THE MAFIA'S HIDDEN DESIRE

On a cruise ship not far away, Natalia Stone, who was dressed in a wedding gown, was kissing Irving Schmidt with a blissful smile on her face.

Amid the guests' cheers, a cold and mechanical voice echoed in my mind. "You failed to win over any of the targets of affection. You will be forcibly erased in two weeks."

I smiled bitterly.

After I was reborn into this body, the system had given me four targets of affection. If I could get any of them to reach 100 affection points, my body that was ravaged by a terminal illness in my original world would be cured.

Over the years, I had tried desperately to win them over. I humbled myself as much as possible. However, every single time their affection was about to max out, Irving would appear. Then, all the points I had painstakingly accumulated would be wiped clean.

Now, even my final target of affection was also about to marry Irving.

With that in mind, I turned decisively toward the edge of the deck and threw myself into the sea. Seawater engulfed my body. I spread my arms, letting myself sink toward the depths.

Just then, a figure grabbed me and dragged me back toward the surface. Fresh air rushed into my lungs again. Before I could even react, a hard slap landed squarely on my face.

"You chose to jump into the ocean on Irvy's wedding day on purpose, didn't you? Why? Did you want us to feel sorry for you?"

I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth and looked at the person in front of me. The disgust in her eyes caused a pang in my heart.

It was my older sister, Mavis Caldwell. She was my very first target of affection in this world.

After our parents died, she and I could only rely on each other to survive. When the car accident happened, I had shielded her without hesitation. All the impact from the crash landed on me, so I ended up with ruptured organs and a long stay in the ICU.

She had held onto me and cried until her voice was hoarse. She swore that no matter what happened in the future, she would protect me. She had said that I was her only family left in this world.

But on the day I was discharged from the hospital, I saw her bring Irving into our home. She had told me that he would be our younger brother from then on. She let Irving move into my room and allowed him to beat the little dog I had raised for eight years to death.

Every time Irving and I argued, she always took his side and scolded me without even asking what had happened. She accused me of being petty and narrow-minded despite being the older brother.

The 97 affection points I had painstakingly accumulated over eight years were all stolen by Irving in less than a single week. From that moment on, Mavis' affection toward me kept dropping. She even refused to acknowledge me as her brother in public.

When Mavis saw me sitting blankly on the ground, she took out a bottle of heart medication from her purse and threw it in front of me.

"Are you faking heart pain again? Take your medicine and get the hell out of here!" she barked.

The truth was, I didn't have any heart disease. All those episodes had been the system's punishment. Back then, Mavis had been afraid something might happen to me, so she always carried the medicine with her.

But now, there wasn't the slightest warmth left in my heart. I grabbed the bottle, poured out a handful of white pills, and stuffed them into my mouth.

Mavis froze for a split second before screaming and slapping my hand away. The pills spilled from my mouth.

She grabbed my wrist tightly and questioned in a trembling voice, "Lucian, have you lost your mind?"

Of course I hadn't. I just wanted to go home and say goodbye to my real sister.

I stayed silent and said nothing. Mavis shot me a vicious glare.

As more and more guests gathered to watch, she started to get impatient. She ordered the bodyguards to take me off the ship.

Just as I stepped onto the deck, the sound of high heels clicking against the floor sounded behind me.