Chapter 1

I spent three years in prison.

Three years ago, the police seized the Nelli family's arms depot.

Silvio's signature was on the ledgers. If the police had kept digging, he and the whole Nelli family would have been finished.

I stepped forward and confessed, claiming the shipment was mine.

Silvio held me, his eyes bloodshot.

"Serafina, when you get out, I'll give you anything you ask for."

I believed him.

After I got out, everyone said I had changed.

Once, I loved Silvio so much I couldn't stand to see him hurt.

A few days ago, he got hurt in an accident. I didn't even ask how he was.

My best friend, Zoe Fontana, handed me her phone.

"Your wonderful husband has a baby."

They looked like the perfect little family.

"Everyone says you don't love Silvio anymore. I don't buy it."

Zoe leaned in, studying my face.

"He has a child with another woman, and you're doing nothing?"

I drained the champagne in my glass.

"Of course not. My husband is having his son christened. I should go congratulate the happy family of three."

Zoe came with me to the christening.

The priest stopped mid-prayer.

Every guest in the church watched my face, afraid I would snap.

To them, I was the Thorne family's heiress, known for my fiery temper and for never letting an insult go.

Anyone who crossed me paid for it. Begging wouldn't save them.

Silvio's cold face hardened with displeasure.

"Serafina, I didn't invite you to this christening."

I smiled at him.

"I'm the Donna of the Nelli family. I have every right to attend the heir's christening."

Several elders in the church bowed their heads to me.

I had built nearly half of the empire myself. Seven years earlier, I reorganized the port routes and saved several branches from collapse.

They still called me Donna.

Silvio took a deep breath.

"Bianca and I..."

"I know. You got lonely while I was in prison, so you found a replacement. Then she had your child and thought she could take my place."

I stared at Bianca Russo and slowly walked toward her.

My heels clicked against the stone.

Bianca's legs gave way. She clutched the baby and sank onto the steps, sobbing.

"I'm sorry, Donna! I never wanted any of this! The doctors said I might never have another child if I ended the pregnancy. Please, have mercy on me!"

I looked down at her and reached toward the child in her arms.

Silvio seized my wrist.

"The child is innocent. You will not hurt him."

Silvio's father, Emilio Nelli—the former Don—crooked a finger.

Dozens of guns swung toward me.

"Serafina, this family needs an heir. He will not affect your standing. You are still the Donna."

I looked at those guns and suddenly thought of three years ago.

When the police raided the arms depot, these were the same people who had begged me to save Silvio. They said that if I confessed, they would never forget my sacrifice.

Now, with guns pointed at me, they had clearly forgotten every word.

My expression did not change.

"Relax. I only want to give the child's mother a gift."

I stroked the baby's soft cheek, pulled a document from my bag, and laid it gently across Stefano Nelli's blanket.

"You're not angry?"

Silvio hadn't expected that.

"Of course not."

I smiled.

"Bianca gave you an heir. Why should I be angry?"

"Divorce papers?"

Bianca read the page and cried out.

Silvio froze, then read the papers again.

"You want a divorce?"

The room erupted.

In the underworld, family rules mattered more than the law. Divorce was betrayal, and betrayal could mean death.

"Has the Donna lost her mind?"

"Yes."

My fingers curled as I stared him down.

Silvio's smile turned cruel.

"The last person who talked to me about the law ended up at the bottom of the Po River."

We had been married for ten years. Once, everyone thought we were the perfect couple.

His cold expression looked alien yet grimly familiar. Maybe part of me had always known this day would come.

The night before my release, I dreamed of another life.

In the dream, I made a scene at the christening and tried to drive Bianca and her son out.

Silvio refused, so I made Bianca leave with the child.

Silvio came after me for it.

He destroyed my family and drove us into bankruptcy.

Silvio locked me up and made me suffer every day.

I finally escaped, only to find my parents' bodies.

Dazed and grieving, I died in a car crash.

I thought it had only been a nightmare.

When I learned the child was real, I finally understood. The dream had been a warning.

I gave up three years of my life for him. He repaid me by having a child with another woman.

Either way, this marriage was over.

I closed my eyes for a moment.

"You said that when I got out, you would give me whatever I asked for."

The Don's word was law.

Everyone knew I had just humiliated the Nelli family.

They expected Silvio to order me killed on the spot.

Instead, Silvio stepped closer and whispered in my ear.

"Serafina, I'll give you anything you want. Anything but a divorce."

The baby suddenly started crying.

Silvio let go of me at once and turned to soothe him.

His tenderness made my chest ache.

I couldn't bear to watch any longer.

Outside the church, the cold wind hit my face.

I dialed a number.

"Dario. Help me get a divorce."

Dario Marino chuckled on the other end.

"The Marino family never takes a losing deal. You know what I want."

"I know."

"Then get Silvio to sign the paper. Once it's filed, I'll make sure no one can stop it from going through. I'll also keep the notary alive long enough to finish the paperwork."

Dario paused.

"But the court can't protect you from the Nelli family. Until the divorce is final, don't let them know what you're planning. If Silvio finds out, he'll freeze the assets and come after you as a traitor."

"How long?"

"Twenty-one days at most."

"That's enough."

I looked back into the church at Silvio holding the baby.

Twenty-one days was enough for me to take back what belonged to my family and for everyone who had ever owed me a favor to decide who they were really loyal to.