Leo’s Adam's apple bobbed. His eyes darted nervously to the right.

“Cecilia, what are you talking about? I know you’re grieving, but this… this is reality.” He forced a sad smile.

“Yes. Reality.” I let out a small, sharp laugh. My fingers brushed the lapel of his suit, a casual gesture to straighten it, but what I was really feeling was the frantic hammering of his heart. “Maybe I’m the one who’s going crazy.”

I turned and walked away without another glance.

Back in my car, I locked the doors. The world was finally quiet.

The pop-up comments had given me Chloe’s Instagram handle. My hands shook as I typed it in.

Her pinned video was posted ten minutes ago.

A luxury yacht cut through the turquoise Caribbean water. The camera shook, then a pale but pretty face filled the screen. An arm wrapped around her neck.

On that arm’s wrist was the limited edition Patek Philippe watch I gave Raphael for his twenty-fifth birthday.

The camera panned to Raphael’s handsome face, bathed in sunlight. He kissed Chloe’s forehead, his eyes full of adoration.

The caption read: “He said for the next three months, he’s all mine. No inconvenient fiancée, no family business to worry about.”

“Inconvenient fiancée.”

A cold laugh escaped my lips.

That wasn't the story he told me.

I had saved his life during a turf war, and ever since, he’d been stuck to me like glue. He pursued me for a year, showering me with affection, treating me like a queen. He even took a bullet for me once.

I was moved. And I was tired of the loveless arranged marriages of our world.

The day I agreed to be with him, he said he felt like he had conquered the world.

Turns out I was just the mark in his long con.

For him, I defied my father and rejected an alliance with the powerful Falcone family. For him, I used my family's connections to help him legitimize his casinos. I thought we were Romeo and Juliet. Turns out, it was all just a well-played con.

Before I could even process the heartbreak, the comments gave me another jolt.

【Don’t get too sad yet, girl. It gets worse.】

【If you don't fight back now, this is what’s waiting for you…】

In three months, Raphael would return with a story about being kidnapped and suffering from amnesia. I would tearfully forgive him. To make up for the “suffering” he endured, I would even hand over control of the Rossi family’s main port to him.

The wedding would go on as planned.

Less than six months later, Chloe would make a “miraculous recovery.” Raphael, overjoyed, would spoil her rotten, even bringing her on as his “secretary.”

I wouldn’t be able to handle his betrayal and would have a mental breakdown.

Every time I tried to leave him, Raphael would beg for forgiveness, promising to never cheat again. Then I’d find more flirty texts from Chloe on his phone.

My life would become a cycle of forgiveness and betrayal.

Meanwhile, Raphael would use the Rossi family’s power to grow his own empire, tricking me into signing over shares to his casinos and docks while I was in a haze of medication and grief.

And to the world, he would play the part of the devoted husband, fooling the public and even my own parents.

“No…” I shot up from the steering wheel, my back soaked in a cold sweat.

This wasn't some nightmare. The raw, jagged feeling of my heart being torn from my chest was all too real.

Was this my destiny? To be used up and thrown away like a fool, to live a life of misery?

【Now that you know the truth, you have to change everything!】

【You're the only one who can save the Rossi family!】

I looked at myself in the rearview mirror. My makeup was smeared from crying. I looked like a ghost.

But I started to laugh. The smile grew wider until fresh tears streamed down my face. This time, they weren’t from sadness. They were from pure, unadulterated hate.

So, Raphael wanted to play dead and come back to life.

Fine. I’d play along.

I grabbed a makeup wipe and fiercely scrubbed my face clean, revealing pale, determined features. I dialed my father’s most trusted lawyer.

“Uncle Mario, it’s Cecilia. I need you to draw up some papers. I want to liquidate all my investments in the Russo Group.”

“Now? But Cecilia, Raphael just passed…”

“That’s exactly why,” I said, my gaze colder than the rain starting to streak down the window. “I’m taking back what’s mine. And I’m not leaving them a single cent.”

The comments flashed in front of me:

【I can't wait to see her grind them into the fucking dust!】

I stepped out of the car and into the house Raphael had bought for us.

The living room was a mess.

Raphael’s mother, a crass and bitter woman, was sobbing on the couch.

When she saw me, she flew at me like a woman possessed, her finger jabbing at my face.

“You curse! You’re a black widow! It’s all your fault! You killed my son! Get out! I don’t want to see you!”

Her finger was practically in my eye.

Raphael had always said he was trying to build his empire to be worthy of me. Before I knew the truth, I actually felt guilty.

Not anymore.

【Here we go. The classic evil mother-in-law.】

【This old bitch. Her son is off living it up, and she's here putting on a show.】

【Get her, girl! Show her you don’t mess with a Rossi princess!】

I didn’t flinch. I didn’t even change my expression.

I just watched her until she ran out of breath.

Then, I smiled and took a step forward.

I leaned in close, my voice a whisper only she could hear.

“Old woman, does Raphael know about your boy toy in Vegas? The one with the five-million-dollar gambling debt? Or… would you like the IRS to know you’ve been embezzling from the Russo charity fund to pay it off?”

Her body went rigid.

“You…” Her face went pale, her lips trembling. She couldn’t form a single word. She looked at me like I was the devil himself.

