Chapter 1

In order to wed his first love, my fiancé, Wesley Houcci, publicly exposed my father's identity as an undercover agent. That resulted in my father being strung up and tortured for one entire day and night.

In the end, my father's legs were chopped off, his eyes were gouged out, and he was thrown into a metal cage and burned alive.

Just as I, Amara Slatero, was consumed with thoughts of revenge against Wesley, my childhood friend, now the Don of Scricia, rushed back from abroad with an army of men.

Bruno Zedano mobilized his entire family's power and influence to hire the best legal team for my father and promised to clear his name. I believed him.

After the funeral, I broke off my previous engagement to Wesley and married Bruno, the man who had allowed me to lean on him during my darkest hour.

Five years later, while standing outside a private room, I accidentally overheard a conversation between Wesley and Bruno, who were inside.

"Every time Amara sees me, she looks like she wants to do nothing else but tear me to shreds. But if the dumb woman ever finds out that the person who sold out her father is actually her husband who holds her in his arms every night, do you think she'll lose her mind?"

My hand, which was just about to push the door open, froze in mid-air.

Wesley's mocking voice continued, "You're truly ruthless, Bruno! Amara saw you as an older brother when she was a kid, and now that she's older, she climbs into bed with you naked. Never in her wildest dreams would she imagine that the person who actually uncovered her father's true identity was you!"

I stood frozen by the doorway as Wesley's voice echoed, thick with meaning.

"Look at how that idiot, Amara, massages your shoulders and feet every day, acting like she wants nothing more than to dig her heart out and offer it to you. If she ever finds out that you were the one who tipped off the boss about her dad being a mole, don't you think she'll skin you alive?"

"Shut up," Bruno warned coldly.

"Ha! Who knew there'd come a day when you—the Don of Scricia—would pretend to be a saint? Mr. Slatero was always so nice to you when you were a kid, and yet, you sent him straight to his death just because you wanted to please Lilah."

Bruno slammed the liquor bottle down hard on the table as he snarled through gritted teeth, "I'll never be able to repay what I owe Amara and Mr. Slatero. Everything I did back then was so that Lilah could be safe. If you dare touch a hair on her head, I'll make you wish you were dead."

Wesley snorted. "What a hopelessly devoted Don you are. At least you're sincere about Lilah. Too bad she wants nothing to do with a devil whose hands are as covered in blood as yours. You'd be better off staying with Amara. She thinks you're her redemption, but little does she know… you're her worst nightmare."

The sound of shattering glass rang out loudly. I fought to stop my trembling and quickly headed toward the rooftop bar.

I downed a shot of strong liquor in one gulp. I usually never drank, so the burn left me coughing so badly that tears were streaming down my face. The conversation I had just overheard kept echoing inside my mind.

As it turned out, it hadn't been Wesley who had betrayed my father all those years ago, but Bruno—the man who had supposedly come back to seek justice on my father's behalf.

That corpse, mutilated beyond recognition, had actually been Bruno's handiwork. No wonder the always-calm Bruno had looked so dazed when he stared at my father's charred remains in the funeral home. I had naively assumed that it was because of grief and anger.

Never had I imagined that the man who had been sleeping beside me for five years was the true executioner who had sent my father to his death. All the tenderness and affection he had woven for me all these years was nothing but his way of atoning for his sins.

How ridiculous.

Hatred bubbled in my chest.

Just as I reached for another glass, Bruno suddenly wrapped his arms around me from behind and drunkenly buried his face in the curve of my neck.

"Where'd you go, Amy? I missed you… Let's go home, okay?"

These past years, every time he got drunk, he'd always hold me like this and tell me over and over again how much he loved me.

Chapter 2

Bruno's men always said that the well-respected Don of Scricia never told lies and that he truly loved me. But now, all of it only made me feel sick.

Expressionlessly, I helped him into the bulletproof car. Bruno laid his head down on my lap, and his furrowed brows finally relaxed, making him look like a harmless child.

"Lilah, why… Why couldn't it be me…"

I was finally able to clearly hear the name he had murmured countless times in his sleep. Lilah Biatchi—the woman who had caused me to lose everything—was the woman he had hidden deep inside his heart.

As it turned out, Bruno had never forgotten her. He had even put on this show of being with me just for her. I had been too naive, underestimating how deep his obsession with Lilah was.

His satellite phone with a golden lion emblem slipped out from his custom-made suit pocket. As I leaned down to pick it up, an encrypted message popped up on the screen.

"Don Zedano, thank you for stepping in tonight and settling the feud with the three major families on my behalf. But I can't accept that underground territory of Scricia that you promised. It's just too much!"

Immediately after, Lilah updated her private social media account—"Only a true queen deserves to wear a crown."

Accompanying the caption was a photo of a ruby-encrusted antique ring. Allegedly, the ring was an emblem representing the oldest underground family in Scricia, symbolizing ultimate underworld power.

