That night Luciano didn’t return home, instead Underboss Aiden showed up with a bouquet of freshly plucked flowers.

“Donna Penelope…. Boss Luciano has sent these for you. Like always.”

I looked at the pure white roses, and my mind instantly flooding with the memories of the night I took a knife for Luciano during a bloody ambush orchestrated by a rival family.

The night he finally chose me and carefully slid a diamond ring onto my finger, making me his wife.

Kneeling before me beneath a sky full of stars, roses pressed against his chest, he had proposed me:

"Penelope, from now on, it's just you and me.

Even if I have some lingering feelings for Kiara, but I will give you roses every single day so you never forget…that you are my chosen wife."

I believed that was enough. That if I let him carve pieces out of me…my dignity, my body, my children and smiled through it all… one day he would finally love me.

My lashes quivered as I touched the petals almost absentmindedly before a thorn pierced my finger, making me stagger back as if burned.

"Throw them in the trash." I said, turning away.

My love for Luciano flickered dangerously, like a candle on its last breath before extinguishing completely.

“Aiden.” My voice came out hoarse, barely above a whisper as I lifted my bloodshot eyes to meet his.

“Five years ago, I saved your wife and daughter, so answer me honestly.”

“Your loyalty…”My fingers tightened. “Does it belong to the Moretti Family or to me?

Aiden's expression changed instantly before he lowered his head.

“To you, Donna.”

A faint smile appeared on my lips…broken and hollow.

“Good…..Prepare for the divorce proceedings. Send my message to the Family Council that I am going to divorce Luciano four days from now.“

The color drained from his face. “Divorce? Donna, you can’t! If you sever your ties with the Moretti family, you will become their enemy!”

I didn’t flinch, replying calmly.

“Then let it be….I will take my sons and leave this pack for good.”

Aiden left without another word. The door clicking shut as I sat alone in the darkness, hand pressed to my empty womb, the scent of roses choking the air until I finally closed my eyes.

The next day, my eyes fluttered open to small hands pressing against my forehead.

"Is mommy sick?" My eldest son Ian whispered worriedly.

For a fleeting second, my heart lurched as I bent instinctively, arms opening to pull him to my chest.

"I-I am fine, don’t worry about me—"

“That’s good then.”

Ian cut in quickly.

“If Mommy keeps acting sick, how will she take care of Auntie Kiara?”

My hands froze mid-air, eyes widening as the warmth in them shattered instantly.

“W-What did you say?” My voice came weak as I quivered, praying that I heard it wrong.

“Mom, you shouldn’t lie uselessly.” Lucas said innocently, his tone unusually serious for a child. “Auntie just woke up. The doctor said she needs a clean, quiet place, so hurry up and clean Dad’s room of all your things!”

Ian nodded quickly, tugging at his brother’s sleeve as he looked at me with bright, expectant eyes.

“Yes! Mom, it will be better if you move to the storage room beside our nursery. That way, when we need you, you can come quickly!”

Each word landed softly.

Yet every syllable felt like thousands of needles piercing my skin.

“Leave.”

I swallowed against the rawness in my throat.

The children scowled, turning away before shutting the door with a loud bang.

In the past, my two sons lovingly fought over me like I was their sun.

Who got the first morning kiss.

Who made the best Mother's Day card.

Who got to curl up in my lap.

I used to laugh at their silly antics before scooping them into my arms.

“Mommy loves you both silly. Stop fighting.”

Now their eyes held no love, only disdain like I was a mere maid.

The door hadn't even fully closed behind them when Luciano walked inside, setting his cufflinks slowly in the mirror.

“Kiara is coming back in two days, make sure you prepare all her favorite dishes. It's her special welcoming party so don’t wear something too loud.”

When I didn’t move, didn’t rush to him like I always did, his fingers stilled mid-motion.

Only then did he seem to notice me.

Walking towards me he gently pressed his palm against my forehead, checking my temperature.

“Are you still sick?" My eyes locked with his.

For a long moment, I just stared at the man who had once held my hand through twelve hours of labor, sweat on his brow, tears in his eyes. "I wish I could suffer the pain instead of you Penelope." he had whispered then.

Gone was that boy who fretted over my papercuts. The bestfriend who filled my lap with hundreds of chocolates to just stop me from crying, was long buried under the ‘Alpha’ title.

If not him..then who else could have poisoned my children’s mind drop by drop until our bond was nothing but a hollow shell.

Luciano frowned.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

I didn't answer.

His brows furrowed slightly before he sighed.

“Penelope... is this about yesterday?”

His gaze drifted briefly toward my bare ring finger.

