My best friend, Lena Vitale, left me for dead in a fire she started.

I suffered severe burns and lay in a hospital bed for three long months.

The day I was discharged, I discovered she was marrying my ex-boyfriend, the Don Victor Gambino.

She claimed she married Victor to punish him on my behalf for being such a "scumbag."

However, she sold all her wedding jewelry and told Victor I had stolen it.

She maxed out Victor's secondary credit card, claiming it was to pay off my gambling debts.

She even blamed me for her miscarriage—the one caused by her affair with Victor’s driver.

Ultimately, Victor sold me to a rival drug cartel's underground prison.

There, I was brutally tortured to death.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day Lena had her affair and miscarriage.

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1

Whenever Lena Vitale had a tryst with her lover, she told her husband, Victor Gambino, that she was with me.

She’d either say I was being punished for ruining the family business and needed someone to look after me.

Or she’d say I was gambling and needed help because rivals were after me for my debts.

She even used the excuse that I was entangled in a mob dispute and needed her to mediate.

If Victor hadn't shown up on my doorstep in my previous life, furiously listing my crimes,

I would never have known my life could be so… eventful.

Right now, Victor's calls were blowing up my phone again.

The moment I answered, Victor's furious voice exploded in my ear:

“Serena Moretti, it’s this late, what are you doing keeping Lena at your place again?”

“I’ve had enough of you. I don’t care if you want to wallow in self-pity after I dumped you, but can you stop preying on Lena? She’s your best friend, not your mother!”

“Lena is married now, and she’s pregnant! Can’t you have some shame and stop bothering her over every little thing? Do you have any idea how pathetic you are?”

“Is it because I dumped you that you’re holding a grudge and deliberately trying to ruin my family? Lena is an innocent. If you keep using her, don’t blame me for what happens next! Send her back to me, now!”

Victor sounded like he was at the end of his rope, his verbal assault a deafening roar that made my ears ache.

I hadn't had any contact with Lena since she set that fire.

But Victor didn't see it that way.

I received his calls almost every day.

At first, when I heard Victor's angry complaints, I actually believed Lena was "punishing the scumbag."

It wasn't until the day Victor stormed into my home, read me the riot act in a fit of rage, and then had me stuffed in a sack and sold to a rival family.

Only then did I realize I had been made a scapegoat, the fool who took the fall.

Remembering how Lena had burned me and slandered me in my past life.

And Victor's cruel revenge.

Rage ignited in the pit of my stomach.

Victor Gambino, today I’m going to let you see with your own eyes just what kind of woman your "innocent, good wife" really is!

A cold smile touched my lips as I spoke into the phone, “The Vitale princess is probably busy… clearing some pipes. She’s very busy. Can't come back just yet.”

After speaking, my expression turned to ice. I hung up and turned off my phone, unwilling to waste another word on Victor.

But soon, there was a knock at the door.

The moment I turned the lock, a tremendous force from outside sent me stumbling backward.

Before I could react, several bodyguards suddenly pinned me down.

And Victor, with heavy footsteps, strode into my home, tearing the place apart looking for any sign of Lena.

He completely trashed my small two-bedroom apartment.

But he found nothing.

“Didn’t you say Lena was clearing the pipes? Where is she?”

He rushed up to me, his face red as he demanded an answer.

Seeing his furious expression, the pleasure of revenge began to bloom in my heart.

I raised an eyebrow and said slowly, “I only said she was clearing the pipes. I never said she was doing it at my place. Maybe she’s clearing the pipes at your driver’s place. Why don’t you go and check?”

A cold glint appeared in Victor’s eyes as he grabbed a handful of my hair.

He said in a low voice, “Don’t play your little games with me. I’ll ask you one last time, where did you stash Lena?”

Lena Vitale’s whereabouts were always a secret. I was just her scapegoat, how could I possibly know where she was?

Enduring the pain, I said bluntly, “She’s a grown woman with her own two feet. How can I control where she goes? I’m not her mother!”

Not getting the answer he wanted, Victor’s eyes turned vicious.

He released my hair, only to wrap his hand around my neck. Instantly, I couldn't breathe.

I was fuming inside.

But at the same time, my anticipation grew.

Is this all it takes to make you angry?

A much bigger storm is coming for you!

Seeing the stubbornness in my eyes, Victor tightened his fingers and said,

“You think being stubborn will save you?”

With that, he pulled my phone from my pocket, turned it on, used my face to unlock it, and started scrolling through my contacts.

When he saw my emergency contact, a cold sneer formed on his lips.

He dialed the number.

“Darling, what’s wrong?”

My husband, Marco DeLuca, answered, his voice its usual gentle tone.

I was about to speak, but one of the bodyguards suddenly clamped his hand firmly over my mouth, preventing me from making a sound.

“You’re Serena Moretti’s husband, right?”

Victor spoke coldly, his tone dripping with contempt.

“Who is this?”

Hearing a strange man’s voice from my phone, Marco’s tone sharpened, clearly alarmed.

Victor looked straight at me, his voice a taunt.

“I’m Serena’s ex. But don’t worry, I’m married now. I have zero interest in her.”

Marco was silent for two seconds before asking, “Then why are you calling me from her phone?”

“No reason. Just wanted to tell you a little story about your dear wife.”

“Do you know how she ruined her family’s business?”

“It was because I dumped her. She set a fire for revenge. If my wife hadn't saved her, she would've disappeared long ago.”

“But after she survived, she started wallowing in self-pity, getting into all sorts of trouble all over the city.”

“For all these years, she’s been living by leeching off my wife. She sold my wife’s wedding jewelry to support her own family, got addicted to gambling, and had my wife max out my secondary card to pay her debts.”

“You probably don’t know this, but your wife also sleeps around with members of other families. Their wives have come looking for her.”

“A while ago, she picked up something nasty doing God-knows-what. I’d advise you to get yourself checked out, too.”

“How can you stand being married to such a filthy woman?”

“It’s pathetic for a man to live like you do. It must be exhausting, being played for a fool day after day. If I were you, I’d have offed myself by now.”

Victor’s tirade was a relentless assault, dragging my name through the mud.

On the other end of the line, Marco fell into a long silence.

Marco and I had always had a good relationship after we married.

He was an upright and kind man, always gentle and considerate with me.

He never cared about the burn scars on my body, even saying I was a wounded angel and that he would shelter me from the storms for the rest of our lives.

With him, no matter how big our arguments were, he would always patiently coax me, never giving me the cold shoulder or getting angry.

But this time, it seemed Victor had angered him so much that he didn’t want to say another word.

Victor hung up the phone and looked at me with a triumphant expression.

“Well? Still not going to tell me where Lena is?”

The bodyguard released his hand from my mouth.

“You break into my house, hold me down, assault me, slander me… I’ll kill you for this.”

I glared at Victor, wishing I could tear the idiot to shreds.

Seeing my continued defiance, Victor grew even angrier.

“Then I’ll show you what happens when you cross the Gambinos!”