One careless moment was all it took. At a yacht party, Rosie, the woman Porter loved, had an "accident" and fell overboard.

He flew into a rage and locked me in the manor's underground wine cellar.

"Alessia, you'll suffer twice the terror Rosie did!"

Survival instinct took over, and I struggled desperately.

I slammed my body against the iron door again and again, begging for his mercy.

But Porter chained me up and ordered his men to flood it with icy lake water.

"A jealous bitch like you only learns through pain."

"Stay in there and repent for your jealousy."

He locked the cellar's heavy iron door himself, forbidding anyone from coming near.

I gasped for air in the bone-chilling water, screaming for help until my voice was raw.

But the rising filth completely swallowed me.

I struggled until my strength gave out.

A week later, he magnanimously decided to end my punishment.

What he didn't know was that my body was already unrecognizable, bloated from the water and devoured by rats.

————————

1

"Where's Alessia? Why hasn't she come to see me since she got out?"

"Isn't she the master of playing the victim for sympathy? Why no begging this time? Has she finally learned her lesson?"

Porter's subordinate turned pale, choosing his words carefully.

"Don... Miss Alessia... she... I don't think she ever came out."

A flicker of unease crossed Porter's dark eyes, but it vanished in an instant, replaced by cold indifference.

"Alessia's a stubborn one, isn't she? Then let her stew in there a little longer!"

His subordinate hesitated, desperate to say more.

"But, sir, there's been no sound from the cellar for days, and a foul smell is coming from it. Shouldn't you... go and see?"

Porter waved his hand dismissively.

"What's there to panic about? Alessia is just pulling another one of her stunts, trying to make me feel sorry for her."

"Don't worry—she was trained since childhood. She's tougher than any of my soldiers. A little punishment like this is nothing to her. Besides, after being locked up for so long, it's normal for the putrid water to stink."

His subordinate tried to speak again, but Porter cut him off with an impatient wave.

"Enough. Take the 'Heart of Valachi' to Rosie—consider it my apology on Alessia's behalf."

"Forget about Alessia. I'll let her out today. As long as she’s willing to swallow her pride, admit her mistake, and genuinely beg for Rosie's forgiveness, I'll spare her."

A soft knock sounded at the door.

Without waiting for Porter's permission, Rosie pushed the door open and walked straight in.

Porter's irritation vanished instantly. His gaze softened into something tender, almost liquid.

"Rosie, the doctor said you still need to rest. What are you doing up?"

Rosie drifted toward him and nestled into his arms, a fragile smile gracing her pale, delicate features.

"Porter, I'm much better now. Alessia has been punished long enough—I'm sure she's learned her lesson. Let's give her another chance."

"If anything happens to her, I'll never forgive myself."

As she spoke, a single, glistening tear rolled down her cheek.

Porter immediately wiped it away, his voice carrying the unquestionable authority of the Don.

"Rosie, Alessia almost killed you, and you're still pleading for her. If only that jealous woman were half as kind as you."

"Don't worry. When she comes out, I'll make her kneel before you and apologize."

Watching their cloying performance, I let out a soft laugh from behind them—but of course, no one noticed.

After all, I was already dead. How could I possibly kneel before Rosie and apologize?

In the final moments before I died from infection and blood loss, my consciousness had drifted free of the filth-choked cellar.

The heavy chains had rubbed my wrists raw from my struggles, my blood staining the murky water around me.

Starving rats had swarmed my body, feasting on it with abandon.

The entire cellar had become a putrid hell—a gruesome, sickening sight.

I floated in the air, unable to bear another glance at my own corpse, chained and rotting, devoured in the filth.

Meanwhile, Rosie gazed up at Porter, her voice a fragile sob.

"Porter, you're so good to me. If you hadn't gotten there in time that day, I would have drowned."

Porter held her even tighter.

"I'm sorry, Rosie. I failed to protect you."

"But I promise you, after this ordeal, Alessia's pride will be shattered. She cares so much about her dignity—soaking in filthy water for days is a humiliation she'll never want to experience again."

"If she ever dares to disrespect you again, I won't be so lenient!"

His words were poison-tipped needles in my soul, leaving an excruciating phantom pain.

So he knew. He knew how much I valued my dignity—and he let me die stripped of it.

Porter had dragged me all the way, scraping my feet raw and bloody.

Without a single glance, he threw me into the cellar and ordered his men to flood it with icy lake water.

Survival instinct took over, and I struggled desperately.

I kept trying to climb up, but he personally brought a heavy chain and shackled my hands high above my head.

Whenever exhaustion made me sag, the chain would jerk taut, forcing me onto my tiptoes.

The icy, filthy water pricked my skin like a thousand needles, draining my body heat and strength bit by bit.

I screamed his name, my voice raw and hoarse.

But the next second, his voice rang out from outside the door—cold and merciless.

It carried the oppressive weight of the Don's absolute command.

"All this fear over a little water? Can you even begin to imagine what Rosie felt when you sent her into that icy lake?"

"The water level will rise every half hour. Stay in there and repent your sins."

With that, he locked the door and walked away without looking back.

For the next three days, the cold, foul water kept rising, submerging me again and again, sapping all my strength.

On the fourth night, Rosie snuck into the cellar.

She had somehow dismissed the guards. With a twisted smile, she took a broken wine bottle and stabbed it viciously into my abdomen.

The wound quickly became infected in the putrid water, igniting a searing, instantaneous pain.

Every organ felt like it was on fire—an agony beyond words.

"Ahhhh!!!"

My face turned deathly pale. A desperate wail tore from my throat.

Watching me writhe in pain, Rosie's voice dripped with triumph.

"Once you're dead, the title of Valachi matriarch will be mine."

I struggled, gasping for air, but every movement tore at the wound, sending waves of unbearable pain through me.

My life force drained away at an alarming rate. My consciousness blurred in a haze of fever and agony, then faded into nothing.

A few minutes later, my last breath dissipated into the darkness.

The cellar fell silent once more, leaving only a cold corpse for the rats to feast upon.

"Where is Alessia? Tell her to come and apologize to Rosie at once!"

"And have her clean up first—I don't want her stench offending Rosie."

Porter's voice was laced with disgust. The subordinate beside him bowed his head and hurried away.

Rosie, with tears welling in her eyes, tugged on Porter's sleeve.

"Porter, maybe we should just forget it. I can't expect Alessia to apologize to me. You two are engaged, and she is the Principessa of the Ricci family, after all. I'm just an outsider."

Porter placed a kiss on Rosie's forehead, his eyes shining with a doting tenderness he had never once shown me.

"Rosie, you're too kind. If it weren't for her, you never would have gone overboard. I can't bear to think what would have happened if I'd been a second later."

"Your endless tolerance will only make her worse! Don't worry—I'll get you justice."

As he spoke, his tone turned icy, as if I were not his fiancée, but his mortal enemy.

Hearing his words, Rosie threw herself into his arms, visibly moved.

I stared at them, his words echoing as a cruel joke.

That day, it was Rosie who had insisted we meet on the yacht's deck. She provoked me with intimate photos of her and Porter.

"What good is an engagement? Porter's body and heart have never been yours. Every night, after you fall asleep, he comes to me."

Before I could respond, she shrieked, staggered backward, and pitched herself into the lake.

By the time Porter and his men pulled her out, she was soaked, coughing violently in his arms.

"I just wanted Alessia to care more about you. I didn't think she would push me... Porter, I'm sure she didn't mean it."

Porter held her like a priceless treasure he had almost lost.

And I stood apart from the crowd, watching Rosie's charade with cold indifference.