Chapter 4
The bright video colors of the elegant ballroom seemed to freeze around them. The tension was thick enough to suffocate the room. Galen stared at Ainsley, his deeply masculine face becoming a mask of pure, unyielding stone. The revelation of her psychological cruelty toward a three-year-old child had completely sealed her fate.
"Is this true, Ainsley?" Galen asked quietly. The sheer, overwhelming menace in his tone caused the capos standing nearby to instinctively reach for the weapons concealed within their suits.
Ainsley’s fair, rosy skin flushed a deep, indignant red. Instead of apologizing or retreating, she chose to double down. Her ego, inflated by months of being treated as the future queen of the syndicate, pushed her past the point of rational thought. She genuinely believed that her family's political alliances made her untouchable.
"Of course it is true!" Ainsley shouted, her voice echoing shrilly across the marble floors. She raised her hand, proudly displaying the stolen silver locket dangling from her fingers. "I am going to be the lady of this house, Galen! I will not have my home turned into a pathetic shrine for a ghost!"
"You consider my daughter's memories a shrine?" Galen whispered, his jaw clenching so tightly that the bone looked ready to snap.
"I consider them a nuisance!" Ainsley fired back, stepping forward, her high heels clicking aggressively. She reached toward the locket again, dangling it mockingly, and pointed a sharp, manicured finger directly toward Eira.
"You have been coddling this brat for far too long," Ainsley declared, her American accent ringing out with cold, absolute arrogance. "If we are going to be married, things are going to change. I will not share my husband with the ghost of a dead woman, and I will not be undermined by a weeping toddler."
"You are overstepping, Ainsley," an older capo warned from the crowd, his voice tight with fear.
"Shut your mouth!" Ainsley snapped at the capo before turning her furious, demanding gaze back to the Mafia boss. She issued a cold, unforgivable threat.
May you like
"It is time to decide what kind of future you want, Galen," Ainsley said coldly. "Choose her memories or choose your new wife."
Galen’s expression became completely still. The terrifying, deadly silence that descended upon him was absolute. He did not blink. He did not breathe. He stared at the woman who had just demanded he discard his flesh and blood. He realized in that profound, agonizing moment that he had almost brought a monster into his home. The bright, cinematic lighting cast a flawless glow over his tailored three-piece suit, illuminating the exact moment the engagement permanently died.
