To celebrate the lost lamb’s return to the flock, Don Moretti hosted a special family dinner.

The long table was draped in white linen, and the silverware gleamed under the lights. Aside from Don Moretti, Lorenzo, and me, every core member of the family was present.

Lorenzo looked nothing like his old self. Even the beard he’d kept for years had been shaved clean, leaving him looking humble and obedient.

“Elena.”

He stood up, holding a thick stack of documents, and walked toward me.

“I was an asshole before and so immature. These past months, I’ve thought things through. These are deals I secured through my own connections. Please consider them my apology.”

There were several international trade contracts. The projected profits were staggering, enough to make the elders at the table visibly restless.

“All my effort, all the credit, belongs to my beloved—you, Elena. These deals are my vow, my resolve.

“As long as you sign, all profits are yours to control.” He handed me the pen, posture lowered. “I only want to do something for the family.”

The elders nodded, murmuring among themselves, praising Lorenzo’s “growth”.

Even Don Moretti smiled in relief.

“Elena, sign it. The Moretti family has an old saying. Husband and wife may fight in bed, but when morning comes, they still share the same sky.”

I took the documents and flipped through them quickly.

As expected.

On the surface, it showed massive profits. Underneath, however, it was nothing but landmines.

Lithium mining rights in a war zone, shipping routes running straight through pirate waters, and most amusing of all, the guarantor was a shell company.

These deals were guaranteed to explode.

If I signed, I’d become the sinner of the Moretti family.

It was a classic honey trap. He wanted to blow me apart with sugar-coated bullets.

“What? You won’t forgive me?” Lorenzo asked shakily, eyes reddening.

“Lorenzo.” I closed the folder. The snap was crisp and loud.

“You really have grown, learning to fool people with this kind of garbage.”

The room fell dead silent.

I flung the documents straight at his face, leaving pages scattered everywhere.

“Page three, clause four—mining rights valid for only three months. Page eight, clause two—liquidated damages at ten times the principal.”

I stood up and looked at him. “You brought this to me to sign? Do you think I’m blind or that everyone here is blind? Trash is still trash. A trip to Trinacria just turned you into trash with mud on it.”

Lorenzo stood there as the paper sliced across his cheek.

He didn’t get angry. Instead, he grew strangely calm.

“Elena, you really are smart.”

His voice trembled slightly. “So smart it makes it hard for people… to live.”

“Lorenzo!” Don Moretti frowned. “What is going on? Explain yourself!”

Lorenzo didn’t look at Don Moretti. He slowly bent down as if to pick up the scattered papers.

At that moment, a female server approached with a tray of red wine. Her head was lowered, but her figure looked oddly familiar.

When she reached my side, her wrist suddenly jerked.

The full glass of wine spilled across my chest.

Dark red liquid streamed down my white dress, resembling dried blood.

“Ah! I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry, Madam!” The server screamed in panic.

I looked at her coldly and raised my hand.

“Smack!”

The slap was heavy, knocking off her server’s cap. Blonde hair spilled down, revealing a worn yet still garishly familiar face.

It was Sophia.

“Looks like Trinacria’s soil really suits people. Even you managed to crawl back,” I said, pulling out a napkin and wiping my hand, my tone sharp with mockery.

Sophia covered her cheek.

She didn’t cry, but grimaced at me. “Yes. I’m back. Elena, did that slap feel good?”

“I’ve had enough!”

The roar snapped through the room, cutting off my thoughts.

Lorenzo straightened violently, a wineglass clenched in his hand. He hurled it to the floor.

“Crash!”

Glass exploded across the marble.

That sound was a signal.

The family guards stationed by the doors drew their guns not toward any outside threat, but toward the elders seated along the table.

“Lorenzo! What are you doing?!” the consigliere screamed in terror.

“Rat-tat-tat—”

The burst from a submachine gun swallowed his voice whole. Blood erupted from the consigliere’s chest as he toppled backward, chair and body crashing to the floor.

Screams, gunfire, and shattering porcelain filled the room. In an instant, the banquet hall turned into a slaughterhouse.

“Stop it! Lorenzo! Have you lost your mind?!” Don Moretti rose unsteadily, pointing at him, his hand shaking violently.

Lorenzo stepped over the bodies and stopped in front of Don Moretti.

All traces of humility were gone. What remained was the feral gleam of a beast.

“Don Moretti, you’re the one getting old,” Lorenzo said, pulling out a silver handgun.

“Since you can’t bring yourself to deal with Elena, too afraid to break free from the Bernardi family’s grip, I’ll do it for you. From now on, this family belongs to me, Lorenzo.”

“Bang!”

There was no hesitation.

The bullet punched straight through Don Moretti’s forehead. His eyes widened in disbelief as he fell backward, stiff and lifeless.

The man known as the Old Lion died just like that, shot by his own underboss.

I reached for the gun strapped to my thigh, only for two cold gun barrels to slam against the back of my head.

Two guards pinned my shoulders down, forcing me back into my chair.

Lorenzo blew lightly on the smoking muzzle, stepped on Don Moretti’s corpse, and walked toward me.

“Look, Elena.” He lifted my chin with the barrel of his gun, forcing me to meet his eyes. “Now tell me, who’s the trash?”

Sophia scrambled up from the floor.

At some point, a boning knife had appeared in her hand, and she swayed her hips as she came to my side.

“Ms. Bernardi,” Sophia said, tapping my cheek with the flat of the blade, her eyes shining with vicious delight.

“Didn’t you say you trusted me to make the right choice? Well, this is my choice!”

The cold edge slid along my skin, sending a shiver through me.

“Do you want your face carved up before you die, or do you want to die clean?” She mimicked my old tone, “I believe you’ll make the right choice. Right?”

I looked at Lorenzo’s pitch-black muzzle and then at the gleaming knife in Sophia’s hand.

The air reeked of blood, with the elders lying dead or dying.

It was a dead end.

“Go to hell, Ms. Bernardi.” Lorenzo grinned savagely, finger tightening on the trigger.

Sophia raised the knife high.

“Bang!”

The gunshot ripped through the air.

Something warm splattered across my face.

However, it wasn’t my blood.

“Ah!”

A shrill scream tore through the silent hall.

Sophia’s right wrist exploded midair. Shattered bone and flesh sprayed outward as the knife clattered to the floor.

Almost simultaneously, a second shot rang out.

Her right thigh was blown through. She collapsed to her knees like a puppet with its strings cut.

The two shots were so close they sounded like one.

Only a top-tier sniper unit could pull off a kill like that.

The savage grin froze on Lorenzo’s face.

He realized that every “family guard” who’d raised a gun earlier now had a red dot trembling on their forehead.

Unmistakably, the same crimson laser rested squarely between his brows.

“Don’t move unless you want your brain to blow out.”