Chapter 2

Five years ago, right after Dante became the Don, he was ambushed.

At the time, I had just turned eighteen and left the orphanage. I stumbled upon him, covered in blood. Recognizing him as a benefactor of the orphanage, I don't know where I found the courage, but I dragged him into an abandoned warehouse to hide.

Before the Conti family arrived, we were caught. I took a bullet for him, nearly shattering my spine.

We were eventually returned to the Conti estate. Dante was gravely injured, but the moment he woke—fever burning through him—he ran to my bedside.

"I owe you your life. Whatever you want, I'll give it to you."

I looked at his face and, almost on impulse, said, "In return for saving you… you'll give yourself to me."

I meant it as a joke. He nodded and agreed.

Those days while he recovered were the happiest we ever had.

When he healed, he defied everyone and married me, an orphan girl. He said I was the only light in that dark period of his life and that I deserved the highest honor in the Conti family: to be their Madre.

But no one in the Conti family respected me.

His cousin mocked my lowly origins at the wedding. Dante not only crippled him but publicly declared that my status would be equal to his. From that day on, no one dared to look down on me.

Soon, we had Nico. But giving birth was nearly fatal—I risked losing half my life due to old injuries. Dante, with tears in his eyes, said I had terrified him and from then on would rush home daily just to be near me.

Yet when Nico turned one, Dante's clinginess vanished. Instead, he spent nights away, attending to family business. The intimacy we once shared disappeared, leaving me anxious, fearing he was secretly doing something dangerous.

Out of worry, I placed a tracker on him.

That's when I discovered the truth: those nights away weren't for work—they were spent caring for a sick childhood friend, coaxing her to take medicine.

Alessia Bellini was the Principessa of the Bellini family, freshly graduated and returned home. The Conti and Bellini families had always been close—if not for a past mishap, they would have been married already.

I had met Alessia before.

On our anniversary, I had prepared a candlelit dinner, waiting for Dante to come home. Instead, he returned with Alessia and introduced her.

"This is my childhood friend, just back from abroad. Thought she should meet you."

I trusted him completely and cared for her sincerely. I believed in us.

But reality hit me like a slap in the face.

Our first explosive fight erupted on my birthday. For five years, Dante had always returned home to personally prepare my birthday dinner without fail. That year, he didn't come. Phone calls went unanswered; messages ignored. I waited until deep into the night. Even after Nico had fallen sleep, Dante had yet to return.

At dawn, he sent a rushed voice message. "Bianca, I have urgent matters tonight. You and Nico go to sleep. Don't wait for me."

But the faint, intimate moan of Alessia in the background made his lie painfully obvious.

I checked the tracker.

Seeing them entangled, my eyes burned with rage. I was about to storm in and confront them.

Dante blocked me. He gripped my wrist tightly, voice icy, as he said, "Bianca, she's the Bellini family Principessa. You can't touch her. If anything happens to her, forget about curing your orphanage director."

I froze, blood running cold.

The woman who raised me, my most important person, depended on the medicine in Dante's hands for her life.

I could do nothing but leave, humiliated, tears streaming under Alessia's scornful gaze.

From then on, he grew bolder, hardly returning home at all.

I asked for a divorce.

He refused to sign, even threatening me with our son's custody and my orphanage director's life-saving medicine.

I couldn't understand… why.