Chapter 2

Twenty years ago, Helena and Vincenzo had broken up. Her family had arranged for her to marry a powerful Don from another Mafia family.

They'd been in love, but Helena's family had never approved of Vincenzo.

Back then, Vincenzo was poor and had no connections or influence.

"Someone like him isn't good enough for our daughter," they'd told her.

But things had changed.

Helena's first husband's empire eventually fell apart. Meanwhile, Vincenzo had built his own power after marrying my mother.

My mother came from one of the oldest branches of the Gallo family. She had money, connections, and a substantial inheritance.

With her family's backing, Vincenzo rose through the ranks and became the family's underboss.

Then my mother fell seriously ill and died. Around the same time, Helena finalized her divorce.

It wasn't a coincidence. Helena had been waiting for the right moment to come back into Vincenzo's life.

And Vincenzo couldn't have been happier.

The day after my mother's funeral, I caught him smiling at his phone while messaging Helena. He didn't even bother to hide it.

Soon, they were back together. Helena and Stella moved into our estate, and before long, they had taken over everything that used to be mine.

My food. My dresses. My decorations. My bedroom.

Eventually, they even took my father.

It all started ten days ago.

Stella had just returned to the estate in a good mood. She told Vincenzo she'd been practicing at the shooting range and wanted a handgun that could fire incendiary ammunition.

Vincenzo immediately offered to buy her one.

Stella glanced at the gun safe before giving him a shy smile.

"That silver-inlaid pistol in there is beautiful."

I immediately stepped in.

"That's my mother's. She left it to me before she died. If you want a gun, ask your own mother to buy you one. You have a father of your own, don't you?"

That pistol was the last thing I had from my mother.

When she'd given it to me, she'd said, "Liliana, learn to protect yourself. Not everyone in this family has your best interests at heart."

I hadn't understood what she meant back then.

I did now.

I'd hoped Vincenzo would understand why I couldn't give it away.

Instead, he said, "It's just a gun, Liliana. Stella likes it, so let her have it. You have plenty of other weapons. Why are you making such a big deal over one old pistol? Give it to her."

That was when I finally understood.

The father who'd once cared about me was gone. He'd chosen Stella over me without a second thought.

I held on to my mother's pistol and backed away.

"No. I'm not giving it to her."

Vincenzo's expression darkened. He looked at the guards.

"Take it from her."

The guards slowly approached.

With nowhere left to go, I raised the pistol to keep them back. I had no intention of hurting anyone, but they stopped in their tracks.

They looked to Vincenzo.

"Do it!" he shouted.

The guards rushed forward. I knew I couldn't keep the gun, so I did everything I could to make sure Stella wouldn't get to use it.

They finally took it from me.

I could only watch as they carried away the last thing my mother had left me.

Vincenzo immediately called the family's gunsmith and ordered him to repair it.

A few hours later, the pistol was handed to Stella as a gift.

She thanked him with a sweet smile, as if he'd just given her something harmless.

Three days later, it caused a fire.

Stella was in the bedroom that had once been mine, handling the pistol, when it went off. The shot set the curtains on fire, and the flames quickly spread through the room.

The fire alarms went off across the estate.

The guards rushed to put out the fire, but the ammunition made it harder to control.

Just before passing out, Stella managed to call Vincenzo.

He didn't wait for help. He rushed into the burning room himself and carried her out.

The security team arrived shortly afterward and finally put out the fire.

Stella had suffered serious burns to one arm. Vincenzo had only singed his hair and was otherwise unharmed.

When Stella woke up in the estate's private medical suite, she immediately started crying.

"It was an accident. I must have done something wrong," she sobbed. "I don't believe Liliana would tamper with the gun just to hurt me."

She sounded like she was defending me.

But every word made me look guilty.

And Vincenzo fell for it.

He turned to me, his face twisted with rage. His whole body was shaking.

"You did this," he said through clenched teeth. "You tampered with the gun because you knew Stella would use it."

"I didn't! I would never—"

I didn't get to finish.

He slapped me so hard I crashed into the wall.

Every soldier in the room looked away. Not one of them dared to step in.

"Vincenzo..." Helena tried to calm him down. "Maybe she didn't mean for this to happen."

"She knew exactly what she was doing!" he roared.

He grabbed me and dragged me out of the medical suite, all the way down to the basement.

Ever since Stella had taken my bedroom, I'd been forced to sleep down there.

Vincenzo opened a hidden cabinet and pulled out a weapon I'd only heard about in the family's worst stories.

"Maybe this will teach you a lesson!"

He attacked me until I could barely stand.

When he finally stopped, I could hardly stay conscious.

"Take her to the underground punishment chamber," he ordered Eduardo, who stood nearby, visibly shaken. "Turn on the heat every two hours. Keep her there for at least a week."

The guards dragged me into the chamber and locked the door.

The first wave of heat hit almost immediately.

I was already badly hurt. I barely had the strength to move, let alone protect myself.

Every time the heat came back, I grew weaker.

The air became unbearable. During the short breaks, I called for help. I begged for water. I begged them to let me out.

No one came.

By the fifth day, I couldn't hold on any longer.

I died there, alone.

Now, ten days had passed since they'd locked me inside. I'd been dead for five of them.

My spirit remained trapped at the estate. Even from outside the chamber, I could smell that something was wrong.

The guards passing by noticed it too.

But no one dared to open the door.

No one wanted to go against the underboss.