Chapter 54 Business

Chapter 54 Business
He gestures slightly with his hand. “Do you know what he did to earn enemies like me?”

“I know enough,” I say.

“That’s interesting,” he replies. “Because there are things about Dante Vitale that even his wife might not know.”

I take a slow breath. “Try me.”

That seems to amuse him. He leans forward again, lowering his voice slightly. “Did he tell you about his dead older brother?”

The room changes slightly after that. My eyes move without permission.

Just for a second. And that is when I see him. Nico. Standing further back, dressed in black, still, unreadable.

Watching.

I do not react.

Instead, I pick up the glass in front of me and take a slow sip of wine, letting the silence return to my control.

Then I look back at Casteelo.

“My husband doesn’t keep secrets from me,” I say evenly. “If I needed to know, I would know.”

His eyes narrow slightly.

“And yet,” he continues, “some secrets are not told. They are buried.”

I tilt my head slightly. “Then you must be very familiar with graves.”

I can tell that lands. But he doesn’t break.

Instead, he shifts again, softer now. “Did he tell you that his brother and him were not exactly on the same side before he died?”

I hold his gaze. Completely steady.

“If there was anything I needed to know,” I say slowly, “my husband would have told me.”

There is a pause.

Then I add, softer—but sharper:

“And if he didn’t… then it wasn’t my place to ask.”

Silence.

This time, I feel it shift in my favour. Casteelo leans back fully now, watching me like he is recalculating everything. And I realize something in that moment.

He didn’t expect me to be difficult. He expected me to be a doorway. Instead, I am a wall.

Casteelo swirls the wine in his glass slowly before looking back at me.

“You came here to ask questions,” he says. “So ask them.”

I hold his gaze evenly. “What exactly do you want from my husband?”

A faint smile touches his mouth. “Straight to the point again.”

“I don’t enjoy wasting time.”

“No,” he murmurs. “I’m beginning to notice that.”

He sets the glass down carefully before leaning back in his chair.

“Power,” he says simply. “That is what this has always been about.”

I watch him quietly.

“In our world,” he continues, “power does not stay still. It moves. It shifts. Men rise, men fall, empires weaken, alliances change. Dante Vitale built something strong, yes, but strong things become arrogant. And arrogant things eventually crack.”

I don’t interrupt him. That seems to encourage him.

“Your husband has controlled too much for too long,” he says. “Ports. routes. political leverage. money flow. loyalty chains. Every profitable road somehow finds its way back to the Vitale name.”

“And that bothers you?” I ask calmly.

“It limits me.”

Honest. Very honest.

“You’re trying to replace him,” I say.

“No,” he corrects smoothly. “I’m trying to evolve beyond him.”

I almost smile at that. “Sounds like replacement to me.”

That earns a quiet laugh from him.

“You’re smarter than people think.”

“And you talk too much.”

His eyes flicker with amusement. “Only when I’m interested.”

I ignore that completely.

“What’s your actual plan?” I ask. “Because starting a war with my husband without a strategy would be stupid, and you don’t strike me as a stupid man.”

Something shifts in his expression then. Approval. Like, he enjoys that I understand how this world works.

“The Vitale empire survives because Dante controls fear,” he says. “But fear becomes unstable when people begin to question leadership.”

I stay silent. He continues.

“There are already movements happening beneath him. Small fractures. Small doubts. Men with ambition. Men with resentment. Men who think Dante has become too distracted.”

My expression doesn’t change, but internally, I absorb every word carefully.

“And you intend to use that,” I say.

“I intend to feed it.” There it is. The first real crack.

He notices too late that he said more than he should have. I see it immediately in the slight narrowing of his eyes after the words leave his mouth.

So I press. “You’re building a division inside the organization.”

His jaw shifts slightly. Calculation.

“Division already exists,” he replies carefully. “I’m simply giving it direction.”

“And when Dante finds out?”

His smile returns slowly. “That depends on how quickly he realizes who around him is still loyal.”

That one lands heavier. Because now I understand something important.

This is bigger than territory. Bigger than money.

Casteelo is trying to destabilize Dante from the inside out. Do not destroy the empire directly. Corrupt it first.

And suddenly I understand why Dante has barely been sleeping.

Why does the house feel tense all the time.

Why has everyone been watching everyone.

Casteelo studies me for a second too long before speaking again.

“You understand this world much faster than I expected,” he says quietly.

I meet his gaze evenly. “I had no choice.”

And for the first time since this meeting started, something almost dangerous enters his expression.

Not lust. Respect. Which somehow feels worse.

When the meeting finally begins to wrap up, I stand first. Alex and Enzo move with me immediately.

Casteelo doesn’t stop me. He just watches. As I reach the door, I pause.

Then I turn slightly back toward him.

“Stop chasing what doesn’t belong to you,” I say calmly. “It never ends well.”

His smile returns—but this time, it is thinner.

“War is never about belonging,” he replies quietly. “It is about claiming.”

I meet his gaze one last time.

“Then you’ve already lost,” I say.

And I walk out.