For five years, I fought illegal matches in an underground cage ring to scrape together enough money to repay the massive high-interest loan I had taken out to treat my son Luca’s illness.

Dragging my still-dislocated left arm, I rushed to tell the father and son the good news.

Yet when I reached the door, I saw the capo who managed the cage arena bowing low before my husband, Vicenzo.

“Underboss, Eva said she’ll repay the loan in a few days. Do we still keep pretending to pressure her?”

Vicenzo idly spun the Browning in his hand, the diamonds set into it worth enough to buy the entire cage arena.

“No need. She’s suffered enough these past few years. Even when she had two ribs broken a few months ago, she didn’t dare tell us.”

Elena, his sworn sister, seated beside him, let out a soft laugh.

“Vicenzo, what if she’s a spy sent by a rival family? After all, you are the underboss of the Carlini family.

“Besides, Luca has been pampered since he was little. How could he live with someone who reeks of blood?”

My six-year-old son wrapped his arms tightly around her neck and echoed her words. “I don’t want a woman covered in scars as my mommy. Just looking at her wounds makes me feel sick.”

Then he turned to her and pouted. “Aunt Elena, I wish you were my mommy.”

Vicenzo hesitated only a moment before looking at them indulgently.

“Then we’ll test her for another six months. If she remains this obedient, I’ll officially let her become part of the Carlini family.”

I watched the farce with cold eyes, because to avoid frightening Vicenzo, the ordinary librarian I believed him to be, I had hidden my identity as the principessa of the Moretti family.

Also, to keep from being found by my family and my fiancé, the Don of the Carlini family, I had not touched a single cent of family money. Instead, I chose to earn it with my fists in places piled with the dead.

So it seemed my endurance and sacrifice were nothing more than a taming game in their eyes.

For five years, I fought illegal matches in an underground cage ring to scrape together enough money to repay the massive high-interest loan I had taken out to treat my son Luca’s illness.

Dragging my still-dislocated left arm, I rushed to tell the father and son the good news.

Yet when I reached the door, I saw the capo who managed the cage arena bowing low before my husband, Vicenzo.

“Underboss, Eva said she’ll repay the loan in a few days. Do we still keep pretending to pressure her?”

Vicenzo idly spun the Browning in his hand, the diamonds set into it worth enough to buy the entire cage arena.

“No need. She’s suffered enough these past few years. Even when she had two ribs broken a few months ago, she didn’t dare tell us.”

Elena, his sworn sister, seated beside him, let out a soft laugh.

“Vicenzo, what if she’s a spy sent by a rival family? After all, you are the underboss of the Carlini family.

“Besides, Luca has been pampered since he was little. How could he live with someone who reeks of blood?”

My six-year-old son wrapped his arms tightly around her neck and echoed her words. “I don’t want a woman covered in scars as my mommy. Just looking at her wounds makes me feel sick.”

Then he turned to her and pouted. “Aunt Elena, I wish you were my mommy.”

Vicenzo hesitated only a moment before looking at them indulgently.

“Then we’ll test her for another six months. If she remains this obedient, I’ll officially let her become part of the Carlini family.”

I watched the farce with cold eyes, because to avoid frightening Vicenzo, the ordinary librarian I believed him to be, I had hidden my identity as the principessa of the Moretti family.

Also, to keep from being found by my family and my fiancé, the don of the Carlini family, I had not touched a single cent of family money. Instead, I chose to earn it with my fists in places piled with the dead.

So it seemed my endurance and sacrifice were nothing more than a taming game in their eyes.

I stood behind the half-closed door, gripping the check soaked in sweat and blood.

The amount was 1.5 million euros.

That was what I earned in five years after breaking three ribs, fracturing my left arm seventeen times, and receiving more than two hundred stitches across my body.

I steadied my breathing, then raised my hand. With a sharp crack, I snapped my dislocated left arm back into place without a change in expression.

The pain was blinding, and cold sweat poured down my back, yet I did not even furrow my brow.

I pushed the door open, and the atmosphere inside instantly became cold.

