"Stop... Don't! I'm already at my limit!"

I'm on my knees on the floor, tears streaming down my face, while a shirtless man stands in front of me with a leather whip in his hand.

His voice stays gentle, but his movements never slow. "Babe, we're only halfway there."

After I come back from the dead, I spend 80 million dollars hiring the most expensive male model in all of Navarro to spend the night with me.

With that kind of money on the table, the service absolutely lives up to its price.

He pulls out every trick I've never tried in my life.

The next morning, I'm sitting astride him, using him as my morning workout, when suddenly there's one more person in the room.

My husband, the Don of a mafia family, Leone Vieri.

Leone Vieri told the bodyguards to drag the model out, then fixed his eyes on me and asked in an icy voice, "Where did he touch you?"

My head still felt foggy. I laughed like I didn't have a care in the world.

"My lips, my chest, my thighs... He touched every place you like."

Leone's gaze went dark. A vein stood out sharply on his neck as he gave the order to the men behind him. "Cut him into 18 pieces and throw them away."

I took off my sweat-soaked clothes and walked into the bathroom. "Do whatever you want."

In my last life, I'd been married to Leone for a full seven years.

People called me the "Queen of Cards." I helped him win every casino in Navarro and stayed by his side as he clawed his way up from a hunted criminal to a mafia Don.

Once he made it, he fell head over heels for a new dealer at the casino.

Her name was Bliss Mancini. Someone had sold her into the casino. She was as clean as a blank sheet of paper.

Leone set her up in the VIP dealing room and personally taught her how to shuffle and count.

One day, I'd opened our internal family system and had seen that my marital status had changed to "divorced".

Leone couldn't have cared less when I questioned him.

"Bliss has no one. If she takes the title of Madre, no one will dare lay a hand on her. Everyone in the Navarro casino sees you as the woman in charge. Why did you care about a title like that?"

I lost control and stormed into the dealing room, slapping Bliss across the face in front of everyone.

That night, Jason Russo, my younger brother who'd been risking his life for Leone, got dragged back.

They snapped both his legs in front of me and tossed him in the back alley.

"Anna, this is the price for laying a hand on Bliss!" Leone said coldly.

I begged him to stop, but he didn't show a shred of mercy. I watched the blood drain from Jason's face as he died right in front of me.

Heat flooded between my legs. Pain ripped through my lower belly, and my vision went black.

When I woke up again, I was back on the day I'd discovered my status had been changed.

This time, I didn't make a scene. I quietly sold every piece of jewelry I'd hidden away and booked a flight.

All I wanted was to take Jason and run from that devil, Leone.

...

After I confirmed in the internal system that my status really said "divorced", I went to city hall.

The clerk told me, "Ma'am, the system shows you're already divorced for seven days."

Only then did I know for sure that my last life wasn't just a dream.

The divorce date was actually my birthday.

That day, I'd even tried to be understanding about how busy Leone was. I booked out the rooftop restaurant with the live band and ordered fireworks.

From dusk until midnight, Leone never showed. All I got were 300 photos of him and Bliss in bed.

I dragged myself out of the memory. When I got back to the casino, I saw Leone's black limousine parked at the entrance.

In my last life, I had charged straight up to question him like a madwoman.

He was afraid Bliss would see me, so before she even got out of the car, he yanked me into a corner.

This time, I slipped behind one of the marble pillars.

The car door opened, and Leone got out first.

He walked around to the passenger side and personally opened the door for Bliss, every movement gentle in a way I had never seen before.

A young woman in a pale blue dress climbed out of the car, timid and nervous.

Standing next to that gleaming car, she looked completely out of place.

Leone took off his suit jacket and draped it over her shoulders, then wrapped an arm around her waist and led her toward the casino.

"Leone..." Bliss hesitated and stopped walking. "I don't have anything but you... I can't afford to lose..."

He turned and pulled her into a tight hug. His voice was firm and tender in a way I had never heard from him.

"What are you afraid of? From now on, you're the woman in charge of the Navarro casino. No one but you deserves that.

"If you don't like this place, I'll find somewhere quiet and build a resort for you."

All the staff who had always shown me respect were now bowing to Bliss instead.

They surrounded that young woman who looked like a frightened fawn and escorted her into that glittering, gilded hell.

I clutched my belly with both hands. Only after they all went inside did I stumble out from hiding.

I wiped my tears away. All that was left in my eyes was cold, hard resolve.

Later, I went to the hospital alone and scheduled an abortion.

The doctor frowned at the ultrasound screen, his brows tightly knit.

"Ms. Russo, your body's in a very special condition. You haven't gotten pregnant once in the last seven years. If you terminate this one, you might never get pregnant again."

I let out a bitter laugh. "I'm already divorced. I don't want my child to be born without a father."

The cold anesthetic slid into my veins, and my consciousness slowly blurred.

As everything faded out, I thought I saw the Leone I used to know.

He pressed his ear against my belly and smiled, saying this child would grow up to be a card shark, so he'd have to teach him poker from the cradle up.

He even called the old Don and said he wanted the luckiest name possible for our baby.

He wrapped his arms around me and promised that once he found someone to inherit the casino, he'd take the baby and me out of the family so the three of us could travel the world.

...