“I am glad you didn't make a scene and accepted stepping down as Donna of the Moretti Family. Don’t worry, if you continue to be reasonable, even if Kiara returns, nobody will take your place completely.”

A bitter laugh almost escaped me.

Not completely? Was there anything left to take?

“You will continue living here. The children can visit whenever they want. You will even have a monthly allowance, bodyguards and a private residence on the estate.”

Then came the knife.

“Once Kiara adjusts, I may even restore your position as Donna so fulfil your duties and don’t complain.”

It was then he leaned down without a warning and pressed his lips to mine as if reassuring me.

The instant his mouth touched my skin, revulsion crawled through me like thousands of insects squirming under my flesh.

The sounds of those lewd moans detonated in my head with full force as bile rose my throat. I gagged, scurrying away instantly.

Luciano’s eyes deepened with meaning.

“You….don’t tell me you got pregnant again?”

“Stop it, I am not pregnant.”

But Luciano paid no attention to my words.

He grabbed my wrist and yanked me out of the bed, urgency flashing across his face.

"You've done well. This is perfect timing." His voice was almost distracted. "Mother is expecting at least five grandsons. Even if there are one or two girls along the way, it doesn't matter."

He grabbed my arm, already pushing me inside the bathroom.

"Go. Take the test. We need to confirm."

I stood there shaking, one hand pressed against my hollow womb.

The excitement that once made butterflies flutter inside my stomach now felt like the cruelest joke in the world.

Minutes later, I emerged from the bathroom. The test in my hand indicating what I had already known all along.

[Not pregnant.]

Luciano took it from my fingers. His face, which had held a flicker of hope, darkened immediately.

"Negative." His voice was quiet. Controlled. "How?"

He grabbed my shoulders gently and yet his eyes that bore into my skull were full of suspicion. "Don’t tell me you are taking contraceptives behind my back when I clearly prohibited it?"

“Now that you say it.” I gritted my teeth “I regret not taking them sooner.”

“Penelope!”

He pinched the bridge of his nose as if I were being unreasonable again.

“We've been trying for months now! Right when I desperately need another heir, you fail me again!”

Fail.

The word pierced deeper than any knife.

His gaze swept over me.

Cold.

Assessing.

Like a businessman staring at a failed investment.

“Every time something goes fucking wrong with your body.” His jaw tightened. “You conceive only to miscarry.”

“Wrong?” My wet lashes quivered as I barely looked at him, suppressing my erupting hatred.

Two years ago, heartbroken, with wide open eyes, I had bled on the operating table as the doctors removed my seven‑month‑old fully developed fetus from my body.

I still remembered hearing one of them whisper to my devastated husband:

“Mr. Moretti, her body is badly damaged. Even if the women in her family have a history of high fertility, her body cannot endure another pregnancy so soon. If pushed again… she may not survive.’

Yet a week later, Luciano still walked into our bedroom and gently fed me a soup laced with aphrodisiac drug.

That night, he had embraced me, apologizing with bloodshot eyes:

“Penelope, the Moretti Family isn't a fairy tale. If I die tomorrow, the five subclans will tear each other apart. I need five heirs. One for each clan. Only then will nobody dare touch you after I am gone.

So... even if you hate me now, endure this for a little longer. ”

I believed him.

I believed every lie.

He was the one who ruined me step by step and yet, still had the audacity to blame me?

"Wasn’t this all orchestrated by you?!" I spat. "“Even after the doctors warned you-”

“The doctors know nothing!”

Luciano cut me off sharply.

His patience finally cracking.

“You were born for this!”

His words landed like a fist to my gut, knocking the air straight out of my lungs.

He kept pushing my broken body. After every miscarriage, he waited weeks, sometimes days and tried again.

And all along he thought my body was made to endure such pain?

The ugly truth I had avoided for years finally stood naked before me.

From the very beginning, Luciano had never built a future with me.

He had been preparing one for Kiara and I was merely keeping her seat warm.

My fingers curled sharply at my sides despite the agony jabbing my heart.

“Penelope, even if you had contraceptives these days.” Luciano stepped closer, towering over me. "

“You are my wife.”

The possessiveness in his voice made my skin crawl.

“Don't forget your responsibilities.”

Ice flooded my veins as he embraced me, his hands already roaming over my body.

For a second I almost lost all my reason and shoved him away hard.

"No! I don’t want it!"

Luciano froze.

Then slowly frowned.

“No?” His voice dropped dangerously low.

“Are you refusing me?”

A long silence followed before he laughed.

Not because he found anything funny but because he thought I was being ridiculous.

"Penelope.”His jaw clenched, racking his fingers through his hair before he finally looked at me with quiet, terrible certainty.

“Have you forgotten who keeps the Solon Family standing?”

