Chapter 1

My husband, Riccardo, blamed me for his mistress’s death. It wasn't until I was dying that I learned the truth: Angelo Marino, the rival boss who’d once proposed, had loved me all along.

I open my eyes. I'm back. Ten years in the past, on the day Angelo Marino proposed.

"Liliana, if you won't marry me, then I won't force you."

His voice snapped me back to the present.

I stared at the man kneeling before me. Angelo Marino, Don of the rival Marino family.

My eyes burned with tears.

I was screaming on the inside.

I was really back. Ten years ago.

When we first met, I didn't know what he was.

I only found out he was the Don of the Marino family right before he proposed.

But my bastard half-sister, Gia, was obsessed with him.

She threatened to kill herself.

She blackmailed me with our mother’s heirlooms, forcing me to give Angelo up.

I turned him down, my heart breaking.

Then I married the head of another mafia family, Riccardo Moretti.

And in the end, Angelo married Gia.

For ten years, Riccardo paraded a string of mistresses in front of me.

But then his favorite, his "little rose," threw a jealous fit over me and ended up dead.

Riccardo went mad.

He tied me to the back of his yacht and dragged me through the sea until I crashed into the rocks.

I lay in a cold hospital bed, a white sheet covering my legs.

I would never walk again.

That’s when Angelo, the man who hadn’t spoken to me in a decade, stormed the Moretti compound alone.

He killed Riccardo, only to die in a hail of gunfire himself.

It was only then, as my own life faded, that I finally understood.

He had always loved me. He never stopped.

Now, Angelo’s eyes were full of a gentle warmth, but also a hint of sadness.

I knew he was disappointed that I’d said no.

I was such a fool in my past life.

I rejected the man in front of me and chose to marry that monster, Riccardo Moretti.

This time, I wouldn't make the same mistake.

I rushed forward, not caring that I’d just rejected him moments ago.

"Wait, Angelo! I changed my mind. I'll marry you."

The light returned to Angelo’s eyes.

"Really? You mean it?"

I held out my trembling hand.

He carefully slipped the ring, engraved with the Marino family crest, onto my finger.

The cool diamond felt right against my skin, just as I’d imagined it would before I died.

"Liliana..." he stood up, his voice thick with emotion.

I stood on my toes, cupping his face in my hands. "Angelo, I..."

"What a touching scene."

A familiar voice cut through the crowd, stopping our kiss.

I spun around to see Riccardo Moretti walking toward us.

He was wearing a black suit, that same fake smile plastered on his face.

My husband from my past life. My nightmare.

"Riccardo," my voice turned to ice.

But I couldn't show how much I hated him.

"Congratulations, Liliana." He stopped in front of me, his eyes dark. "And to you, Angelo. But before you make it official, I think you should see the little 'love token' Miss Falcone sent me."

He didn't pull out an iPhone.

He pulled out a burner. An old Falcone cipher phone, a relic from the old days.

Guests who knew what it was gasped.

It was an old piece of tech, supposedly destroyed years ago, used to send the family's most sensitive secrets.

Riccardo plugged it into a laptop.

A decoded message flashed onto the massive screen in the hall:

Pier 3. Next Tuesday, midnight. The Siren. —From your Butterfly.

My heart stopped.

Pier 3 was one of the Marino family’s most important arms depots.

"The Siren" was their mobile armory, disguised as a cargo ship.

Leaking that intel was like handing our enemy a key to the Marino family’s heart.

"A little gift from Liliana, after we spent a night together three months ago," Riccardo announced into the microphone. "She said she had to prove her loyalty to seal our deal. And 'Butterfly'… that's the pet name she only uses for me."

The room erupted.

Impossible.

Three months ago, I didn't even know Riccardo.

But that device... that name, "Butterfly"...

I felt Angelo’s body go rigid behind me.

"It's a fake," I turned to him, my eyes filling with tears. "Angelo, you have to believe me. It's a lie."

Angelo stared at me, his brow furrowed.

His eyes were filled with pain, confusion, and a flicker of doubt I couldn’t bear to see.

Riccardo's laugh cut through the silence. "Don't worry, Angelo. I have more proof. Liliana gave me a 'little secret' to confirm the intel was real."

He paused, his eyes turning dangerous. "She told me that to prove her love, she set the device's activation key to the date we first met. A secret only she would know."

My blood ran cold.

That was my private passcode, set to the anniversary of my mother's death!

In my past life, Riccardo only learned that after he'd broken my family and tortured the truth from my lips!

There’s no way he could know that now.

Unless…

I saw the smug smile on his face, and a horrifying realization slammed into me.

He was reborn, too.