Page 30 of The Mafia King's Reign

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“I don’t punish traitors because I’m angry,” I tell him. “I punish them to remind the world who owns it.”

I stand, nod once.

Raffaele steps forward.

The scream that follows is… thorough.

I leave before it finishes.

The drive back to the estate is silent.

By the time I enter the house, it’s after midnight. The halls are quiet, dimly lit.

I don’t go to my office.

I go to her wing.

I don’t intend to see her.

I need to know she’s still there.

Still where I put her. Still exactly where she's meant to be. I pull up the video feed on my phone, and it flickers to life.

She’s not crying this time. She’s at the desk, laptop open, systematically researching.

She searches for information on the Vitale and Castellano families, but there isn’t much to find. My family’s legitimate businesses span the country, and she combs through those public assets carefully. What she’s really looking for is the syndicate that doesn’t exist on paper. Our records are wipedclean as a matter of routine. There’s nothing there. There never is.

She’s not collapsing. She’s not giving up.

She’s learning.

I lean closer to the screen, fascinated.

She’s building a map. Trying to understand the world she’s been pulled into. Trying to find angles, leverage, ways to survive.

That’s Castellano blood. That instinct to strategize, to gather intelligence, to prepare.

Her face is pale but focused.

She’s not breaking down. She’s adapting.

There you are, I think. There’s the woman I knew you could be.

My phone is in my hand before I fully decide to do it.

I watch her on the screen as I type:

You’re researching.

She freezes. Looks around her room, confused. Then at her laptop.

Then at her phone when it buzzes.

She picks it up and reads my message.

Types back:How do you know what I’m doing?

I know everything that happens in my house.

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