While my corpse was rotting in the morgue, my fiancé, Ron Corleone, was comforting my murderer.

Lisa Corleone sobbed as she said, “After we were kidnapped and brought here, Wendy disappeared. We don’t know if she managed to escape. It was all my fault. If I hadn’t insisted on going out with Wendy…”

Ron’s face was ice cold. “The future mistress of the Corleone family actually abandoned my sister and fled on her own. If she dares to come back, I’ll break her arms and legs and turn her into a maggot that only deserves to live in the dark!”

In fact, I did die in some random corner with my limbs broken.

The truth about my death made Ron, who had vowed to make me regret my existence, crazy.

When I died, my fiancé, Ron Corleone, was on his way to get to us.

I learned this quite a while after… My soul was trapped in the cold storage of an abandoned fishing harbor, listening to the faint sounds outside—the hum of an engine, the screech of brakes, the opening and closing of car doors. Then came his footsteps, hurried and heavy, pounding against the concrete like drums.

The Ron I knew was the Don of the Corleone family. He was always calm and always in control. However, his voice was trembling and sounded panicked.

“Lisa!”

I floated out of the cold storage and watched as he rushed into the neighboring warehouse.

Moonlight leaked through the broken roof, illuminating Lisa, who was curled up beside a stack of oil barrels.

Her hands were bound behind her back, and her mouth was sealed with tape. Her white dress was smeared with dirt and… my blood.

The blood she had deliberately rubbed onto herself when she was “kidnapped.”

Ron lunged forward. As he peeled the tape from her mouth, he touched her gently as if he were unwrapping a delicate gift.

“Lisa, it’s okay now. I’m here.”

Lisa threw herself into his arms and wailed. “Ron… I was so scared…”

“Where’s Wendy?” Ron asked as he untied the ropes. “She went out with you. Where is she?”

The question made Lisa’s crying stop for a split second.

It was so brief that only I, the dead woman, noticed it.

“I don’t know…” she sobbed, burying her face in Ron’s chest. “They separated us… I was locked up here… Wendy… I haven’t seen her since…”

Ron’s hands froze. “Separated? When?”

“As soon as we were brought here.” Lisa looked up, tears rolling down her dirt-covered face, leaving two streaks of dirt. “When they took Wendy away, I heard someone say, ‘How much do you think the Marino family’s daughter is worth?’”

Ron’s expression darkened instantly.

I knew that look. Ron was angry but not at the kidnappers. He was furious at me.

Because of the Marino family’s name, I was naturally a target because I was the Marino family’s Principessa.

Meanwhile, Lisa, his long-lost sister, whom he had only just found after twenty years, had suffered an undeserved disaster because of me.

“She didn’t try to save you?” Ron asked gently.

Lisa shook her head, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks.

“There were so many of them… Wendy might have… might found a chance to escape… She is capable after all…”

That last sentence was the finishing touch.

Wendy Marino was so capable. Raised in a mafia family, rigorously trained, proficient in hand-to-hand combat, firearms, and survival, she could absolutely escape on her own.

However, if she escaped, why did she not come back to save Lisa?

There was only one answer. Wendy did not want to.

I watched Ron’s eyes grow colder by the second. I knew I had guessed exactly what he was thinking.

He carried Lisa in his arms and walked out while ordering one of his men. “Search every inch of this place. I want to see her, alive or dead.”

Alive?

But he would never find me alive.

Because I was already dead, my body lay just twenty meters away, in the cold storage, piled together with dead fish. A gunshot wound in my chest, the blood already congealed into a deep brown crust.

As Lisa passed by the cold storage, she cast a glance in that direction.

In that instant, there was no fear in her eyes, no grief. All I saw was a strange, almost pleasurable calm.

Then, she buried her face back into Ron’s shoulder and continued playing the role of the terrified little sister.

An eerie atmosphere settled over the Corleone family’s manor.

Lisa was placed in the master bedroom suite… the room that had originally been meant to be Ron’s and my future bedroom.

After examining her, the doctor said she had only suffered minor abrasions and shock, but Ron insisted that she stay in bed and rest.

“Ron, Wendy will be safe, right?” she asked, clutching Ron’s hand, her eyes swollen and red. “This is all my fault… if I hadn’t insisted that she go with me to my piano lesson…”

“It’s not your fault.” Ron stroked her hair. “It’s Wendy’s fault… she shouldn’t have abandoned you when you were in danger.”

Those words spread through the family.

In less than six hours, everyone knew. The Don’s fiancée had escaped alone during the kidnapping, leaving behind his sister who the Don had just found.

Caitlin Corleone arrived at dawn on the third day.

She was Ron’s older sister, my closest friend since childhood.

She stormed straight from the airport into Ron’s study.

“Wendy would never abandon anyone,” that was the first thing she said. “Especially Lisa… she knows how important Lisa is to you.”

“People change,” said Ron.

“Wendy doesn’t.” Caitlin stepped closer to him. “Where is she?”

“She’s missing.” Ron turned away, his eyes were bloodshot. “Maybe she ran. Maybe the kidnappers took her away. Who knows?”

“You didn’t look for her?”

“I am looking!” Ron suddenly raised his voice. “The whole Sicily is looking for her! But it’s like she vanished into thin air! Who could ever find the Marino family’s daughter if she doesn’t want to be found?”

Caitlin stared at him for a long time, then asked softly, “Ron… have you ever considered that she might already be dead?”

The air froze.

Looking at Caitlin, I almost burst into tears.