Capo Mario, who had been kneeling on the floor, reacted instantly. The second the door moved, he sprang up, and the respectful look on his face twisted into something vicious.

“You b*tch! Got the money yet?” Mario kicked over the broken chair beside him and jabbed a finger at me as he cursed. “If you can’t pay today, I’ll sell your son to Nafles as child labor!”

In the past, I would have begged him for a few more days and shielded Luca behind me while trembling.

Now, I only found it laughable.

Vicenzo rose from the couch at once. The cold arrogance on his face vanished, replaced by the cowardice and concern I once trusted without question.

He rushed to stand in front of me, his voice shaking. “Mr. Mario, please don’t hurt my wife. We’re thinking of a solution…”

If I hadn’t heard everything just moments ago, I truly would have believed him.

“The money isn’t ready,” I said evenly. “I’m not treating him anymore.”

The room fell into dead silence.

Vicenzo froze, panic flickering in his eyes. “Eva, what are you saying? Luca’s illness can’t be delayed—”

“I said I’m not treating him.”

I stepped around him and walked toward the son who was still pretending to tremble.

Luca hid behind Elena, and the child who had just rejected me as his mother was now staring at me as if I were a monster.

“Luca, come here,” I said, extending my hand.

The bandages wrapped around it had darkened, and my knuckles were thick with calluses and dried blood.

Luca screamed and shrank back in disgust. “Don’t touch me! Your hands are dirty! They stink!”

Elena covered her nose with feigned surprise. “Eva, where have you been? Why do you smell like rotting flesh? Don’t bring germs near Luca. His body is weak.”

She wore an expensive custom silk gown.

I, on the other hand, wore a cheap jacket bought from a street stall, my body carrying the mixed scent of ointment and blood.

Vicenzo frowned and reached for me. “Eva, go shower. Don’t scare the child. I’ll go beg Mr. Mario…”

I stepped away from his hand.

“There’s no need to beg.”

I looked at Mario, the man who barked orders at me in the cage arena, now standing awkwardly. His eyes were also drifting toward Vicenzo for direction.

“Since the money can’t be repaid, I won’t repay it.”

Mario sneered and pulled out a dagger.

“Then don’t blame me. I’ll take one of your legs first!”

He lunged.

At his level, it was fast. In my eyes, though, it was painfully slow.

I shifted aside, raised my hand, seized his wrist, and twisted it back.

“Ah!”

With the crack of bone, the dagger slipped from his hand.

I caught it in one motion and pressed it to his throat.

“A soldato should know his place. Since when was it your turn to draw a blade in front of me?”

The room went silent.

The coward’s mask on Vicenzo’s face nearly split.

Elena’s eyes widened as if she had seen a ghost.

Mario was drenched in sweat, and in horror, he realized he could not break free from my grip.

“You… you’re insane! I belong to the Carlini family!”

I gave a cold laugh, the tip of the blade breaking his skin as a bead of blood surfaced.

“The Carlini family?

“Even your don wouldn’t dare speak to me like that.”

At last, Vicenzo could no longer sit still.

“Eva! Let go of Mr. Mario right now! You’ll get us killed!

“If you hurt him, the Carlini family will wipe out our entire family!”

Elena shrieked as well. “You crazy woman! If you want to die, don’t drag us down with you! Luca is still so young!”

Luca rushed at me, kicking and hitting with all his strength.

“Let Uncle go! You bad woman! I’m going to call the police and have you arrested!”

Watching the three of them turn red in the face, I only found it amusing.

I released my grip and, with one kick, sent Mario flying three meters away.

He slammed into the wall and coughed up a mouthful of blood, looking in a sorry state.

He glared at me with venom in his eyes, yet because Vicenzo had given no order, he did not dare move again.

“Get out.”

I said only one word.

Mario scrambled to his feet and bolted for the door. However, before leaving, he spat out a vicious threat.

“Just you wait! Tomorrow I’ll bring more men!”

After the door shut, Vicenzo stared at me, his face dark.

