Chapter 1

Seven months after my father, Lorenzo Caruso, died, the final toxicology report came back.

His regular medication had been slowly replaced with something else. The dose was small enough to slip past routine screening, but strong enough to slowly destroy a healthy heart.

The money trail led from a medical supply company to a casino, then through two shell companies before finally reaching an account controlled by the Falcones.

I stared at Roman's name. My mind went straight back to three months earlier.

Marietta had been sitting in my father's study wearing Roman's shirt, with the Caruso harbor dividend sheets spread across the desk.

I asked Roman how long it had been going on.

He only looked at me. "Does it matter now?"

That was when I realized the Falcones had already infiltrated the finances, warehouses, and docks after my father's death.

On paper, I was still the Caruso heir. In reality, I couldn't even leave the estate without my husband's permission.

The one thing that finally gave me a way out was an unregistered burner phone containing contact information for members of my father's old guard.

I only learned later that Elio Vieri had left it for me.

We had barely spoken to each other before that.

Less than twenty minutes after my car left the estate, two black sedans appeared behind us.

The first shot shattered the rear window. I knew Roman knew what I had discovered.

Before the car plunged down the hillside, I called Roman and asked, "Did you kill my father?"

Roman never gave me a straight answer. He only said quietly, "Arianna, you were never supposed to go this far."

That was enough.

The instant the car crashed through the guardrail, I thought of the selection ceremony seven years earlier.

Five candidates had stood in the hall that day.

The Falcones, the Vieris, and three other families with business interests in Leighton had each sent a young man.

Elio's presence drew frowns from several elders.

Two months before the ceremony, the family had formally acknowledged an illegitimate son they had denied for years. They gave him the Vieri name and the right to represent the family in public.

Anyone could see exactly what they were doing.

But Elio legally carried the Vieri name now, and my father had no grounds to throw him out.

Besides, nobody really believed I would choose him.

Not even me.

In my last life, I had walked straight to Roman.

This time, I opened my eyes to the same chandeliers blazing overhead.

My father was alive.

Roman stood across from me in a perfectly pressed suit, his hand already stretched toward me.

Someone laughed. "Could you at least pretend to be nervous?"

Roman laughed too. "Do I need to?"

I closed my hand around the obsidian ring and walked toward him.

His hand was already waiting for mine.

I walked right past it.

The laughter in the hall slowly died.

I kept walking until I reached the end of the line.

Elio stood there, dark-haired and pale, his left hand buried in his pocket. Even he seemed convinced he was only there because his family had ordered him to show up.

He did not look up until I stopped in front of him.

Not far away, someone muttered, "The Vieris actually had the nerve to send him."

Another man chuckled. "They only acknowledged him two months ago, didn't they? It's obvious what they're after."

Someone else glanced toward my father and quickly fell silent.

Nobody would openly challenge the Vieris at an event like this. Doing so would suggest the Carusos couldn't even control who was allowed into the selection. Worse, it could turn the ceremony into a feud between two families.

But their quiet laughter said enough.

Elio heard every word.

He straightened his back, as though he'd been hearing things like that his entire life.

I pulled his hand from his pocket, opened his palm, and placed the ring inside. "I choose Elio Vieri."

My father turned to look at me.

He did not stop me. He simply waited for an explanation.

I gave him a small nod.

He remained silent for a while before gesturing for the officiant to continue.

From that moment on, anyone who mocked Elio's birth in public would also be challenging the Carusos.

The smile finally disappeared from Roman's face.

"Arianna." His voice was still steady. "Are you sure about this?"

"I'm sure."

He glanced at Elio but didn't make a scene. Instead, he slowly lowered his hand.

But I knew him too well.

He wasn't thinking I'd stopped loving him.

He was trying to figure out what I'd discovered.

After the ceremony, Elio typed something on his phone and held it out to me. "Why me?"

I thought of the burner phone he'd left me in my last life. "Because when everyone else pretended not to see me, you helped me."

Elio's brow furrowed. He typed another line. "We have never met."

My fingertips froze over the screen.