I saw Ron’s fingers curling tightly, his knuckles turning white. But he shook his head, slowly and firmly.

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s smart,” Ron said. “Smart enough to know how to survive in a situation like this. Smart enough…” He paused, his voice dropping even lower. “Smart enough to punish me this way.”

Caitlin frowned. “Punish you?”

“For Lisa.” Ron gave a bitter smile. “She is jealous of Lisa. She has been jealous ever since the day Lisa came back. She was jealous of how caring I am to Lisa. She is just too proud to admit it.”

I wanted to scream that it was not true. I had never been jealous of Lisa. I pitied her. I felt sorry for her for having lived away from her family for twenty-three years.

I wanted to say that I was even willing to be kind to her, because she was his sister.

But the dead have no voice.

Caitlin took a step back in disbelief, as if this was the first time she had known her brother.

“Ron Corleone, you’ve lost your mind. Wendy loves you enough to take a bullet for you, and you think she’d disappear out of jealousy?”

“Then why won’t she show herself?” Ron snapped back, his voice vibrating with suppressed fury. “If she’s still alive, if she’s innocent, why is she hiding? Why is she making me look like a fool, searching everywhere?”

“Maybe she can’t come out!” Caitlin raised her voice as well. “Maybe she’s injured! Maybe she’s locked up somewhere! Maybe she’s already…”

“Dead?” Ron cut in with a scoff. “Caitlin, stop the nonsense. Wendy isn’t that easy to kill. That is her trick. She wants me to be anxious. She wants my attention diverted from Lisa. I know her too well.”

He turned to face the window, and his back stiffened.

“When she’s done playing, she’ll come back and then…” He did not finish the sentence.

Though I knew exactly what he wanted to say.

‘Then, I’ll make her pay.’

How ironic.

I was already dead. Did it still matter how you planned to “make me pay”?

Caitlin left.

I knew she had gone to investigate the truth.

Pathetic me. My closest friend was running herself ragged over whether I was alive or dead, while my fiancé did nothing but stay by the side of his frightened sister.

I had always known how much Ron doted on Lisa.

Lisa had gone missing when she was young, and Ron had always believed it was his fault. Half a year ago, he suddenly brought a girl home, excitedly introducing her to everyone as Lisa. Then, he showered her with all his affection.

Ron never refused anything Lisa asked for. Even when Lisa took a liking to the wedding gown, I had chosen for myself, Ron casually told me to give it to her.

“It’s just a wedding gown. I’ll buy you another one,” Ron said.

However, that dress was the one I had designed myself, a handmade piece by the most renowned Italian artisan. I had finally waited three months to receive it.

I tried to reason with him, but he looked at me as if I were being unreasonable.

“Lisa has suffered so much. Why are you, as the future Donna of the Corleone family, arguing with her over something like this? I’m truly disappointed in you.”

I loved him. I did not want to disappoint him.

So, I even gave Lisa the necklace I had chosen to match the wedding dress.

Now, that necklace was hanging around Lisa’s neck.

Ron lowered his gaze to look at her. I wondered whether he ever thought of me when he saw that necklace.

Suddenly, Ron reached out toward it.

“Ron!” Caitlin burst in at that moment. Ron withdrew his hand.

Caitlin placed a test report in front of him.

“I found some bloodstains in the cold storage at the fishing harbor. The analysis confirms its human blood. The blood type matches Wendy’s. It should be Wendy’s. She was injured.”

Ron flicked the report aside with disdain. “So many people share the same blood type. It was probably some dock worker who cut his hand.”

“Ron, that blood was in a corner. Why would a worker’s blood be there?”

“Even Lisa only suffered minor injuries. With Wendy’s skills, how could she possibly be hurt badly enough to bleed?”

Ron was right. Under normal circumstances, if Lisa had only suffered minor injuries, there was no way I should have been hurt.

But that night was different…

Caitlin looked at Lisa, who was sitting nearby with reddened eyes, and suddenly asked,

“Did you really not see Wendy get hurt that night?”

Lisa wiped away her tears. “I was very scared at the time… I can’t remember clearly. The kidnappers separated us. I didn’t see Wendy.”

“If you didn’t see her, how did you know Wendy abandoned you and escaped?”

“I…” Lisa lowered her head, her voice trembling. “I didn’t know if she managed to escape… I was just guessing… After all, she is so capable…”

“Capable enough to escape on her own, yet leave you behind with the kidnappers?” Caitlin stepped closer. Though she was speaking to Lisa, her words were clearly meant for Ron.

“Lisa, even if you’ve only spent half a year with Wendy, you should know she’s not the kind of person who would abandon you. If she really had gotten away on her own, she would have brought the Marino family back there immediately. She would have rescued you because you are Ron’s sister, even if it meant bathing the place in blood.”

Ron fell silent, as if considering her words.

But Lisa quickly looked up, tears instantly welling in her eyes. “Caitlin, I know you and Wendy are close, but none of what you said happened. I really was kidnapped because of Wendy, and Wendy really didn’t come back to save me. Those are facts, aren’t they?”

As soon as she finished speaking, she suddenly clutched her shoulder as if startled, her body shaking violently. She cried out hysterically, “I’m your sister too! Why won’t you believe me?!”

A flawless performance, tears on cue, and her voice trembling at just the right pitch.

To Ron, it was like a blade stabbing straight into his heart.

He roared at Caitlin, “Get out!”

Caitlin looked at Ron for a long time before saying calmly, “Ron, you will regret this.”