Everyone Thought I Was a Trophy Wife, So I Saved the Entire Family

Of the eight women who married into the Ferro family, I was the most useless. The other seven either ran casinos or controlled the docks. All I knew how to do was take the private jet to Paris and pick out jewelry. They talked family business. I only cared about Bulgari's latest high-jewelry collection. To them, I was just Simon Ferro's pretty, free-spending trophy wife, the woman he'd been crazy enough to marry. I didn't care. The family trust paid out every month, and my job was to sparkle. Until a mysterious consortium came after the Ferro family. The consortium put up three South African gold mines as collateral and drained the last of the family's legitimate cash. Everyone was scrambling, and the old Don went gray overnight. The powerful women in the family called in every connection they had, but they couldn't find a single clue about who was behind it. The man sat arrogantly in the seat of honor and demanded that my father-in-law hand over the family signet ring. I came downstairs with a drink in my hand and frowned. "Where'd this nouveau riche nobody come from? He's getting my couch dirty." Elena Ferro yanked me behind her. "Shut up and go back upstairs!" Simon instinctively pulled me into his arms to shield me. When it counted, the whole family closed ranks around me without a word. I reluctantly turned to go, only to catch sight of the antique panther brooch on the stranger's lapel. No way! A big shot with three gold mines, and his Cartier panther has cheap rhinestones for eyes? 1 "Every hidden account in Zurich is frozen, and Wall Street just pulled our loans!" Elena slammed the encrypted phone onto the floor, and the screen shattered. In the vast living room of the Ferro estate, no one said a word. The Ferro family was one of the oldest mafia families in New York. Most of the business had gone legit over the years, but no one would ever forget what the name had been built on. Elena was married to the eldest son and ran seven casinos in Las Vegas. Victoria Ferro was married to the second son and controlled several key ports along the East Coast. And then there was Antonio Ferro, Simon's dad, known to everyone as Don Ferro, who had run the family for 40 years. And me? I was Chloe. The woman Simon had married. And, as far as they were concerned, the one nobody could take seriously. At that moment, I was lounging on a custom Fendi Casa sofa, scrolling through a private catalog from Bulgari. A set of untreated Colombian emeralds. An eight-carat Argyle pink diamond. I swiped back and forth between the two pictures a few times and still couldn't decide. "What about Lugano?" Elena rubbed her temples. "Still nobody willing to lend?" Victoria shut her laptop, looking grim. "Every channel's been cut off. They put up three South African gold mines as collateral and walked off with the last five billion of our legitimate cash." She paused, then added, "And the feds are watching some of our key accounts." Antonio looked like he'd aged ten years overnight. His gray hair was a mess, and his normally ramrod-straight back had started to stoop. Simon, on the other hand, came over with a glass of bourbon and sat down right beside me. He raised the glass to my lips. "Try it. It's a good year." I leaned in and took a sip. Elena looked up, saw us, and finally snapped. "Simon, we're about to lose everything, and you're feeding her booze?" Simon wiped the bourbon from the corner of my mouth, his voice perfectly even. "If we lose the business, we can rebuild it. Chloe scares easily, so don't frighten her with all these numbers." Elena turned her face away, fuming. To her, I was nothing more than a spoiled trophy wife—pretty, pampered, and good for little more than spending money. I didn't bother explaining. Three years into our marriage, I was used to that look. They thought I spent every day at jewelry shows or private salons. During family meetings, I was either picking out gemstones or browsing the new season's gowns. Whenever anyone asked if I understood the family business, I always said the same thing. "Nope. Too much trouble." Eventually, even Antonio stopped asking. In the end, I tapped the emerald picture and sent it to my private jewelry adviser. "This set." Victoria heard me, and her brow furrowed. "Chloe, we might all be facing a federal investigation tomorrow. Could you please hold off on the jewelry?" Her tone was harsh, but she didn't really blow up at me. That was the Ferro family for you. They might look down on me, but when it really mattered, they still treated me like family. "Let her buy it," Antonio said suddenly. Everyone turned to look at him. He leaned back in his chair, his voice tired. "Simon, pay for it out of the separate trust your mother left you." Then he looked at me. "The Ferro family hasn't fallen so far that we can't afford a necklace." My hand went still around the tablet. "Thank you, Antonio." Elena let out a heavy sigh. "Antonio, Marcus will be here any minute." She glanced at the antique clock on the wall, and her expression darkened further. "If he makes you hand over the family signet ring, what do we do?" Antonio didn't answer. Just then, a convoy of cars roared to a stop outside the estate. Alfonso, the family's longtime butler, hurried in, sweat beading on his forehead. "Don Ferro, Marcus has forced his way in with his men." Simon stood up at once, his broad back completely blocking me from view. "Go upstairs. No matter what you hear, don't come down." I looked at the tense line of his jaw and didn't move. "I haven't finished choosing my pink diamond." Elena took a deep breath and plucked the tablet right out of my hands. "Chloe, this isn't the time to be stubborn." She lowered her voice. "The men Marcus brought with him are hired killers. If you stay, you'll only become a bargaining chip." Then she turned to Alfonso. "Take Chloe to her room." Alfonso came over and gave a small bow. "This way, Mrs. Ferro." I looked at Elena, and suddenly I kind of wanted to laugh. Most days she couldn't stand me, but when it came down to life or death, she was the first to worry that someone would come after me. "Okay." I got up and headed upstairs. But when I reached the second-floor landing, I stopped. Downstairs, the heavy brass front doors swung open. A man's amused voice rang out. "Don Ferro, it's been a while." 