Page 18 of Made for Sinners

The waiter returned, taking their orders before retreating again. The moment he was gone, Luca leaned forward, his expression turning serious. “So, what’s the latest? Do you really think she had anything to do with the missing money?”

I exhaled sharply, my fingers tapping against the edge of the table. “No. Not intentionally.”

Luca raised an eyebrow, his interest piqued. “That’s a change of tune. What makes you so sure?”

“I’ve been tracing the accounts,” I said, my voice low enough that no one outside our table could hear. “The money’s tied up in a way that’s… deliberate. Too deliberate for someone like Emilia. It’s almost perfect—just messy enough to point the finger at her, but clean enough to make it nearly impossible to trace back to the real culprit.”

Rafe frowned, his brows drawing together. “So, it’s a setup.”

“Obviously,” I said, my tone sharper than I intended. “Someone used her codes, her shifts, her access. They wanted it to look like she was behind it. And for a while, it worked.”

Luca whistled low, shaking his head. “Damn. And here I thought the Riccis were just incompetent.”

“They are,” I said, my voice cold. “But this? This is more than incompetence. This is calculated.”

“And you’re sure it’s not her?” Rafe pressed, his gaze steady.

I met his eyes, unflinching. “If it’s her, she didn’t do it alone,” I said, his voice low and sharp. “Someone else is pulling the strings.”

Luca leaned back, his expression thoughtful. “So, what’s the play? You’ve got her locked into this marriage now. What’s the endgame?”

“The endgame,” I said, my voice like steel, “is respect. Twenty million is nothing to me—it’s the principle. The Riccis need to understand that their actions have consequences. And whoever’s behind this? They’ll pay. In blood, if necessary.”

Rafe nodded, his jaw tightening. “And Valentina? What’s her angle in all this?”

I took a long sip of my espresso, the bitterness grounding me. “Valentina’s been helpful. Too helpful. She’s the one who uncovered the discrepancies in the accounts, the one who pointed me in the right direction. But she doesn’t do anything out of the goodness of her heart. She wants something.”

“Like what?” Luca asked, his tone laced with curiosity.

“I don’t know yet,” I admitted, my voice low. “But whatever it is, it’s not going to be small. Valentina doesn’t play for scraps.”

Luca chuckled, shaking his head. “You’ve got quite the cast of characters in your life, brother. A defiant bride, a scheming banker, and a family of screw-ups. How do you sleep at night?”

“With one eye open,” I said dryly.

The waiter returned with their food, the scent of grilled steak and roasted vegetables filling the air. I didn’t touch it, my appetite long gone. Instead, I watched as my brothers dug in, their conversation shifting to lighter topics—business deals, upcoming shipments, the usual.

But my mind was elsewhere, turning over the puzzle pieces of this mess. The missing money. The setup. Valentina’s involvement.

And Emilia.

I couldn’t get her out of my head, no matter how hard I tried. The way she’d looked at me in her father’s study, her eyes blazing with fury and fear. The way she’d spat her defiance, even when she knew she was backed into a corner.

She was fire and ice, chaos and control, a contradiction I couldn’t ignore.

And soon, she’d be mine.Completely.

The thought curled through me, dark and possessive, filling every corner of my mind. She could fight me, she could kick and scream—but it would change nothing. In the end, she was mine. She’d always been mine.

As Luca and Rafe continued their conversation, I pulled out my phone, opening the draft of the marriage contract. My eyes scanned the clauses I’d added, the ones designed to ensure she couldn’t wriggle out of this arrangement without consequences.

She’d be fine. She’d hate me, but she’d be fine.

And maybe, just maybe, she’d come to understand why this had to happen.

But as I stared at the screen, the weight of it all pressing down on me, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was only the beginning.

Of what, I didn’t know.

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