I knew Lilah was showing it to me on purpose.

Earlier this week, during a fight between families, a bullet had torn through Bruno's chest and gravely injured him. Yet the moment he was barely able to stand on his own two feet, he flew abroad. I was both furious and worried sick, thinking he was risking his life for his family's honor.

But in reality, he had gone to attend a family's succession ceremony. Even while recovering from a gunshot wound, he still fought to have that ring that symbolized ultimate power and gifted it to his true love.

As if something had come over me, I entered his passcode. The moment the final digit was keyed in, the screen lit up. The passcode was Lilah's birthday.

Bruno had never let me touch his personal phone, saying that it was a rule of a Don.

After unlocking it, the first thing that caught my eye was a photo of Lilah smiling in a lavish gown. No wonder his gaze always softened unconsciously whenever he turned on his phone. Then, I opened some folders and found photo albums named after her.

"Lilah–Opera House".

"Lilah–Vineyard".

"Lilah–Coronation".

There was a sea of photos there, all of which were of Lilah at the banquets of various major families. There wasn't one photo of me in those thousands of photos. Even he himself wasn't in them. Only Lilah could be found.

Just like how his heart had always—and would always—belonged to her.

The car pulled into the castle. I stared in the direction of the empty basement, my whole body cold.

That room once held my father's badge and the evidence he had collected while he was undercover. It was proof that he had gone undercover for 20 years in order to infiltrate the underground families.

Every time I saw those items, I felt like my father was still out there, finishing the mission he never got to complete.

However, one morning, all that evidence that could've turned all the underground families on their heads suddenly disappeared. The police said that it had been anonymously destroyed. I was completely shattered, and Bruno held me for three sleepless days.

Now, I understood. It had been him. He had destroyed the last piece of my father that I had been holding on to with his own two hands.

Another encrypted message suddenly popped up.

"Don, the will has been finalized per your request. All the Scrician underground power under your name and the succession rights will be transferred to Ms. Biatchi. We're just awaiting your final confirmation and signature."

Through my tear-filled eyes, I seemed to see the scene from so many years ago.

Bruno, formally dressed in mourning attire, had sworn to me at my father's funeral—"Amy, I swear on my honor as a Don that I'll give you a home. Everything I have will be yours."

Chapter 3

I placed Bruno on the bed but didn't take off his shoes and socks like I usually would. Instead, I headed straight for the guest room.

Before closing my eyes, memories of how he had doted on me all these years flooded my mind.

…

The next morning, sunshine streamed through the glass and caressed my face. When I opened my eyes, I immediately met Bruno's focused gaze. He leaned down, planting a kiss on my forehead.

"Amy, were you upset last night? I'm sorry. I drank too much at the meeting of the families. I promise it won't happen again," he said, his voice as gentle as always.

I gave a soft hum in response, then slipped into the bathroom to wash off his scent. When I came down, an exquisite Aitarian-style breakfast was laid out on the dining table. I used to always be so moved by this. But now that I had seen his phone, I couldn't smile anymore.

Everything laid out on the table was Lilah's favorite.

The doorbell rang, and Lilah walked in, dressed in the latest couture dress. She sat down at the table with natural ease and smiled at me.

"Sorry to bother you, Amara. Don Zedano and I will be delivering a shipment this morning, so he asked me to come for breakfast."

I stared at the access card in her hand—the same highest-level access card that I had—and fell silent.

Bruno, sensing something was off, quickly leaned in to explain in a whisper, "Lilah is our most trusted personnel. It's normal that she has access to the estate."

The words had barely left his mouth when he leaped up nervously, snatching the mug of hot coffee from Lilah's hand. "You have low blood pressure. You shouldn't be drinking espresso. You still don't take good care of yourself even after all these years."

Lilah chuckled softly. "That's true. It's a good thing you've always remembered."

As they stared into each other's eyes, something seemed to shift in the air around us. I got up to leave, but Lilah called out to me.

"Amara, the body restoration today needs professional documentation. Can you come take the photos? I don't trust the new forensic examiner."

I hadn't touched a camera again—not after my father's brutal death.

Just looking through the viewfinder would remind me of how he had taught me to take photos for evidence, of how defiant he must've felt while being tortured. And thus, I couldn't bring myself to press the shutter anymore.

Bruno was well aware of this. He had locked away all my photography gear, saying that I could always pick it up again when I was ready. But now, he was shoving me into the back seat of the bulletproof car without letting me say a word.

"Amy, you know Lilah gets car sick easily, so I'm afraid you'll have to sit in the back."

Yet he had somehow forgotten that after going on the run so many times, I had developed vertigo worse than Lilah's.

The car ride the whole way there was so bumpy that I became nauseated.

