"My three-year-old maid’s daughter secretly led me upstairs and showed me the woman I planned to marry threatening her mother and implying she could make the little girl disappear. Vivien thought no one important was listening, but she had made one mistake: the child knew exactly which man in that house everyone feared.

Carlo looked up at me, his face pale and sweating. He dropped his weapon, raising his shaking hands in immediate surrender.

"Lorenzo, wait!" Carlo pleaded, his arrogance completely shattered. "We can make a deal! The families can negotiate!"

"You tried to assassinate me in my own home, Carlo," I stated coldly, my finger resting lightly on the trigger. "And you used my fiancée to do it. The time for negotiation ended months ago."

"You don't understand!" Carlo yelled, desperation clawing at his throat. "We had to make a move! You were choking our supply lines! Vivien came to us! She offered us the access codes in exchange for fifty million dollars and a seat at the table!"

I tilted my head, a dark, terrifying amusement flickering in my chest.

"She didn't tell you, did she?" I asked softly.

Carlo frowned, confusion cutting through his panic. "Tell me what?"

"Check your phone, Carlo," I suggested, gesturing with the barrel of my gun. "Check the offshore accounts."

With trembling hands, Carlo pulled his encrypted smartphone from his pocket. He hurriedly opened the secure banking application.

I watched the exact moment his entire world collapsed.

The balance on the screen read zero. Every single account, every hidden trust fund, every operational budget the Moretti syndicate possessed had been completely wiped clean by the virus Vivien had unknowingly deployed.

"No," Carlo whispered, his eyes wide with absolute horror. "Where is the money? What did she do?"

"She didn't do anything," I corrected smoothly. "I did. You are bankrupt, Carlo. Your family is ruined. You have no money to pay your soldiers, no money to bribe the politicians, and no money to rebuild. You are a dead man walking."

Carlo stared at the screen, hyperventilating. He looked up at me, the fight entirely drained from his body.

"Do it," Carlo rasped, closing his eyes in defeat.

I didn't shoot him. I lowered my weapon.