LOGINThe surrounding guests screamed and scattered.The soldati moved instinctively, but I had already sidestepped Elena’s clumsy thrust.With my right hand, I locked onto her wrist and twisted.“Ah!”Her scream echoed as the dinner knife clattered to the floor.I seized her hair in one motion, slamming her face into the long table beside us.Then, with my free hand, I grabbed the silver fork stuck in the fruit platter and drove it through her palm, pinning her to the table.The motion was fluid, done in the blink of an eye.“When you whispered sweet nothings into Vicenzo’s ear back then, you should have known today would come,” I murmured close to her.Blood stained the pristine tablecloth red.Soon, soldati surged forward and dragged the wailing Elena away like a dead weight.Her fate would be far worse than death.Vicenzo had completely collapsed by then.He pressed his head to the floor, blood streaming down his face.“Eva, I don’t want money anymore. I don’t want my life
Three months later, at Sicana’s grandest charity gala.I walked slowly down the red carpet, arm in arm with Stefano.My haute couture gown, red with an open back, blazed like living flames under the spotlights.After top-tier reconstructive surgery, the scars on my body had faded into faint pink lines, barely visible.The cameras flashed. Tonight, I was the undeniable star.Just then, a commotion erupted at the entrance.“Let me in! I need to see Eva! I need to see my wife!”That was Vicenzo, his voice hoarse, rough, and desperate.Two ragged, filthy beggars were being held back by soldati.Vicenzo’s hair had gone white, aging him a decade.He clutched Luca in his hand, who was now nothing but skin and bones, dirt smeared across his face.Seeing me, Vicenzo lost all control and stumbled to the edge of the red carpet, collapsing to his knees with a thud.“Eva! Look at me! Please, just look at Luca!“He’s dying! Please save him!”Luca saw me too.In his eyes, a spark ignit
Sicana’s winter was bone-chillingly cold, especially for those living in drafty shacks in the slums.Vicenzo and the other two had been thrown out of the mansion, stripped of all assets, every designer piece torn from them.With one of Vicenzo’s hands ruined, he could no longer lift a gun, let alone do any respectable work.To survive, the once pampered underboss of the Carlini family was forced to haul heavy sacks at the docks.Without money or status, the gentle, considerate Elena finally revealed her true self.From the dilapidated shack came her sharp, venomous curses.“Worthless! What can this pitiful money even buy? Do you want to starve me?”Luca huddled in the corner, his stomach growling.He tugged at Elena’s sleeve, crying as he begged, “Auntie… I’m hungry… I want cake…”“Eat, eat, eat! All you ever think about is eating!”Elena slapped him hard across the face.“Why are you crying? If it weren’t for your deadbeat mom, I wouldn’t have to suffer like this!”Luca, s
The hall was filled only with heavy, ragged breathing.I walked over and crouched in front of Luca.He was cowering behind Elena, his small body trembling like a leaf.Looking at that innocent little face, my thoughts drifted back to a stormy night five years ago.Luca was only one, burning with a high fever. I had carried him to the clinic, hoping to pay later, but we were turned away, and I banged my forehead in the scuffle.Back in our tiny, rundown apartment, little Luca was feverish and confused. Yet when he saw my bleeding forehead, he struggled to lift his tiny hand, tears falling as he gently blew on my wound.He pressed his hot little face against my neck and calling me in his soft, childish voice, “Mommy, Mommy…”That moment had carried me through countless blows in the underground rings.For five years, I had poured my blood for him in the cage.Every time I returned home, no matter the pain, I left him my brightest smile.However, in just a few short years, that c
I walked slowly toward Vicenzo.The eyes that once made me love him desperately now held nothing but fear and calculation.“Librarian? Loan shark? Vicenzo, your script was poorly written.”I stepped on his chest, right where he had shoved me yesterday.With the slightest pressure, the carefully tailored tie beneath my heel twisted out of shape.Ignoring the pain, he reached for my ankle, trying to play on old feelings.“Eva… no, Principessa, I love you!“I truly didn’t know it was you! I only wanted to test whether you were sincere…”“Test?”I pressed down harder and heard his ribs give a dull, strained sound.“You sent me to fight in underground cages, and I broke three ribs.“You held another woman in our home while I slept in the guest room.“You allowed Elena to teach our son to humiliate me and call me filthy. How is that love?”Each word was a blade, cutting through a heart already full of holes.Elena finally snapped out of her shock and crawled forward on her knee
“Shut up!” Vicenzo’s face drained of color. “How dare you call Don Carlini by his name?!”However, he quickly realized this was a chance to prove himself in front of Don Carlini.He immediately turned toward the second floor and bowed deeply.“Don Carlini, your timing is perfect. This woman doesn’t understand the rules. I’ll discipline her right now and make her learn the rules of the Carlini family.”When he turned back to me, the flattery vanished from his face, replaced by naked control and fury.“You dare offend Don Carlini? Kneel! Or I’ll personally break your legs!”He lunged for my injured shoulder.Just as his hand was about to touch me, a cold, commanding voice cut down from upstairs.“Your hand. Who exactly are you trying to touch?”“Tap. Tap. Tap.”The sound of leather shoes striking the wooden staircase echoed through the hall as Stefano descended.His presence pressed down like a storm cloud, so heavy that no one in the hall dared to breathe.Vicenzo froze, the







