Chapter 1: The Chair Taken from a Child
Victoria Hale roughly pulled a chair away just as little Noah Marconi was about to climb onto it at the children's table.
She immediately placed her own daughter Sophie in the taken seat and pushed Noah toward the dessert station.
With a cold sneer, Raffaele's fiancée declared that Sophie had the right to sit with the family, while Noah was expected to work alongside the servants.
Without allowing the little boy to protest, Victoria loaded his arms with an unsteady stack of empty dessert plates.
Noah struggled to keep the dishes balanced until estate housekeeper Margaret Reed hurried forward and caught them before they fell.
The distressed child broke into sobs, telling Margaret that his father had promised this celebration was meant for both him and Sophie.
Raffaele Marconi, the powerful head of the syndicate, noticed the confrontation while speaking with his associates across the lawn.
Seeing Margaret protecting his crying son and Victoria ordering the boy toward the service area, he moved across the terrace without a word.
Victoria attempted to push the dishes back into Noah's hands, but Raffaele immediately grasped her wrist and pulled her fingers away.
He sheltered Noah behind him as Victoria angrily announced that once they were married, Sophie would come before his son.
Refusing to back down, Victoria reached forcefully toward Noah again.
Raffaele caught both her forearms and forced her away from the child, driving her backward against the padded garden divider.
Two stone-faced bodyguards immediately moved into position and blocked her escape.
With chilling composure, Raffaele slipped the diamond engagement ring from Victoria's finger and pressed it back into her palm.
Looking directly into her fearful eyes, he quietly informed her that she had made a serious mistake: there would be no marriage and no future in which Sophie displaced Noah.
Victoria's smug expression vanished.
Why had Victoria believed she could shove the Don's own son into servitude during a celebration and publicly declare that her daughter mattered more?
What appeared to be a brazen domestic insult was actually a calculated attempt to replace the M@fia family's legitimate heir before the wedding vows were exchanged.
Someone had tried to take Noah's rightful place and give it to another child—without realizing that the father they underestimated would stop their plans before the marriage could begin.
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What will Raffaele uncover about the plan against Noah?
Comment “NEXT” for Part 2.
