Love in the Shadow

After serving as a secret surrogate and being murdered by a ruthless Mafia Queen, I am reborn into my past. Once more, I must choose whether to become the Don’s mistress to save my mother's life. In my previous existence, I was a disposable tool killed after childbirth. This time, I will not bear the Moretti heir. Using a secret tonic to stay barren, I plan to exploit the Don’s dark obsession to destroy his empire and achieve my cold revenge.

After being killed by her billionaire lover, Sebastian Sterling, during a drunken rage where he called out another woman's name, she unexpectedly wakes up in the past. She is seated right at the table where his grandmother is offering her one hundred million dollars to disappear. Instead of begging for his love like before, she calmly accepts the check and walks away. She is no longer the discarded woman he destroyed. When she returns, she will ensure he is the one left in absolute ruins.

Left stranded overnight in waist-deep floodwaters while eight months pregnant, she watched her husband, Desmond, abandon her to rescue an intern with a minor cut. This devastating neglect costs her their unborn child. When Desmond callously demands she prepare soup for his intern in exchange for naming their baby, she has had enough. Rejecting his shallow peace offerings, she decides to walk away. She will not only reclaim her heart but also strip away the business empire she built for him.

During the fifth year of her marriage, a wife notices a wavy, chestnut strand of hair carrying a gardenia scent wrapped tightly around her husband Brad Fox's passenger seatbelt. Her own straight black hair is jasmine-scented. Knowing Brad's deep hatred for scenes and his tendency to dismiss her suspicions as unreasonable over a simple coworker catching a ride, she chooses not to confront him immediately. Instead, she silently processes this undeniable trace of another woman's presence.

To the outside world, life as Stefano Pace’s wife is a dream of luxury and power within the city's criminal underworld. However, the facade shatters when a stray stocking belonging to underboss Isla Torelli is found in Stefano’s car. Devastated by his infidelity, his wife decides to abandon their seven-year marriage. Recalling Stefano's wedding vow to be betrayed a hundredfold if he ever proved unfaithful, she prepares to turn his words into a reality. In three days, she will leave him forever, seeking a vengeance that matches his original promise of loyalty and the weight of his deception.

To help her mother realize her dream of a road trip, the protagonist purchases a luxury RV worth over $140,000. However, this act of devotion infuriates her mother-in-law, Rebecca. Embittered by her own $2,800 monthly allowance for childcare, Rebecca unleashes a torrent of malicious accusations, wishing death and disgrace upon the protagonist's mother. Pushed past her limit of patience, the normally calm protagonist delivers a stinging slap and a fierce warning to silence her mother-in-law for good.