My boyfriend is the heir to Sicily's top mafia clan.

To test my loyalty, he never spent a single dime on me during our five years together. Even when we bought condoms, he insisted we split the bill fifty-fifty.

Last week, I was in a car accident. To save the baby in my womb, I urgently needed $1,000 for emergency surgery. I called him from the hospital, begging for the money, but he accused me of lying to extort cash from him and hung up.

Desperate, I begged every friend and contact I knew. By the time I finally scraped the sum together, a unbearable pain tore through my abdomen—my baby's heart had already stopped beating.

After burying my baby, I went back to pack my bags. That was when I accidentally found a birthday gift list he had prepared for his childhood neighbor, Nadia.

A luxury yacht, a star named after her, and endless designer goods.

Right then, his voice drifted in from the next room as he spoke on a phone call with his underbosses.

"Hey Boss, is it true Elena begged you for a grand?"

Dante Moretti scoffed arrogantly. "Yeah, and I stood my ground and refused. Nadia is right. Elena is just a helpless orphan who can't leave me. But to enter my family, she has to pass a strict test. It’s almost over. She’ll realize I did all this for her own good."

So my five years of devotion, and my baby's life, were nothing more than a twisted test for a repulsive mafia title.

Whatever. It didn't matter anymore.

The moment the doctor announced my baby was dead, I had already decided to walk away from him forever.

The front door clicked open just as I put the gift list back.

Dante walked in, smelling of expensive tobacco, and collapsed onto the sofa next to me with his usual arrogant swagger.

"So you’re finally back," he said, lecturing me like a child. "Are you still throwing a fit because I didn't give you the cash? Learn from Nadia and grow up, Elena. You'll realize later it’s all for our future."

He looked so earnest, acting as if this was all pure, well-meaning love. But the real message was short and brutal: he needed to constantly test me to prove I wasn't after his money, just to see if I was worthy of his family.

He leaned in to hug me, but I slid away, completely dodging his arms.

Dante froze for a second, staring at his empty hands before glaring at me. To him, I was just throwing a childish tantrum over a petty $1,000.

"Stop acting out. I’m exhausted from work. Go make me some dinner," he commanded, instantly switching back to his mob-boss routine.

His attitude wasn't like this when he was chasing me five years ago. Back then, he pretended to be a broke office clerk buried under student loans and company debt.

"Elena, I have nothing, and I can't promise you a stable future," he had told me, looking completely sincere. "But we can work hard and build a life together."

Believing him, I had nodded. I was poor, but I could support myself. I chose Dante simply because I wanted to build a life from scratch with him.

But as time went on, his act slipped. He literally broke out in hives around cheap things, and he soon started treating me like a servant, demanding I do things he could easily do himself.

The truth finally clicked during my shift one day, when I saw him step out of a bulletproof limousine, surrounded by heavily armed bodyguards as he walked into an exclusive underground club. Our entire relationship was a lie. He had spent five years running a twisted test because he was terrified I was after his family's fortune.

Dante’s voice cut through my thoughts.

"If you want money in the future, just ask. Don't fake a car accident to extort cash from me," he sneered. "It ruins your character, and my family hates girls who act like that."

His words were a sick joke. Images flashed in my mind—the unbearable pain in my stomach, and the doctor coldly telling me my baby’s heart had stopped beating.

I was done explaining. I couldn't stand to look at him for another second.

Just as I stood up to leave, the front door opened again. Nadia walked in, slipping off her designer coat to reveal a tight, seductive dress. Seeing me, she feigned shock and hurriedly covered herself back up.

"Elena? What are you doing here?"

I looked coldly at Dante. "If I remember correctly, I co-rent this apartment with you. Why does a stranger have our security code and the right to barge in whenever she wants?"

Nadia instantly put on a victim act. She scurried over, sat right next to Dante, and clung to his arm.

"Dante, how can she call me a stranger? I just forgot my keys and needed a place to crash. Besides, if you hadn't agreed to co-rent this place, Elena would be sleeping on the streets. She can't afford this neighborhood. She's the one getting a free ride."

God knows how much poison she had whispered in his ear over the years. Dante saw absolutely nothing wrong with it. To him, Nadia made perfect sense.

"Nadia is right. I own a house. If I wasn't dating you, I wouldn't be wasting money splitting a cheap apartment just to accommodate you. It’s a total ripoff," Dante said, pulling out his phone and shoving his banking screen into my face.

"You don't want my family to think you're a gold-digger, do you? Then pay me back for my half of the rent over the last five years."

Dante and I had rented this forty-square-meter apartment right after we started dating.

After graduation, I wanted a better-paying job, but on my tight budget, I could only afford a tiny, suffocating room deep in the industrial slums. Dante hated it.

He complained the neighborhood was a dump and the commute was too long. He flat out said the awful environment ruined his mood whenever he wanted to have sex, so he insisted we move in together.

To pay my half of the rent in this expensive city, I worked a brutal second job, sacrificing all my sleep and free time. Now, he was turning our five years together into a cheap scam, acting like I was the one ripping him off.

"Dante... after five years, what did you actually take me for?"

My tears fell out of pure self-pity. Five years of my youth, completely wasted on a monster.

Seeing my tears, the hand holding the phone in my face twitched, and he slowly pulled it back. "I was just joking. At worst, we can just..."

Before he could finish, Nadia chimed in with a theatrical sigh of disdain.

