Chapter 1 - The Shattered Glass
The riding crop came down a third time before anyone in the marble corridor realized Camilla Ashford had no intention of stopping.
Adeline Croft, the newly hired maid, pressed herself against the cold wall with both arms desperately shielding her face.
Crimson blood had already begun to bead dangerously near her trembling wrist.
"Get on your knees right now," Camilla sneered, her voice echoing off the vaulted ceilings.
Behind Camilla, the grand ballroom doors stood wide open.
Nearly two hundred elite guests watched in absolute silence, including senators, ruthless judges, wealthy bankers, and hospital directors.
These were people powerful enough to completely ruin a person's life with a single phone call.
Not a single one of them moved a muscle to intervene.
Adeline had only worked in Enzo Marchetti’s sprawling estate for eleven days.
However, that short time was long enough to learn that immense power could make normally decent people suddenly fascinated by the marble floor.
Camilla raised the leather crop high into the air once again.
"You dared to embarrass me in my future husband’s own home," Camilla shouted.
"I was only doing my job," Adeline whispered, fighting back tears.
"You took a crystal glass directly out of my hand," Camilla accused.
"Yes, ma'am, I did," Adeline replied softly.
"You did it in front of every important figure in Chicago," Camilla hissed.
Before Camilla could bring the weapon down for a fourth strike, a suffocating silence suddenly fell over the entire corridor.
Enzo Marchetti, Chicago’s most feared and secretive mafia boss, stepped out of the dimly lit shadows.
He didn't even cast a passing glance at his furious fiancée.
Instead, his dark, calculating eyes locked onto the bleeding maid, and he walked straight toward her.
Slowly and deliberately, he slipped his broad shoulders out of his custom Italian suit jacket.
He wrapped the warm, expensive fabric carefully around Adeline's trembling shoulders to cover her torn uniform.
"The engagement is officially over, Camilla," Enzo stated, his voice as cold and unforgiving as crushed ice.
Camilla dropped the riding crop, her beautiful face twisting into a mask of pure, unadulterated rage.
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"You cannot do this to me, Enzo," she threatened, pulling a sleek silver flash drive from her designer clutch.
"If you walk away with this worthless trash, the District Attorney gets the unredacted file proving you ordered the hit on the mayor."