I stepped back, my smile polite and distant again.

I raised my voice so everyone in the room could hear.

“Mrs. Russo, I think you’re right. Just like you, seeing all of Raphael’s things around just makes the pain worse.”

I turned to Leo and Nico, who were staring, stunned.

“So, I’ve decided to get rid of everything that belonged to Raphael. Burn it, throw it out, I don’t care.”

“Also,” I added, my eyes sweeping over every face in the room, “starting today, I’m moving out. This place… it makes me sick.”

“You… you dare!” Raphael’s mother was shaking with rage. She pointed a finger at me, then her eyes rolled back and she collapsed.

The room erupted into chaos.

Leo and Nico scrambled to help her, caught completely off guard.

I watched the circus with cold indifference, then turned and went upstairs.

I didn't pack a thing.

Everything in this house was tainted by Raphael. It all made my stomach turn.

I only grabbed my purse and my car keys.

My phone buzzed. A new text.

It was from my best friend, Sofia Falcone.

She was the daughter of the Falcone family, the most powerful of New York’s Five Families.

The text was simple.

【Sweetie, I heard what happened. Maybe you need a change of scenery? My brother has a penthouse overlooking Central Park that’s just sitting empty. You should move in for a while.】

The sky outside was dark, threatening a storm.

I was weighing her offer. If I went to my own place, Leo and Nico would find me and I didn’t want the hassle.

My screen lit up again.

An unknown number.

For the last five years, whenever I was out late, sick, or on a stormy night like this, a short text would arrive from this number.

I always assumed it was spam or some creep.

Heavy rain in Manhattan tonight. Stay dry.

The message was blunt, cold, yet strangely all-knowing.

Just as I was about to delete it, the comments in front of my eyes went insane.

【Don't delete it! Girl, no! That's him! The male lead!】

【OMG, Marcello Falcone has been cyber-stalking his crush for five years? That's kinda sweet, in a psycho way.】

【That's the real main character! The one who goes to war with the entire world for you!】

【Save the number! Label it 'Hubby'! NOW!】

My finger froze over the screen.

Marcello Falcone?

The cold-blooded Don of the Falcone family, the man with blood on his hands? The man the other families feared like the plague?

He was the one sending me weather reports for three years?

A thrilling, absurd feeling crawled up my spine.

I hesitated, then just turned off the screen and drove to the address Sofia had sent.

The elevator doors opened into a world of minimalist black, white, and grey.

The air smelled faintly of cedar and tobacco—Marcello Falcone’s scent. It was aggressive, predatory, but for some reason, it made me relax.

I took off the diamond ring on my finger. Raphael had given it to me when he proposed. I’d cried my eyes out, even though the ring wasn’t particularly impressive.

But now—

I pulled it off without a second thought and tossed it, along with its promise of “eternal love,” into the trash.

It made a small, satisfying clink.

Sofia must have been really worried about me, because she didn’t just drag me to a bar, she brought distractions.

I stared at the four men lined up in front of me, each one a model ripped from a magazine cover. I was not amused.

“I figured my brother wasn’t your type,” Sofia mumbled, “so maybe one of these guys is? They’re all better than Raphael Russo, anyway.”

One was rugged, another was preppy. All of them had plastered-on smiles.

“Ms. Cecilia, we’re all yours tonight,” a blond one said, reaching for my hand.

I stepped back, avoiding his touch.

“Sofia, I don’t need this.”

The old Cecilia might have played along just to spite Raphael.

But I wasn’t going to do anything stupid because of him. Not anymore.

Sofia looked surprised—she’d never seen me so firm—but she quickly waved the men away. “Okay, okay, you’re the queen. But we are getting drunk! No leaving sober!”

As the models filed out of our private room, Leo, lurking in a corner, snapped a photo with his phone and sent it to Raphael.

A second later, his phone rang.

Raphael’s voice was raw with fury, tight enough you could practically hear the veins popping in his forehead. “She threw out my things, fine, but now she dares to—”

“Raphael, what’s wrong?” Chloe’s sweet voice cooed in the background. “Oh my, couldn’t Cecilia wait? You’ve only been ‘dead’ for two days and she’s already with four other men… You really can’t judge a book by its cover.”

Raphael was silent for a moment, then his tone shifted, becoming smug and confident.

“She’s just testing me.”

“What?” Leo asked carefully.

“She’s lashing out,” Raphael said, a smile back in his voice. I could picture him leaning back in his lounge chair, a conceited smirk on his face. “Throwing out my things, hiring escorts… it’s how she’s dealing with the pain. She’s trying to see if she can be with anyone else now that I’m gone. And obviously, she can’t. She sent them all away, didn’t she?”

“But Boss, she seemed really angry. And she wasn’t wearing the engagement ring…”

“It’s because she loves me so much it turned to hate,” Raphael cut him off, his voice certain. “You don’t understand Cecilia. She can’t let me go. The crazier she acts now, the more it proves she loves me.”

“Leo, just keep an eye on her. Don’t let any other guys touch her.”

Raphael took a sip of his drink, his voice lazy and cruel.

“She’s getting a taste of life without me. When I ‘come back’ in three months, she’ll understand just how precious I am. And then…”

He paused.

“She’ll cling to me like a scared little puppy, and she’ll never let go.”