Chapter 1

I took a third bullet for my uncle, Lorenzo, the Don of the Moretti family. Only then did the family elders agree to name me the next Donna.

But in the two weeks I lay unconscious, Lorenzo announced his engagement to Ava, the daughter of a family benefactor.

In my previous life, I crashed their engagement party and met a miserable end.

This time, I have learned my lesson. I will reclaim the token of my love, accept my destiny as Donna, and offer myself in a marriage alliance far away in Sicily.

Uncle, I finally understand. A young man is much more fun than an old one like you.

The news sent a shockwave through the New York underworld.

After all, everyone knew the pride I carried in my bones. I was the Sicilian rose raised by the Don himself.

Ava was just an ordinary college girl. She was nothing compared to me, the Moretti princess.

So when I appeared at their engagement party in a black gown, nearly every guest had the same thought: I, the reckless girl who had fallen for her guardian, was here to raise hell.

Even Lorenzo's face darkened. He instinctively shielded Ava behind him, his voice low and threatening. "Isabella, remember where you are."

I simply smiled, my lips curving into a bright, almost docile line.

"Congratulations on your engagement, Don. I was young and foolish. As an apology, I've prepared a gift for Miss Ava."

I snapped my fingers. A line of bodyguards in black suits filed in, carrying gift boxes stacked high, each tied with the pale pink ribbon Ava always favored.

The ballroom fell deathly silent. Even Lorenzo showed a rare hint of astonishment.

Then, a flood of words scrolled through my vision, a silent commentary only I could see.

[Isabella, baby, don't do this! That Ava is a total fraud. Lorenzo doesn't love her at all!]

[Ava is posing as the daughter of the man who saved Lorenzo's life. He's only pretending to marry her to protect her from rival families. After the mafia commission meeting next month, once he helps her secure her position, the Don will kick her to the curb!]

[This is killing me! Look at your uncle, quick! He's staring at you so hard he's about to lose it! He's being cold because he's pissed you're wearing high heels when your gunshot wound hasn't even healed.]

[When you went into shock from blood loss, he gave you his own blood for the transfusion, and nearly died himself in the process! He's the man who raised you. How could he not love you?]

The words scrolled past my vision, but I forced down the dull ache in my chest.

Affecting an air of nonchalance, I held my hand out to Lorenzo, my eyes stinging. "I accept your choice for a new Donna. Now, shouldn't you return the platinum heirloom my parents left me?"

The comments erupted in a frenzy.

[Are you crazy?! Why would you take back the pendant you gave him on your 18th birthday?! Don't you know Lorenzo guards that thing with his life? He never takes it off, not even in the shower. He would chop off the hand of anyone who dared touch it!]

But in the next second, Ava's soft, timid voice sounded from nearby. "Isabella, are you talking about this pendant?"

She reached up and pulled down the collar of her dress. The platinum pendant rested on her collarbone, its chain glinting coldly under the lights.

It was a vicious slap to the face. My head was ringing.

Even the ever-present comments faltered for a moment.

Before I could speak, Ava's eyes reddened. She fumbled with the chain around her neck. "I'm sorry, Isabella. If you don't like me wearing it, I'll give it back to you right now. Please don't be angry…"

As she spoke, she held the pendant out to me. Just then, a passing servant brushed past her, his shoulder bumping hers lightly.

With a clatter, the pendant slipped from her hand. The chain traced an arc through the air before it smashed onto the marble floor.

A collective gasp echoed through the ballroom.

Because during that declaration of love, an event that scandalized the entire Upper East Side, my eighteen-year-old self had made a vow to Lorenzo.

"Lorenzo Moretti, now that you wear my gift, you are my man. Where this chain is, you are. If you dare lose it, I will never take you back!"

The color drained from my face. I stared at the broken pendant on the floor, speechless.

Ava clutched Lorenzo's suit jacket, looking terrified and helpless as tears streamed down her face. "I'm so sorry, Lorenzo… I've made a mess. I'll find the best craftsman to fix it…"

She knelt, trying to pick up the platinum wreckage studded with tiny diamonds, but a sharp edge of the shattered pendant cut her fingertip.

A bead of crimson blood welled up instantly, dripping onto the broken pendant.

"Don't touch it!"

I snapped, but before I could see clearly, a large, hot hand gripped my wrist.

