Chapter 1

In my previous life, I couldn't put up with how Giulio Panzeri repeatedly favored Camilla Messina and her son, Nico Mancini, so I divorced him.

Not long after the divorce, my daughter, Romina Panzeri, fainted at school without any warning. The doctor diagnosed her with severe kidney damage and said she needed an immediate kidney transplant.

When I saw the astronomical cost of the surgery and the seemingly endless wait for a suitable donor, I felt my world collapsing around me.

I frantically went to find Giulio, only for Camilla to stop me from even entering the Panzeri estate.

"You and Don Giulio have already gotten a divorce, Alessia. You have no right to enter this estate. Take my advice and leave at once," Camilla declared.

By then, she'd already moved into the estate with Nico, enjoying all of the privileges that I once had. She eyed me with a look of complete arrogance.

"Please, just let me talk to Giulio. Our daughter is in the ICU right now!" I begged desperately, only for her to mock me to my face.

"Why does it matter to us whether your daughter dies or not?"

My body turned cold. All I could do was weakly refute her, "Romina is his biological daughter! There's no way he can just stand and watch while she dies…"

But Camilla snorted in amusement. "So what? Nico is also his biological son!"

As I stared at her in absolute shock, she took a step forward and said in a sweet yet vicious tone, "The night before Giulio married you, he left you and came to accompany me. We both had a lot to drink. That was the night I became pregnant with Nico.

"You and your daughter have stolen our place for so long. Now that you're finally gone, why would I ever let you back in?"

I broke out in a cold sweat, my entire body turning clammy. My ears were ringing.

It turned out that Giulio had betrayed me from the start.

Because of Camilla's obstruction, I never got to see Giulio again. Romina also died of kidney failure, passing away right in the hospital.

Now that I'd been reborn, I wasn't going to get jealous over Camilla again. Instead, I focused all of my time and energy on Romina.

I ignored Camilla's provocations. Even when she used the clumsiest excuses to repeatedly lure Giulio away from me, I pretended not to notice anything.

I didn't argue, nor did I cause a scene. However, I immediately brought Romina to the hospital for a full health exam and received the diagnosis of her kidney failure in advance.

After seeing the diagnosis report, Giulio did something he'd never done before. He canceled all his meetings and even took it upon himself to call Dr. Marino, the president of Panzeri Hospital.

"Find a matching kidney donor for my daughter and schedule the surgery at once! She must receive the best care!"

Soon, Romina was placed in a VIP hospital room in the private hospital. Giulio personally sought out Dr. Bruno, the best surgeon in Ingoria, and entrusted him with operating on her.

As long as the hospital found a suitable donor, Romina could immediately receive a kidney transplant. This time, she would definitely be able to get the surgery before it was too late. She wouldn't die like she had in my previous life.

I sat by the hospital bed, tucking the blanket around Romina, when Giulio's phone suddenly rang. A familiar name appeared on the screen—Camilla.

Giulio paused. After a few seconds of silence, he took the call.

Nico's chirpy voice came through the speaker, "Uncle Giulio! You promised me you'd take me to the shooting range so that I can practice my shooting. You said that real men have to be able to hit 100 bullseyes!"

Giulio ended the call and looked at Romina, who was lying on the hospital bed. Her face was pale, and her wrist was bandaged because of the IV drip.

She'd once pleaded countless times for him to take her horse riding just once or perhaps take her on a trip to the sea. But he would always say, "I'm very busy."

This time, he made a rare show of crouching down and saying to her gently, "Be a good girl, Romy. Mommy will stay here and accompany you while you get treated, okay? And once you're all better, I'll take you to the mountains to go skiing."

I looked at Romina worriedly. I knew how much she longed for her father's affection. Every time Giulio rejected her requests because of Nico, she would hide under her blanket and cry for hours.

But this time, she avoided his hand and said softly, "It's fine, Daddy. Go do whatever you need to do. All I need is to have Mommy here with me."

A trace of shock flashed across Giulio's face. This was the first time Romina had refused to let him touch her. But before he could say anything, his phone started ringing again.

Once he left, Romina abruptly turned to me, saying cautiously, "Mommy, if I don't fight with Nico for Daddy this time, will I be able to live?"

My tears poured down my cheeks. Only then did I realize she'd been reborn, too.

I held her tightly, my voice choked and shaky as I promised her, "Yes, darling. After your surgery, I'll take you away from this city—away from this family. We won't ever come back again."