Chapter 2

After dinner, I went to the gun shop alone.

In my last life, after Vivian was sent to Sicily, she traded her body for protection from local bosses.

She aborted five children.

Only then did she manage to survive long enough to crawl back to New York twenty years later.

This time, I refuse to walk her path.

If I’m going to Sicily, I’m going to find that man.

The one even Marcus keeps his distance from.

The one people disappear around.

So I need a gun.

The owner had just laid several guns on the counter.

Marcus appeared at the door like death itself.

His eyes swept across the counter.

His voice was ice cold.

“What are you buying this for? I have plenty of these.”

“Why didn’t you ask me for one?”

“Do you plan to use it against Vivian?”

I forced myself to stay calm. “It’s for self-defense.”

Marcus let out a cold laugh. “Self-defense? You’re about to marry me.”

“With all my men around, you still think no one can protect you?”

No, Marcus, you can’t.

In my last life, you even threw yourself into the bullet yourself.

I lifted my eyes to meet his. “I need to protect myself.”

He stared at me. His gaze darkened.

“Nerina, I know you’re eager to adapt to the role of the Don’s wife.”

“But my woman doesn’t need to touch a gun.”

Then he turned his head toward the owner.

“You are not selling her anything. Or else…”

Before the words even settled, he casually grabbed the gun off the counter.

He did not even turn around.

He raised his hand and fired.

Bang.

The bullet pierced straight through the center of the target on the wall.

The owner ducked under the table in terror.

The next second, my feet left the floor.

Marcus carried me straight into his Phantom.

The door shut.

Only then did I realize Vivian was already sitting in the back seat.

She looked at me curiously.

“Nerina, why were you at the gun shop?”

I said nothing.

The whole ride, she kept showing off everything Marcus had bought for her.

Designer dresses.

Sun hats.

Sunscreen.

Sunglasses.

The trunk was overflowing.

She thought Sicily required beautiful outfits.

She had no idea the only thing that truly keeps you alive there is power and weapons.

Thankfully, the next day, I still managed to secretly get a gun.

I hid it in the storage room.

But on the third morning, a gunshot rang out across the De Luca estate.

A swarm of bodyguards rushed out.

When I arrived, Vivian was already trembling in Marcus’s arms.

“It hurts…Am I dying…”

There was only a shallow graze on her arm.

And the gun on the ground was the exact one I had hidden the night before.

Marcus slowly lifted his eyes to me.

Then he ordered the assistant coldly.

“Find out where the gun came from.”

Five minutes later, the assistant lowered his head.

“It was hidden there by Miss Nerina last night.”

The concern in Marcus’s eyes instantly turned into a freezing judgment aimed at me.

My vision spun.

He looked at me.

His voice was terrifyingly low.

“So you like playing with guns?”

I spoke immediately. “I admit I hid the gun, but I never fired it.”

“She hurt herself and framed me.”

Vivian shrank into Marcus’s arms.

Tears rolled down her face one by one.

“Don…So she really bought the gun last night to attack me…”

Marcus gently wiped away her tears with his thumb.

“Don’t cry, Rosa mia. I’ll make her pay for it.”

That was the first moment I felt true fear.

I wanted to go to Sicily, but I did not want to die.

Soon, I was tied to the wooden cross in the center of the courtyard.

Marcus stood six yards away from me.

The black pistol rose slowly in his hand.

“Nerina, I told you not to touch guns.”

“But you refused to listen. And you still dared to use it on Vivian.”

The next second.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Six gunshots became one line.

The bullets sliced past my ears and over my head.

The sharp air severed strands of my hair instantly.

I could feel death brushing past my forehead inch by inch.

All six rounds were emptied.

The empty magazine clicked onto the ground.

Marcus did not look at me again.

He turned and walked away.

And I was still tied to the cross.

I had already fainted from fear.