Dante’s POV

Ariana would never do that; she hated her father. She hadn’t spoken to him in years. She would never sign away my company to him. Never.

Marcus was across from me.

"Dante? What is it?"

I didn’t answer. I was already calling Jonathan.

He answered on the first ring. "Dante. I was about to call you again." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"Tell me this is a mistake." My voice was tight. "Tell me someone made a mistake."

"It’s not a mistake; the paperwork is legitimate. The signatures have been verified."

"Verified by who? By you? By your office?" I stood up. Started pacing. "Someone must have fudged her signature. Because last time I checked, my wife hates her father. She hasn’t spoken to him in years. She would never do this to me. Never."

"Dante, I have the documents here. I’ve had our forensic team look at them. The signature is hers. We compared it to other documents she’s signed. Marriage license. Property deeds. It’s her signature."

I stopped pacing; my heart was pounding. "That’s not possible."

"It’s possible, and it’s done. The transfer has been initiated. We might be able to stop it, but we need to move fast, and we need to know what’s going on."

I looked at Marcus. He was watching me with worried eyes.

"What do you mean? What’s going on?" I asked Jonathan.

"I mean,l why would your wife sign over half your company to her father? Is she being coerced? Is there something you’re not telling me?"

I didn’t have an answer.

I didn’t have anything.

My mind was blank.

My chest was tight.

"I’m coming to the office," I said. "I’ll be there in twenty minutes."

"I’ll be waiting."

I hung up.

Marcus stood up. "Dante. Talk to me."

I grabbed my jacket. "Someone transferred half my company to Ricardo Melendez using her signature."

Marcus’s face went pale. "What? That’s... that’s insane. Ariana would never—"

"I know!" I shouted. "I know she wouldn’t! Which means someone is framing her or forcing her. Or—" I stopped. My mind was spinning. "I don’t know. I don’t know anything right now."

"Let’s go," Marcus said and grabbed his keys. "I’m driving."

We got in the car.

I wanted to call Ariana and beg her to tell me this was all a mistake.

But I didn’t call.

Because what if it wasn’t a mistake? What if she had done this? What if the woman I loved, the woman I trusted with everything, had betrayed me?

No.

No, I couldn’t think like that.

There had to be an explanation.

There had to be.

Marcus pulled into the parking garage and

We took the elevator up.

Jonathan was waiting in the hallway.

"Conference room," he said. "I have everything set up."

I followed him with my legs feeling heavy.

"Tell me everything," I said.

Jonathan opened a folder. "The transfer was initiated an hour ago. The paperwork was 20minutes. It was processed immediately as requested by Mrs. Russo, and by the time our system flagged it, it was already in motion."

"An hour ago." I turned around.

"The signature is hers, Dante. I’ve seen it a hundred times. It’s her signature."

I looked at the papers with her name. At the loops of the letters

The way she signed her A.

The way she crossed her T.

It looked like her signature. It looked exactly like her signature.

"She wouldn’t do this," I said. My voice was quiet now. "I know her, I know my wife. She hates her father. She would never help him, never."

"Then someone forced her," Marcus said. He was standing by the door. "Or someone forged the signature so well, or she didn’t know what she was signing."

I looked at Jonathan. "Is it possible? Could someone have given her papers without her knowing what they were?"

Jonathan shook his head slowly. "The documents are clear. She would have known she was transferring shares. She would have known they were going to Ricardo Melendez."

I slammed my hand on the table. The papers were scattered. "Then how? How does this happen? How does my wife sign away half my company without me knowing? Without anyone knowing?"

"That’s what we need to find out." Jonathan leaned forward. "Dante, you need to confront her. You need to ask her what happened. Maybe there’s an explanation."

I stared at him. "You think someone threatened her?"

"I think it’s more likely than your wife betraying you for no reason." Jonathan’s voice was calm. Professional. "You said yourself she hates her father. She wouldn’t help him willingly. So something must have made her do it."

I thought about the past few days.

The way Ariana had been distant.

The way she looked at Asher was with something like fear in her eyes.

The way she flinched when I touched her.

The way she pulled away.

Something was wrong.

Something had been wrong for weeks.

"She’s been hiding something," I said slowly.

"Then now you know," Marcus said. "Or at least, now you know part of it."

I looked at him. "What do you mean, part of it?"

He hesitated. Then he said, "Dante, you’ve been keeping secrets too, about what happened fourteen years ago. Maybe... maybe Ariana found out, or maybe someone told her, and maybe that someone used that information to make her do this."

The words hit me like a punch to the chest.

I had been about to tell her.

Today.

That’s why I called her.

That’s why she was supposed to come here to hear the truth about Alan.

"She didn’t come," I said. My voice was hollow. "I called her to tell her the truth."

Jonathan looked confused. "Alan? Twins? What are you talking about?"

I didn’t answer.

I pulled out my phone. Called Ariana’s number.

It rang and rang and rang.

She didn’t pick up.

I called again.

Nothing.

I called the house.

Melinda answered. "Mr. Valerio? Is everything okay?"

"Is Ariana there? Is she home?"

"No, sir.."

I ended the call.

My heart was pounding so hard I could barely breathe.

"She’s not home," I said.

Marcus stepped forward. "Dante, we need to find her now, something is wrong. Something is very wrong."

I looked at Jonathan. "Can you stop the transfer? Can you freeze everything until we figure out what’s going on?"

"I can try ." Jonathan was already on his phone. "I’ll do what I can."

I grabbed my jacket. "I’m going to find my wife."