Chapter 2

The next morning, I received a confidential letter from Adrian Vale.

Adrian had been a student of my father's old friend and now handled cross-border shipping disputes for the port city's Family council. His letter was clear: the Sokolov family had never demanded Mara by name. What they had actually proposed was three years of priority purchasing rights for grain, medicine, and winter fuel along the northern route, plus a port corridor free from Ravello inspections.

The claim that the marriage required Mara was a lie Camille had fabricated after bribing a Sokolov underboss.

She needed a replacement valuable enough to clean up the mess she'd caused. And Dante needed a respectable ceasefire deal, so he had written my sister's name into it without a second thought.

I brought the letter to Dante. He was in the underground meeting room, listening to reports from the district heads. Both sides of the long table were packed. Camille sat at his right, and in front of her lay a set of dock ledgers she should never have had access to.

I pressed the letter flat on the table. "Call off the marriage. The Sokolovs want supplies and a route through the port, not Mara."

Dante glanced at it but didn't stop the meeting. "Adrian speaks for the neutral mediators, not the Sokolovs. The marriage pact has already been submitted to the council. Pulling out now would be taken as a provocation."

"Then use the Vellano transport network to negotiate with them."

Several men at the table exchanged glances. Before he died, my father had entrusted seven secret freight routes between the port city and the northern territories to seven independent convoy crews. Each crew recognized a single brass bell token as its authority. With all seven tokens together, the entire network could move; without even one, the most critical mountain passes and warehouses stayed closed.

On his deathbed, my father had given six to me. The seventh was left with the Ravello Family as a guarantee of our alliance.

"Give me the seventh token," I said. "I can broker a new deal before the wedding."

Dante leaned back in his chair, his gaze cold. "Your father is dead. Those convoys may not answer to anyone anymore. Besides, the Vellanos only ran errands for the Ravellos for a few years. It's not worth risking the entire Family's safety over."

The room went silent.

I looked at Dante. He had survived the siege on my father's routes, bought loyalty with my money, and built his empire from Vellano warehouses. I realized he hadn't forgotten. He had simply climbed high enough to erase the names of everyone he'd stepped on.

"A few years of errands?" I let out a short laugh. "Without those years, you wouldn't even have the chance to sit here and look down on him."

Camille closed the ledger and spoke gently. "Elena, everyone knows Mr. Vellano helped the Family. But old debts can't stop the shooting. At least if Mara marries into the Sokolovs, she'll be alive."

"Easy for you to say, since you're not the one being thrown to the wolves."

Dante raised his hand to cut me off. "The marriage stands, and the seventh token stays with me. Until the wedding is over, you and Mara remain at the estate. No visitors without my permission."

Two bodyguards moved to stand behind me. I didn't resist. I simply tucked Adrian's letter away. "You can hold me for a few days. You can't hold me forever."

"I never intended to hold you forever." He frowned. "When this is over, things will go back to the way they were."

I looked at him and finally understood. Some people's cruelty doesn't come from hatred. It's precisely because they're certain you'll never leave that they dare to cut you again and again.

That night, I borrowed a phone from one of the maids. I said only three things: "Tell Adrian I agree to my father's contingency plan. Get the leaders of all seven convoys into the city. The seventh token, I'll handle myself."