All because he believed I pushed Elena down the stairs out of jealousy.

Six months ago, a rival family drugged Alexander. Elena saved him and got pregnant. Her family disowned her for it.

"Ivy, why can't you just let her be?" Alexander choked me, disappointment and rage in his eyes. "She saved my life! I promised to send her away. Why be so vicious to an unborn child? If anything happens to them, I'll bury you with them."

I didn't argue. I just planned an explosion.

But when I vanished, the high-and-mighty Don went mad.

In the Italian underworld, everyone knew Alexander was a cruel Don, but he gave all his tenderness to me.

However, the day after our wedding, he stripped me of my dignity as the Donna .

He was convinced I pushed his pregnant mistress, Elena, down the stairs out of jealousy.

Six months ago, Alexander was drugged by a rival family. Elena appeared, saved him, and got pregnant.

That night, she took a bullet for him during the retreat and almost lost the baby.

Her family considered her a disgrace and kicked her out; her fiancé called off their engagement.

Alexander felt guilty toward Elena, but he loved me.

To reassure me, he swore he would give Elena a large sum of money and send her to Switzerland, never to appear before us again.

"Ivy, why can't you tolerate her?" Alexander choked me, his eyes full of disappointment and rage. "She saved my life! I already promised to send her away. Why are you so vicious to an unborn child?!"

Elena lay in the hospital bed, pale as a sheet. "Alex, don't blame Ivy... She didn't mean it. She was probably just upset about staying in the maid's room and scrubbing the floors, so she pushed me... It's my fault for being spoiled. I'll move to the maid's room right now."

That ignited Alexander's fury.

To punish me, Alexander gave my room to Elena for her recovery. I was thrown into a damp, dark maid's room and ordered to scrub the entire manor's hallway floors on my knees.

By the end of the day, my knees were swollen and in agonizing pain.

Late at night, the door was pushed open.

Alexander walked in. He looked exhausted.

He sat on the edge of the bed. Without a word, he reached out to pull up the hem of my skirt.

"Don't touch me!" I shrank back, struggling to kick him away. "Alexander, are you crazy? Go find Elena!"

"Stop moving," he commanded, his voice low and hoarse. He easily suppressed my struggling legs with one strong hand and forcibly lifted my skirt up to my thighs.

My knees were exposed to the dim light—they were hideous, red, swollen.

Alexander's movement paused. The cold hardness in his eyes instantly cracked, replaced by a flash of heartache.

He opened a jar of premium ointment he had brought with him. He scooped out a generous amount and applied it to my wounds.

"Hiss..." I gasped.

"Bear with it. It will help with the swelling," he whispered. His large, rough hand massaged my knees with surprising gentleness.

"Ivy, why must you be so stubborn?" He looked at my bruises, his brow furrowed in pain. "Next time, don't touch Elena. I owe her a life, and the child is innocent. I have to repay that debt."

I looked at him coldly, feeling nothing but desolation. "So, you still think I pushed her."

"The evidence is there," Alexander said, avoiding my gaze, but his grip on my calf tightened possessively. "But listen to me. No matter what happens, Elena will never threaten your position. You are my wife. Once the child is born, I will send her away immediately. She means nothing to me."

I turned my face to the wall, closing my eyes to hide the dead look in them. "Get out, Alexander. I'm tired."

I didn't want to hear his promises anymore. My heart was already dead.

Sensing my indifference, Alexander lingered for a moment, then let out a heavy, helpless sigh against my ear.

He leaned down, burying his face in my neck, inhaling my scent greedily like a drowning man.

"Don't be like this, Ivy," he murmured, his voice trembling slightly. "You know I only love you. Always. Only you."

The old Alexander would panic if I even frowned. But now he told me not to harm his mistress's child.

I remembered the night before the wedding. He held my hand before the priest. "I, Alexander, pledge my loyalty to Ivy on the family's name. If I betray her, may I die by a thousand arrows."

Overnight, everything changed.

The next morning, before I could recover from the night's torture, several sturdy maids barged in and dragged me up to serve Elena.

"The Don said since Miss Ivy likes scrubbing floors on her knees, she can learn how to serve properly."

I was dragged to the master bedroom that used to be mine. Elena was leaning against the headboard having breakfast. She saw me and smirked.

Her gaze fell on my neck. I was wearing my mother's silver necklace. It wasn't expensive, but the pendant held her ashes.

"Ugh, that thing looks ominous. No wonder I had nightmares last night." Elena frowned and looked at the maid with disgust. "Throw it in the fireplace. Don't let it scare the baby."

"You dare!" I lunged to grab it back.

Two maids pinned me down. I watched helplessly as the necklace was thrown into the roaring fire.

"No!" I screamed. My heart burned with the flames.

Rage overwhelmed my reason. I broke free and slapped Elena hard across the face.

Smack.

Elena threw herself onto the carpet, clutching her stomach and screaming. "My stomach! Alex, help, my baby..."