“Eva, you were too reckless. Do you even understand how much trouble you’ve caused?”

I poured myself a glass of water and slowly wet my dry throat.

“Trouble? If I want to, in this city, no one can make trouble for me.”

Elena let out a mocking laugh. “Oh, please. You must’ve been punched in the head too many years to think you’re still somebody.

“Eva, know your place. You’re nothing more than a brute who sells her life.

“If they bring guns tomorrow, what are you going to do? Stop bullets with your body?”

I turned to look at Vicenzo.

“If they really bring guns tomorrow, will you protect me and Luca?”

He avoided my gaze and sighed.

“I’m just a useless husband. How could I protect anyone? Eva, for Luca’s sake, go apologize to Mr. Mario.

“As long as you apologize, maybe this will pass.”

My heart went completely cold.

This was the man who slept beside me.

For the sake of testing me, for so-called family interests, he had sent me to fight in illegal rings, and now he wanted me to kneel to his own subordinate.

“Fine.” I set down the glass and curved my lips into a cold smile.

“Since you say so, tomorrow we’ll settle this.”

Before leaving, I looked at him one last time and asked, “Vicenzo, if I told you I could settle this debt, and that I hold more power than Mario, would you believe me?”

He reacted as if he had heard the greatest joke in the world, breaking into a contemptuous laugh.

“Eva, have you lost your mind?”

That night, the master bedroom door was locked.

Vicenzo stood outside holding a pillow, his face arranged into a show of reluctant concern.

“Eva, the smell of medicine on you is too strong. Luca can’t sleep with it.”

He pointed toward the guest room piled high with storage boxes. “Stay there tonight. Don’t make this difficult.”

I looked at the man who had shared my bed for seven years.

There wasn’t a single word of concern in his eyes, only disgust.

Without saying anything, I turned and walked into the room with no heating.

In the middle of the night, I heard Elena’s coy laughter drifting from the master bedroom next door, mixed with Luca’s excited shouts.

They were playing horse and rider, laughing together, as if they were the family of three.

I leaned against the cold wall, pulled out the dagger I had long hidden in my boot, then slid it back in.

Not yet.

I’d wait until the moment they were most proud of everything they had and then watch it collapse.

Early the next morning, Vicenzo got up before dawn, a rare occurrence.

He took off the old jacket, washed pale from wear, and put on a sharply tailored dark suit.

It was a custom piece from one of Nafles’ top tailors, with subtle embroidery at the cuffs.

When I had asked where he got it, he told me it was an old suit discarded by the library owner.

Now it was clear that this was the attire of the second-in-command of the Carlini family.

“Eva, go change,” Vicenzo urged impatiently. “Today we’re taking you to apologize to Mr. Mario.”

Luca wore the formal outfit Elena had bought him, looking like a proud little prince.

As he passed me, he pinched his nose and made a face.

“You stink. Stay away from us.”

I said nothing. I simply pulled on my wrinkled trench coat and covered the bandages on my arm.

Elena linked her arm through Vicenzo’s and shot me a provocative glance.

The car sped all the way to a heavily guarded estate. This was one of the Carlini family’s strongholds.

Two broad-shouldered soldati stood at the entrance.

When they saw us step out, one of them gave a cold glance and urged impatiently, “Go in. They’re all waiting.”

The display of force seemed to rattle Vicenzo. His body trembled almost imperceptibly, and he instinctively tightened his grip around my wrist.

“Eva, don’t be afraid. Just apologize properly, and it’ll be fine…” His voice shook, as though he were convincing himself, and he pulled me quickly toward the doors.

Elena followed with Luca in hand, her face openly eager for a spectacle.

Inside, the hall was lavish and glittering, with two rows of soldati standing solemnly on either side.

Mario, whom I had injured the night before, now sat boldly on a leather sofa in the center.

An arrogant smile twisted across his face, and when he saw us enter, he even crossed his legs in exaggerated confidence.

Vicenzo suddenly stopped walking and turned to face me.

The usual cowardice in his eyes was gone. All that remained was a cold command.

“Eva, kneel.”