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.

When I woke again, it was deep into the night. The confinement room that held me was freezing.

My wrist hung at an unnatural angle, limp and useless. The pain was unbearable.

No one came to treat me.

I remembered years ago when Vito took a bad hit during a shootout. I stayed at his bedside for three days and nights without sleep, changing his bandages myself and helping him drink water.

Back then, he held my hand and said weakly, "Gia, I'm lucky to have you."

Now, he'd discarded me for another woman.

The agony from my broken wrist and the throbbing in my temple felt like they were eating me alive. For two full days and nights, I lay curled on the cold floor, sweat soaking through my clothes over and over.

Fever clouded my mind, but the searing pain kept dragging me back to consciousness. I couldn't even close my eyes.

On the third day, the heavy door finally opened. It wasn't him, just a doctor with a medical bag. This was Vito's version of mercy.

The man checked my wrist with an expressionless face, then set the bone with brutal efficiency. A sickening crack accompanied the wave of pain that nearly knocked me unconscious.

I bit down hard on my lip to keep from screaming. The taste of blood filled my mouth.

The doctor studied me coldly. "You waited too long. The bone already started healing incorrectly. Even with it set properly now, the nerve damage is permanent."

The diagnosis hit me hard. My voice came out hoarse. "What does that mean?"

"It means this hand is basically useless now." He wrapped the cast around my wrist with practiced movements.

"You won't be able to lift anything heavy or do delicate work. When the weather changes, the pain will keep you up at night."

Each word landed like a blow. My hand was ruined?

I stared down at my wrist encased in plaster, my vision spinning. I'd used this hand to save Vito's life. I'd used it to cool his fever through endless nights, wiping down his body when he burned up.

Now, it was destroyed because of his cruelty and indifference.

The doctor packed up his supplies. Before leaving, he delivered one final message. "Madre, the Don wanted me to tell you this is what happens when you don't listen."

The door closed. I was alone again. I stared at the gray sky outside the window and realized I couldn't feel any pain anymore.

Vito came back the next evening, reeking of alcohol as he looked down at me from his full height. "Ready to admit you were wrong?"

I didn't answer. My silence enraged him. In his eyes, my lifeless state was just me pushing my luck with whatever affection he had left.

"Gia, enough." His voice turned to ice, patience clearly gone.

I finally lifted my head and raised my bandaged hand slightly, my voice raw. "Enough?"

He let out a cold laugh. "You've taken bullets before and dug them out yourself without flinching. Now you're being dramatic over a broken wrist?

"Don't forget that everything you have, I gave you. When I get tired of you, I can take it all back."

I looked at his furious face and suddenly laughed. He'd forgotten. Without me, he would've been just another corpse floating in the harbor.

"Vito, have you forgotten who pulled you out of hell in the first place?"

His body went rigid.

I said each word deliberately. "It was me. I gave you a second chance. I put you where you are today.

"Everything you have, I gave you."

That sentence set Vito off completely. He lunged down, planting his hands on either side of me and trapping me in his shadow.

He laughed coldly. "So what? You think that gives you the right to lecture me and meddle in my personal life?

"Gia, don't overestimate yourself. Right now, you're just a dog living off my scraps."

His face hovered so close I could smell the nauseating mix of alcohol and another woman's perfume clinging to him. I closed my eyes, unable to look at him anymore.

I forced the word through clenched teeth. "Get out."

His body went visibly rigid. A fresh wave of fury consumed him, but ultimately, he did nothing.

He straightened up, smoothed his disheveled collar, and tossed out one final line. "You'd better behave yourself."

Then he stormed out without looking back.

On the fifth day of my confinement, I finally found my chance. During the gap between maid shifts, I used a hidden hairpin to pry loose a tile under the floorboards beneath my bed. A miniature satellite phone lay inside.

As a former Capo, I'd learned to always leave myself an escape route. I dialed Leo DeLuca's private line. He was the DeLuca family heir and the Corti family's greatest enemy.

"Gia?" A deep, magnetic voice came through, carrying an almost imperceptible tension.

His accurate pinpoint of my identity didn't surprise me. As adversaries, it would be strange if he didn't keep tabs on me.

"It's me." My voice stayed calm. "Leo, I want to make a deal with you."

Silence followed, then a soft laugh that seemed to carry a patient indulgence he'd been saving. "Beautiful Madre, I'll accept any deal you offer."

I ignored the suggestive tone in his voice. To me, it was just posturing driven by self-interest.

"I want to leave Vito. In exchange, I'll give you the exact coordinates of the Corti family's underground armory and the security blind spots that night." I paused, my voice hardening.

"That warehouse holds a third of Vito's assets."

He drew a sharp breath. "You're going to betray the Corti family?"

"The family betrayed me first." My voice went cold. "Since Vito Corti wants to destroy me, I'll show him that without me, he's nothing. Are you taking this deal or not?"

Leo's voice turned unexpectedly gentle. "Deal. Whatever you want, even if I have to turn Emaly upside down, I'll do it."

I assumed he was just excited about striking at his mortal enemy.

"The Saint's Day gala. 9:00 pm. The rose garden maze."

"Perfect. I'll take you away. After that, you're mine."

"Deal."

I hung up and stared at the pitch-black night outside the window. This time, I was going to strip Vito bare.