Chapter 31
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
ROSALIA
The morning of the arbitration is finally here, and surprisingly, there isn't a single trace of fear in my blood.
Dominic, Keane, and I have spent the last three days mapping out every single detail, refining a strategy so airtight that Dante won't see the blow coming until he's already bleeding out.
Dominic gave me his word: he will let me take the lead and handle everything. I genuinely can't wait to tear Dante's pathetic illusion of control to pieces.
The atmosphere inside the conference hall at the Caruso estate is suffocating.
Around the long, dark mahogany table, everyone is already in their seats. Dominic sits directly to my left, radiating a lethal, quiet gravity, while Keane stands just behind us.
My personal attorney and Dominic's top corporate counsel sit beside me, their folders neatly arranged. Across the table, my family is seated. Spaced at the head of the long table are three senior, neutral family heads brought in to oversee the proceedings and validate the outcome.
Not a single soul speaks. The room is dead silent, save for the soft ticking of the grand clock on the wall.
Dante hasn't arrived yet. It’s his signature move—arriving late to every major meeting, convinced that making people wait gives him some kind of dominant aura. He's just an arrogant fool playing at power.
Ten minutes past the hour, the double doors at the far end of the hall are thrown open.
Dante walks in, flanked by two of his attorneys.
He moves with a sickening, effortless confidence, his shoulders broad, entirely convinced that his violent threat on the highway three nights ago has broken me.
He believes I'm sitting here terrified, ready to yield everything just to keep a bullet out of Dominic's head.
As he takes his seat directly across from us, his dark eyes flicker over to Dominic, burning with pure, unadulterated hatred.
Dominic doesn't flinch. He rests his chin in his hand, looking completely relaxed, his expression unreadable.
I made him swear an oath before we left the house: he is not allowed to step in or take over unless I explicitly ask him to.
He is keeping his promise, but the sharp, dangerous glint in his eyes says he's just waiting for a reason to snap Dante's neck.
The eldest neutral arbitrator clears his throat, bringing his heavy wooden gavel down once against the sound block.
"This formal arbitration regarding the estate, accounts, and proprietary intelligence of the late Luciano DeLorenzo is now in session."
Dante stands up, buttoning his jacket with slow precision, a triumphant smirk already playing on his lips.
"Honored arbitrators," Dante begins, his voice echoing smoothly through the silent room.
"Luciano’s hidden accounts do not represent personal inheritance.
They contain core DeLorenzo property—critical business records, encrypted clearance codes, binding contracts, and sensitive family assets.
Rosalia, by nature of her marriage into the Kane family, faces an inherent conflict of interest. She cannot legally retain or transfer these materials.
We demand a full surrender of them for immediate review. "
I sit frozen for a moment. I maintain a completely calm exterior but let just enough of a subtle tremble filter into my breath to make Dante believe his midnight threat cut straight to her bone.
Across the wide table, my sisters exchange deeply worried glances, their knuckles white against their armrests. I don’t turn her head to meet my sisters' frantic eyes; I keep my gaze locked strictly on Dante.
"I don't want to fight anymore," I say, my voice quiet, carrying just the right note of exhausted surrender.
Dante’s smirk widens.
"I want no part of Luciano's legacy," I continue. "I am willing to return what belongs to the DeLorenzos. But only if Dante personally confirms, right here before these arbitrators, that this matter ends today."
Dante looks at me, practically vibrating with smug satisfaction. He believes he has broken me. He believes he owns the room.
He leans forward over the table, angling his head close to mine, his voice dropping to a low, toxic purr intended for my ears alone.
"You made the correct choice, Rosalia," Dante whispers, his eyes gleaming with dark amusement. "Women who listen keep their husbands alive."
Daniela bristles, her jaw tight, shooting absolute venom at Dante with her eyes.
I don't lose my composure for a single second. I slowly turn my head, giving my sister a reassuring look. "It's okay, Daniela."
I turn back to face Dante, the tiny, timid act dropping from my posture in an instant. I look over at Dominic, whose dark eyes are already locked onto mine, burning like hot iron.
"Now," I say quietly.
Dominic snaps his fingers.
In a flash, Keane springs into action. The overhead projector hums to life, casting a bright rectangular light over the wide screen behind the arbitrators.
Before Dante can even react, audio and crystal-clear video roar through the room's sound system.
It’s the night of the attack.
High-definition 4K footage from the concealed, military-grade wide-angle cameras mounted on the perimeter of Dominic’s armored SUV fills the screen.
The footage plays Dante hauling me by my hair, the gleaming silver of the blade pressed tight against my throat, and his foul voice echoing through the speakers for every single person in the hall to hear:
“You are going to declare every single account, every clearance code, and every single document to be DeLorenzo property... Because if you drop a single word... I promise you, Rosalia, I will make sure Dominic Kane does not see another day.”
