I walked into the Falcone famiglia meeting wearing a sharp white suit.
The elders froze the moment they saw me.
Their faces were a mix of shock, disdain, and wariness.

Scarpa sat at the head of the table. His expression was dark.
Elisa was seated next to him. She bristled like a cat that had been stepped on. "Viviana? What are you doing here? This is a famiglia meeting. You're an outsider—"
"An outsider?"
I stopped in front of her and dropped a document folder onto the table. "Open your eyes, Signora."
The papers slid out. They were ownership certificates for two Nimbussa docks and the profit rights for the two casinos.
At the bottom of the documents was my signature.

"These assets never belonged to the Falcones. They've always been under my offshore company. The famiglia's investment was a cover, and Don knows it."
I looked at Scarpa. His lips pressed tight. He couldn't say a word.
He remembered. Back then, I was the one who insisted on isolating these assets to avoid risks.
Only the two of us knew about this,

He thought that once I went to prison, these things would naturally become his.
He forgot that I always kept a backup door.
Elisa shrieked, "You're lying! Those docks are the famiglia's—"
"Then explain why the profits have been flowing into Saniel account LX‑4495. Why is the emergency contact on that account listed under my name?"
I straightened, scanning the room. "At current valuation, these assets make up nearly a third of the famiglia's total worth. By tradition, I have the right to claim a seat in the Falcones."
The meeting room was dead silent.
I turned to Zorn Marino, who was seated to my left. He controlled Balvan's entertainment sector. His son owed me his life.
"Zorn, I hear your grandson wants to leave Nelcaro."
I slid a key across the table. "There's a beachfront villa in Pelican Bay. I can put it under his name. In exchange, I think the deed to Nightingale Bar should change hands."
Zorn's eyes lit up. He nodded slowly. "I'll take the key."
"I'll give you my southern hotel chain in exchange for 20% of future casino profits."
"I'll hand you my arms district, too."
The defections fell like dominoes.
In less than ten minutes, I held leverage over more than half the famiglia.
I pulled out the chair that had always been empty beside Scarpa. It was my Papa's chair.
"Do I qualify to be here now?"
Elisa shot to her feet and jabbed a finger at me. "You… You bitch! You planned all of this!"
Scarpa slapped her so hard she collapsed back into her seat.
"Shut up!"
His eyes were bloodshot as he glared at her. "If you had done your job and checked the books even once—"
"You hit me?" she screamed, clutching her face in disbelief. "For someone like her?"
Scarpa hurled the documents at her. "You nearly destroyed the entire famiglia! If we'd lost those docks, we wouldn't even have leverage against the Corleones!"
The room dissolved into chaos. I watched the scene unfold with detachment. I felt nothing.
I pulled out my phone and sent Chris a message. "Step one is complete."
"Well done, my queen," he replied almost instantly.
The meeting broke apart in bitterness.
From there, the accidents started. Shipments at the dock kept getting lost. Tax agents raided underground casinos. And worst of all, the world's most crime-ridden city cut ties with the Falcones.
I replaced key positions, purged Elisa's lackeys, and quietly tightened my grip on the famiglia.
Scarpa collapsed.
He locked himself in the master bedroom of the estate for days. When I saw him again, he was unshaven and had sunken eyes. The scent of whiskey clung to him so strongly that it could be smelled from several feet away.
He stopped my car on a rain-soaked night.
I had just finalized the last shipment with Zoen.
"Viviana," he said in a hoarse voice as rain streaked through his graying hair. "Give me five minutes."
I lowered the window.
"We've already said everything there is to say, Don Falcone."
"I was wrong," he said, gripping the doorframe. "I finally realized I was wrong.
"For five years, not a day passed without my thinking about you. I went to see you, but you turned me away every time. I thought you hated me. So, I used Elisa to numb myself. I thought that the higher I raised her, the more you would regret it. But I've only ever loved you."
He reached for my hand. His eyes held the deep affection I once knew so well. "Let's start over. I'll send Elisa away. Come back as my right hand. It'll be like before—"
"Like before?" I cut in with a laugh. "Back to being your obedient gun? Killing when you ordered me to, and taking the fall when I got in the way?"
He finched.
I leaned closer to the car window and stared into his eyes. "You said you loved me, but you shot me and married another woman.
"Don't use that word, Scarpa. Coming from you, it smells worse than rotten fish on the docks."
My words cracked his mask. He closed his eyes in agony.
"I know I've wronged you, but we've been together for 20 years. Your father told me to look after you on his deathbed…"
He's using my dad as a shield again.
It was his favorite tactic—emotional blackmail and moral coercion.
The old me might have fallen for it, but not anymore.
"My father told you to protect me," I said slowly, each word deliberate. "Not to teach me how to live on my knees. If he were alive, he'd regret ever saving you. He'd break your legs himself and make you kneel in front of me."
Scarpa trembled. His face went pale.
I raised the window. Before the rain cut him off, I gave him one last look. "You're not worthy to speak of his last wish."
The car slid into the storm. I saw him drop to his knees on the flooded pavement through the rearview mirror.
I lit a cigarette.
Manipulation was Scarpa's greatest skill.
But I was immune to it now.
His love was cheap and selfish.
And I, Viviana Romano, want nothing of it.