Chapter 1

The moment I sent my son away, I returned to the party. I instantly met Bianca’s defiant glare.

She was wearing that same angelic white dress. She slipped away from the edge of the pool.

I looked at the water. My heart dropped.

A black stroller was floating in the pool. Inside, a baby wrapped in a blanket lay perfectly still.

"BIANCA!" I screamed. My voice shattered the laughter of the guests.

Matteo and his mother, Teresa, rushed outside. The matriarch let out a shriek and collapsed to her knees.

Matteo stumbled over, shaking. He stared at the pool. "Mandy, baby... he's not breathing."

I couldn’t even bring myself to look. I sprinted up to the second floor. Bianca had locked herself in her bedroom.

I kicked the door hard. "Bianca, open this damn door!! Who did you push in?!"

She didn't answer. But I could hear her giggling with her little friend inside.

"Bianca, are we in trouble? My dad is gonna kill me!"

"No. It wasn't on purpose anyway. Besides, the Family doesn't punish kids."

Those fearless words stabbed my ears like ice picks. I started shaking uncontrollably.

I slammed my foot into the door with everything I had. "Get out here! Do you realize you just killed someone?!"

Matteo ran up behind me. He grabbed my arms. His eyes were red. "Mandy, calm down! Don't scare the girls."

I glared at him with pure hatred. It was exactly like my last life.

He thought our son was dead, and he was only worried about scaring his fucking niece.

Teresa came upstairs, wiping her tears. "Oh, honey. Bianca went too far this time, but Mandy, don't be so harsh."

She stepped closer. "I know you're grieving little Nico. But these things happen. You're still young. You can have more kids."

The world tilted beneath my feet.

They thought it was Nico. My son.

And this was their reaction? That same, familiar, sickening coldness.

But my guards had just taken my son away.

Who the hell was the tiny body floating in the pool?

Matteo hugged me tightly. "Mandy, I swear I'll get justice for Nico. But Bianca is just a kid, she doesn't know any better..."

I shoved him off before he could finish.

"What do you mean? If she doesn't know any better, why didn't she drown herself?"

I marched to the hall closet. I grabbed a heavy iron fire poker and smashed it into Bianca’s door like a madwoman.

Teresa gasped and backed away. The door violently shuddered. The whole mansion seemed to shake.

"Bianca, get your ass out here right now! Or I'm taking this door down!"

Why should she get away with murder? Even if the dead baby wasn't mine today, I was going to get justice for him!

Hearing the violent blows, Bianca yelled from inside. "Stop it! If you don't stop, I'll jump off the balcony!"

I was panting hard. I dropped the poker, ripped a decorative hunting knife off the wall, and hacked at the wood. The blade lodged deep into the door, stuck fast.

"Then jump! Because if I get in there, I'm going to kill you anyway!"

I destroyed the lock. The door finally swung open.

Bianca stood there, looking annoyed.

"What?" she tilted her head, looking at me with those cold, dead black eyes. "Why are you making so much noise?"

"Who did you push into the pool, Bianca?"

She glanced toward the baby downstairs, then back at my face. A small smirk played on her lips.

"Your son, obviously. The little brat who stole way too much of Uncle Matteo's attention."

Smack.

I slapped her. Hard.

The crack echoed in the room. Her head snapped to the side.

Tears instantly welled in Bianca's eyes. She clutched her cheek in shock. "How dare you hit me? Not even my dad hits me! You're not even real Family, you bitch—"

I slapped her again. "The fact that your dad doesn't hit you is exactly why you turned into a little monster!"

I grabbed her by the collar. I roared through gritted teeth, "I'm asking you one last time. Who did you push in?!"

Bianca finally dropped the act. She held her face and whined, "Your Nico. My mom said babies naturally know how to swim. I just wanted to see if it was true."

"But he stopped moving after like ten seconds. I didn't think he'd actually die."