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.