My usually well-behaved daughter, Violet, suddenly threw a tantrum, insisting on a trip to the family's vacation villa on Lake Michigan.

She even threatened me by skipping her equestrian training.

I relented and took her there myself, while her father, Xavier, remained in Chicago, claiming he had family business to attend to.

After two weeks, I was physically and mentally drained, but my daughter insisted she hadn't had her fill of fun and begged to stay a few more days.

My family was already urging me to return.

I booked our return for the next day.

But I never expected that in the dead of night, I would overhear my daughter on an encrypted phone, talking to Xavier:

"Papa, is Penny doing okay? Mom and I are coming back tomorrow. I tried everything to make us stay longer, but it didn't work. You need to get her out of there, fast. Don't let Mom find out, or the Don will be furious!"

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1

I rolled over in the middle of the night. The space beside me was empty. My eyes snapped open and I shot bolt upright.

The bedroom door was ajar, the world beyond it pitch-black.

In the oppressive silence, I could faintly hear my daughter's voice drifting from the suite’s terrace.

I frowned. What was she doing out there so late?

Slipping from the sheets, I crept out of the bedroom. I found my daughter's small form huddled by the terrace railing, clutching an encrypted satellite phone.

"Papa, is Penny in a better mood? Does she like our home?"

"Mom and I are coming back tomorrow. I tried to get us to stay longer so you could have more time with her, but she said no. Mom is so annoying! It's all her fault. If it weren't for her, I could be at the opera with you and Penny right now."

"Papa, you need to get her out of there, fast. Don't let Mom find out, or the Don will be furious!"

A moment ago, I was worried about my daughter; now, it felt as if I’d been plunged into an icy abyss. My mind went blank, and the blood in my veins seemed to freeze.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

My husband, the man I loved with all my heart, and my daughter, the child I had adored for eight years—conspiring to deceive me.

All for a woman named Penny?

A dancer?

My gaze landed on the satellite phone in my daughter's hand. I suddenly remembered Xavier giving it to her under the guise of "enhanced security."

I had thought it was absurd at the time.

Why would a child need a military-grade communication device?

But Xavier had insisted it was to ensure she could contact us under any circumstances.

My daughter had thrown a fit, begging for it.

She’d claimed it was a special gift from her Papa, and that refusing it meant I didn't trust him. My hands had been tied.

I never imagined this phone would become a tool for them to conspire behind my back.

"Mamma?"

My daughter scrambled to her feet when she saw me, panic flashing in her eyes.

I composed myself, forcing a smile. "It's late. What are you doing out here instead of sleeping?"

She was only a child. Her eyes darted away, unable to meet mine as a lie stumbled from her lips. "I... I just missed Papa, so I called him. Mamma, I'm so sleepy. I'm going to bed."

As she spoke, she even managed a convincing yawn.

She tried to slip past me, but I stopped her.

My voice trembled, betraying an anxiety I hadn't yet acknowledged. "Do you love me, Violet?"

My daughter turned and threw herself into my arms, nuzzling her face against me just as she had as a toddler. "I love you the most, Mamma! And Papa too!"

Watching her scamper back to the bedroom, my mind was at war with itself.

One voice insisted it had to be a misunderstanding. The other screamed at me to search for the truth.

Once a seed of doubt is planted, it grows like a weed.

I sank onto the sofa in the dark. Just then, my phone screen lit up.

It was a message from an anonymous number with a photo attached.

I opened it.

The caption on the photo was dated today.

[His princess is back, so where does that leave me?]

The photo was of that woman, Penny, lounging in my bed, wearing a sheer black lace nightgown. Around her neck was the Grimaldi family's signature sapphire necklace—a piece my mother had left me.

Staring at the screen, my hands began to tremble, and my breath hitched in my throat.

A single tear splashed onto the screen, followed by another, and another, until they were streaming down my face.

I tossed the phone aside and buried my face in my hands, a broken sob escaping as tears streamed through my fingers.

Our bedroom, my antique vanity, our bed—all painfully familiar. Even the framed photo of me on the nightstand was perfectly clear.

And that arm draped over Penny’s waist, the one wearing our wedding ring, belonged to the man I had loved for nearly a decade and been married to for nine years—Xavier Valeriano.

I never imagined I would be that woman—the one whose husband cheats.

Just as I never thought the man who had once sworn a blood oath to me would one day break it.