My heart skipped.

“Your mother.”

He counted calmly.

“Your younger brother.”

Blood rushed to my ears and for a moment I almost thought I misheard before he continued.

“They all depend on me. If you don't behave, you can forget about your father's medical treatment."

The blood drained from my face.

My father- the man who treated Luciano like his own son, his greatest ally who helped him claim his position as Italy’s Mafia King.

The man whose final request before slipping into a coma had been:

Protect my daughter.

And now Luciano was using him as leverage.

The fight drained out of me like blood from an open wound. My arms fell limp at my sides before trembling as they fumbled with the hem of my shirt.

Luciano sighed. “Now, its not that hard is it Pene?” His eyes didn't waver. They moved over every inch of my skin like he I was a negotiation he won again.

I pulled the shirt over my head, my skin burning raw as his took in my breasts, my stomach, the scars from the miscarriages pale, silvery lines he had never bothered to notice before.

When he laid me down on bed I clenched my jaw tightly, tears pooling in my eyes as my body trembled beneath him while he took whatever he wanted and labeled it as love.

"Get cleaned up." He finished, standing up before straightening his clothes.

Minutes passed as I turned my head away, laying limp on the bed.

All those innocent memories I had treasured suddenly felt rotten.

Eight years ago, the son of a rival mafia family had cornered me during a banquet ready to assault me when Luciano found us.

Beating the man until he lay unconscious in a pool of his own blood, Luciano hadn’t even cared about the punishment that came as hundred poisoned whips, splitting his back open.

The husband who broke me tonight was the same boy who had wrapped his coat around my shoulders and whispered: “No one touches you while I am alive.”

Tonight, those words felt like a joke.

Watching my frail back shuddering with silent sobs, Luciano’s voice softened slightly.

“Penelope, everything I'm doing is for your own good.”

I nearly laughed in rage.

My own good?

Building a life where Kiara would have your heart and throne, and I would have the storage room and secret midnight visits like a dirty mistress was for my good?

“Pene…“If you take care of Kiara properly, she'll recover faster.”

Once she's stable, I will explain the circumstances of our marriage.”

Explain.

As though I were the mistake.

As though I were the problem.

“I'm sure she'll forgive you.”

Forgive me?

Something inside me snapped, anger seeping through cracks in my composure.

In four days, I would divorce him.

This marriage he had trampled beneath his feet…I would tear it apart with my own hands.

I will become the first woman in mafia who would challenge the almighty Moretti clan.

I didn’t even realise that I had passed out until I woke to the empty space beside me. Luciano was already standing by the window, shirtless, running a hand through his hair.

His eyes found me still curled on the bed, still wearing the clothes I had pulled on after he finished, before he looked away.

"Penelope." His voice was quieter than usual.

“I was angry about the test.”

A pause.

“So I was rough with you.”

Rough.

As if bruises could be softened by choosing a different word.

My body still reeling from the shock, flinched when he came close wordlessly and kept a transparent glass box on the bed.

My breath caught instantly. Inside rested a blue sapphire pendant.

For years, it had been my favorite piece in the Moretti vault. A family heirloom passed down through generations of Moretti wives who were cherished by their husbands.

Once, I had accidentally touched it during a family banquet when Luciano’s coldly told the butler: ‘Send it for cleaning, its all dirty now.’

Now he kept it there without a word like a makeshift band-aid meant to mend my trampled heart.

He paused, then added, almost like an afterthought "Are you okay?"

The man who had threatened my father's life, treated my body as a tool and spoke of children like business assets wanted to know if I was alright.

I swallowed the bile rising in my throat.

"I will be." I said softly. "If you help me with something."

I lowered my gaze, hiding the storm rising beneath it.

His brows furrowed slightly. “What is it?”

I opened a drawer and withdrew several prepared documents. “I want to secure Ian and Lucas's future.”

Luciano’s eyes softened instantly, a flicker of pity reflecting in them.Then something else….something almost smug.

“Penelope, I know everything.” he said, almost under his breath. “You’ve always put me and the children first.”

“Don't worry,” he added, almost gently. “I won't mistreat you.”

Taking the documents from my hands, he barely skimmed through them, before signing without hesitation.

Pressing a kiss to my forehead he smiled. “Prepare Kiara's welcome banquet today. Make sure everything is perfect.”

Then he left. The moment the door clicked shut, my gentle facade disappeared.

Slowly.

Carefully.

I opened the documents.

At the very bottom, beneath Luciano Moretti's signature, were the papers I had hidden among the property forms.

DIVORCE AGREEMENT- Penelope Solon no longer a part of Moretti Family.