Alexander rushed in. He shoved me aside without a word.

My lower back hit the corner of the table hard. I gasped in pain.

He saw the necklace burning in the fireplace. A flash of hesitation and pain crossed his eyes, but Elena's screams replaced it with coldness.

He picked Elena up. As he passed me, he looked at me like I was dead. "If anything happens to Elena or the child, I will bury you with them."

While the manor was in chaos and Alexander took Elena to the hospital, I escaped.

I had to contact Papa. Once I returned to my family, I would be safe.

I borrowed a phone from a passerby and dialed Papa's number with trembling fingers.

The line was dead.

Panic set in. I searched for news online. The results froze my blood—Alexander's family had acquired all my family's businesses overnight under the guise of a "merger."

My father was wanted by the police for "money laundering."

Impossible. This was Alexander's doing.

I ran into the police station.

"I want to report a crime! Alexander is illegally imprisoning me! He's framing my father!" I grabbed the chief's sleeve.

The chief turned around slowly, a cigar in his mouth. He looked at me with a smirk. "Princess, I think you're confused."

He took out his phone and dialed a number, his tone subservient. "Don Alexander, your fiancée is here. She looks... mentally unstable."

I stepped back in despair. Even the police were Alexander's puppets.

Half an hour later, Alexander's car pulled up.

He dragged me back to the car and took me to that hellish manor.

In the courtyard, he had his men drag in the passerby who lent me the phone.

"I don't like disobedience," Alexander said coldly. He waved his hand.

Snap.

Bones cracked. The man screamed in agony as his legs were broken.

Alexander squeezed my pale face, his voice terrifyingly gentle. "Ivy, this is the price of running. Next time, it will be your father's legs."

Alexander was completely enraged by my escape.

He dragged me back to the room like a prisoner, produced a pair of cold handcuffs, and locked my wrists to the headboard.

"Since you have so much energy to run, let's put it to better use."

He tore my clothes apart. There was no tenderness, only the plunder of a beast.

"Alexander! You bastard! Get off me!" I screamed and kicked, trying to push him away. "You have Elena! Why won't you let me go?"

He pinned me down with one hand, his heavy body rendering me immobile.

"Let you go?" He scoffed. His fingers maliciously explored my most sensitive spots, sending waves of shameful shudders through me. "Ivy, look at yourself. Your body is honest... You are soaking wet."

"Shut up! Stop talking!" I was dying of humiliation, tears streaming down my face.

"You will stay by my side for the rest of your life. Don't even think about leaving." Alexander bit my ear, his voice low and dangerous, like a sentence from hell. "You are mine, Ivy. Even if you die, you die in my bed."

"You are mine, Ivy. Even if you die, you die in my bed." He was ready to take me.

I squeezed my eyes shut, tears of humiliation and despair sliding down my temples, wetting the pillow.

I stopped struggling, lying there like a broken doll, waiting for the execution.

But the pain I expected never came.

A drop of hot liquid landed on my cheek. It wasn't mine.

I opened my eyes in shock. Alexander had stopped. He was hovering over me.

That pair of blue eyes, usually so cold and ruthless, was now filled with a shattering pain and self-loathing as he looked at my tear-streaked face.

He saw the fear in my eyes. The fear of him. "Dammit!" He roared and slammed his fist hard against the headboard.

Wood chips flew, scratching his cheek, but he didn't seem to feel it.

He rolled off me as if he had been burned, stumbling back to stand by the bed.

He walked to the door, pausing with his hand on the handle, his back stiff and lonely.

"Don't try to run again, Ivy. You know I can't let you go. But..." He took a deep breath, closing his eyes in defeat,

"I don't want to hurt you. Don't force me." He slammed the door shut.

A single tear rolled down my cheek, and I sat there quietly until midnight.

I heard two maids whispering outside the door.

"Looks like we're getting a new Donna . That Elena sure has means."

"Yeah, Miss Ivy is so pitiful... I heard her father didn't run away at all."

"Shh! Keep it down! I heard the bodyguard Jack say it when he was drunk. The Don actually locked Miss Ivy's father in the dungeon."

"Oh my God, that dungeon is hell on earth. No one comes out alive! Why would he do that?"

"I heard that six months ago, when the Don was drugged and almost died, the person who sold him out was Miss Ivy's father... He sold the Don to a rival family for profit."

That sentence exploded in my mind like thunder, instantly chasing away my sleepiness.

Impossible!

That was absolutely impossible!

How could Papa sell out Alexander?

Six months ago, on the day Alexander was attacked, Papa was with me the entire night celebrating my birthday. He never left my sight! He didn't have the time to commit the crime!

This must be another lie Alexander invented to torture me, or he was deceived!

But thinking of Alexander's ruthless methods and the rumors of the torture devices in the dungeon, fear gripped my heart.

If Papa really was in the dungeon... If Papa was being tortured...

I had to save him.