Chapter 5 - THE PRENUPTIAL AUDIT
The manila folder Dante placed on the marble coffee table contained explosive financial data compiled by Romano, the family’s chief legal counsel. Flipping through the crisp pages, I saw the undeniable proof: Tommaso’s personal bank accounts had received three successive wire transfers originating from an offshore corporate entity registered in the Cayman Islands under the name Vanguard Holdings. "Vanguard is a front," Dante explained, pacing slowly across the rug with his hands tucked into his tailored trouser pockets. "It’s a shell corporation utilized by the Moretti family—our primary rivals in the North Side union disputes. They knew that if you and I divorced cleanly, you would trigger the multi-million-dollar prenuptial payout, injecting massive liquid capital into your name. By cutting off your funds and forcing you into poverty, they hoped to break your spirit, isolate you from my protection, and eventually use your desperation as leverage against my empire."
The cold realization washed over me like freezing water. My starvation, the cracked phone, the three dollars in my wallet—none of it had been a random stroke of bad luck. It was a calculated, multi-layered trap engineered by enemies who understood that the only way to crack the most feared Don in the city was to target his weakest, most vulnerable point: his discarded wife. I looked up at Dante, seeing the dark, brooding fury etched into his sharp jawline. "They didn't just want to hurt me, Dante," I whispered, my hand resting gently on my stomach. "They wanted to ensure your child was born in the dirt, making us both permanent liabilities." Dante stopped pacing, his dark eyes locking onto mine with an intensity that burned away all remaining doubt. "They failed," he vowed, his voice dropping into a lethal, steady promise. "Every single person who touched that money, who helped draft those forged settlement papers, or who watched you suffer will pay with everything they own."
