Chapter 1

I lay low in Europe for two years, planning to return home and give my long-unseen fiancé a surprise.

On a rainy night in New York, I stepped silently into the Long Island villa.

Just as my hand rested on the brass handle of the oak study door, I heard laughter erupt from inside.

“Don Chris? I heard the eldest young lady is coming back? Then what about you and Lily…”

Don? Chris has become the Don? Father said he would only pass him the position after we were officially married.

“Yeah, now that Sophie’s coming back, shouldn’t you rein yourself in? Our Lily will be heartbroken.”

“Rein myself in?” he said. “The old Don is gravely ill and passed the position to me early. I can’t spend my life with her. Sophie has lost sight in her right eye; she’s no longer fit to be the Don’s wife.”

My fingers froze on the doorknob. I had clearly asked Father to block all news of my blindness in my right eye.

The study instantly grew lively.

“The eldest young lady blinded her eye? Lily, you have connections in Europe—have you heard anything?”

My half-sister Lily was leaning against Chris at that moment, basking in the glory she had gained through her mother’s status as a mistress.

Lily’s voice was soft, tinged with just the right amount of difficulty. “Well… I’m not too sure either. I only know that something happened to my sister in Sicily that year. As for what exactly, Father wouldn’t let anyone ask.”

“Sicily?” someone sucked in a breath. “It hasn’t been peaceful there these past few years. Mafia infighting killed quite a few people. What was the eldest young lady, a weak woman, doing in a place like that?”

“Who knows,” another sneered. “Maybe she thought she could handle things like a man. And what happened? Came back missing an eye.”

“That’s why women should stay in their place. Learn from Lily—manage the business from the rear. Why insist on showing off at the front line?”

“Exactly. And now she comes back disabled, can’t even keep her own man.”

Inside the door, Chris’s subordinates discussed me without restraint.

“Chris,” Lily’s voice rang out again, carrying perfectly measured grievance, “Sophie is coming back. Should I move out?”

“Move out for what?” Chris’s voice was so gentle it pierced the ear. “The future mistress of this villa is you.”

Someone jeered, “Chris, are you following the old Don’s example? Back then the old Don married his lawful wife and then brought Lily’s mother into the house.”

“It’s different,” Chris said lightly. “With Sophie’s dull temperament, what does she have besides the surname Rossi? If it weren’t for that position—”

He didn’t finish, but everyone understood.

For the position of Don.

To replace my father and become the ruler of one of New York’s Five Mafia Families.

Marrying me was his shortcut to power.

Now that he had what he wanted, he no longer needed me.

Those words were like a knife, stabbing viciously into my heart, the pain nearly suffocating me.

The laughter in the study grew even harsher.

“Chris, how do you plan to settle the eldest young lady?”

“Yeah, Lily has been waiting for you for so long. You have to give her an answer, right?”

Chris was silent for a few seconds, then said, “I’ll make arrangements. The Rossi family’s eldest daughter can’t very well have nowhere to go. The old house in the suburbs is enough for her.”

“Oh, Chris,” Lily’s voice was cloyingly sweet, “wouldn’t that be too unfair to Sophie? No one’s lived in that house for years, and her eye is already bad…”

“Unfair?” Chris laughed. “She should be grateful. The way she is now, who else would want her besides me? She was in Europe for two years—I waited for two years, didn’t I? But what about her? She kept delaying, wouldn’t even accept a video call… who knows if she had another man.”

My nails dug deeply into my palm.

Back then, I didn’t dare accept video calls, afraid he would see the bandages wrapped around my eye. I could only make excuses about poor signal.

So his betrayal was because he believed I had betrayed him first.

But that could never justify his unfaithfulness.

“Chris has truly done all he could.”

“Exactly. I couldn’t do it. Marry a cripple and have to support her for life—just thinking about it is suffocating.”

“Right? The eldest young lady’s personality is dull and cold. How could she compare to Lily’s tact and sweetness?”

Lily laughed softly. “Don’t say that about my Sophie. After all… she did go out there for the sake of the family.”

“For the family?” someone scoffed. “I think she went to hide and take it easy. The one truly working for the family is Lily. These past three years, who’s been managing the business and sharing the old Don’s burdens? Everyone can see it.”

“Exactly. Now that the eldest young lady is back, she should just retire quietly and stop making a spectacle of herself.”

“Right. What can a blind woman possibly do?”

I stood outside the door, listening to this carnival held in my name.

Tears welled in my eyes, yet stubbornly refused to fall.