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The Moment the Mafia Boss Claimed the Wrong Sister“And after he discovers the truth?” Nora’s voice did not shake, though her heart was hammering a frantic, erratic rhythm against her ribs. / Chapter 3 / 6

Chapter 3 - A DANGEROUS CONTRACT

Why the Curvy Scapegoat Is Worth More Than the Golden GirlNora stepped back, breaking his touch. Her mind, usually a fortress of logic and numbers, was spinning out of control.

"You knew?" she repeated. "Then why go through with the ceremony? Why drag me into this?"

"Because Vanessa Bennett is a vacuous, predictable liability," Luca said, walking over to his desk and picking up a thick manila folder. He tossed it onto the table between them. "She spent her life spending money she didn't earn. But you... you are the ghost who runs Bennett Maritime."

He opened the folder, revealing pages of financial audits, contract negotiations, and corporate restructuring plans. Every single one of them bore Nora’s hidden watermark or internal routing number.

"You discovered the twelve-million-dollar leak in their eastern accounts," Luca continued, his grey eyes locked onto hers with intense fascination. "You negotiated the terms of the terminal leases that your father took credit for. You are the brain of that entire empire, Nora. Vanessa was just the window dressing."

Nora stared at the files. "You investigated me."

"I don't enter partnerships blindly," Luca replied. "I needed a Bennett to legally secure the shipping routes. But more than that, I needed a genius to help me clean up the corruption inside my own organization. There is a mole inside the DeSantis family feeding information to the feds and rival families. The hit tonight at the wedding? They knew exactly when security would be lowered."

He walked closer, his presence wrapping around her like a heavy velvet blanket.

"I don't want a trophy wife who cries at the sight of blood. I want a partner who can look at a spreadsheet and tell me who is stealing my money. I want you."

Nora swallowed hard. The terror was slowly being replaced by something else—a strange, intoxicating sense of recognition. For twenty-seven years, her family had treated her like an embarrassing secret. Yet this brutal mafia kingpin saw her exact worth.

"And what do I get out of this?" Nora asked, her business instincts kicking in despite the adrenaline. "I was forced into this dress."

"You get your freedom from Conrad Bennett," Luca said. "And I already know about your grandmother, Evelyn. By tomorrow morning, she will be moved into a private, state-of-the-art medical villa on the coast, protected by my men. Your father will never be able to touch her or use her as leverage against you again."

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The ink on the emergency audit report was barely dry when the secure terminal on my desk flashed a violent crimson. I hadn't slept in thirty-six hours, my eyes burning from staring at columns of ghost figures, duplicate invoices, and shell corporations linked to Dominic Rossi. But the red alert wasn’t from Rossi’s faction. It was an internal security flag originating from the estate’s main vault deep beneath the west wing.

The ink on the emergency audit report was barely dry when the secure ter...

The glass shattered into a thousand tiny diamonds on the marble, scattering the light from the chandeliers. The muffled laughter died instantly, replaced by a suffocating, heavy silence that crept outward from the grand staircase.

The glass shattered into a thousand tiny diamonds on the marble, scatter...

The heavy oak doors of my private study clicked shut behind us, locking out the clinical, terrifying silence of the kitchen. Evelyn Crane stood stiffly in front of my mahogany desk, her hands folded over her apron with the rigid precision of someone who had spent decades micromanaging every square inch of my estate. Behind her, Norah hovered near the doorway, clutching her clipboard like a shield.

The heavy oak doors of my private study clicked shut behind us, locking...

Nora’s breath hitched. "You would do that?"

"Consider it a wedding gift," Luca murmured, his gaze dropping to her lips. "But in exchange, you belong to me. You work for me. You wear my ring, and you share my bed. Do we have a deal, Mrs. DeSantis?"

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