Chapter 2

The pain made me curl up on the iron chair, my whole body convulsing. The technician adjusted the console as the murmurs around me grew louder.

On the large screen, images from my memories began to flash. It was the third day after Sophia's death.

Two enforcers dragged me into the Gambino estate. Someone wrenched my hair tight in their fist and slammed my face into the cold marble floor.

"Talk," a voice barked. "Who killed Sophia?"

The butt of a gun slammed into my back, knocking the air out of me, my ribs screaming in agony.

"I don't know!" I sobbed, trying to explain. However, it only earned me harsher blows. They spat on me. My arms were black and blue, and blood trickled from the corner of my mouth.

The scene shifted. It now showed my old home, engulfed in raging flames.

I stood at a distance, Bruno's leash tight in my hand. He had protected me since childhood—a retired attack dog, trained by the family.

"Grab her! Don't let the infame escape!" the enforcers shouted from behind us.

I ran deep into the mountains with Bruno, fighting for our lives, but they found us. Three men closed in, each holding knives and iron clubs.

Bruno took a fatal beating for me, died protecting me.

I knelt in the dirt, clutching a fragment of his leg bone, crying my heart out.

I was 16 then. Orphaned, Bruno was the only family I had in this world.

"Such an act… It's convincing," Valeria's voice echoed, heavy with contempt. "Lina, you think this earns you sympathy? If you hadn't shielded the murderer, Bruno would still be alive, and your home wouldn't have gone up in flames. The family treated you well, yet this is how you repay us?"

"Stronza! She's putting on a show!"

"She's just a lying piece of trash!"

"Ms. Lisciotti trusted you, and you just stood there and watched her die!"

"Kill her! Avenge Ms. Lisciotti!"

Amid the shouting and curses, the image on the big screen suddenly changed.

The private island off Siciliana basked in sunlight as Valeria, Sophia, and I laughed and played on the beach.

Sophia wore a white sundress and held out a ring with two serpents coiled around each other.

"Lina," she said, "this is the alliance ring of the Gambinos and the Sollazzos. From now on, we'll always be la famiglia—truly one family."

In the memory that was being played, I could be seen smiling as I took the ring and carefully slid it onto my finger.

"How dare you even think about that!" Valeria lunged at me, yanking my hair and slamming my head against the iron chair. "You don't deserve to! You backstabbing traitor! If it weren't for you, our family would have already expanded overseas!"

A sharp pain swallowed everything in darkness, blood streaming from my forehead.

I heard her shriek at the technician. "Turn it up! I want to see the murderer, adesso!"

The needles inside the helmet penetrated deeper, as if they were chiseling into my skull. I let out a blood-curdling scream, my consciousness teetering on the edge of collapse. Yet, I clung desperately to that last line of defense.

I refused to let that memory ever be seen.