2 Marcus wore a sharply tailored charcoal suit, gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose. An antique Cartier panther brooch was pinned to his lapel. Four bodyguards in black followed him, the outlines of holsters showing under their jackets. The moment they walked in, they blocked the exits. "Quite the entourage, Marcus." Elena gave him a cold look. Marcus ignored her and sat down across from Antonio. He set a black briefcase on the coffee table and slowly slid it toward Antonio. "Don Ferro, your family's cash flow has been cut off." He pushed up his glasses. "The South American port project is in default, and the SEC has its eye on your new casino in Las Vegas. "Give it three more days, and federal prosecutors will be filing to seize your core assets." Elena stepped in front of Antonio. "What happens to the Ferro family is none of your concern." Marcus smiled. "I have an agreement right here. Hand over the family signet ring and access to your offshore accounts, and the consortium behind me will inject five billion immediately." Victoria scoffed. "You think five billion is enough to buy everything we spent a century building?" "Do you have a choice?" Marcus leaned back, his tone casual. "A new reserve report on the three South African gold mines I pledged to your creditors just came out. Their valuation has doubled. "Right now, every one of your creditors is on my side." Elena stared at him and said nothing. Marcus seemed to know exactly how she'd react. Without hurrying, he pulled another sheet from his briefcase. It was a list of names. "London, Zurich, Geneva. Everyone you called last night is on here." Victoria's expression shifted. Marcus tapped the list twice. "It wasn't a coincidence that all three banks in Lugano pulled your credit lines today. "Right now, there isn't a single person in all of Europe willing to lend you a dime." Elena clenched her jaw. "Who's really behind you?" "That doesn't matter." Marcus looked up with a thin smile. "What matters is that I'm sitting here, which means they've already chosen me." Victoria looked up too. "We looked into Shadow Capital. We also checked the transaction records for those three mines. "Three months ago, nobody had even heard of you." Marcus glanced at her. "Which is exactly why you lost. "You're still trying to trace a name. I've already made everyone choose a side." Elena's expression darkened further. "You didn't do all this just for five billion." "Of course not." Marcus's gaze dropped to the signet ring on Antonio's hand. "I want what's actually valuable in the Ferro family." At that moment, no one in the room believed he'd come merely to negotiate. He tapped a finger on the table. "You can object all you want. But in one hour, the banks, the creditors, and the regulators won't care about your family rules." Simon took a step forward. "We'd rather die than hand that ring over to you." "And what good will pride do you?" Marcus checked his watch, still smiling. "I'll give you one hour." Then, out of nowhere, he looked up. His gaze swept toward the staircase and landed squarely on me. "I've heard Simon's wife is quite the beauty." The way he looked at me made my skin crawl. "I wonder if she'll still be able to afford her Bulgari once this family goes under." 3 Simon's hand went straight to the gun at the small of his back. "Look at her one more time. I dare you." Elena grabbed his arm immediately. "Don't take the bait." She turned to Marcus. "An hour isn't long enough. We need to verify the mining documents." "Be my guest." Marcus opened his briefcase. "Survey reports, proof of ownership, collateral agreements. It's all here." Victoria picked up the documents and went to work immediately. She went through the watermarks, the mining-rights registration numbers, and the underwriting and audit details one by one, then logged in to the mining rights registry to check the records. A little over ten minutes later, her face had gone pale. "Antonio... the documents all look real." Elena took the documents from her. "Could they be fake documents using real registration numbers?" Victoria shook her head. "If they did, I can't tell, at least not yet. Number Seven, Number Eight, and Blue Diamond Valley. All the registration details match." Elena refused to believe it. She called a mining lawyer in London and a banker in Geneva. Her expression was even grimmer when she hung up. "Nobody's willing to vouch for us. Even people who owed us favors are ducking our calls." Marcus leaned back on the sofa and lit a cigar, taking his sweet time. "Do you get it now? "I'm not here to ask you to sell off your assets. "I'm here to take them over," he said quietly, as if he were discussing a deal that had already been signed. Simon clenched his jaw. Elena didn't fire back. She just gripped the stack of documents tighter and tighter. Antonio's hand slowly tightened around the armrest. There was a time when the whole New York underworld thought twice before crossing anyone named Ferro. But today, an outsider with four gunmen had the nerve to sit in the Ferro estate and wait for the Don himself to hand over the ring that symbolized the family's power. He broke into a violent coughing fit. Simon caught him right away. "Dad, take it easy." Antonio coughed for a long time before finally raising a hand. "Don't embarrass us in front of him." Somehow that hurt more than if he'd lost his temper. Simon's