Sang Penguasa Arthur Gardner

“Olivia, I already told you Amy is just my stepsister. Her birthday is coming up—what’s wrong with wanting a necklace? Besides, no one asked you to give up your seat. Who are you putting that sour face on for?!”

My boyfriend Leo’s low, warning voice pulls me back to reality.

I glance at the elderly lady standing beside us in sunglasses, looking slightly troubled, and the waiter who is about to step forward to mediate.

Only then do I realize—I have truly been reborn.

In my previous life, it was at this exact moment that I stopped Leo and forced him to give the seat to the woman.

Only after leaving the auction did I learn who she really was—

the mother of the current Don of New York’s most influential Mafia family, the Morretti family.

And that Don was famous for being a devoted son.

Because I stopped Leo from stealing her seat, he avoided disaster that day.

Later, through that twist of fate, Leo got to know people from the Morretti family and became one of their collaborators.

As the Underboss of the Colombo family, connecting with the Morretti family was like growing wings for him. From then on, he thrived in New York’s underground world.

But Amy storms out in a fit of anger. That night, gunshots echo through the neighborhood. A stray bullet hits her, and she bleeds out on the spot.

He calmly arranges her funeral, yet still keeps his promise and marries me.

Soon after, my father dies in what is ruled an accident. On the day of my father’s funeral, he storms into the church with his men.

Looking at me kneeling before the coffin, he smiles arrogantly.

“Olivia, this is what you owe Amy! If you hadn’t stopped me that day, the seat would’ve been hers! She wouldn’t have run out in anger, and she wouldn’t have been shot! Let me tell you something—your father was killed by me. And now it’s your turn!”

Right in front of everyone, he shoots my younger brother—who had been kneeling beside me, begging for mercy—dead with a single bullet.

His bodyguards pin me down and drag me out of the church as I watch helplessly, his blood pooling before my father’s coffin.

The chilling memory makes my face grow even paler.

“Which small family are you from? You reserved this seat first?” Leo says. “My sister’s birthday is coming up. Just give her the seat—there’s something she wants among the auction items.”

Leo’s words bring me slightly back to my senses.

Amy, who had been silent the whole time, glances at me and then gently tugs at Leo’s sleeve.

“Leo… Olivia doesn’t look very happy. I don’t want you two to argue because of me. If it really causes trouble, we can just skip the bidding…”

Amy puts on the same pitiful act she used in my previous life, her eyes reddening as she speaks.

She could easily have asked Leo to buy her something else from a luxury store outside—money is the one thing Leo never lacks.

Yet she deliberately came to the auction where I had already reserved a seat to pick her gift, stirring up trouble on purpose so Leo would blame me.

But this time, I won’t be that foolish.

Thinking of the old lady’s identity—something I only learned after leaving the auction in my previous life—a faint smile appears on my lips.

Looking at Leo, who is glaring at me fiercely, I say calmly:

“Why are you staring at me? This is between you two. I have no objections. Handle it yourselves.”

After saying that, I step back and move to the window.

Lifting a glass of champagne, I quietly gaze out at the Manhattan night skyline.