suits, measured strides, faces carrying the particular blankness of people who had nothing to prove. It wasn't the presence of private security. It was something that came from years spent inside the machinery of real power.

The smile on Victoria's face had gone stiff.

"Who invited them?"

Nobody answered.

Then the last car door opened.

A young man stepped out.

He was in his mid-twenties. His suit fit like it had been built around him. His shoulders were straight, and his face held a sharpness and stillness that didn't belong to someone his age.

Alexander Cavalier.

Heir to the Cavalier family — one of New York's five.

Several people in the room recognized him. Their breathing quieted without them noticing.

Victoria nearly tripped over herself moving to meet him, a smile already assembled on her face.

"Alexander, I'm so honored you could come—"

She extended her hand.

Alexander didn't look at her.

His gaze moved over her as if she weren't there and landed on Leonardo.

"You're Leonardo Costa?"

Leonardo, slightly startled, gave a short nod.

Alexander studied him for a moment. His expression revealed nothing.

"So it's you," he said quietly.

The words were almost casual.

But no one could read them.

Victoria, trying to recover, pulled her unshaken hand back and jumped in. "Alexander, he's my fiancé — the Costa heir. Once we're married, we'll be entering the Alliance together—"

"Entering the Alliance?"

Alexander finally turned to look at her. His gaze was flat.

"On whose authority?"

The banquet hall went completely quiet.

Victoria's composure cracked slightly at the edges. She held her smile together through sheer will.

"The Cavalier family has always supported Russo Group. This union is about consolidating resources—"

"Support?"

Alexander gave a short, quiet laugh.

There was nothing warm in it.

"The Russo Group is an external affiliate of the Cavalier family."

"External."

The word landed like a slap.

Victoria's face went rigid.

And then Alexander's gaze shifted — to me.

He paused for a beat.

Then, in full view of the room, he walked toward me.

Victoria moved instinctively to block his path.

"She's just a jealous ex who came here to cause trouble—"

Alexander stepped around her without breaking stride.

He stopped three feet in front of me.

And gave a slight, deliberate bow.

"Miss Moretti."