Chapter 1

I looked at the screen. Antonio had moved faster than I expected.

In less than five minutes, he had erased every trace of me from his accounts, as if our three years together had been nothing but an illusion.

My thumb strayed over the slightly worn engagement ring.

It was not an expensive custom piece. Three years earlier, when Antonio was still a low-level hitman, he had bought it for me with the payment from his first job.

That year, Sicily saw an unusually heavy snowfall, and he collapsed on the grounds behind the Moretti estate covered in blood.

I defied my father, dragged him to my room, and stitched his wounds myself.

I nursed him through three days and nights of fever.

When his fever broke, he clutched the hem of my dress with his scarred hands.

"Lia, you saved me. My life is yours from now on. Whatever you ask of me, I’ll do it."

Over the next three years, I once mentioned in passing that I liked the sea breeze, and he built me an overlook by the shore.

When I suffered a minor wound in a shootout, he charged in without regard for his own life and wiped out the other side’s entire crew.

To prove his loyalty to my father, he even ventured alone into the forbidden Cape of Death and returned with the head of the rival boss the Moretti family had failed to eliminate for twenty years.

When he returned to the Moretti estate drenched in blood, he did not go to claim his reward. Instead, despite his broken left leg, he dragged himself into the rain and knelt there for three days and nights, asking only for my father’s permission to remain at my side.

He barely survived that battle and needed more than sixty stitches across his body.

After he recovered, he knelt before me on one knee, his expression reverent.

"Ophelia, I’ll raise you up until you claim the highest throne. As long as I’m alive, no one will touch you."

I believed him then.

I thought I had saved a loyal wolf.

But now that vicious wolf had turned on me and sunk his fangs into my flesh.

A sharp ache pulsed through my chest. Tears spilled without warning, blurring my vision.

"Miss Moretti, everything is ready."

Federico, my most capable lieutenant, appeared silently behind me and draped a cashmere coat over my shoulders.

I wiped away the last trace of moisture at the corner of my eye, and my usual composure returned.

"Federico, how does the Moretti family deal with traitors?"

Federico tightened his grip on the pistol at his waist, his voice ruthless.

"A bullet, of course. Or we throw them into the sea to feed the fish."

I shook my head and said quietly, "No. Death is too cheap for him.

"I’ll take everything he prides himself on. I’ll keep him alive and make him watch until he has nothing left—until he can only wag his tail like a dog and beg for my mercy."

My gaze turned icy.

"A traitor… does not deserve a decent death."

I drew the coat closer and got into the black Maybach.

Then I slipped the old ring from my finger and tossed it into the flames without hesitation.

"Federico, spread the word: everyone in the Moretti family is dead except me. Tell them we were attacked because we seized the Medusa underground arms route.

"Let every wolf in Sicily smell blood."

Federico inclined his head.

"Next… it’s time to purge the traitors within our ranks."

My lips curved, but there was no warmth in my eyes.