All of that tenderness had shattered to dust the moment he told Bliss she was the only one who deserved to be the woman in charge of the casino.

When I woke up, I dragged my hollowed-out body to Jason's ward.

Thank God this time, Jason had only taken a minor hit while he was out on a job. He'd be fine after a short recovery.

In my last life, I'd watched him being beaten to death right in front of me. In this life, I refused to be that stupid again.

I contacted some people in the black market and paid a fortune for two tickets on a flight to Santoria that left in three days.

If I tried to leave through normal channels, Leone would know immediately.

Then, I called the only associate I still trusted, handed him some cash, and asked him to quietly take care of Jason's discharge.

Only after I'd done all that did I finally let myself breathe out a sigh of relief.

I flagged down a cab and gave an address a few blocks away from the family villa.

I'd always had that habit. I had too many enemies, and I couldn't afford to let anyone follow me straight home.

But I never expected that the moment I stepped out of the cab, a man would clamp a hand over my mouth from behind and drag me backward.

I struggled hard, but I'd barely taken two steps when another man swung a club straight into my back.

Pain tore through my back, and warm blood soaked my clothes in an instant.

I didn't need to guess. They had to be Leone's enemies.

The casino had taken over so much territory that the enemies who wanted Leone and everyone close to him dead could've lined up from here to the harbor.

I reached for the knife I kept in my bag, but my arm was twisted hard behind me. Then, they snatched my phone and smashed it into pieces.

"Stay still, puttana!" the man choking me around the neck snarled as he dragged me toward a van parked by the curb.

Just when I was about to lose all hope, a familiar black limousine turned in from the main road.

It was Leone's car.

I forced out the last of my strength, screaming hoarsely and fighting to break free, desperate to make the man in the car notice me.

The car clearly hit the brakes and slowed down.

He'd seen me.

But the very next second, the limousine sped up without a hint of hesitation and drove off.

Through the window, I saw Leone pull Bliss against his chest in the passenger seat, shielding her eyes so she wouldn't look my way.

It was as if the woman being dragged off to die wasn't his wife, but just an ugly scene he didn't want Bliss to see.

In that instant, every shred of struggle and hope drained out of my body.

Pain and cold swallowed me whole, and the darkness closed over the last of my awareness.

When I woke up, I was lying in a private hospital room.

The door wasn't fully closed, and low voices drifted in from the hallway.

"Don Vieri, the signora took a bad hit this time. If she finds out about Ms. Mancini—"

It was Leone's private doctor, Ben Bruno.

He didn't get to finish before Leone's cold voice cut in. "Watch your mouth! Your job is to treat Anna. Stay out of everything else!

"Anna's been in the casino game for years. She's done every ruthless and dirty thing there is. Bliss isn't like her. She's clean, like a blank page. She wouldn't stand a chance against Anna."

He paused, his voice dropping even lower. "If Anna wakes up and starts acting up, bring Jason in and use him to threaten her. He's the only family she has. She won't look the other way."

My fingers clenched tight around the sheets. I bit my lip until it split, the taste of blood spreading across my tongue.

The night I helped Leone take Navarro's casinos, he'd looked me in the eye and said, "Anna, from now on, no one in Navarro will dare lay a finger on you."

The same vow he once made to me, he'd given to another woman.

He once protected me like I was priceless. But now, he saw me as a threat he needed to guard against.

When I heard footsteps approaching, I closed my eyes and pretended I had just woken up.

"You're awake? We found out who did it. It was that small-time punk who cheated in the casino last time. We broke his hand, remember?" Leone said.

Then, he tossed a document onto the bed in front of me.

"Sign this settlement, and the man who kidnapped you will hand over the East Pier."

The East Pier was the only clean piece of land left in the city. It sat by the sea, with no casinos and hardly any dirty business.

I remembered Leone telling Bliss, "I'll find somewhere quiet and build a resort for you..."

So, all the injuries on my body were just bargaining chips for him to build a gilded cage for his new lover.

I asked hoarsely, "Leone, when did you make this deal?"

Was it the moment he saw me being dragged away? Or long before that, when he decided to pave the way for Bliss with my blood?

Leone's brows pulled together. He clearly didn't like the question.

I tugged at the corner of my lips and let it go.

Whatever the answer was, it didn't matter anymore.

Maybe to soothe me, Leone stayed by my side for the next two days, handling family business from my room.

But his phone never left his hand. Even while we ate, he'd snap photos and send them to Bliss, wearing a soft smile I had never seen.

I watched his profile and suddenly thought of seven years ago.

The first time I met him wasn't in a casino. It had been in a dark alley.

He'd been caught cheating at cards. Several men with knives circled him, and he was one swing away from losing an arm.

I had just won a pile of cash, so I saved him on a whim. Later, I dragged him back to my apartment.

Not long after, my father, back home, owed money to loan sharks and was pushed into his grave by a drug dealer.

They'd grabbed me to pay off the debt. A cold needle had been pressed against my vein.

At the last second, Leone showed up with his men and rescued me.

Leone stayed by my bed day and night, taking care of me and never letting his guard down.

After that, I helped him build up a small casino. Then, I helped him take down casino after casino, wiping out one rival after another.

I knew my hands were already stained with blood that would never come clean. But even if the whole world thought I was dirty, Leone had no right to.