Chapter 1

I was still lost in thought when Ciro Rossi called.

"Do you understand what this will mean?" he asked. "This is going to completely upset the balance between the three families."

"I know. Come here. Now."

I hung up and leaned back in my chair. The cold leather pressed against my back, and memories from years ago rushed to the surface, one after another.

Ciro Rossi was the Don of the Rossi family, the most powerful of the three major Mafia families in North Maurenia.

Years ago, my family had proposed that Ciro and I marry to strengthen the alliance between our two families. But back then, my heart belonged entirely to Luca Moretti, my fiance, so I had rejected the proposal without a second thought.

Then Rosa Conti, Luca's childhood friend, had suddenly returned to North Maurenia from South Maurenia. Her family had been wiped out in a gang war. Every member was dead, leaving Rosa completely alone in the world.

With nowhere else to turn, she went to Luca. And from the moment Rosa entered our lives, everything between Luca and me slowly began to change.

When she first arrived, Luca told me that she had lost everything. Her entire family had been killed in a blood feud. He asked me to understand what she was going through and treat her with kindness. So I tried my best to do exactly that.

Then came the first incident.

For three months, I searched the underground black market before finally getting my hands on an extremely rare antique family crest brooch. It was a collector's piece Luca had desperately wanted when he was younger, and I had planned to give it to him as our anniversary gift.

But when Rosa casually mentioned that she liked it, Luca gave it to her. He told me that she was too pitiful and that he couldn't bring himself to refuse a girl who had no one left in the world.

"Isola, you're the one I love. It's a great present, and I'll find you something even better next time."

He promised to make it up to me, but he never did. Instead, he gave in to Rosa again and again.

One night, we had tickets to see a movie together. The moment we met, Luca received a call about Rosa and left immediately. I told myself it was just one bad night.

Then came the hunting trip. It was a group outing in the mountains for the younger generation of all three families, and Rosa came along as well. Halfway up the mountain, she and I fell behind the others. I was about to catch up when Rosa slammed into me without warning.

We both tumbled down a steep slope covered in loose rocks. My shoulder hit the ground hard, and a jagged stone sliced through my skin. The pain was so intense that I could barely move my arm.

I stared at Rosa, stunned and furious. Before I could ask what she was doing, she leaned close to my ear and whispered, "Isola, if I say you pushed me, do you think Luca will believe me? Who do you think he'll help first, you or me?"

Before I could react, Rosa suddenly let out a piercing scream.

By the time Luca and the others came running, she was curled up on the ground, trembling and crying. She looked up at them with tears in her eyes and softly said, "Maybe Isola was just too tired and lost her balance. I'm sure she bumped into me by accident."

She even gave me a timid glance at the end, as if she were afraid of me.

I was covered in blood, my injured shoulder throbbing with unbearable pain. I tried to explain what had really happened, but Luca didn't even look at my injuries. He rushed straight to Rosa and scooped her into his arms.

Then he looked down at me, tired and irritated. "Isola, this is out of line."

Just like that, he had decided I was the one at fault.

He carried Rosa down the mountain, leaving me alone on the rocky slope with my injuries. Everyone else was intimidated by the Moretti family's power, so no one dared to step forward or defend me.

With no one willing to help, I could only grit my teeth, cradle my injured arm, and make my way down the mountain on my own before calling my family doctor.

By the time the doctor arrived, I was barely conscious. I had collapsed from exhaustion while waiting for him, and just before everything went black, I thought I heard a panicked voice calling my name.

"Isola!"

"Ms. Castellano."

The clerk's voice pulled me back to the present. She handed me the completed marriage license, finally breaking through the memories that had swallowed me whole.

It had taken less than ten minutes. The paperwork was done, the marriage was registered, and that was it.

So this was how little time it took to marry someone. Just ten minutes. And yet Luca couldn't even spare me those ten minutes. Or maybe it wasn't that he didn't have ten minutes to spare. Maybe he simply couldn't bear to make his childhood sweetheart, Rosa, wait that long for him.