Donato DeLuca gently cupped my face in his hands and studied me carefully. Tears streamed down his weathered face.

"All these years, you must have suffered so much."

My mind went completely blank. I stared at him in confusion. "You're my father?"

Don DeLuca's voice was hoarse. "I know you have many questions, and I will explain everything, but right now I need to handle some urgent matters first."

He pulled out a black and gold card with the family crest embossed in the center. He pressed the card into my hand, his movements urgent.

"Go to the lounge at the bow of the ship and wait for me. No one will dare to disturb you there. Papa will come for you very soon."

He draped his white suit jacket over my shoulders and turned to leave. I walked toward the lounge, still bewildered by everything.

"Stop right there! Who said you could wander around?"

Just as I rounded a corner, a sharp female voice cut through the air.

Luna appeared with two guards, arms crossed and looking thoroughly annoyed as she blocked my path.

"A client specifically requested you and your sister together. Get moving and don't waste any more time."

I remembered Drew's screams and cries from earlier. A chill ran down my spine.

"You better not touch me! I'm Donato DeLuca's daughter!"

I did not care about anything else. I decided to use my identity as a mafia Principessa to scare her off.

"Don DeLuca, my father, told me to go to the lounge."

"Bullsh*t!"

Luna slapped me across the face. "Don't try your tricks on me! Someone like you doesn't deserve to even mention the DeLuca name!"

Then she burst out laughing. "Ha! Your parents are waiting for you downstairs."

She ordered the guards to take me away. I tried to resist, but the weakness I felt from my allergic reaction meant that I was no match for two grown men.

Luna stepped forward and grabbed my chin roughly, sneering. "You're going to regret this."

I was dragged violently down the hall. Luna roughly shoved me into a cabin, and I crashed to the floor.

This was the same room Drew had been in earlier, but it had transformed into a scene from hell. The air reeked of blood and the sour stench of vomit.

Drew was curled up naked in the corner on the carpet, covered head to toe in bruises and welts. Blood pooled between her legs as she sobbed quietly in despair.

My adoptive mother Carmen Moretti was not much better off. Her dress was torn to shreds. A brutish man with a cruel face had his foot planted on her back while she whimpered in humiliation.

My adoptive father Raphael Romano was being used as a chair by a man in a black tank top who sat on his back.

When they saw me thrown into the room, their eyes blazed with desperate hope.

"Tina, you're finally here! Go take my place with them!" Drew crawled forward frantically, her voice hoarse and ragged.

"If you please them, they'll let us go!"

When I did not respond, Carmen struggled to lunge at me but was pinned down by the man. She could only scream at me with pure hatred.

"This is all your fault! You did this to us! If you hadn't tricked us into smoking those damn cigars, we wouldn't be here!"

Raphael, crushed beneath the other man's weight, mustered all his strength to shout. "Tina! You ungrateful brat! If it weren't for you, Drew would be set for life!"

They blamed me for the consequences of their own greed.

"Shut your mouth! Don't move!"

The man in the black tank top cracked a whip across Raphael's back, cursing under his breath.

Raphael immediately cowered in terror, trembling violently. The man in the black tank top slowly stood up.

He looked me up and down with lecherous eyes, licking his lips. His gaze was filled with undisguised hunger.

He turned to Luna. "This one looks good."

Then he crooked his finger at Drew.

"Both of you. Come here and serve me."

"No! No!" Drew froze. Her eyes went wide with terror.

Her already pale face drained of what little color remained. She instinctively tried to back away, but the man grabbed both her legs, and she whimpered in pain.

"Please, no more! I'm begging you, please!"

Drew sobbed and pleaded. The man ignored her completely. With one brutal yank, he forced himself inside her.

Carmen was on her knees, groveling in front of Luna, begging desperately.

"Please let us go! Let Drew go!”

"As long as you let the three of us leave, you can have Tina! Use her however you want. Even if you kill her, we won't complain!"

Raphael nodded frantically in agreement. "Right, right! The three of us aren't worth half of what she is!"

Luna looked at them with amusement. "Is that so? But the boss wants all of you together. None of you are getting out of this!"

She waved her hand, and the guards immediately stripped off my clothes. They hauled me over and positioned me beneath the man in the black tank top in the same position as Drew.

Just as I was resigning myself to my fate, someone burst into the room looking panicked.

"Outside! Don DeLuca's men are everywhere! It looks like they're searching for someone!"

The man in the black tank top paused, irritated. He threw both of us to the floor.

I collapsed on the ground, coughing violently and gasping for air, but then the black and gold key card I had been clutching tightly in my hand fell to the floor with a soft clatter.

That tiny sound instantly drew everyone's attention.

Luna's eyes went wide. She snatched up the card, her voice trembling.

"How do you have this? This is the key card to the VIP lounge on the top deck!"

I finally caught my breath. "I already told you I'm Donato DeLuca's daughter. You didn't believe me."

"What a joke!" Carmen shrieked with laughter.

"As if you could ever be a mafia Principessa!"

Raphael looked at me mockingly. "You're so scared you've forgotten your own last name, haven't you?"

Luna stepped forward and slapped my face several times. "You stole this, didn't you? And you have the nerve to lie about it!"

The man in the black tank top took the card and looked down at my wretched state on the floor. A calculating, vicious grin spread across his face.

He leaned in and whispered something in Luna's ear. Luna froze at first, then a greedy, excited gleam exploded in her eyes.

I lay on the floor, but faintly caught a few words from their conversation.

"Use her as a decoy. Take out the old man.”

"Then all of this will be ours."

They planned to drag me, the supposed thief, before Don DeLuca to claim credit. Then they would use me as a cover to assassinate him!

I finally understood. This cruise ship belonged to Donato DeLuca.

The reason he could not immediately acknowledge his long-lost daughter was because he had to deal with a bigger problem first. Perhaps there was a threat of betrayal from within.

Even though I had only met him once and exchanged a few words, I could feel the genuine love of a father.

My heart twisted painfully. After all these years, I had finally found my real family in this second life. I could not lose him now.

I could not just stand by and watch my biological father die in front of me.

"Take her away!" Luna ordered.

When Carmen saw me being dragged off, she showed no concern whatsoever. Instead, her eyes flashed with malice.

She screamed in a hoarse voice. "Yes! Take her away! Take that burden with you. Kill her! She's the one who ruined everything for us!"

Raphael joined in with his own curses, spewing obscenities too vile to repeat.

They seemed to think that as long as I, the troublemaker, disappeared, they would be saved.

I was dragged through the hallway and finally pushed onto the top deck.

The moment Luna saw Don DeLuca, she plastered on a fawning smile and sashayed forward.

"Don DeLuca, look! We caught a reckless little thief. She stole something of yours."

The man in the black tank top held me from behind, looking respectful on the surface but actually positioning himself to surround Don DeLuca and the two bodyguards beside him.

Don DeLuca's gaze fell on my body covered in bruises and welts. His eyes filled with shock.

At that exact moment, from my angle, I caught sight of the gun hidden in Luna's clothing.

The dark muzzle was aimed straight at Don DeLuca!

Without thinking, I used every ounce of strength I had left. I wrenched myself free from the man in the black tank top and lunged toward Luna!

Bang!

The gunshot rang out, and the bullet tore through my flesh.