Chapter 106: Cracks in the Empire

Aliya slammed the car door harder than she intended. The loud bang echoed across the front courtyard of the Capri estate. She didn’t care.

Her face still burned with humiliation. The sales assistant’s apologetic smile. Her friends pretending not to notice. The cashier announcing, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"I’m sorry, Miss Capri. Your card has been declined." She clenched her designer handbag until her knuckles turned white.

How dare this happen to her? She was Aliya Capri. The daughter of Don Capri. People were supposed to envy her. Not pity her. She marched into the mansion, her heels striking the marble floor one angry step after another.

"Where’s my father?" she demanded. "The Don is in the conference room, Miss." Without waiting, she headed straight there.

Inside the conference room, the atmosphere was suffocating.

Several financial advisers stood around a large table covered with reports, laptops, and projections. Everyone looked exhausted.

Don Capri sat at the head of the table, his usually commanding presence looking strangely worn. His tie had been loosened. His eyes were bloodshot. He hadn’t slept properly in days.

One of the analysts nervously pointed toward another chart. "Sir... if the market continues..."

"Enough." Don Capri rubbed his temples. "I already know we’re bleeding." Just then the doors flew open.

"Dad!" Every head turned. Aliya stormed inside. Her father looked up immediately. His expression softened. "My princess." He looked at his financial team.

"Leave us." Nobody argued. Within seconds the room emptied, leaving father and daughter alone. The silence stretched for several moments.

Aliya finally exploded. "My card declined." Her voice cracked with anger. "Can you imagine that?"

She threw her handbag onto one of the leather chairs. "I was standing there in front of all my friends. Everyone was watching me."

"They all heard the cashier."

"They all saw it."

"I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life." Don Capri sighed heavily. The words he’d been avoiding for days finally had to be spoken.

"You’ll be marrying Viktor tomorrow." Aliya frowned.

"So?"

"Ask him for one of his black cards." She blinked.

"What?"

"Use his money for now while I sort out our financial situation." For the first time since entering the room, Aliya noticed something wasn’t right. Her father wasn’t reassuring her. He wasn’t laughing it off.

He looked... tired. Older somehow. "What happened?" She slowly pulled out a chair.

"Dad..." Her voice became quieter. "Did we lose money?" Don Capri remained silent. The silence itself answered her question. Her stomach tightened.

"...Dad?" He finally nodded. "Yes."

"Princess..."

"We made several trades."

"They went against us."

"We were overleveraged."

"The market collapsed." Aliya stared. "I don’t understand."

"We lost approximately three hundred million dollars." The words felt unreal. Three hundred million. Her mouth slowly fell open. "What do you mean..."

"Our money is gone?" Don Capri forced a smile.

"It isn’t gone forever."

"I’ll recover it."

"I always do."

"But yes..."

"For now..."

"We’re stretched." Aliya leaned back in disbelief.

She had grown up believing the Capri fortune could never disappear. It was endless. Untouchable. Yet now her father was telling her they had burned through hundreds of millions in less than a week.

"How?" she whispered. "How does that even happen?" Don Capri stood and walked toward the large window overlooking the estate.

"For four days I’ve been trying to answer that same question." He folded his hands behind his back. "I’ve lost money before."

"I’ve won it back."

"That’s business."

"But this..." His jaw tightened. "This feels different." Aliya slowly walked beside him. "Dad..."

"Are we..." She struggled to even say it. "...broke?" Don Capri laughed. A short laugh. Without humor.

"No."

"We’re wounded."

"There’s a difference."

He turned toward her.

"I still have businesses."

"I still have our routes."

"I still have loyal men."

"And I still have the gun shipment arriving this week." His confidence slowly returned as he spoke. "Once that shipment lands, we’ll recover a large portion of the losses." He placed both hands on her shoulders.

"And tomorrow..."

"You become Viktor Kessler’s wife." Aliya looked away. She had dreamed about marrying Viktor because she wanted him. Not because she needed him. But circumstances had changed. Fast.

"Once you’re married," Don Capri continued, "your expenses become his responsibility."

"You won’t have to worry about anything."

"I’ll rebuild what we’ve lost." Aliya nodded slowly. She wanted to believe him. She really did. But something refused to settle inside her.

"Dad..."

"What?"

"If we’ve lost this much money..."

"How are you backing Viktor?" His expression changed. She continued. "You promised you’d buy the loyalty of several council members."

"You promised financial support."

"How are you going to do that now?" Don Capri frowned.

"I..." He hadn’t thought that far. Aliya folded her arms. "And another thing." Her voice became thoughtful. "Why is all of this happening at once?"

"The market crash."

"The missing money."

"The council."

"The attacks."

"The problems with Viktor." She looked directly into his eyes. "What if someone is targeting us?" Don Capri’s heartbeat seemed to pause. He replayed the last five days inside his head.

The failed investments. Accounts freezing. Unexpected losses. Market positions collapsing within minutes. None of it had made sense. Not one bit. He slowly walked back toward his desk. Opened another financial report. Studied the numbers again.

Three hundred million. Gone. Five days. Impossible. Unless... His eyes narrowed. "It could be." Aliya watched him carefully.

"I’ve traded aggressively for years."

"I’ve survived recessions."

"Sanctions."

"Currency crashes."

"But I’ve never lost this much this quickly." He slowly closed the report. "If someone manipulated the market against us..."

"They’re very powerful." His expression darkened. "And very rich." He looked toward the wall where a giant portrait of the Capri family hung. "They’re wrong if they think this will bring me down."

His voice had returned to that familiar cold confidence. "I’ll find them."

"And when I do..."

"They’ll regret touching my family." Aliya nodded. But the uneasy feeling remained. Something bigger was happening. She could feel it. For the first time in years... Her father didn’t have all the answers.

Several minutes later, Aliya left the office. She walked slowly through the hallway, no longer angry about the declined card. Compared to losing three hundred million dollars... The embarrassment felt insignificant.

She stopped beside one of the mansion windows. Tomorrow. She would become Viktor’s wife. Everything depended on that wedding. It couldn’t fail. It simply couldn’t. She closed her eyes.

Please... Just let tomorrow go smoothly.

She had no idea that somewhere else in the city, another pair of eyes had already turned toward the Capri family. Watching. Waiting. And quietly smiling. The first crack in an empire had finally appeared.