eyes went red. Marcus looked from one face to the next, and his smile deepened. "Don Ferro, times have changed. "You used to run things with guns, with the docks, with the rules of the street. "Now all it takes is for the banks to stop clearing your transactions, and even the most powerful family can't hold out for long." Antonio didn't argue. Because he was right. Back when the family was at its peak, they'd had people inside New York City Hall who put in a good word for them. But that era was long gone. A gun could shut someone up. It couldn't make a bank lend you money. And it certainly couldn't make regulators drop their investigation. Marcus had clearly counted on that. It was why he dared to walk in and sit down so brazenly. Elena went through the documents again and still couldn't find a single flaw. After a long silence, Antonio finally spoke. "Alfonso, go get the ring from the study." "Dad!" Elena and Victoria cried in unison. Elena's eyes were red. "If we give up that ring, the Ferro family is finished!" "If we don't hand it over, you could all be behind bars by tomorrow." Antonio closed his eyes for a moment. "I'm old. It doesn't matter what happens to me. You're all still young." Then he looked up at the stairs. "Especially Chloe." I was standing in the shadows, and my chest tightened. "There's still a clean, separate trust in Simon's name." Antonio went on. "Have Chloe sign the divorce settlement and take that money. She must never return to New York." Elena's eyes filled with tears. "Antonio, she may be immature, but she's still a Ferro." "That's exactly why we can't let her go down with us," Antonio said. "How touching." Marcus clapped slowly from his seat. "Though the lovely Chloe is probably upstairs packing up her jewelry as we speak." "Shut up!" 4 Simon shot to his feet. Elena grabbed his arm. She gritted her teeth. "If it really comes down to it, I'll have our men make sure Marcus never leaves." "No," Antonio snapped at her for the first time. "If he's bold enough to walk through the door, he's got a backup plan. "Kill him today, and tomorrow the feds have an excuse to tear this place apart." Victoria asked quietly, "So we just give up?" Antonio didn't answer. After a long silence, he looked at Simon. "How much is left in the trust your mother left you?" Simon's expression shifted. "Dad, that money is—" "For Chloe," Antonio cut in. "She has nothing to do with the family business. Once she signs the divorce settlement, she can make a clean break from all of this." Simon clenched his fists. "I'm not divorcing her." "I wasn't asking." Antonio sounded old, but he still spoke with the authority of the head of the family. "You're a Ferro. You live or die with this family. Chloe doesn't." Standing in the shadows on the stairs, I couldn't put my feelings into words. For three years, Elena had thought I was too high-maintenance, and Victoria had thought all I could do was spend money. Even Antonio usually scowled and grunted whenever he saw my latest piece of jewelry. But when they were truly out of options, their first thought was to leave me the last of their clean money. I went back to my room and poured myself half a glass of Lafite. When my fingers touched the bottle, I realized my hands were a little cold. Every one of them had a terrible temper. And every one of them was fiercely protective of their own. I took a sip. It tasted a little bitter. I suddenly remembered my first year in the family. Elena had thought my clothes were too flashy, but she'd still stepped in when someone at a party tried to pressure me into having a drink. Victoria was always calling me a spendthrift, but when she found out I loved a particular pair of discontinued earrings, she had someone track them down for me in London. Then there was Antonio. He'd never once praised me, but every year he made sure Alfonso got me a birthday present. Fine. At least today, I couldn't let them hand over the family signet ring. I took my wine and headed back downstairs. Alfonso was halfway up the stairs when he saw me and froze. "Mrs. Ferro..." I walked right past him and down the stairs. Every eye in the room landed on me. Marcus looked me up and down. "You're in the mood for a drink at a time like this? "Looks like Mrs. Ferro has already lined up her next husband." I didn't even bother to look at him. I walked over to the sofa he'd just been sitting on and frowned in disgust. "Where'd this nouveau riche nobody come from? He's getting my couch dirty." The smile on Marcus's face froze. Elena went pale and yanked me behind her. "Chloe, go back upstairs!" Simon immediately stepped in front of me, too. "Just go upstairs, okay?" The more nervous they got, the more I wanted to laugh. On a normal day, every one of these people looked down on me. But when it came down to life or death, not one of them had even thought about throwing me to the wolves. Marcus's expression turned icy. "Since Mrs. Ferro has so much backbone, I guess she won't need to sign the divorce settlement after all. "The whole lot of you can go down together." He took out his phone and pressed his thumb to the screen. Simon pulled me back a step. I was just about to turn around when, out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Marcus's lapel. Up on the stairs earlier, the brooch had just seemed a bit loud. Now that I was closer, the light was hitting the panther's eyes just right. I stared at that panther brooch for two seconds, and then I smiled. "You're a big shot with three gold mines, and your Cartier panther has cheap rhinestones for eyes?" The moment the words left my mouth, the room went so quiet that all you could hear was the fire crackling. Marcus didn't answer right away. That half-second of hesitation was enough to change both women's expressions. I lifted my wine and took a slow sip. "Don't tell me the paperwork on those three gold mines is fake, too?"