"And she still claims she isn't a gold-digger. Dante, if it weren't for you, could a girl like her ever live here? You should definitely end the lease next month. Or at least make her sign a promissory note. That’s only fair."

If it weren't for the law, I would have slapped them both raw. But I knew if I did, they would probably extort me for damages.

Five years. I was done playing their twisted games.

"I’m not signing anything. If you want money, sue me. Let’s see if a judge actually rules in your favor," I said coldly. "And I’m leaving tonight. Miss Nadia, since you want to crash here so badly, make sure you pay Dante your share. Otherwise, you’re the parasite."

The moment I turned to leave, Dante lunged forward and locked his grip around my wrist. His arrogant smirk vanished, replaced by a dark, controlling anger.

"Elena, cut the crap. Nadia and I were just messing around," he growled. "Think carefully. If you walk out that door, you will lose me forever."

I realized then how horribly wrong I had been.

I shouldn't have let his sweet talk sway me when I first discovered he was a billionaire mafia heir. And I shouldn't have bought into his garbage philosophy about a 'pure relationship' every time he implicitly accused me of being after his money.

I had foolishly clung to the memories of him staying up all night to take care of me when I had a high fever, gently holding me to soothe my pain. We had genuinely loved each other once. But our love could never survive being treated like a criminal investigation.

"Dante, let’s break up."

The moment the words left my mouth, his anger dissolved into a flash of genuine panic.

"Stop messing around," he stammered. "Are you really throwing away our relationship over this? You’re about to marry me and finally get my family's approval."

He had been on his pedestal for so long that he genuinely believed loving me was an act of charity.

I looked at him, my expression completely dead. "I’m not throwing a tantrum. Since you spent every waking hour convinced I was a parasite scheming for your blood money, go find a woman who actually qualifies to enter your precious family."

I ripped my wrist from his grip, turned on my heel, and went into the bedroom to pack.

A minute later, a furious roar echoed through the apartment. "Elena! You will regret this!"

I ignored him, unfazed by the sound of the front door slamming as he stormed out with Nadia.

I had endured five years of a love where I was treated like a thief. When I was at my absolute lowest, begging for just a grand to save the child in my womb, he chose to look away, all just to run his ridiculous test. That was our first child, but he didn't even know, let alone care.

At that exact moment, my love for him, and the family I thought we were building, died completely.

In the dead of night, I dragged my heavy suitcases down the deserted, freezing streets. Sicily offered no sanctuary for me, and I had no reason to stay. My baby was gone, and my relationship was in ashes. Remaining here would only prolong the agony.

With nowhere left to go, I spent the rest of the night shivering on a cold wooden bench in a lonely public park.

The next morning, I walked straight into the office and handed in my resignation.

My supervisor looked completely blindsided.

"Quitting? Did Mr. Moretti approve this? Oh, by the way, since you're leaving mid-month, your current bonus won't amount to much. I'll have the remaining balance wired to the secondary account on file, then."

I frowned, completely lost. What secondary account? Since when did I have an accrued bonus? And why on earth would Dante need to approve my resignation from a regular corporate job?

Noticing my blank stare, my supervisor grew equally confused.

"Aren't you and Mr. Moretti together? It was Mr. Moretti himself who explicitly instructed HR to split your paycheck. Your base salary went into your main account, while all your bonuses and raises were routed to a separate, locked account. He told us you wanted a secret savings fund. Honestly, I thought it was incredibly admirable how frugal you remained despite dating someone of his stature."

The realization hit me like a punch to the gut.

For five years, I had been surviving entirely on my starting, entry-level wage. Every single time I requested a raise, I was rejected. I genuinely thought I wasn't qualified for a promotion or a pay bump, that my skills just weren't good enough. The brutal truth was that Dante was silently siphoning my hard-earned money into a hidden account.

I marched straight to the finance department to demand my historical pay stubs. There, under the recent bonus column, was a glaring entry for exactly $1,000.

Just last week, I was short by that exact amount. Because I couldn't produce that $1,000 in time, the hospital delayed the operation, and my baby died.

The ultimate irony was that the total sum of my withheld bonuses and raises over the last five years was more than enough to cover the surgery fee tenfold.

I had been so incredibly stupid. I was so consumed by the fear of losing my job and my basic livelihood that I kept my head down, completely blind to how Dante was playing me for a fool. To prove I wasn't a gold-digger, I never touched a dime of his money, while he secretly robbed me of my own sweat and blood.

I had stayed in this deceitful trap for five long years.

Clutching the pay stubs, I turned around to hunt Dante down, only to find him swaggering onto the office floor, flanked by his usual entourage.

"Elena, we had a minor disagreement and you immediately resort to moving out and quitting your job?" He scoffed, looking down at me. "I see your temper is getting completely out of hand. How can my family ever accept you if you act so reckless?"

Standing right behind him, Nadia wore an expression of pure satisfaction. She stepped forward with a sickeningly fake pout.

"Elena, you are completely ungrateful, aren't you? You’ve been living off Dante’s dime, staying in an apartment he provided for you. Without Dante, do you honestly think you could even survive a single day in this city?"

Her words made me furious. I gripped the pay stubs tightly, ready to slap her with the facts, but Dante cut me off before I could speak.

"Nadia’s right. If it weren't for me over these past five years, you would have starved to death on the streets. I’ll overlook your little tantrum today. Go home with me. I won't even deduct today's absence from your paycheck."