Lorenzo's brow furrowed, his tone icy. "Isabella, that's enough. Ava didn't do it on purpose. Were you about to strike her in public over a broken pendant?"

His expression was grim, but his voice faltered when his gaze met my hollow, red-rimmed eyes.

"You misunderstand, Don."

I forced a smile through the stinging in my eyes and pulled my hand back. I opened my palm to reveal a small bandage.

"A broken chain is just that, broken. Miss Ava, on the other hand, has cut her delicate finger. The Don should take her to get that bandaged. An infection would be terrible."

A knot of unease tightened in Lorenzo's chest.

He had expected me to smash glasses, throw a tantrum, and declare I would marry no one but him. He had not expected such compliance from me.

He had never expected me to call him "Don" so calmly.

I had never called him that. I always called him Uncle.

This unfamiliar Isabella sent a jolt of panic through him, as if he were about to lose something incredibly precious.

Almost instinctively, Lorenzo softened his tone. "Your gunshot wound hasn't healed. Be good and go lie down in your room."

My smile deepened. "Of course. Thank you for your concern, Don."

I straightened my back and turned to leave.

I walked through the long corridors of the estate and into the backyard olive grove, the music from the party fading behind me.

Once I was alone, the tears I had been holding back finally fell.

I heard the soft sigh of the personal maid who had raised me.

"Principessa, if you're this heartbroken, why not fight for him? For all these years, the Don's affection for you has always been genuine."

She was right. When my parents died in an accident when I was ten, the Moretti family adopted me. For ten years, Lorenzo's kindness to me was real, every last bit of it.

The man who was cold and ruthless to the world had only ever shown his patient and gentle side to me.

That was why, in my previous life, egged on by those comments, I had frantically disrupted the engagement party, even using my dead father to pressure him.

In the end, Lorenzo had caved. He called off the wedding, sent Ava away, and agreed to marry me.

But on our wedding day, Ava was cornered by enemies on the Brooklyn Bridge. She leaped into the frigid waters below.

The news broke Lorenzo, a man who had always been in control of everything.

He hated himself for failing to protect his benefactor's only child, and he hated me even more for my meddling.

From that day on, he never touched me again.

No matter how I begged, no matter how I pointed a gun to my own head, he remained as cold as ice.

After I became pregnant, he moved into the caretaker's house at the cemetery, spending his days and nights by Ava's grave.

My sanity finally snapped. In a daze, I tumbled down the spiral staircase, and lost the child.

But when Lorenzo arrived at the hospital, he just stared coldly at the pool of blood, his voice laced with relief. "A life for a life. Now your debt to Ava is paid."

In that moment, I finally understood how terribly wrong I had been.

That night, clutching the small urn of my child's ashes, I burned the estate to the ground.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back two weeks in the past, to the day Ava, in a foolish attempt to show off in high society circles, leaked the location of the family's underground armory and drew in assassins.

To repay a decade of his care, I still took that bullet for him.

But this time, I would let go of my obsession and leave them to each other.

I pushed the memories away and wiped the moisture from the corner of my eye. "Take me to see Madre."

In the family chapel, Madre Elena was kneeling before a statue of the Virgin Mary, praying with her eyes closed.

I walked up and bowed respectfully. "Madre, I am willing to take my cousin's place and travel to Sicily for the marriage alliance with the Falcone family."

Elena's fingers stilled on her rosary beads. Her voice was full of sympathy. "So it has come to this..."

She retrieved a gold-embossed file from under the pew and handed it to me.

"This grants you authority over the billion-dollar trust fund your parents left you. I've also taken the liberty of adding five ports to your dowry. The Rocci family was once a great name in New York; you will not be beneath the Falcones of Sicily. Since you have made your choice, when you go to Sicily… don't look back."

My nose stung. I bowed my head and gently kissed the old woman's hand, my voice trembling slightly.

"Thank you, Madre, for your care these past twelve years. I have one favor to ask. Please keep my decision to go to Sicily for the marriage alliance a secret from Lorenzo for now."

Elena nodded gravely.

I took a deep breath and stood up.

I turned and had just pulled open the chapel's heavy oak doors when I saw a tall, imposing figure standing in the shadows just outside.

Lorenzo stared at me, his eyes churning with a dark storm, his voice low and hoarse.

"Keep what from me?"