A slow, vicious smile spreads across my face as I watch the color completely drain from Dante's face.
His eyes widen in absolute horror, his smugness evaporating into thin air.
He had chosen that dark, abandoned stretch of highway precisely because there were no municipal street cameras or surveillance units anywhere near it.
What the idiot didn't realize was that every vehicle in Dominic's personal fleet is a mobile, high-tech fortress recorded live to encrypted cloud servers.
Before Dante can even open his mouth to sputter a denial, Dominic's lawyer stands up, slapping a thick folder onto the center of the table.
"Furthermore," the lawyer announces, his voice ringing crisp and clear over the low murmur of the room, "we have full ballistic matches, serial numbers, and paper trails directly linking Dante DeLorenzo's off-book accounts to the mercenaries who executed Mrs. Kane's guards three nights ago."
Instant uproar erupts across the conference hall.
The three neutral arbitrators stand up in anger, slamming their gavels down in unison, while Massimo and the rest of the board start shouting over each other.
Every single head in the room turns on Dante, their faces twisted with disgust, fury, and outright condemnation.
The trap has snapped shut, and he is completely surrounded.
Dante completely loses his mind. Realizing he's been backed into a corner, he turns to me.
"You bitch!" Dante roars, his face turning purple with pure, unadulterated rage. Spurred by embarrassment and desperation, he lunges straight across the table toward me.
He doesn't even make it halfway.
Dominic moves faster than a strike of lightning. He grabs Dante by the throat mid-air, slamming him violently down onto the hard mahogany table. Before Dante can even draw breath to scream, Dominic grabs his right arm, twists it back, and brings his palm down hard on Dante's wrist.
CRACK.
The sickening sound of bone snapping echoes through the hall. Dante screeches in agony, collapsing onto the table as he clutches his broken wrist, sobbing hysterically.
"Touch her again," Dominic growls, his voice a low, terrifying vibrate that makes the entire room freeze. "Touch her again and I won't stop at your wrist."
Dante frantically looks around the room, desperate for support. "Council! He's attacking me! Protect me!"
Not a single soul moves to help him. The three neutral family heads stare down at him with utter disgust. Dante has broken sacred laws of the syndicate—he used fake police colors, executed protected Kane guards, and threatened the life of a sworn wife under extortion.
He is a disgraced liability, and he knows it.
Dominic doesn't kill him right here in front of the Council. That would be too merciful, and too messy for public record.
Instead, Dominic makes a simple gesture.
Keane steps forward with two heavily armed guards, grabbing Dante by his designer jacket and hauling him off the table like a sack of trash.
Dante kicks and screams, his tear-streaked face twisted in panic as he’s dragged out of the grand hall.
I don’t know where they're taking him. I don’t care.
He will be officially stripped of his title, his power, and every shred of DeLorenzo protection. He is erased.
The room slowly settles, though the residual shock hangs heavy in the air.
Dominic turns to me, stepping into the space beside my chair. He extends his hand, his dark eyes searching mine with a quiet, fierce warmth.
I don't hesitate. I reach out and place my hand in his, letting his strong, solid fingers wrap securely around mine as I stand up beside him.
Without Dante’s chaotic pressure and fraudulent claims, the DeLorenzo Council has no legal or physical standing left to fight. The neutral arbitrators quickly rule in our favor, closing the hearing once and for all.
My lawyers immediately step up to finalize the paperwork, officially confirming that Luciano’s hidden accounts, contracts, and immense fortune remain fully, entirely under my sole control.
My father, Massimo, takes a step toward me, his hand slightly raised as if he's about to speak, to offer some stern patriarch's counsel or smooth over the cracks in our broken family tree. Now that I’ve come into new wealth with Luciano’s money, I’m sure he’ll want a cut.
In his dreams.
I hold up a single hand, stopping him dead in his tracks before he can utter a word.
"Don't, Father," I say, my voice steady, cold, and ringing with absolute clarity. I can’t even call him my father anymore. "I am no longer a piece on your board. I am no longer something for you to trade, to protect, or to reclaim. Leave me alone.”
Massimo freezes, looking genuinely shocked, as if the quiet girl he used to dictate terms to has completely ceased to exist. He closes his mouth, finding no words to counter the authority standing in front of him.
Before he can recover, my sisters brush past him, stepping up to surround me. They throw their arms around me, pulling me into a tight, fierce embrace that breathes pure warmth back into my chest.
"I'm so proud of you, Rosalia," Daniela whispers into my shoulder, her voice thick with emotion. "So damn proud."
"You were incredible," Camilla pulls back slightly, her eyes bright with tears as she smiles at me. "So proud."
Beside me, Dominic steps up, resting a warm hand on the small of my back as he looks down at me with burning pride.
"Me too," he says softly.