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The Donna Scorecard
The Donna Scorecard
Author: Ding

Chapter 1

Author: Ding
I didn't know Marco had been involved with Sofia Russo for three months until she walked into my office unannounced.

She didn't knock. She set a black gift box on top of my files. Sofia had once worked at one of Fontana's nightclubs; lately Marco had arranged an internship for her at the family's charitable foundation.

"Marco asked me to bring this to you."

Inside lay a pair of cufflinks engraved with the Fontana crest.

"He left them at my place last night."

She touched the blue diamond at her throat, a piece from Marco's favourite jeweller. Then she slid her phone across my desk.

The photograph showed Marco in his penthouse, collar open, two glasses of whisky beside him. Sofia wore his black shirt, the diamond resting against her bare collarbone.

The timestamp read 1:17 a.m.

Pain tightened across my chest, but I kept my face still.

Marco and I had met at business school. When he returned to Sicily as one of the Fontana family's least favoured heirs, I followed him and became the family's investment adviser, hiding the fact that I was the daughter of the Mafia Commission Chairman.

Seven years ago, he had taken me to the family chapel and placed a ring on my finger. Their attorney gave me a sealed marriage certificate and assured me the legal process was complete. I believed I was Marco's lawful wife, only awaiting the public ceremony.

He promised that once he inherited the Don's position, he would give me a wedding the underworld would remember.

So I helped him secure financing, ports, shipping routes, and the elders' votes. I stood beside him until he became the family's heir.

Then, the night before, I learned about the Donna selection list.

Twelve women. One ring.

I was only a candidate, and my score was lower than Sofia's.

Sofia took back her phone.

"He's spent quite a few nights at my place this month. A Donna candidate has to prove she knows how to satisfy the future Don."

I reached for an unsigned investment contract on my desk.

"You are gentler than I am," I said. "You suit him better."

I handed her the contract.

Sofia lifted her chin. "Marco wants me to start learning the Donna's responsibilities."

"Then manage this project."

She opened the contract and stared at the figures and legal clauses.

"What is this?"

"The risk assessment is due in three days. You'll also need new terms for the banks and port authorities."

"You're trying to humiliate me."

"A Donna receives more than jewellery and a seat at dinner. If you want the position, carry its responsibilities."

Sofia threw the contract onto the floor and pressed one heel against the page.

"Stop pretending you don't care. Marco says you're too controlling. You question him in meetings and behave more like a consigliere than a wife."

She lifted her chin again.

"He needs a gentle, obedient woman, not someone who makes him feel as though he isn't the Don."

Those words cut deeper than the photograph.

Marco had once depended on my judgment. Now that he had power, he resented the same strength that had helped him obtain it.

I glanced at the contract beneath Sofia's heel.

"You're right."

Triumph returned to her eyes.

"Giving away something I no longer want to someone desperate to possess it is what I call generosity."

"The contract is yours."

"So is Marco."

Her face darkened.

"You're just a woman about to be eliminated."

"If I've already lost, why did you come here wearing his clothes and his necklace, carrying a photograph you needed me to see?"

I held her gaze.

"What are you afraid of?"

She grabbed the gift box and hurled it at me.

I moved aside. The box struck the bookcase, scattering the cufflinks across the floor. Sofia came around the desk and raised her hand toward my face.

I caught her wrist and slapped her.

The sound cut through the office.

She pressed a hand to her cheek.

"You hit me."

"That is the consequence of entering my office without permission, destroying project documents, and trying to strike me."

I released her wrist.

"You can have Marco and the Donna position."

"But if you come here again, I will not be so restrained."

Sofia collected her phone and backed toward the door.

"You'll regret this. Marco will make you pay."

She slammed the door behind her.

I looked at the scattered cufflinks and the contract beneath her heel. The pain remained, but I understood the truth.

Marco had loved my strength when it could win him everything. Now that his position was secure, he wanted me quiet and obedient, as though I had not been the one holding him upright during the climb.
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  • The Donna Scorecard   Chapter 8

    Three years later, I stood on the terrace of my villa in Positano, watching my daughter, a dark‑haired, fierce‑eyed toddler named Chiara, chase a butterfly through the lavender bushes. Matteo was inside, reviewing quarterly reports, but he would emerge soon to join us for dinner.My father had passed away six months earlier, peaceful in his sleep. I had inherited his seat on the Commission, becoming the first woman to hold that position in the organisation's history. It was not a ceremonial role; I had the authority to broker peace, declare war, and shape the future of the underworld.And I used that authority wisely, because I had learned that power was not about revenge. It was about legacy.Marco's name was seldom mentioned anymore. He had become a cautionary tale, the man who had everything and lost it because he could not recognise the difference between a partner and a tool. I heard he was found dead in his penthouse two months after my wedding, ruled as alcohol poisoning, though

