LOGINI'm Bella, the Donna of the Vitoriano Famiglia. The thing is, no one thinks I'm worthy of this position. After all, I'm a former slave who has been rescued by Giorgio Vitoriano, the next Don in line, from an underground auction house. In order to repay him for his act of benevolence, I become the sharpest weapon of his arsenal. I pull off every task flawlessly, be it assassination, infiltration, or purging the family of unwelcome moles. I make it my life's mission to block every source of danger aimed at him, even if it means sacrificing myself. On the day Giorgio becomes the new Don, he places a family signet ring onto my palm. "Bella, I have a new mission for you that requires both of us to carry out for the rest of our lives. Will you do me the honor of accepting it?" Of course, I will. But Giorgio ends up bringing his adopted sister, Liliana Vitoriano, home one year into our marriage. I think it's my time to leave now.
View MoreBy the evening of the third day, the Vitoriano manor was brightly lit.I made no attempt to avoid attention. Accompanied by Padre and Matteo, I entered the meeting hall right on time. The long table was filled with the core members of the Vitoriano famiglia, including several old elders who usually relied on seniority to throw their weight around.Giorgio had made this meeting formal enough.Just as I took my seat, the hurried clacking of high heels echoed from outside the hall.Liliana burst in wearing a white dress. She had obviously dressed up on purpose, and her eyes shone with excitement.She blurted, "Gio, you finally came to your senses, didn't you? I knew you would never really choose an outsider over—""Shut up," Giorgio cut her off.He sat at the head of the table. Without even looking at her, he simply motioned for Franco to place the documents before me."This is everything you asked for." His voice was steady but rough with exhaustion from a sleepless night. He w
I set down my glass and stared at him with a gaze so calm that it was almost cruel."You knew exactly what those tonics were for, and you still allowed me to take them for three years. Giorgio, pulling a trigger isn't the only way to hurt someone."Giorgio clenched his hands. The veins on the back of his hand stood out sharply.There was nothing he could say to refute me because that was the truth.At first, he had agreed to Clemente's condition only to secure his position. Later, the doctor told him the tonics merely reduced the chances of pregnancy temporarily and wouldn't harm me. He believed it, and silently accepted that arrangement.After that, he grew busier and got increasingly accustomed to me always waiting for him in the same place. So, he stopped questioning it altogether.Only tonight did he finally realize that what he had signed back then wasn't a temporary compromise. It was a slow but lethal blade, and every cut had landed on me.In a quiet voice, he said, "I'll
Even the music in the grand hall stopped.Everyone's eyes fell on Giorgio as though they were watching an unexpected spectacle. Everyone on the West Coast knew that the new Don of the Vitoriano Famiglia was ruthless and had never once lost his composure in public.But now, he stood beneath the stage. He was looking up at the woman above him as though he had wagered away every last bit of his dignity.Matteo was the first to react. His expression darkened as he stepped forward, only to be gently stopped by me."I'll handle this," I said to him.Lifting the hem of my dress, I walked down from the stage. My heels clacked sharply against the marble floor. Each step sounded like a resolved shattering of the hesitation and compromise of the past seven years.I stopped in front of Giorgio and finally saw him clearly.A layer of stubble had grown on his jaw, and there were dark circles beneath his eyes. Even the cuffs that were always perfectly pressed had begun to wrinkle.He was stil
That night, the finally complete Rinaldi family sat merrily in the dining hall of the manor.Padre sat at the head of the table. Matteo took the seat to my left, while Madre filled my plate with creamy mushrooms—the dish I had loved most as a child. But by then, I could barely remember its taste anymore.Everyone looked at me cautiously. They seemed to be afraid that if they startled me by being overly enthusiastic, I would somehow disappear again.I lowered my head and took a sip of the hot soup. My heart gradually filled up with a warmth that was both comforting and painfully bittersweet.I finally had a home.After dinner, Padre had all the information gathered over the years brought into the study. The thick stack of files included the police report from the year I had disappeared and clues tied to underground trafficking networks. There were also records of the Rinaldi family's search efforts that had stretched across nearly the entire West Coast over the years.The final






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