Chapter 2

"It's a lie! That date is in memory of my mother..." I screamed, my voice raw.

I didn't care how Riccardo was back. I had to stop my past life from repeating itself.

But Riccardo just walked closer, a cruel smirk on his lips. "Is that so? Then can you explain why you used a secret Falcone code to ask me to meet at the St. Marco Hotel, room 1204, to discuss our families' future?"

Ice flooded my veins.

Room 1204 at the St. Marco.

That was our wedding night suite in my past life.

The bastard really was back.

"Remember, Liliana?" Riccardo's voice dropped to a whisper only I could hear. "The things you told me in bed? About Angelo's weaknesses? About the Marino family's... secrets?"

"Shut up!" I lunged at him, but Angelo grabbed my arm.

"That's enough," Angelo's voice was like ice.

He slowly turned to me, the warmth in his eyes gone.

All that was left was the disappointment and pain I remembered so well.

"Angelo, it's not what you think," I grabbed his arm. "I swear, I never—"

"Swear?" He ripped his hand away, his laugh like ice. "On what? Your lies? Your betrayal?"

The ring slipped off my finger and clattered to the floor.

It sounded like my heart breaking.

Angelo bent down, picked up the ring, and closed it in his fist. "Liliana Falcone, as of now, we're done."

He turned and strode away.

"Angelo!" I tried to run after him, but Riccardo grabbed my wrist.

"Don't waste your breath, sweetheart," he said, dragging me toward a back exit. "He doesn't want you anymore."

I could feel the guests' eyes on me. Whispers and laughter followed us out. I was a joke.

Riccardo pulled me into the alley behind the hotel.

"Let go of me!" I struggled.

"Don't move," he said, pinning me against the wall and showing me a photo on his phone.

It was Marco. My childhood friend. My most loyal bodyguard.

He was hanging in a warehouse, covered in blood.

"He's not dead... yet, Liliana," Riccardo’s voice was pure venom. "But if you don't behave, the next picture will be of his corpse. I'll make everyone you care about disappear, one by one."

My blood froze.

This was the real Riccardo. The monster.

In our last life, even with all his mistresses, he’d killed Marco.

Just because Marco had stepped between us once when Riccardo was hurting me.

Riccardo saw it as a challenge. He thought Marco wanted his woman.

And now, he’d already kidnapped him...

"If you're back, you know everything!" I shrieked. "Your little rose is alive! You have your mistresses! Why won't you leave me alone?!"

He sneered, his eyes raking over me with contempt.

“Let you go? Liliana, in our last life, I died at the hands of Angelo’s revenge. If it wasn’t for that, I never would have known how much he loved you. How dare he desire what is MINE? This life, you are still my woman, even if I have to chain you in a room and torture you every single day. You will not marry anyone else!”

The bastard.

Even if he didn’t love me. Even if he never spared me a glance after we were married.

In his eyes, everything Angelo did for me wasn’t about love.

It was a challenge to his authority.

He had to possess me, consume me, until there was nothing left…

A week later, the phones at the Falcone estate wouldn't stop ringing.

Our cargo ships were vanishing at sea.

Our front businesses were getting hit by rival crews.

My father called me into his study.

He looked like he'd aged a decade overnight.

"Liliana, the Moretti family has offered to help us through this," he said, his voice weary. "On one condition... you marry Riccardo."

I had only one option left.

I had to see Angelo.

Desperate, I went to the one place I knew he frequented in our past life.

The underground fight club in the neutral zone.

I pushed through the loud crowd and found him in a VIP booth.

"Angelo," I said, walking up to him.

He looked up, a flash of surprise in his eyes that quickly turned to ice. "Liliana Falcone. What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you."

"We have nothing to talk about." He looked back down at his papers.

"About the cipher phone that night, I can explain—"

"Explain?" He shot to his feet, his voice rising. "How are you going to explain it? Tell me it's not from your family? Or that the 'Butterfly' signature—a code only you and your father know—is a forgery too?"

"You don't have to love me, Liliana. But you will not make a fool out of me." His words were knives. "A traitor has no right to stand in my presence."

"Get out," he said, sitting back down and refusing to look at me. "Now."

His guards escorted me out of the booth.

I walked down the hall in a daze.

Suddenly, the power went out.

The club plunged into darkness and chaos.

People started screaming.

In the confusion, I felt people moving toward me.

Not one person. A group. They were coming for me.

Just as I was cornered, about to die, Riccardo appeared.

The attackers scattered instantly.

Riccardo’s grip was like iron as he dragged me through a secret passage, one he navigated with an expert’s familiarity.

A passage only insiders should have known.

My wrist burned, feeling like the skin was about to tear.

When we emerged from the passage back into the brightly lit main hall, Angelo was standing there.

He had just gotten clear of the chaos and was directing his men.

He watched us emerge together from an emergency exit… one marked with the Moretti family crest.

“Liliana, are you alright? But thanks to you, I know about this passage now.” The moment he saw Angelo, Riccardo feigned concern, checking me for injuries.

He was deliberately making Angelo believe, once again, that I had betrayed his trust.

He pressed his body close, ripping my dress in the process.

I was locked in his arms, unable to move, my chest crushed against his.

It looked sickeningly intimate.

But all I could feel was a searing pain.

It felt like he was about to shatter my bones.

I stared into his eyes, fury burning through me, wanting to scream why he had to torture me like this.

Why he had to orchestrate all of this right when I was trying to win Angelo back.

But I knew it was useless.

The moment Riccardo appeared, my attackers had retreated.

They were his men.

He would never let me escape his grasp.

My eyes, red with unshed tears, turned to Angelo.

"Angelo!" I broke free from Riccardo and ran toward him. "I can explain. Someone tried to kill me—"

"Explain this," his voice was eerily calm. "Explain why you just walked out of a private Moretti exit. On my territory. During an attack on my club. Looking perfectly safe under the protection of my enemy."

He looked at me, and the last flicker of conflict in his eyes died, leaving only a dead calm.

"Liliana, you made your choice. Don't regret it."

He turned and walked away without a second glance.

Riccardo stepped up beside me, a smug look on his face. "Looks like your knight in shining armor thinks you're a co-conspirator."

I watched him walk away. My heart turned to ash in my chest.