My fingers tightened. At last, after fifteen years of loving him t was finally over.

I threw the documents into my suitcase and continued packing.

Luciano wanted all the pleaures: the purity of his childhood sweetheart and the utility of the loyal wife he believed would never leave his side.

Too bad I was finished giving..

His family, his support or even his love, he could keep them all to himself!

With that I picked up the Moretti pendant I once desired like a dream and weighed it in my palm, a miserable smile clouding my eyes as I contacted the biggest auction house in Rome..

[Sell this pendant to the highest bidder in two days. Five years ago my wedding jewelry costed 10 million euros, make sure you get rid of that thrash and convert it into hard cash today.]

Since my father’s life is so cheap to you Luciano, I will drain all your resources and transfer him back to the Solon family.

Soon the day of Kiara's welcome party arrived.

The Moretti estate was drowning in the sickly sweet scent of red tulips as the grand doors swung open.

“You must along with her, Penelope.” Luciano murmured under his breath, his hand settling on my shoulder in a light squeeze. “Don’t embarrass me.”

Wearing a high-slit white gown, Kiara looked like an angel descending from the heavens, unlike my plain self, who was almost invisible.

"Sister!" She held my hands, yet her eyes strayed toward Luciano, looking at him like she was wronged.

“I was so worried about you.” she said, her voice trembling slightly. “Do you… hate me, Penelope?”

I stilled.

“We are sisters, but you never once came to see me in the hospital.” Her lashes lowered, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. “I almost thought… you didn’t want me to wake up.”

A few nearby guests had already begun to turn, drawn in by her soft, breaking voice.

“I was just busy.” I replied coldy not wishing to even look at her eyes shining with hidden pleasure.

I was about to turn away when her loud voice made me freeze in my tracks.

I was about to turn away when her loud voice made me freeze in my tracks.

“Penelope, no matter what happened to our families, I never would have guessed that my own little sister would become Luciano's surrogate."

The word landed like a slap.

My body froze.

"If Father knew" she continued, her voice trembling with manufactured sorrow, "he would be so sad."

“Shutup!!”

She flinched just enough to look convincing before a vicious gleam sparked in her eyes..

“I know” she rushed to say, shaking her head as if blaming herself. “You’re angry… you have every right to be. It’s all my fault.”

“After I fell into a coma, you had to become your brother-in-law’s surrogate and even gave birth to mine and Luciano’s children.”

Her tears flowed even harder.

“I-I don’t blame you for sleeping with my fiancé, Penelope. Now that I am back, I will surely compensate you. Whether it's money or jewelry that you fought with me for all those years, I will give it all to you.”

Kiara’s tears trickled, acting like a saint who was showing mercy.

[I always thought Penelope was the victim. Turns out she's just a greedy gold-digger who seduced her sister's husband!]

[To think she acted so noble all these years when really, she was just renting out her womb for cash and jewels.]

[A lowly woman like that doesn't deserve to be Donna of the Moretti Family. No wonder Luciano is giving the position back to the real one!]

My eyes shook violently as my vision swarmed red with rage when Luciano’s gaze bore into my skull.

Cold, sharp and heavy with warning.

‘Endure it. Don’t forget who’s been supporting your family.’

I almost sneered.

Setting my wine glass down with a heavy thump, I looked Kiara dead in the eyes.

"If you're so sorry, sister, then perhaps you can find a good man for me to marry.

Since you're so generous with compensation, don’t forget to include the grand villa and mansions my biological father transferred to you, an adopted daughter he took in out of charity."

Kiara’s smile froze, the gentle, fragile mask flickering dangerously.

“Penelope!” Luciano’s eyes darkened. “It seems you has drunk yourself to madness.” Luciano’s dark eyes locked into mine as his hand clutched my arm tightly, making blue bruises bloom on my skin.

His voice dropped in rage. “Don’t act all innocent and wronged, its not like you didn’t went out of your way to seduce me to fuck you. Now that Kiara is extending her hand for forgiveness, why can’t you just accept it?!”

With that, he pushed me away like a pest before walking toward Kiara and pulling her into his arms as though she were something precious.

“Penelope has no reason to be angry. If anything, she should apologize to you properly.”

His gaze remained cold.

“She stole your place beside me and tried to surpass you because of her ugly jealousy.”

He wrapped an arm around Kiara's waist.

“I will make sure she spends the rest of her life repenting for her sins.”

My chest tightened painfully.

Despite knowing the years of neglect I had endured by his side…

The miscarriages.

The drugs.

The way he had used my body as a vessel for Kiara's future children.

Luciano still spoke about me like I was a child throwing a tantrum.

My heart sank beneath an anguish so deep I thought I might drown in it.