The Godfather's Love Buried in Snow Chapter 3

My mother seemed to have expected this. Her voice on the phone was low, accompanied by the sound of casino chips in the background.

"I told you back when you insisted on marrying Dante. Love is the first thing to break in this business. Men think with their lower halves. If you've made up your mind, Mom supports you. The Ferrari family is always your shield."

My hand, gripping the ledger, finally relaxed. The stone hanging in my heart dropped.

The next morning, Dante's car was parked downstairs.

When he knocked, he was holding a black leather case. He sounded like he was discussing a standard arms deal, not facing a wife he was about to divorce.

"This contains the new military night-vision goggles you said you wanted. I'm taking you to the Arms Guild gala. You can meet a few suppliers from Eastern Europe."

There was no apology in his eyes. He didn't mention the divorce.

It was as if the man who left me in a war zone a few days ago wasn't him.

The five days I promised Donna Rosa weren't up yet. I suppressed the chill in my heart and replied faintly, "Let's go."

In the car, he kept rambling about the importance of the gala. He talked about letting me manage more of the family's grey channels.

We had been married for so long, yet he never thought to bring me into his inner circle. Now he remembered we were supposed to be partners.

The banquet hall smelled of expensive cigars and rotting money.

People came over with champagne, smiling fake smiles, saying Young Master Dante and Miss Bianca were a match made in heaven.

No one mentioned the shootout on the news. No one mentioned how he protected Bianca. In their eyes, there was only profit.

I held back my nausea and put on a standard social smile.

" The air here is too thick. I'm going out for some fresh air."

As soon as I got to the backyard, I heard two bodyguards in black suits chatting quietly.

"This isn't really a trade gala. It's a birthday party for 'Kane'."

"Yeah. The Cane Corso dog that Dante and Bianca raised. It's more precious than a son. Last year, just to find the best vet for it, he canceled three major deals with the Russians."

I stopped. My heart felt like it was pressed against a gun barrel—cold and suffocating.

So this so-called business gala was just a birthday party for the dog he raised with Bianca.

I, the nominal Mrs. Rossi, was just a joke to pad the guest list.

I smiled self-mockingly and walked straight to the luxury kennel in the backyard.

Behind the iron bars, Bianca was squatting on the ground, feeding premium steak to a massive Cane Corso.

The dog wore a diamond-encrusted collar engraved with the name "Kane."

She saw me and stood up immediately. Her smile hid a challenge.

"Elena, you came to see Kane too? When Dante and I saved him in the Amazon rainforest, he was only the size of a palm. Now he's a beast."

"He's strong. Looks like he could bite a man's neck off."

I looked at her calmly. "I just wonder if you two have an illegitimate child later, will you care for it as much as you do for this dog son?"

Bianca's face went pale instantly.

Her eyes swept over the holster vaguely visible at my waist. She sneered suddenly and let go of the leash.

"Kane! Someone is bullying Mommy! Daddy said he'd protect me forever. Bite her!"

The massive dog roared and lunged at me, fangs flashing.

I dodged sideways and grabbed the leash, yanking hard.

Bianca lost her balance in her sky-high heels and fell heavily, scraping her elbow. It bled.

The massive momentum of the dog dragged me too. I stumbled, and my lower back slammed hard into the sharp corner of the iron fence.

A piercing pain shot through my old injury site. It felt like my spine had snapped.

"Bianca!"

Dante's voice boomed. He rushed over and scooped Bianca into his arms, staring at me with vicious eyes.

"Elena, are you crazy? You can't even tolerate a dog? You had to hurt her? That's Kane!"

Bianca cried in his arms, sounding like a victim.

"Dante, I didn't provoke Elena... she just hates Kane... she called him a beast..."

"Enough."

I interrupted her. Enduring the agonizing pain, I stood up.

I tore the bullet pendant he gave me—engraved with the Rossi crest—from my neck and smashed it onto the marble floor at his feet.

"Dante Rossi. In your eyes, I'm worth less than a dog."

Dante's face froze. For a split second, he seemed to feel something shattering.

"Dante, my arm hurts... I think it's broken."

Bianca kept crying. Dante immediately picked her up and turned to leave.

He walked two steps, then turned back. His tone was cold, like a judge passing a sentence.

"Elena, you better pray Bianca is okay. Otherwise, forget about those shipping routes."

I stood there, watching their backs disappear into the night.

Warm fluid seeped from my lower back, staining my evening gown red.

My consciousness blurred. The old butler finally found me and rushed me to a private hospital.

When I woke up, my mother was sitting by the bed, eyes red. She held a doctor's diagnosis.

"Elena, the doctor says the nerve damage in your lower back is severe. Combined with your old gunshot wound... from now on... you can't handle any recoil. That means you can never fire a gun again."

I touched my lower back. It felt numb.

The thing I cherished most—the ability to protect myself and the Ferrari family in this dog-eat-dog world—was destroyed by him.

The TV in the ward was playing the news.

It showed Dante accompanying Bianca for a checkup at the best private hospital in America.

They walked side by side down the corridor, looking intimate. A perfect couple.

I turned off the TV. The last thread of hope in my heart was severed.

After I was discharged, I packed up everything related to him.

The antique guns he gave me, the trade contracts, even the photos I secretly took of him inspecting goods at the docks.

I threw them all into an iron box and tossed it into the family factory's blast furnace.

"Mom, I want to go to Switzerland. Away from all this."

My mother nodded firmly. "Go. We have a safe house and accounts there."

The day I was packing, I ran into Dante at the warehouse entrance.

He frowned, looking tired. His tone carried his habitual blame.

"Where are you going? Without my permission? We aren't divorced yet."

I ignored him. I was about to get in the car when his phone rang.

The screen flashed "Bianca."

He didn't even look at me. He answered the phone and rushed to his car, leaving only a threat.

"Don't you dare leave. I'll have every airport detain you."

I watched his car vanish at the intersection and finally smiled.

From beginning to end, I was optional to him.

That night, Dante returned to the Rossi family mansion.

The elders of both families were sitting in the living room. The atmosphere was heavy, like a war council.

My father, the Godfather of the Ferrari family, pushed the termination agreement toward him. His voice was hard as iron.

"Dante Rossi, sign it. My precious daughter has no time to play house with you anymore."