Isabella’s POV
"Isabella Rossi, what right do you have to be here?" The current Don of the Vitale family, a brutish old man, slammed his hand on the table. "You're a wanted fugitive!"
"I am a victim."

My voice was calm and clear, without a hint of submission.
"Three years ago, Cassandra Vitale murdered my father. And there was a witness."
I guided Leo to the front.
"Leo, tell them what you saw."
Leo stood trembling at the microphone. Facing the most feared men in the underworld, his legs were shaking.
But he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and seemed to return to that night of horror.

"That night... I was working late... I heard arguing next door..."
"I saw... Miss Viti with a knife... she stabbed Mr. Rossi in the chest..."
"She kept screaming... 'Die, you old bastard'..."
As Leo spoke, Quinn played the restored security footage on the large screen.

The video was grainy, but the evidence was undeniable.
Cassandra committing the murder. Lorenzo arriving later to clean up the scene. Their conversation about how to frame me...
It was all laid bare for everyone to see.
The hall was dead silent.
The Vitale Don's face turned ashen. He collapsed back into his chair.
The truth hung in the air, venomous and undeniable. This wasn't just murder. It was heresy. A desecration of the code itself.
"Lorenzo Romano," the inquisitor's gaze fell on the man kneeling on the floor. "Do you have anything to say about this evidence?"
Logically, he should have defended himself. He should have blamed the now-dead Cassandra, claimed he was deceived.
But he didn't.
He slowly lifted his head. His eyes found mine across the room. I saw the guilt. I saw the bottomless regret. And I saw something else... relief. The look of a man who had finally found the right way to die.
"It's true."
His voice was hoarse, but it carried through the entire hall.
"It was my selfishness that led me to protect a murderer. It was me who forged the evidence and framed Isabella."
"It was me who, for that damned blood oath, betrayed my wife and betrayed my family's honor."
"All of it is my sin."
He didn't mention Cassandra's threats. He didn't mention the pressure from the family.
He took all the filth, all the blame, and pulled it onto himself.
"She is clean. The one who is dirty is me."
He pressed his forehead to the floor.
"I will accept any punishment. I only ask that the Commission... leave Isabella alone."
I looked at him, so pathetic and broken.
You think this is noble, don't you? This grand sacrifice? You think it will earn my forgiveness?
I looked at him, feeling nothing but a vast, cold emptiness.
You're wrong. It's just another insult.