I did my best to avoid Cassandra's harassment, but her lackeys always managed to find me. My face was bruised from the beatings they gave me, but I refused to apply any ointment. I knew a pair of eyes was watching me from the shadows.

I was certain that Silas Costello missed me. It wasn't until I was older that I learned the women in my family, aside from their fertility, possessed a natural allure that men found irresistible.

After that night of passion, Silas had become hopelessly enchanted with me. A man always craves more after the first taste of forbidden fruit.

He couldn't find another woman who satisfied him the way I did. No one else could drive him to that same intoxicating madness.

So, when I discovered he had sent someone to watch me, I wasn't surprised at all.

I figured his patience had run thin after a month. So, before class ended, I walked up to Cassandra and provoked her. "The only reason you're targeting me is because you're afraid I'll replace you as the new Principessa of the Costello family, isn't it?"

Cassandra scoffed at my blatant provocation. "You should take a look in the mirror. You're delusional if you even dream of replacing me."

"We'll see about that soon enough."

I had been avoiding Cassandra for days, but today, my attitude did a complete one-eighty as I openly challenged her. As expected, she was furious. Her most loyal Soldati surrounded me, shoving and insulting me.

When I spotted Silas's men at the corner of the street, I mouthed to one of Cassandra's thugs, "You idiot."

The simple-minded Soldato was easily provoked. Just as I had planned, he charged at me like a bull.

As Silas's bodyguards approached, I immediately lowered my head and pleaded timidly, "I'm sorry, please forgive me. I don't know what I did wrong, but I apologize!"

The man didn't back down. He shoved me with all his might, and I let myself fall, curling into a ball on the sidewalk.

"My stomach... it hurts..."

"She's bleeding!" someone in the crowd screamed.

A moment later, Silas's bodyguards were lifting me from the ground. A flicker of elation cut through the despair in my eyes.

"Our baby!"

The air froze the moment those words left my mouth. Silas's men placed me in a bulletproof black sedan, and we sped off to the Costello family's private clinic.

...

After a series of tests, the doctor confirmed my baby was unharmed, which came as no surprise to me. After all, I was my mother's daughter—a woman who had fallen off a roof just days before giving birth and remained completely unscathed.

I clung to a stunned Silas as if he were my savior. "Thank God! You arrived just in time to save our baby. What would I do without you?"

I buried my face in his chest, sobbing softly.

As the Don who controlled the city's underworld, Silas longed for a large family and numerous heirs to carry on his legacy. However, despite his efforts with countless women, he had failed to have any more children after Cassandra's birth.

Just as he was about to give up hope, my pregnancy was a miracle.

Cassandra arrived late, only to be stopped by the bodyguards at the door. She saw my still-flat stomach and gritted her teeth in anger.

Lost in the joy of becoming a father again, Silas didn't notice the venom in Cassandra's eyes.

"Seraphina, you're my lucky star! Come home with me. I'll give my son the best of everything!"

Before I could speak, Cassandra pushed past the bodyguards. Unable to control her emotions, she lunged at me. "Papa, she's not even fit to shine my shoes! How can she live under the same roof as me? If you bring her home, I'll run away and never come back!"

Then, she shot me a look that dared me to challenge her.