Chapter3

After Vito left for the East Side meeting, the entire estate fell quiet.

I closed the study door, pulled down the blinds, and sat at the computer.

If he thought I'd just throw a tantrum, he really didn't know me at all.

The port internal system login screen popped up.

Entered the master key, access verification passed.

I'd built these systems myself three years ago.

Every funding pathway, every transit account—I'd written the code.

Vito thought he controlled the port because the guns were in his hands.

But the port's true lifeline was data.

I pulled up two years of contract records, starting with the weapons transfer line.

Scrolled back in time.

A year and a half ago.

An encrypted agreement popped up.

Signatory: Russo Family.

Partner: Kovac Group.

I stared at the signing date.

I remembered it clearly because the feds had just inspected the port that day. That was the day I'd re-laundered the accounts while he slept.

I clicked into the agreement details.

Weapons profit distribution percentages were written clearly, Eastern European lines prioritized for Chicago port access, profits directly split.

Which meant—

While I was stabilizing the West Side for him, he'd already signed a profit-sharing agreement with Isabella's family.

I scrolled down.

Another internal integration proposal appeared on screen.

Title read: Post-Marriage Asset Integration Proposal.

I clicked it open.

East Side logistics line merged into Kovac Group.

Additional clause: Ailin Moreno's logistics company shares to be transferred to Isabella's name as pre-marriage integrated assets.

I stared at that line, fingers frozen.

That company—I'd negotiated it alone.

I'd stayed up until dawn with suppliers, pressured shipping costs down for the Russo family. It was the only property truly my own.

He was planning to give it as a dowry.

I sat there, suddenly remembering a night a year and a half ago.

He'd come back to the room late, rain on him, saying negotiations went well. He'd held me, said the West Side was stable, said things would be easier going forward.

Turns out he was already paving the way for someone else then.

The phone vibrated.

It was Vito.

I answered.

"You're checking accounts?" His tone was calm.

"You signed a profit-sharing agreement a year and a half ago," I didn't beat around the bush. "You'd already decided to marry her then?"

Silence on the other end for a second.

"That was strategy," he said.

"Strategy?" I laughed coldly. "We were still sleeping together every night then."

"Private life and family business are handled separately," he said. "You know the rules."

"Do the rules include transferring my company to her?"

He didn't answer immediately.

"Asset integration is for efficiency," he said. "That company was always within the family system."

"It's under my personal name," my voice was very low. "My name is on the contract."

"You're part of the Russo family," he said. "Your resources are too."

"So you thought even informing me was unnecessary?"

His tone began to chill.

"Ailin, you shouldn't interfere with men's political decisions."

Men's.

I gripped the phone tighter.

"I'm your wife."

"You're someone I brought into this circle," he said. "Don't forget, I gave you the opportunity back then."

Those words cut like a knife.

"Opportunity?" I asked slowly. "You think I stabilized the port because you gave me an opportunity?"

"Without me, you wouldn't have gotten into the core," his tone was sharp. "The port belongs to the family, not you."

"Who wrote the systems?" I asked.

He was silent for a moment.

"Don't try to challenge me," he said. "I won't change the layout for personal emotions."

"This isn't personal emotion," I stared at the agreement on screen. "You'd already decided to replace me, just waiting for the right time."

"I made the choice that's best for the family," he said.

"Including using me as a transitional tool?"

"You got position and you got power," he said. "Don't paint yourself as a victim."

I suddenly felt my chest go cold.

A year and a half ago, he'd already signed away the future.

Back then I was still taking bullets for him, fixing accounts for him, defending him in family meetings.

"Did you ever consider telling me the truth?" I asked.

"There was no need," he said. "You could handle it."

That sentence was colder than infidelity.

"The divorce was always inevitable?" I continued asking.

"The alliance needs stability," he said. "Emotion can't interfere with judgment."

"So I was just a phase arrangement."

"Don't use that term." His tone lowered. "You can still stay. I'll give you jurisdiction over part of the West Side port. As long as you don't sabotage the integration."

So in his eyes, my anger was just a variable.

"Vito," I spoke slowly. "Do you really think the port is completely in your hands?"

Silence on the other end.

"Don't do something stupid," he said. "I'm warning you."

The call disconnected.

The study went quiet.

I looked at that agreement from a year and a half ago on screen, my chest slowly growing calm.

He'd planned to abandon me long ago.

He was just waiting for the right moment.

He thought I'd clean up after him like I always had.

I pulled up the port core access interface.

The master administrator name jumped out.

A.M.

Vito controlled hearts and minds, controlled weapons, controlled votes at the conference table.

The port's real encryption keys were with me.

He could take away my marriage.

Could write my company into a dowry.

Could announce a new alliance before the family.

But he didn't know what I really controlled was never those things.

I leaned back in the chair, taking a deep breath.

Since he'd started planning a year and a half ago—

From now on, I should start planning for myself too.