Chapter 2

By evening, I arrived at the lakeside estate Luca had just bought.

It was an old Valenti property the family had recently taken back, built right against the water. Two rows of security guards in black stood outside the iron gates, and the family crest at the entrance had been polished until it gleamed.

The front lawn was covered with white roses and champagne-colored balloons. A gold floral arch stood at the entrance with the words “Welcome Home, Mother” written across it.

Beneath the arch, almost everyone had arrived: Valenti relatives, people from the family office, and several of Luca’s closest men who had followed him for years.

Their expressions shifted when I walked in. Some called me Donna, while others only glanced at me before lowering their voices and looking away.

I made my way through the crowd and saw a body covered with a white sheet in the corner of the lawn.

The moment I saw it, my body went rigid.

Vivian stepped forward then, her eyes red and her voice carefully wounded.

“Elena, I only wanted your mother to understand that not everyone can walk in and out of a Valenti estate as they please.”

“Who knew she was so fragile? Security had just taken her out when she suddenly had a heart attack.”

She paused, her voice softer.

“You won’t blame me, will you?”

So Luca’s mother was really dead because of her.

My heartbeat almost spun out of control, but before I could speak, Luca stepped forward and pulled Vivian into his arms.

“This isn’t your fault.”

His voice was gentle enough to sting.

“You were only protecting the rules of my estate. If anyone is to blame, it is her for being old enough to know better and still having no boundaries.”

“You have already been kind enough not to hold Elena responsible for the distress this caused you.”

Then Luca looked at me, his face turning cold.

“Elena, look at what your mother has done.”

“She died on my property, frightened Vivian, and ruined the family welcome dinner I prepared for my mother.”

Seeing him speak with such certainty felt absurd.

I pointed at the body under the sheet and said slowly, “Luca, I suggest you look for yourself and see who actually died.”

He frowned.

“Isn’t it your mother? What is there to look at?”

“I don’t want this kind of thing staining tonight.”

His sister Isabella spoke next, her face full of disgust.

“My brother set this estate aside from the family assets as a gift for our mother’s return to New York.”

“Our mother hasn’t even moved in yet, and your mother already came here to claim space.”

“If you ask me, she brought this on herself. At least now she won’t keep causing trouble for the Valenti family.”

She looked at me with open contempt.

“Elena, don’t think that just because you became Donna, your small-town relatives get to rise with you.”