Giving Up One Don for a Better One

"Isn't that Silvia? Cristiano, she's actually alive!"

Cristiano Corleone's Underboss, Giovan Furlan, gaped at me, blurting that out in sheer shock.

Cristiano whipped around, his eyes wide with disbelief and delight. "I knew it! I knew you'd make it out alive!"

He started to reach out for a hug, but froze the second he caught Tania Lanza in his peripheral vision.

Without a trace of a smile in her eyes, Tania said, "Silvia Lanza, if you were perfectly fine this whole time, why didn't you reach out to us sooner?"

She paused, then suddenly let out a sigh. "I mean, it's great that you're back, but Cristiano is expecting a very important guest today. I'm afraid he won't have the time to entertain you."

The men behind them took the hint and began taunting me one after another. "Talk about being lucky. As soon as Cristiano becomes Don of the Corleone family, she comes running back to suck up to him."

"She even plays it off like it's just a coincidence. Look at the dress she's wearing. It looks like she fished it out of a dumpster. It's so tacky."

I looked down at what I was wearing. It was a perfectly tailored black dress that looked pretty simple at first glance. But this was a bespoke piece Cesare Martelli had gotten specially made for me. There was only one of it in the entire world.

Clearly, these people didn't have an eye for nice things and simply couldn't tell. That was when I realized that they had no idea that I was the important guest they were waiting for.

Seeing how awkward things had gotten, Giovan tried to smooth things over. "The important thing is that you're okay. Cristiano never gave up looking for you—"

Cristiano held up a hand, cutting him off. Then, he spoke with an arrogant, almost condescending air. "Since you're alive, you can come back to the Corleone family with us. We have history, after all. I can just let you be my mistress."

Cristiano was still just as arrogant as ever. He honestly thought I'd spend my whole life chasing after him, that even if I left, all he had to do was crook a finger and I'd come running back. Seeing how full of himself he was, I couldn't help but feel annoyed.

Knowing Cesare was still waiting for me, I opened my mouth, ready to drop the bomb about who I really was and put an end to this little farce.

However, Tania spoke up right then, feigning concern. "Silvia, I know you're unhappy with this. But you've been gone for three years. Who knows what kind of men you've been shacking up with out there?"

She rested a hand on her lower abdomen, a smug little glint in her eyes. "Even if Cristiano wanted to make you his Donna now, it'd be practically impossible, especially since I'm the one about to give him an heir.

"Still, considering we're sisters, I won't make such a big deal out of this. We do have an empty room in the maid's quarters in the house. If you stay there, you won't have to sleep on the streets at least."

It had been three years, and Tania was still putting on this sickeningly sweet act. It made me want to gag.

Cristiano mistook my disgust for jealousy, and his smugness only grew. "Tania's right. You need to know your place now. As long as you behave and do as you're told, there'll always be a place for you by my side."

At that, his men snickered. "Come on, Silvia, Cristiano is already being more than generous with you. It's just being a mistress. You love Cristiano so much that you'll say yes, right?"

Tania quickly added in a cautious voice, "Silvia, I won't let you be mistreated."

Cristiano waved her off and interrupted, frowning. "She was the one who got all worked up back then and stubbornly refused to get on the helicopter. So what right does she have to complain now? Tania, you're way too soft on her."

I couldn't help but laugh. So in his mind, I was just throwing a childish fit that day.

He had no clue that in this second chance at life, I wanted absolutely nothing to do with him.

I was more than happy to leave him to Tania. As for me, I'd already become the Donna of the Martelli family, which placed me above everyone present.