Chapter 2

"Open your damn eyes and look closely," Valeria's voice dripped with arrogant triumph. "This is a token of love from Lorenzo. In this city, with a single word from him, an insect like you wouldn't even know how you died. You thought that half a million was compensation? That was my charity!"

"Lorenzo..." I murmured the name, feeling as if an invisible claw had violently crushed my heart.

On our wedding day, I had slipped that very ring onto Lorenzo's finger. I told him it was a testament to our love, and the ultimate symbol of me surrendering the entire family's power over to him.

And now, this ring—forged from my devotion and trust—rested on the hand of a woman who coddled the monster that raped and broke my sister.

It all made sense now.

No wonder a piece of trash from a third-rate family like Dante dared to run rampant in New York. No wonder Valeria had the audacity to openly buy a life in a hospital corridor. No wonder Lorenzo had been spending his nights away from home lately, blaming it on endless "family meetings."

He hadn't just betrayed our marriage. He had used the absolute authority I gifted him to shield the butchers who pushed my sister to the brink of death!

"What's wrong? Did the name Lorenzo scare you speechless?" Valeria laughed triumphantly at my frozen demeanor. She stepped forward, driving the stiletto heel of her shoe violently into the top of my foot, twisting it with brutal force.

A piercing agony shot through my foot, causing my entire body to flinch, but my gaze remained dead-locked onto the ring on her finger.

"Too bad, it's too late for regrets. Since you threw my goodwill back in my face, now—even if you get on your knees and lick my shoes clean—I won't give you another dime. I'm going to have the hospital halt all her treatments. I want you to watch her take her last breath!"

She whipped her head around and barked at the attending physician cowering behind the nurses' station.

"You! What are you standing there for? Get in there and pull that little bitch's plug right now! Throw them out! Do it, or I'll have this hospital leveled to the ground by tomorrow morning!"

Trembling violently, the doctor stumbled out, his voice shaking. "That... that's murder... I... I can't do that..."

One of Valeria's bodyguards stepped forward and delivered a vicious backhand to the doctor's face. The man cried out, crashing heavily to the floor as blood instantly poured from his nose and mouth.

"Ungrateful piece of shit. You dare defy the Madame's orders?" The bodyguard drew the pistol from his waistband and pressed the muzzle hard against the groaning doctor's temple.

Screams erupted from the nurses in the hallway as they dropped to the floor, covering their heads. The corridor immediately descended into absolute panic and chaos.

Dante let out an amused whistle, watching the violence with giddy excitement. "Sis, if the local trash doesn't have the balls, I'll go in myself. It's just unplugging a cord. I got this."

He swaggered toward Lucia's ICU door.

Pure instinct took over. I lunged forward, throwing my body between him and the hospital room.

Dante frowned and reached out to shove me aside. I didn't flinch. Instead, I clamped my teeth down on his wrist, biting down with a force so savage I felt as if I were crushing his bones.

"Ah! You rabid bitch!" Dante shrieked in pain, driving a heavy fist squarely into my cheekbone.

The world spun. Instantly, Valeria's two bodyguards were on me. Instead of beating me further, they brutally wrenched my arms behind my back and drove a knee into the back of my legs, forcing me to my knees right in front of the ICU's glass window.

Through the glass, I saw Dante stop next to the bed. Staring at my sister's deathly pale face, at the fragile, life-sustaining tubes threading into her, a gut-wrenching terror nearly tore my heart in two.

"No... don't touch her!" I thrashed violently against their grip, tears mingling with the blood dripping from my lips. Humiliation and pure despair stripped away my last facade as I screamed entirely hoarse. "I am Carmela! I am Lorenzo's lawful wife! If you dare touch her, Lorenzo will absolutely kill you!"

The hallway fell dead silent for a single, heavy second.

And then, it erupted into a roar of unbridled, mocking laughter.

Valeria looked as though she had just heard the most incredible joke in the world. She sauntered over and grabbed a handful of my hair, violently jerking my head back so I was forced to meet her gaze.

"Lorenzo's wife? With your cheap, ratty clothes?" Valeria sneered, looking at me like I was radioactive waste. "It seems you're not just a rabid bitch with a death wish. You're clinically delusional, too."

She pressed the back of her hand—the hand wearing that ring—hard against my cheek.

"Open your eyes and look closely. Whoever wears this ring is Mr. Lorenzo's woman." Valeria scoffed coldly. "And you're going to pay for your delusions."

Before she even finished speaking, she twisted her wrist with sudden, vicious force.

The ring—once a symbol of my family's absolute supremacy and my sacred wedding vows—was now a cruel weapon. The heavy, sharp edge of the gold sliced mercilessly across my cheek. Warm blood instantly welled up, trailing down my jaw to drip onto the marble floor.

Yet, the stinging pain in my cheek was nothing compared to the abyssal agony shattering my soul.

Forced to kneel on the floor, I drew in a deep, shaky breath, tasting the iron tang of my own blood in the air. As that freezing oxygen filled my lungs, it worked a miraculous alchemy: it entirely extinguished the pain, the fear, and the panic. My mind settled into a state of absolute, chilling clarity.

Lorenzo. You betrayed our vows. You took the ultimate authority I placed in your hands and used it to let these bottom-feeding animals trample over me and my sister. You let her cut my face with my own ring, and sent them to butcher my own flesh and blood.

Since you've forgotten exactly who seated you on that throne... I'll just have to personally drag you—along with these parasites clinging to your coattails—straight into the pits of hell.

Just as Dante's hand clamped onto the ventilator cord inside the room, about to pull the plug—

A sharp, crisp tone echoed from the far end of the hallway. The exclusive VIP elevator, the one that required top-tier executive clearance to operate, had arrived.

Instantly, the rhythmic, heavy thud of military-grade combat boots began pouring rapidly out of the elevator. The disciplined, synchronous footsteps brought a suffocating, lethal sense of pressure directly into the corridor.

Valeria frowned impatiently, glancing over her shoulder. "Did the useless hospital security finally show up? Go teach them some manners and tell those lapdogs to get completely lost."

I remained pinned on my knees, letting the blood drip steadily from my cheek, and suddenly smiled in dead silence.

Beneath the frail, pathetic shell of the suburban housewife I had pretended to be, the inherently vicious, unforgiving bloodline of the original Godfather had entirely awakened.

Right on time.

My men were finally here.