I Took Mafia Don’s Empire Chapter 07

I Took Mafia Don’s Empire Chapter 07

The day we took back the estate, the sky was clear and bright.

My parents drove Ivy and me to the Rinaldi estate.

When the car stopped at the front entrance, Matteo was sitting on the sofa in the foyer, smoking.

The moment he saw my parents step out of the car, the cigarette slipped from his fingers.

“You…”

He stood, his expression shifting again and again, as if he had finally pieced it all together.

“Celeste.”

“You pledged everything to the Whitmore Family?”

He clenched his teeth, forcing out each word.

“You sold out your own husband?”

I couldn’t help laughing.

“Sold out?”

“Matteo, those are my parents. They’re not outsiders.”

“If anyone should be ashamed, it’s the man who only got back to the old-family table because he signed a Whitmore marriage contract.”

The words Whitmore marriage contract struck his face like a blade.

Matteo’s face flushed crimson.

Lucia rushed out from inside, screaming at the top of her lungs.

“What marriage contract?”

“If your Whitmore Family hadn’t begged us back then, would my son have married her?”

“Since she married into the Rinaldi Family, she should have known her place as a wife. She should have taken care of her husband and the family.”

“But look at her. Plotting against her own man.”

“A woman like that would have been thrown out of the family table years ago.”

My mother stepped forward.

Her voice wasn’t loud, but every word landed clearly.

“Careful, Lucia. No one here married into your family.”

Lucia froze.

My mother looked at her and spoke slowly.

“Matteo Rinaldi signed a Whitmore marriage contract before he was allowed through the Whitmore Family’s door.”

“He knelt outside Whitmore Manor and begged to accept Whitmore money, Whitmore protection, Whitmore naming terms, and Whitmore inheritance conditions.”

“It’s all written in black and white in the prenup.”

“This estate, this house, was the wedding gift I bought for my daughter.”

“You were allowed to live here.”

“You never owned it.”

“Now the owner wants her house back.”

“So get out.”

Lucia choked on her words.

Her lips trembled for a long time before she finally squeezed out, “You… you’re bullying us because you have power!”

My father stood beside my mother and said nothing.

He only glanced at Matteo.

It was a very faint look.

The two Whitmore security guards behind my father didn’t speak either, but they had already forced every Rinaldi man to step back.

Matteo went rigid.

Then he suddenly let out a cold laugh.

“Celeste, don’t forget.”

“We’re not divorced yet.”

“As long as we’re still married, half of this home is mine.”

I took a document from my bag and unfolded it in front of him.

“I filed the divorce petition.”

“The court has accepted it.”

“The hearing is next Wednesday.”

His face changed completely.

Bianca walked out from inside and stood beside Matteo, linking her arm through his.

“Celeste, you’re too cruel.”

“Matteo was your husband for six years.”

“Don’t you have any feeling left at all?”

I looked at the hand she had wrapped around Matteo’s arm and smiled.

“Where were your feelings when you slept in the master bedroom right in front of me?”

“Where were your feelings when you let Enzo bully Ivy?”

“Where were your feelings when the three of you played happy family and treated my daughter and me like outsiders in our own home?”

Bianca’s face flushed, then went pale.

Her lips moved, but no words came out.

Matteo took a deep breath, as if he had grabbed the last rope he could reach.

“Celeste, don’t forget.”

“I’m still carrying that massive debt.”

“And don’t forget, you signed several of the guarantee documents too. You can’t run from that marital exposure.”

“You think you can just walk away?”

I looked at him calmly.

“Who said I was running? I’ll pay what legally falls on me.”

“As for the debt you swallowed with Rinaldi Group’s greed, you can choke on it yourself.”

He froze.

“You’ll pay?”

“With what?”

“The Whitmore Family sold off every core asset it had in New York.”

“Your parents spent three years in Europe and didn’t make a ripple…”

I cut him off.

“You still don’t know, do you?”

“My parents spent those three years doing something else.”

“They weren’t in Europe looking for a way out. They were completing an overseas expansion with sovereign funds, port consortiums, and energy groups.”

“Southeast Asia. The Middle East. Africa.”

“The Whitmore Family secured several core port and energy infrastructure projects.”

“Three years.”

“Our overseas assets multiplied several times over.”

“The New York assets weren’t sold because we were desperate.”

“They were strategically moved.”

“As for the debt you’re trying to threaten me with…”

I watched his face drain of color, bit by bit, and spoke each word clearly.

“The mortgage rights to Rinaldi Group are already in the Whitmore Family’s hands.”

“That is more than enough to cover this little debt.”

Matteo stood there, pale and motionless.

For the first time, all that arrogance seemed to collapse in on itself.

Then he laughed, low and bitter.

“You think this is over?”

“I still have the South Harbor project.”

“The docks, the warehouses, private security, the freight routes. None of that is dead.”

“That project is still in my hands.”

“As long as I make it work, I can still come back.”

Bianca seemed to find a little courage in that and immediately chimed in.

“Exactly.”

“South Harbor is tied to docks, warehouses, and old-family freight routes. Do you think Matteo is some nobody?”

Lucia perked up too.

“That’s right!”

“My son is capable.”

“Sooner or later, he’ll crush the Whitmore Family under his feet!”

I looked at them and found it almost funny.

South Harbor’s freight route was not something they could swallow just because they wanted to.

I waved a hand.

Two security guards stepped forward from either side and grabbed Matteo.

“Escort them out,” I said.

Matteo struggled violently.

“Celeste!”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

The guards dragged him toward the door.

Lucia ran after them, cursing as she went.

“Celeste Whitmore! You vicious woman! You’ll get what’s coming to you!”

Bianca stayed where she was.

Then tears suddenly fell from her eyes.

She looked at me, her voice softening.

“Celeste.”

“I know I wronged you.”

“But Enzo is innocent. He’s only a child…”

I looked at her.

“Then take your child.”

“And get out of my house.”

Her face went deathly pale.

In the end, security escorted her out too.

The gates of the estate slowly closed.

At that moment, the entire Rinaldi estate finally fell silent.