When I bring up divorce in front of my husband, Vito Corti, he happens to be toying with a lace thigh strap that's gifted to him by a rising adult film star.

Vito, the head of the Corti family as well as the youngest Don in Emaly, orders his Soldato to pick up his new lover tonight. Then, he shoots a languid glance at the divorce agreement on the table.

"How big of a tantrum are you throwing this time, my dear Donna?"

I reply calmly, "I didn't touch the bank card tied to the private account. I also don't want the estate in Emaly as well as the bulletproof convoy. I have already entrusted the asset management authority to your Consigliere."

Vito is stunned for a moment, but he still thinks I'm still throwing a tantrum.

"You don't want those assets? Then what do you want? My devotion? Gia, I already told you in the past that you're the woman with the highest position in the family. But it's too boring for a Don to own just one woman."

He tries to reach out to feel my cheek, thinking that I'll act the same way as before; that I'll forgive him in a roundabout way after lashing out at him.

But I just avoid his hand.

I no longer want Vito's devotion to me. Now, I just want to leave him.

I dragged Vito Corti out of a pool of blood.

Five years ago, on a rainy night, I was still a Capo managing the docks for the Corti family. I was patrolling my territory when I found him cornered by a rival family in the abandoned container yard at the pier.

Through my car window, I watched the man fighting for his life in that desperate situation. He moved like a trapped beast, every counterattack carrying a destructive kind of beauty. Eventually, he fell.

Just as a dagger was about to pierce his heart, my men cleared the scene. Holding an umbrella, I walked up to him. My black heels pressed into the muddy ground mixed with blood as I looked down at this man covered in wounds.

At the time, the Corti family faced an unprecedented crisis. The old Don was aging, and of his only two biological sons, one died in last year's gang warfare while the other despised mafia business and fled long ago to pursue art instead.

Inside the family, ambitions stirred. Outside, powerful enemies circled.

"I'll save you. You repay me with everything you have. How about it?" I asked.

He lifted his head. Those dark eyes gleamed in the darkness, filled with unconcealed hunger for power and raw ambition.

He didn't answer. He simply grabbed my ankle, the force so strong it felt like he wanted to crush my bones.

I didn't struggle. I let him study me.

I wasn't a good person. I was simply choosing the sharpest blade for myself, and he was ruthless enough, strong enough, and ambitious enough.

I brought him back to the family, taught him the rules, and introduced him to the old Don, Lorenzo Corti.

Vito didn't disappoint me. He even exceeded my control.

He was ruthless and possessed astonishing strategic brilliance. In just three years, he wiped out all hostile forces and even took a nearly fatal bullet for Don Lorenzo. That was the crucial step to his rise.

On his deathbed, Don Lorenzo formally adopted Vito as a son, gave him the prestigious surname Corti, and placed the family's power in his hands.

In return, he married me and made me his only Madre of the Corti family. At the wedding, he slipped the ruby ring symbolizing the family's highest authority onto my finger and whispered a promise in my ear.

"Gia Fontana, you are my life. My only woman."

Back then, I believed him. That lasted until women of every kind started appearing around him—famous actresses, exotic dancers, and casino dealers from every walk of life. That was when I understood that a man's vows were laughably cheap.

"Gia, look at me."

Vito didn't pull his hand away. Instead, he stepped closer, his warm fingertips tracing my cheek with an almost obsessive tenderness.

"Why compare yourself to those people? They're nothing but passersby, distractions to kill time."

He lowered his head, his towering frame completely enveloping me. His forehead pressed against mine, our breaths mingling.

"You need to understand, no matter how many people have come and gone around me, the only one I truly love is you." His voice was low and magnetic, laced with persuasive power.

"Gia, only you are worthy of standing beside me. No one can replace your position in my heart. So don't waste your energy on those insignificant playthings, sì? They don't even deserve your anger."

I laughed. "Vito, I'm not throwing a tantrum. I'm serious. I want a divorce."

His expression darkened instantly. The air around us seemed to freeze.

The family's Underboss, Marco Santoro, rushed into the room. Seeing the tense atmosphere, he immediately tried to mediate.

"Madre, the Don just likes to have his fun. Don't take it to heart. You'll always be our Madre."

Marco used to be the person I trusted most. When Vito wasn't around, he helped me handle family business. I once treated him like a younger brother, but now even he only told me to endure.

Vito shot me a cold glance and straightened his cuffs. "I have business tonight. Cool down on your own."

With that, he left the study without looking back, leaving me alone in the icy room.

I knew where he was going. To see that actress named Giuliana Barbieri, the one he called a distraction when he was bored.

Late at night, my phone buzzed with a photo.

Against a dim background, Giuliana was bare from the waist up, wearing nothing but a necklace around her throat. It was the diamond necklace Vito placed on me himself when he proposed. He told me it symbolized the Madre of the Corti family.

Below the photo, Giuliana's taunting message read, "Madre, the Don says this necklace looks better on me than it ever did on you."

My chest tightened, and my breath stopped. I remembered that afternoon years ago in this very study, when Vito lifted this necklace from an antique velvet box and fastened it around my neck.

"Gia, wear this, and you'll be the only mistress of my life."

His gaze back then was tender and focused. Now, this symbol of devotion had become another woman's weapon against me.

I gripped my phone until my knuckles turned white, consumed by one thought—I was taking it back.

I changed clothes, grabbed my car keys, and headed for the door. Two towering Soldati blocked my path.

"Madre, you cannot leave the estate without the Don's orders."

