Chapter 1

My soul was awakened by Mamma's joyful sobs.

I floated from the basement to the main living room in the mansion and saw my mother, Livia Trotta, holding my younger adopted sister, Arianna Capuano, while weeping bitterly.

"Oh god, my poor Arianna has suffered so much! Thank goodness we finally found you. Otherwise, who would have known how much you'd have gotten hurt!"

Arianna wouldn't stop sobbing quietly either. "I thought I wouldn't ever get to see you again, Mamma."

My elder brother, Giusto Capuano, patted her on the back with reddened eyes. "Don't worry, Arianna. Next time, I'll arrange for more Soldati to keep you safe from now on," he said.

I looked at Arianna. Her dress was a little dusty. But other than the dirt streaks on her face, she looked perfectly fine without even a scratch on her—a stark contrast to my condition in the downstairs basement.

Arianna wiped her tears away. "By the way, Giusto, where's Carlotta? I don't seem to have seen her anywhere."

"You don't have to care about her. She's probably just angry that her wedding had to be cancelled because we had to rescue you. I bet she's just hidden herself away, hoping that we'd go out and beg her to come back home next."

"But it's getting dark outside… Isn't it dangerous for a young woman like her to be outside on her own?"

My dad, Vittorino Capuano, waved his hand dismissively and said, "She'll come back on her own after she's thought things through. As for you, the doctor said that you need to rest more at home.You should stay at home and have a good rest."

I floated in between the two of them, reaching out to touch Papa's face, but my finger went right through him.

The warmth belonged to them. I didn't deserve any.

My fiance, Diego Atzori, stood at the door for a long time without saying anything.

Arianna then looked at him and began talking to him in a coquettish manner. There were still tears in her eyes as she said, "Did Carlotta contact you, Diego?"

Diego's face looked dark and a little ashen. "No. Her phone's been turned off."

"It's all my fault… If you didn't come out to save me, you and she would have already been married at your wedding ceremony by now—"

"Don't put it that way," Diego said, interrupting her. "No matter what important day it is, it's still not as important as your life. Carlotta will think things through by herself after she's calmed down."

"Let me send her a text message to apologize first. I hope that she'll come back home after she reads my message," Arianna said, taking out her phone to text me.

"I bet those three thugs aren't enough to keep you busy, right? Maybe I should just get more people to join in on the fun next time! Have fun rotting away in the basement!

"There can only be one Principessa in the Capuano Famiglia, and that will be me! I am also the only one who will be marrying Diego!"

I watched with wide eyes as she sent out the text message before deleting it from her chat window almost immediately.

Then, she composed a different text message saying, "I'm sorry, Carlotta! I was wrong. Hurry up and come home! Everyone's worried to death about you!"

After sending the second text message, she showed her phone to Mamma and said, "Mamma, do you think that Carlotta will forgive me after reading this text message?"

Mamma pulled her into a heartbroken hug and said, "It's Carlotta's fault for being ruthless and running away from her own wedding. It was never your fault to begin with. Oh, how I wish you were my biological daughter instead!"

I felt a pang of hurt in my chest.

Was I ruthless? Was I really as ruthless as they said I was?

Papa and Mamma had always felt sorry for Arianna because she had grown up mostly in the slums her whole life. After adopting her, they gave her all of their love, even more than what they reserved for me.

I had felt sorry for her in the past as well, so I never made a fuss about it.

It was supposed to be my wedding to Diego today. While I was about to set out for the church after getting ready at home, three masked men in black suddenly rushed into the mansion and dragged me straight down to the basement.

I was terrified, and I later learned that they were hired by the enemy Famiglia to capture me and torture me to my death.

I had promised them that I would give them as much money as they wanted as long as they let me go.

One of the masked men grinned slyly as he handed me my handphone.

"You have one chance to call someone. If someone comes to save you, then we will let you go."

I called Diego without hesitation.

"Diego… Save me… I've been kidnapped, please come back and save me…"

Diego sounded like he was panting heavily on the other end of the line, almost like he was running while answering my call.

"Carlotta Capuano! Arianna's life is way more important than our wedding! Stop it with your pathetic acting just to make yourself sound pitiful to get our attention!"

Then, he hung up on me.

The next two hours were like hell for me.

The thugs tore off my wedding dress, sliced every inch of my skin open with their sharp knives, and broke all four of my limbs.

I lay on the ground in a boneless heap. When the thugs saw that their mission was done, they immediately took to their heels and fled.

The basement door slammed heavily on me.

Blood wouldn't stop bleeding from my four broken limbs. I stared up at the ceiling as blood flowed down my ears.

If Arianna's life was important and worth saving, then was mine not after all?

I closed my eyes.

As it turned out, there was no actual difference between dying in my own basement and dying out in the streets.

Nobody knew or cared anyway.

And so, I bled to death in my wedding dress in the basement.

I recalled what my biology professor had taught me before. I knew that there were only 24 hours left before the stench of my corpse would fill the entire mansion.