We were each other's first love.

At a family banquet when I was seventeen, I met Xavier for the first time. As the Principessa of the Grimaldi family, I was always the center of attention. He, at the time, was just a minor figure in the Valeriano family.

During a surprise attack by a rival family, I was held at gunpoint.

He was the one who rushed forward without a thought for his own life, taking a knife meant for me.

From that day on, he was different in my eyes.

Later, his star rose, but he was still worlds away from my standing.

To be worthy of me, he clawed his way up the ranks of his family.

During Christmas of our freshman year of college, he confessed his feelings for me. With our families' tacit approval, we began dating.

During winter break, his father was executed for betraying the family. His mother died of grief soon after.

He locked himself in his room for three days and three nights.

When I finally saw him, he clung to me and sobbed.

He told me he hated traitors more than anything in the world.

He said, "Giovanna, you are the only thing I believe in. I, Xavier Valeriano, swear on my life and my family's honor to be loyal only to you and the Grimaldi family for the rest of my days. If I should ever break this oath, may I be cast out by the family and banished for eternity!"

Later, after we graduated from university, he asked my father for my hand in marriage.

My father approved of him wholeheartedly.

We held a magnificent wedding that was the talk of Chicago.

In the second year of our marriage, I nearly died giving birth to our daughter.

Xavier named her Violet.

She was the angel that sealed the bond between our families.

We became the picture of a perfect family of three.

With a child to provide for, Xavier worked even harder to solidify his position.

In just two short years, he became the Underboss of the Valeriano family.

Subsequently, I also began managing parts of my own family's business.

Our life seemed perfect, but Xavier started coming home later and later.

He would always return in the dead of night.

And every time, he would hold me close and whisper, "Principessa, I love you so much. We have to be together forever!"

And every time, my heart would melt.

My friends and family all envied me for having such a perfect husband.

But now that the loving facade was ripped away, the truth beneath was utterly sordid.

I didn't look at the humiliating photo again. A woman's intuition told me this wasn't just some foolish provocation from Penny; someone was trying to use her to ignite a war between our two families.

That necklace alone was enough to seal his fate.

There was no need to torture myself further.

I contacted my father's Consigliere overnight and told him everything.

After the plane landed, Xavier was there on the private airstrip, waving at us from a distance.

The moment our daughter saw him, she launched herself into his arms.

Xavier scooped her up, then reached out to pull me into their embrace.

His voice was laced with mock injury. "Cara mia, why were you gone for so long? Did you two forget about your poor husband waiting at home? I've been wasting away without you!"

With that, he leaned in to kiss me.

The thought of that mouth having kissed someone else countless times made my stomach roil.

I subtly turned my head, avoiding the kiss. "Not here, Xavier," I said coolly. "The soldati are watching."

Xavier pouted pitifully.

Our daughter giggled. "Papa only thinks about Mamma. Don't you miss me?"

"Of course I miss my little princess! Come home and see what Papa has prepared for you!"

I watched the two of them walk ahead of me, a perfect picture of a father and daughter.

If I hadn't overheard that phone call, would I ever have known?

When we arrived home, the house was immaculate.

My gaze immediately landed on the bottle of rare whiskey my father had given him, sitting in the study. The seal was broken.

"You opened the bottle?"

Xavier paused, then calmly explained, "I had an important guest over a few days ago, so I cracked it open. What do you think? It's good, isn't it?"

I didn't say anything.

I knew that wasn't like him.

In all our years together, Xavier had never used that bottle to entertain a guest.

Someone else had been in our home. I didn't want to imagine what they did here, afraid I'd throw up.

I hesitated at the door to our bedroom, suitcase in hand.

"What's wrong?" Xavier asked, approaching me.

I shook my head and walked in.

The bedroom looked just as it had when I left, only the sheets and duvet cover had been changed.

If I hadn't seen that photo, I might have convinced myself it was all in my head.

Xavier wrapped his arms around me from behind, resting his chin on my shoulder. "Gio, I missed you terribly. Don't leave me for so long again, not even for our daughter. You have no idea how badly I sleep when you're not here. Just look at these dark circles."

As he spoke, he nuzzled my neck, about to kiss me.

The thought that just a short while ago he’d held another woman like this, whispering the same sweet nothings into her ear…

Instantly, my stomach churned.