Chapter 3

Andrei had told me that Brian Valdi, the Don of the Valdi famiglia, had gone to great lengths behind the scenes to bring about my marriage with Cassian. If he learned that Cassian had personally sabotaged the engagement, he would undoubtedly punish him severely.

My spirits instantly lifted when I thought of that. Since he had no desire to marry me, I couldn't be bothered to waste any more time with these people. I turned on my heel and prepared to leave.

Vera, however, refused to let me go. Emboldened by Cassian's presence, she spread her arms to block my path. "Hold it right there, bitch! I haven't settled the score with you yet!"

I stopped in my tracks and looked at her apathetically. "How exactly do you want to settle it?"

Vera clearly thought I was scared. She let out a derisive chuckle before raising her hand to slap me across the face. "By beating you until I'm satisfied!"

I caught her wrist, and before she could process what had happened, I slapped her across the face. The sharp crack of the slap echoed throughout the hall.

Vera's head snapped to the side from the blow, and she went rigid. Clutching her face, she glared at me. "H-How dare you lay your hands on me?"

"What, you're still not satisfied?"

With that, I delivered another slap to her face.

The back-to-back slaps completely snuffed out Vera's arrogance.

Tears instantly welled up in her eyes, and she rushed to Cassian's side, clutching his arm. "Cassian, she slapped me. You have to avenge me!"

Cassian shielded Vera behind him and gritted out, "How dare you lay a hand on my woman right in front of my face? You must really have a death wish!"

With a flick of his wrist, he ordered his bodyguards to restrain me. I had trained in hand-to-hand combat, so I gritted my teeth and fought back with everything I had. However, I was hopelessly outnumbered. After all, Cassian had deployed six burly men to pin me down.

In no time, I was pinned down by his bodyguards and dragged in front of Cassian and Vera.

Cassian wrapped his arm around Vera's waist and said softly, "Tesoro, you can deal with her however you want. I've got your back."

It was as if he'd just handed her a sword. Vera immediately walked up to me, raised her hand, and slapped me hard across the face twice.

"Weren't you so damn cocky when you slapped me, bitch? I'm going to break both your arms and see how you fight back after that!"

Vera waved her hand, and two more bodyguards walked over, pinning my arms down.

I looked up at Cassian and Vera, snarling, "You'll regret this! You'll pay dearly for what you've done!"

Vera cackled. "Who the hell do you think you are? This is the Valdi famiglia's territory. Who in all of Sicity would dare cross us? I'll show you what happens to anyone who dares mess with me!"

As soon as her words fell, the bodyguards held my arms and twisted them.

I loved playing tennis, so I couldn't let my arms get injured.

The bodyguards wrenched my arms with all their strength, and I heard the sickening crack of my joints.

Fear made me temporarily give in and beg for mercy. Enduring the pain, I forced out, "You can have the estate. I don't want it anymore. We can forget about what just happened. Now, let me go!"

Vera, however, chuckled. "Are you finally afraid? Too bad!" She rose to her feet and planted her foot on my hand.

I sucked in a sharp breath from the pain and instinctively looked at Cassian, who stood beside us with a poker face. "Cassian Valdi, are you really going to let her treat me like this? Aren't you afraid of my identity?"

Cassian shrugged and asked nonchalantly, "Who are you supposed to be? Aren't you just a woman who's throwing herself at me to climb the social ladder?"

Vera immediately sneered. "How dare you seduce Cassian, you bitch? That's all the more reason for me to break both your arms and turn you into a cripple!"

Just then, my phone, which had fallen to the floor during the scuffle, started ringing.

I struggled against the men pinning me down and tried to reach for my phone. However, she beat me to it and picked up my phone. After taking one look at the screen, she let out an unfeeling chuckle and answered the call.

Andrei's doting voice came through. "Selina? Have you secured the estate? Why aren't you home yet?"

I immediately screamed for help at the top of my lungs. "Save me! I'm being beaten up, and she wants to snap my arms!"

In an instant, he went on high alert. "What? Who even dares?"

Vera chimed in arrogantly, "You must be her lover, huh? I did it. What are you going to do about it? Let me tell you, she pissed me off today, and she even had the nerve to seduce Cassian. I won't ever let her go!"

"You'd better pray she's alright! If she isn't, I'll make the entire Valdi famiglia pay with their lives!" Andrei shouted.

"Who do you think you are? Come at me if you've got the guts!" Vera scoffed before hurling my phone onto the floor. It shattered into pieces in an instant.

Then, she raised her hand and slapped me across the face again. "When that man of yours gets here, I'll beat him up too!" she spat.

These lunatics had no idea that they had just enraged the most ruthless Don in all of Sicity.

My arms throbbed, and every inch of my body ached. Vera was still directing her bodyguards to lay into me, and I glared at them.

Time seemed to stretch endlessly, though in reality, less than ten minutes had passed. I was slowly losing hope when more than a dozen black SUVs came roaring into the estate.

A stern man in a black suit was the first to emerge, followed by dozens of armed bodyguards, who lined up in an orderly fashion on both sides of him.

His eyes bulged as his murderous gaze swept across the entire venue, as if he were looking at a bunch of corpses.

"Where's the idiot who dared to lay a hand on my sister?"