The day of judgment was set in the family's underground council chamber.

Alexander slammed a revolver onto the table in front of all the elders.

"Russian Roulette," he said, scanning the room coldly. "One bullet, a one-in-six chance. If the Donna survives, the past is wiped clean."

The elders whispered among themselves and eventually nodded in agreement.

Alexander didn't check the cylinder in public; he seemed confident in his arrangement.

He picked up the gun and strode over to me.

As he handed me the gun, his finger gently grazed my palm.

Those usually gloomy blue eyes were now filled with suppressed tension and deep affection.

He leaned into my ear under the pretense of handing me the weapon, his voice low enough that only we could hear:

"Trust me, Ivy."

"I've already had the cylinder cleared. Just pull the trigger, hear the empty click, and these old geezers will have nothing left to say."

"When this is over, we start fresh."

Start fresh?

I looked at his hopeful eyes, but my heart was a wasteland.

Alexander, you were too naive. With so much blood debt between us, how could we possibly start over?

But I said nothing. I just nodded obediently and took the heavy gun.

"Okay, I trust you."

I raised the gun and slowly aimed the dark muzzle at my left chest.

Just moments before I pulled the trigger, Elena suddenly walked over.

"As the victim, I have the right to one final check."

She didn't touch the gun. Instead, she walked up to me and opened her arms in an extremely hypocritical gesture of a hug.

"Ivy, don't be afraid. The Lord will protect you."

To everyone else, this looked like the victim forgiving the perpetrator.

However, when she leaned close to my ear with that sickly sweet perfume, her voice was like a venomous snake crawling out of hell:

"You fool, did you really think it was empty?"

"I switched out Alexander's men long ago. I had it fully loaded. Six bullets. Every one of them lethal."

"Go to hell. Don't worry, once you're dead, I'll send your old man down to join you. I'll have his limbs chopped up and fed to the dogs so the whole family can be reunited..."

The old me might have seen red and tried to kill her regardless of the consequences.

But in this moment, I was unusually calm.

I didn't push her away. Instead, I turned my head and gave Elena a smile so bright it was eerie.

"Is that so?" I whispered, my tone as gentle as if chatting with a best friend. "That's wonderful."

"Elena, thank you for everything. In return, I've prepared a big gift for you too... I hope you like it."

Elena froze.

Seeing my smile, a massive wave of unease rose in her heart. She thought I would go mad or scream, but my calm acceptance of death, mixed with mockery, terrified her.

"You..." She instinctively tried to back away. "What are you bluffing about!"

The moment she stepped back, I didn't give her a chance to think.

I looked at Alexander. The man was watching me nervously, waiting for that crisp click, waiting to "start fresh" with me.

"Goodbye, Alexander."

I mouthed the words to him soundlessly.

The next second, I shifted my wrist outward by an inch—imperceptible to others—avoiding the main artery of my heart, and pulled the trigger without hesitation!

Bang—!

The gunshot exploded in the enclosed chamber, deafeningly loud!

It wasn't empty!

Blood instantly bloomed on my chest, dying my white dress red.

The expression on Alexander's face froze.

The anticipation from a second ago turned into absolute terror and pallor. He let out a gut-wrenching roar: "Ivy—!!"

He lunged at me like a madman.

But I didn't give him the chance to touch my body.

The moment I fell, I pressed the micro-detonator hidden in my palm.

Boom—!

Just as Alexander was about to touch the hem of my dress, the floor shook violently!

Thick white smoke, accompanied by the explosion, instantly swallowed the entire chamber.

"Cough! Bomb! There's a bomb!"

"Protect the Don!"

The scene was chaos, with screams and coughing rising and falling.

In the blinding confusion, enduring the agonizing pain in my chest, I relied on my memory to agilely roll into a secret door in the corner.

Below it lay the underground river channel leading out of the manor, where a speedboat was already waiting.

Clutching my bleeding wound, I jumped into the dark chute.

Behind me, the sound of chain explosions rang out.

Fire swallowed everything.

The Ivy who loved Alexander finally died in this grand display of fireworks.