When we arrived at the morgue, Bruno carefully checked Lilah's protective gear and personally escorted her into the restoration area. Meanwhile, I leaned against the car, gasping for breath while trying to ease my nausea.

"Amy, the restoration is about to start. Don't be stubborn. This documentation is critical for Lilah and her family," Bruno said as he dragged me inside.

I lost my balance, nearly dropping the equipment. This was the first time in five years that I was holding a camera again. Fear surged through me, and my fingers trembled uncontrollably. I forced myself to stay calm as I continued taking photos of the restoration process.

During a midway check, only Lilah and I were left. She looked at my photos with disdain, a cold smile curling at her lips.

"Amara Slatero, you're as useless as your father. Who gave him the nerve to infiltrate the mafia when he couldn't even keep his identity as an undercover agent a secret? And you're nothing but a rat. You don't deserve to be with the Don of Scricia."

I clutched my camera so tightly that my knuckles turned white. I was fighting hard to suppress the rage that was about to explode. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain across my cheek.

Lilah pulled her hand back, her eyes filled with contempt. "How dare you take the title of the Don's wife? I never expected you to latch onto Bruno so quickly after getting dumped by Wesley."

Chapter 4

"You're not worthy of him. Whether it's Wesley or Bruno, they'll forever belong to me! You'll never be worthy!" Lilah hissed.

My face was still numb from the slap. But before I could react, Lilah suddenly grabbed my hand and, using me for momentum, flung herself to the floor. All curled up on the floor, she instantly appeared pitiful.

"Amara, it's not that I think your photos are bad… I just wanted to ask if you could try a different angle. But… it's okay…"

Bruno walked in right at that moment, and the kettle in his hand fell to the floor. He rushed over, pushed me aside, and quickly checked on Lilah.

"Bruno, I'm okay. Don't blame Amara. I was the one who lost my balance…"

"You're too kind-hearted, Lilah. You don't need to cover for her. I saw everything!" Bruno carefully helped Lilah up, treating her as gently as if she were a wounded gazelle. He held her close as he fixed me with a cold, sharp gaze.

This was the first time in our five years of marriage that he had looked at me in such a way.

"Amara, apologize to Lilah! I've been too lenient with you all these years, and now, you're going so far as to harm your sister-in-arms! Do you know that an injury to her face could affect her missions?"

Bruno's rage-filled eyes bore into me, yet he somehow didn't see the handprint on my face.

I met his gaze calmly. "Lilah is the one who should apologize. She insulted my father! Bruno, are you not going to explain the things you did to my father?"

A flash of panic crossed his eyes. "That's so far in the past already. Why are you making a fuss about it now? I promised him I'd protect you, but that was on the condition that you wouldn't hurt Lilah."

I snorted coldly, finally seeing his true colors. Suddenly, a wave of nausea hit me, and I fell backward.

…

When I opened my eyes again, the sharp smell of disinfectant flooded my nose. A female doctor working for the family happened to be packing up her instruments.

"Congratulations, you're pregnant! You've always been healthy, but you'll need to take good care of yourself during this time, and make sure your emotions don't spike."

My hand reflexively moved to my lower abdomen. For the past five years, I had always hoped for a child with Bruno. And yet, the baby just had to choose this time to arrive.

My private phone vibrated. It was a message from Bruno. "The doctor said you just need to rest. Once you apologize to Lilah, I'll have someone pick you up and bring you back to the Scrician castle."

I sneered as I turned off my phone.

"Ma'am, the Don has arranged an additional examination for you. Please follow me." As I followed the doctor toward a side room, I sensed that something was off.

Lilah's voice suddenly rang out from behind me. "I heard you're pregnant? Looks like I underestimated you. Do you know why you haven't gotten pregnant these past five years?"

I turned around, meeting her smug gaze.

"Because I told the Don that your child would jeopardize his whole operation in the mafia. The calcium supplements he gives you every day are actually contraceptives!"

Lilah studied my reaction carefully, waiting for me to break down. But I just responded calmly, "Okay."

As I turned around, preparing to leave, a powerful force suddenly hit me from behind. Losing my footing, I tumbled down the marble stairs. Pain flooded through my body, and I watched helplessly as blood seeped across the expensive carpet.

I lost our child.

The moment I left the operating room, I placed the divorce papers on the bedside table in the ward I had been placed in. I left the family's private hospital and headed straight for the airport.

Just before takeoff, a final text from Bruno came through. "I didn't think you'd have the guts to cross Lilah. You don't have an ounce of class that befits the title of the Don's wife. Put away your pride and apologize immediately!"

I crushed the SIM card and threw it into the trash can at the airport.

Bruno, who was tasting wine with Lilah at the castle vineyard, suddenly heard his private phone ring.

"Don Zedano! Mrs. Zedano has gone missing! She left a… document on the bedside table. You must take a look at it!"