Their expressions remained blank. I studied them. These men were guards I personally selected for Vito, and now they'd become the bars of my cage.

My voice came out cold. "Move."

They didn't budge. "It's the Don's orders."

I pulled a knife from my boot. The blade flashed once before burying itself in the left Soldato's thigh. Before he could scream, I had the blade pressed against the other man's throat.

"Unless you want to lose a leg like him, get out of my way."

My voice carried a long-forgotten edge of violence. They'd forgotten that before I became Vito's Madre, I was the Corti family's most ruthless Capo.

Both of them went pale. They exchanged a glance and silently stepped aside.

I drove to Vito's usual private club. The moment I pushed open the suite door, lewd music and the sharp stench of alcohol hit me.

Vito sprawled deep in the couch cushions with a careless expression while Giuliana's dress hung half off, bunched loosely at her waist and exposing bare skin to the air. She kneeled submissively at his feet in a posture both degrading and obscene.

That expensive diamond necklace wrapped around her throat while Vito wound the chain around his fingers like a leash, pulling it back carelessly to force her head up. Instead of resisting this humiliating control, Giuliana smiled wider and obediently lifted her wine glass to his lips.

The room went silent when I walked in.

Vito's brow furrowed. "What are you doing here?"

I ignored him and walked straight to Giuliana. She shrank into Vito's arms, though her eyes blazed with defiance.

I held out my hand, my voice flat. "Give me the necklace."

Giuliana's voice turned cloying. "Madre, what are you talking about? This was a gift from the Don. If you want it, you should ask him."

Her fingers stroked the necklace at her throat with obvious satisfaction. I turned to Vito and waited for his answer.

His expression went cold. "Gia, go home."

I ignored him and moved toward Giuliana. "Take it off."

Vito's patience snapped. He surged to his feet and clamped down on my wrist with enough force to crush bone.

"I told you to go home. Are you deaf? It's just a necklace. She likes it, so I gave it to her. As Madre, don't you have more dignity than this?"

"Dignity?" I swallowed the pain and stared at this man who'd made me so many promises. A cold laugh escaped me.

"What belongs to me can rot in hell before I let trash wear it."

I wrenched free of his grip and lunged at Giuliana. She screamed and tried to scramble back, but I grabbed the necklace and yanked hard. Gemstones and pearls scattered across the floor in a chaotic, musical clatter.

Giuliana clutched her reddened throat and shrieked, diving behind Vito. Vito roared. "Have you lost your mind?"

I clutched the main diamond I'd torn free and watched Giuliana cower. Finally, I smiled.

I tossed the diamond into the trash. "Now it's garbage. If you care so much, fish it out and give it to her."

While Vito stood there stunned, I held my head high and walked out of the suite, crushing pearls beneath my heels.

To punish me, Vito replaced me with Giuliana at the Corti family's annual gala.

She wore my custom gown, looking radiant under the chandeliers, while I sat alone in the corner like an outsider watching their absurd performance.

Vito walked her around, introducing her to every guest. "This is Giuliana, my… friend."

A vague title, but enough for everyone to understand her position. The guests kept glancing between us.

Halfway through the evening, Giuliana approached me with a wine glass, swaying gracefully. She stopped a few steps away, right in front of Mamma's oil portrait hanging on the wall behind me.

I'd commissioned Emaly's most renowned painter for that piece, wanting her to watch over me always.

She raised her glass with a smile. "Madre, sitting here alone must be so dull. Let me toast you."

Just then, she stumbled. The red wine spilled from her glass in a perfect arc, splashing across Mamma's portrait. Crimson liquid slid down her gentle face.

Giuliana let out an exaggerated shriek. "Oh no! I'm so sorry, Madre. I didn't mean to…"

Apologies poured from her mouth while malice gleamed in her eyes. Rage blinded me.

I shot to my feet and slapped her hard across the face. The entire ballroom fell silent. Everyone froze at the sudden violence.

Giuliana clutched her cheek and stared at me in disbelief as tears welled up. "You… you hit me?"

I met her gaze with ice in my eyes. "Hit you? I'm going to kill you."

I lunged forward and grabbed her throat, slamming her against the wall. In that moment, I forgot everything. I only wanted this woman who'd defiled Mamma's memory to pay.

"Stop!"

The shout snapped me back to reality. Vito strode over and shoved me aside, pulling the trembling Giuliana behind him protectively.

The force sent me stumbling backward into the dining table. My wrist cracked against the corner, sending pain shooting through my arm.

"Apologize to Giuliana."

I stared at him in shock. "What did you say?"

He repeated each word slowly. "I said, apologize to her."

I looked at him, at the woman putting on such a pitiful act in his arms, and felt the absurdity of it all. I screamed. "She's the one who needs to apologize! She deliberately destroyed Mamma's portrait!"

Vito's expression darkened further. "All I saw was you acting like a wild woman at my gala, challenging my authority in front of everyone."

He swept his gaze across the watching guests, barely concealing his anger.

"Guards."

Two Soldati stepped forward immediately.

"Take the Madre to her room. No one visits her without my permission."

His words hit me like a physical blow. I couldn't believe these words came from the man I'd loved for so many years. The two guards seized my arms with bruising force.

I thrashed wildly. "Let go of me! Vito! You can't do this to me!"

In my struggle, I lost my balance and crashed into a massive marble column. Searing pain exploded in my forehead. Warm liquid trickled down my cheek.

The world spun before my eyes. In the last moment before I lost consciousness, I saw Vito's cold, indifferent expression and the triumphant sneer curling Giuliana's lips.

Darkness swallowed me whole.