  • The Donna Scorecard   Chapter 7

    The next morning, I flew to Positano.Matteo Ferrari met me at a cliffside villa that overlooked the Amalfi Coast: a sprawling white mansion with terraced gardens and an infinity pool that seemed to pour directly into the sea. He was younger than I expected, thirty‑two, with dark hair and a gentle smile that did not quite reach his eyes. He had the Ferrari intensity: a watchfulness that came from growing up in a family that had survived two civil wars and a dozen assassination attempts."Elena." He extended his hand. "Welcome."I shook it. His grip was firm but not aggressive. "Thank you for inviting me.""Inviting you? My father has been planning this wedding since I turned twenty‑five. I'm just the groom." He gestured toward the terrace. "Come. We'll have lunch and pretend we're normal people."Over a meal of fresh seafood and local wine, we talked business. He was the Ferrari family's chief strategist, responsible for their legitimate holdings: hotels, vineyards, a small airline tha

  • The Donna Scorecard   Chapter 6

    I did not rest. I spent the night in my old bedroom, which had been preserved exactly as I left it: a teenager's room with a desk, a bookshelf full of crime novels and financial textbooks, and a window overlooking the olive groves. I opened my laptop and began the methodical work of dismantling Marco's infrastructure.The first thing I did was compile a comprehensive dossier on every Fontana business interest that I had helped build. There were dozens: the shipping consortium that controlled two‑thirds of Sicily's container traffic; the port concessions in Naples that I had negotiated with the port authority's corrupt director; the investment funds that laundered money through real estate in Milan and Rome; the offshore accounts in Luxembourg and the Caymans that held the family's liquid wealth. I had the account numbers, the signatory codes, the contacts at every bank and law firm.I drafted a second wave of emails, these not to the banks, but to the elders. The old men who had voted

  • The Donna Scorecard   Chapter 5

    The Moretti estate sat on a hill overlooking the Ionian Sea, a fortress of pale stone and iron gates that had belonged to my family for four generations. My father had modernised the interior: bulletproof glass, biometric locks, a command centre that would make a general staff envious, but the exterior remained medieval, a deliberate reminder that the Morettis had outlasted every rival, every informant, and every government that had tried to topple them.When my car passed through the gates, I saw him waiting on the portico. Antonio Moretti was seventy‑three, with silver hair cropped close to his skull and the kind of stillness that came from decades of deciding life and death with a nod. He did not embrace me. We had never been that family. But he inclined his head and said, "You look thin.""I've been eating Fontana cooking," I replied. "It's mostly resentment and cheap wine."His mouth twitched, the closest he came to a smile. "Come inside. The Commission's representative is already

  • The Donna Scorecard   Chapter 4

    The private jet lifted off from Palermo as the sun bled into orange over the Tyrrhenian Sea. I watched the Sicilian coast shrink to a smudge of gold and limestone, then vanish into the haze. Seven years of my life had dissolved into that vanishing point: every port I had secured, every elder I had cajoled, every bullet I had quietly deflected so Marco Fontana could sleep through the night. And none of it had been real.I did not cry. I had not cried since I was twelve, when my father sat me down in his study and explained that Moretti women did not weep in front of witnesses. Tears were evidence of weakness, and weakness was a currency the underworld spent without mercy. Instead, I opened my encrypted tablet and reviewed the cascade of notifications that had already begun pinging from the Fontana family's financial ecosystem.The first shockwave had hit within thirty minutes of my resignation email. Three shipping lines that I had personally vetted and guaranteed had frozen Marco's con

  • The Donna Scorecard   Chapter 3

    Marco did not return the money within twenty‑four hours.Late that night, Sofia sent me a contact request. The moment I accepted it, several photographs appeared.In the first, she sat beside Marco in the blue dress. The second showed two glasses of whisky with the Fontana family's Donna ring between them.Beneath the last photograph, she had written:Marco says he'll announce the latest scores tomorrow night. Guess whose hand the ring will end up on?I did not reply. I forwarded the photographs and the bank transfer record to my attorney, then revoked Marco's emergency access to my private account.The next morning, I went to the Fontana family's private club.The original marriage certificate and several personal legal documents were kept in the family safe. Since I had decided to leave, I intended to take everything that belonged to me.The manager told me the safe required Marco's authorisation. He was upstairs with several family members.As I approached the private room, laughter

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