Chapter 4 - The Ashworth Debt
By two o'clock in the morning, the mansion was shrouded in complete silence.
Inside his private security suite down the corridor, Alessandro sat across from Marcus, his chief lieutenant. The room was lit by the blue glow of six security monitors displaying live feeds of the estate perimeter, the gates, and the main hallways.
Marcus clicked a key on his keyboard, pulling up a series of red financial charts on the central monitor.
"Amara was right, Boss," Marcus said, his voice grim as he pointed at the screen. "Genevieve’s father didn't just lose money in the European market collapse last year. The entire Ashworth estate is completely bankrupt."
Alessandro leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees, his broad hands clasped tightly. "How much do they owe?"
"Over forty million dollars," Marcus revealed. "And it's not owed to a bank. The debt is held by the Falcone syndicate in Chicago."
Alessandro’s eyes narrowed into razor slits. The Falcone family was the Rienzi empire's deadliest rival—a ruthless syndicate that had been trying to breach the East Coast shipping territory for over a decade.
"So the Ashworths offered their daughter to settle the debt," Alessandro murmured, the pieces of the puzzle locking together in his mind with terrifying precision.
"It gets worse," Marcus continued, tapping the screen to bring up an encrypted audio file. "Our silent tap on Genevieve's phone picked up an incoming call thirty minutes ago from an untraceable burner number in Chicago."
Marcus hit play.
A harsh, raspy male voice spoke through the speaker: "Is the prenuptial addendum ready, Genevieve?"
Genevieve’s voice answered, cold, sharp, and confident—the exact voice little Amara had overheard earlier: "Alessandro hasn't signed the property transfer clause yet. He's being cautious. But once the vows are spoken on Saturday, the joint estate clause activates automatically. The Rienzi shipping docks will belong to Falcone by Monday morning."
The audio file ended with a quiet click.
Alessandro sat in total silence for several seconds. His rugged face remained frighteningly calm, but the vein along his temple throbbed with suppressed, lethal rage.
Genevieve hadn't just come to marry him for status. She was an insider asset sent by the Falcone family to strip his family of their multi-billion-dollar empire from the inside out.
"Do you want me to eliminate her tonight, Boss?" Marcus asked softly, his hand resting near his shoulder holster. "We can make it look like an accident before the press hears about it."
"No," Alessandro said, his voice dropping into a low, terrifying rumble. "If Genevieve disappears tonight, Falcone will know we caught on. He’ll pull his men back into the shadows and strike from another angle."
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Alessandro stood up, adjusting his crisp white shirt cuffs and his luxury watch.
"We let the wedding preparations continue," Alessandro commanded, his dark eyes burning with dangerous intent. "Genevieve thinks she's setting a trap for me. I’m going to let her walk straight into mine."
