Chapter 3

Serena POV I stood in the center of the high-security penthouse, a silent observer of the chaos I had summoned. By dawn, I had hired a crew of neutral, heavily armed contractors. Now, they moved with a methodical purpose, dismantling the advanced medical technology and intricate security grids I once installed. I built this marital fortress with my own clinic earnings, laundering blood money for five years to make this place impenetrable. When I arrived, the biometric locks still recognized my fingerprints-a testament to his arrogance. Dante never believed I would leave. The chime of the private elevator doors was a soft, incongruous sound in the cavernous room. Dante marched into the living area, Sofia a trembling shadow behind him. My eyes fixed on her feet. She was struggling to balance on her high heels amidst the thick cables, but clutched in her hands were my custom silk slippers, a pathetic attempt to claim my space. Dante stopped, his gaze sweeping over the men ripping thick cables from the walls. "What the hell are you doing in my house?" he demanded, his tone assuming I had crawled back to beg. "Drop the slippers." I did not raise my voice. I did not look at Dante. My stare remained fixed on Sofia. She shrank back, her fingers tightening on Dante's sleeve, her terror a palpable thing. Dante scoffed, shaking his head. "You are being ruthless over footwear now?" Without breaking my stare, I reached into an open medical supply box and pulled out a pair of sterile, disposable paper booties. I threw them, and they struck Sofia squarely in the chest. "Put those on if you wish to walk here. And drop my property." Sofia let out a small whimper and hastily dropped the silk slippers onto the dusty concrete. Furious, Dante stepped toward me, his chest puffed in a primal display of dominance. "The deed to this penthouse is in my name," he snarled. "You have no right to touch anything." I pulled my encrypted tablet from my bag, tapped the screen, and held the illuminated slate before his face. "These are the laundering ledgers," I stated. "They total four hundred twenty-eight thousand, six hundred dollars." I let the number hang in the air. "That is the precise sum of my surgical fees that went into outfitting this place." Pivoting, I turned to the head contractor. "Strip everything to the concrete." Suddenly, Sofia gasped and stumbled. In a theatrical display, she threw herself toward the sharp edge of a glass coffee table, hitting the floor with a cry of feigned pain. She clutched her wrist, looking up at Dante with tear-filled eyes. "She pushed me!" Dante rushed to her side, dropping to his knees before shooting a murderous glare at me. "Are you insane?" I did not say a word. I tapped my tablet again, pulling up the hidden surveillance footage from the ceiling cameras I installed. I pressed play. The crisp video showed Sofia throwing herself backward while I stood motionless, several feet away. I tilted the screen so Dante had a perfect view. He watched the looping video, swallowing hard as the blood drained from his face. He looked down at Sofia, yet, to my disgust, he kept his arm wrapped around her shoulders. "She is just overwhelmed, Serena," he muttered, his voice thin. A knot of ice formed in my chest, a physical ache that made it difficult to breathe. The air here was thin, used up. Without another glance, I picked up my cat carrier. My black cat mewed softly from within the dark mesh. I walked past them, my footsteps echoing against the bare floors, and stepped into the elevator. As the doors slid shut, I left the great Capo sitting on the floor of a gutted fortress.