Chapter 4

That was the deal Neal had been desperate to secure for months.

He had mentioned it constantly, boasting that once the five-hundred-million-dollar contract was signed, the Moretti Family would finally have enough legitimate business to expand its influence across the East Coast.

What he didn't know was that Malcolm Lambert, the head of the Lambert Consortium, was my mentor.

Malcolm had always valued my abilities.

In fact, the Lambert Consortium had been interested in working with me from the beginning.

I had originally planned to bring the contract to the Morettis as a gift to Neal when he finally proposed.

But now, everything had changed.

Without me, Neal and Tania didn't stand a chance of securing that deal.

And without the Lambert contract, the Moretti empire Neal was so proud of wasn't nearly as stable as he believed.

By the time I returned home, the adrenaline had worn off.

I stood in front of the bathroom mirror and stared at the handprint across my cheek.

The tears I had held back all night finally fell.

My phone kept vibrating.

The Moretti Family group chat showed more than ninety-nine unread messages.

I opened it.

My blood went cold.

The chat was flooded with videos from the hospital.

Every one of them showed Neal taking care of Tania.

In one, he gently wiped her face.

In another, he carefully tucked the blanket around her.

Then, encouraged by several people standing around the bed, Neal lowered his head and pressed a tender kiss to Tania's forehead.

The comments underneath came one after another.

[They're perfect together.]

[Don Gilbert treats her so well. I'm jealous.]

I stared at the screen, my fingers trembling.

For years, Neal had refused to show me even the smallest sign of affection whenever other members of the Family were around.

He wouldn't sit beside me at formal dinners.

He wouldn't arrive at Family gatherings with me.

Sometimes, he wouldn't even get into the same car if too many people were watching.

His excuse was always the same.

He was the Don.

I was his underboss.

We had to keep our relationship separate from Family business.

Because of that, people whispered behind my back for years.

They called me desperate.

A gold digger.

A woman who had used the Don's bed to climb into the underboss's chair.

Neal knew.

He never defended me.

And now he was openly holding Tania in his arms and kissing her forehead in front of everyone.

So all those rules about keeping business separate from our relationship had never really been rules.

They had only ever applied to me.

Whatever attachment I still had to Neal disappeared in that moment.

I deleted every message between us.

Then I blocked his number.

His private account.

Everything.

Finally, I opened our chat one last time.

My fingers hovered over the screen.

For five years, I had imagined countless versions of our future.

In the end, all I sent him were four words.

[Neal, we're done.]

I stared at the message for a second.

Then I hit send.