Chapter 1

In my previous life, when our enemies were closing in, Vivian Giordano, my stepsister, shoved me into the narrow alley they were chasing us through, buying herself precious time to escape.

This time, she did not do that. Instead, she handed the chance to survive to me.

"Jules, run!" she shouted urgently. "As long as you make it to the main street, the Morettis' soldiers will be there to save you!"

She herself, however, rushed into the alley with undisguised excitement, running straight toward the direction the enemies were coming from.

In that moment, I understood that Vivian had been reborn, too. Otherwise, she would never have given up her chance to survive and handed it to me.

I did not hesitate for even a second. I turned and bolted toward the street, and just like in my previous life, I ran into the same unit that had once saved her.

Vivian's former husband, Caporegime Marco Santoro, was a tall, broad-shouldered man with a full beard. His presence alone was oppressive. Even the men who fought alongside him did not dare stand within half a meter of him.

Vivian was terrified of him. Even after becoming his wife, she would scream in panic whenever he came near.

That pitiful man was now leading his soldiers in a brutal sweep, eliminating the remaining enemies.

He stood far away from me, yet the voice he called out carried clearly, unexpectedly pleasant to the ear.

"Ma'am, I am Caporegime Marco Santoro. Do not be afraid. I will escort you home."

Suppressing the fear rising in my chest, I lowered my head slightly, my tone filled with gratitude.

"Thank you for saving me, Caporegime. I am Julia Giordano, the eldest daughter of the Giordano family. Please take me home."

I knew very well that my father, Victor Giordano, would never miss an opportunity to climb higher through connections like this, yet I still asked him to send me home.

After all, I did not dare take the risk. If I ran into even a single enemy left behind, a fragile woman like me would have no chance of surviving.

"There is no need to be so polite. It is my honor!"

Marco waved his hands in a fluster, but the movement was far too large. The long gun in his grip slammed into the corner of the wall, the barrel snapping clean off as it clattered to the ground, making me jump in fright.

He bent down sharply to retrieve it, only for his backside to slam straight into a patrol car.

The brand-new vehicle caved in with a deep dent, its alarm shrieking sharply through the street.

The soldiers rushed over, their voices filled with helplessness and despair.

"Caporegime sir, please stay where you are and do not touch anything. The family's firearms and vehicles cost a bomb. If you keep dismantling them, the Boss will skin us alive!"

Marco froze in his bent posture and obediently did not move an inch. Beneath his messy hair, the tips of his ears flushed so red they looked like they might bleed.

I could not help laughing.

The fear I had felt toward Marco eased slightly, and an absurd thought surfaced unbidden.

He was... kind of cute?

I hurriedly crushed that thought.

Thinking that the Moretti family's most ferocious Caporegime was cute would make anyone think I had lost my mind if they heard it. That man who could scare children into crying had nothing to do with the word "cute".

In my previous life, he had terrified Vivian so badly that she suffered nightmares every night and nearly chose to end her life.

That was why, in this life, she would rather risk being mistakenly killed by our enemies than be rescued by him.

Of course, the most important reason was something else entirely. She knew that even without the soldiers, she would not be in danger because she would soon encounter the Mafia Boss's heir, Luca Moretti, along with his entourage.

In my previous life, Luca had rescued me in time and then pursued me relentlessly.

Not long after, we held a grand wedding.

Vivian had been so consumed by jealousy that her eyes turned red as she stood among those seeing me off, muttering to herself over and over again, "I should've been the Boss's wife. If only I had met the heir first."

Now that she had been given a second life, she could not wait to seize what she believed was her rightful happiness.

What she did not know was that meeting Luca was not the beginning of happiness at all.

It was the start of an even more terrifying nightmare.