Lorenzo must have floored the gas pedal the whole way here.

He stared at the silver-plated Colt revolver gleaming coldly in its case, his eyes filled with a raw, naked greed.

"Sienna, my dear sister, this was grandfather's sidearm." He stroked the ivory grip. "Are you serious? You'd really let me touch this?"

"Brother, you made it. Here, see how it feels." I gave Lorenzo's shoulder a small push and held the gun case out to him.

The moment Lorenzo's hand closed around the grip and he felt its heavy weight, his eyes lit up.

He kept muttering to himself, "A masterpiece. A goddamn masterpiece."

Seeing how he couldn't put it down, and remembering the mangled state he was in during my past life, I pushed the gun into his hands.

"What's the catch, Sienna?" He was a bit stunned.

I smiled brightly. "It's yours, Lorenzo."

"Go and conquer that underground dueling ring. That old Glock of yours, the one that's always jamming, isn't worthy of the future Don of the Moretti family."

Lorenzo looked a little embarrassed, but his hand never stopped stroking the weapon.

"This was your inheritance. It doesn't seem right for you to give it to me."

"We're family. No need to be so formal."

"Besides, a gun like this belongs in the hands of a true warrior, doesn't it?"

Only then did he accept my offer, tucking the legendary revolver into his waistband and leaving in high spirits.

I watched his back disappear into the night and let out a long breath.

The new gun was perfectly maintained, its mechanics flawless. It wouldn't jam this time.

However, fate is a gambler with a sick sense of humor.

Just two hours later, an emergency call from the family's private hospital shattered the silence of the night.

"Is this Miss Sienna? Your brother was just in an accident at the dueling ring. Please come immediately."

"Impossible." The whiskey glass in my hand froze mid-air. "That was grandfather's gun. It's flawless."

"Please come at once. The situation is... extremely critical."

When I arrived at the hospital, my head spun. I didn't understand. Why was Lorenzo still hurt? I had stopped him from using that piece of junk, so how could there be another accident?

"What happened to my brother?" I asked anxiously.

The sharp crack of a slap echoed.

My sister-in-law, Sofia, her hair a mess, heard my voice and charged at me like a madwoman. "It was you! You're the curse that killed him!"

Several bodyguards struggled to pull her away, but she continued to scream hysterically.

"If Lorenzo hadn't taken that legendary pistol, he never would have aimed for a deathmatch of that level! You baited him into a death match!"

"He doesn't have our grandfather's skills as a marksman! He took a superior weapon and got himself killed on the draw! You did this on purpose!"

I stood frozen, a ringing in my ears.

The attending doctor took off his blood-soaked gloves and walked over, his expression grim.

"As the young madam said... the young master was too reliant on the gun's power. He was a half second too slow on the draw, and his opponent put a bullet straight through his heart."

"He was covered in blood, his face unrecognizable. We were only able to identify Lorenzo because of the revolver he was still clutching, the one engraved with the family crest."

"With his old gun, he never would have dared to take that bet. At worst, he would have gotten beaten and thrown out, but he'd still be alive..."

The world spun around me, and I slowly slid down the cold wall to the floor.

I thought that by keeping my brother from using his old, broken gun, I could save him.

But now, because I had insisted he have the best weapon, he had been shot and killed on the spot.

No matter what I chose, Lorenzo was destined to fall in a pool of his own blood in that duel.

Was I too arrogant? Had I personally sent my brother to his death a second time?

A heavy hand rested on my shoulder. Even now, my father maintained the stern authority of the Don.

"This isn't your fault, Sienna. You only wanted the best for him."

My mother pulled me into her arms, comforting me. "Don't cry, baby. The best doctors are all here. Lorenzo is strong, he'll pull through."

I sobbed in my mother's arms, completely broken.

Afraid I would drown in guilt, my parents took care of me day and night, constantly checking on how I was doing.

I felt the warmth of my family, and my mood gradually began to improve.

I suddenly remembered that this was how it was in my last life, too. The phone was about to warn me to be wary of my parents' actions.

I didn't even press the answer button, but the call connected automatically.

"Sienna, I'm heartbroken about Lorenzo's injury too, but this is not your fault."

"Trust me, don't drink that wine. They've drugged it. They're going to strap you to an operating table and cut out your heart for that good-for-nothing brother of yours."

My mother, Elena, walked in, carrying a glass of Bordeaux as red as blood.

I didn't take the glass. I pulled out the blood donation consent form I'd found in my father's office and got straight to the point. "You want me to give Lorenzo a blood transfusion, don't you?"

Elena's hand trembled, spilling a few drops of red wine. She looked awkwardly between my father and me.

My father, standing in the shadows, extinguished his cigar. His voice was hoarse. "Sienna, we know you're squeamish about blood. We didn't want to..."

"But the hospital is out of his rare type. You are the only one who shares it. Only your blood can save him."

"I am a Moretti," I cut him off. "If my blood can save the future of the Moretti family, I'll give it."

In my past life, my refusal made Lorenzo miss the best window for a transfusion. This time, all I had to do was cooperate, and Lorenzo would surely be fine.

Ignoring the unreadable expression on my mother's face, I signed my name on the agreement.

My mother looked at me, her face full of emotion. "Our Sienna has grown up. She's so much more sensible now."

This time, I went with my parents to the family's private clinic, fully conscious. When the procedure was over and I woke up again, something felt wrong.

A sharp, tearing pain shot up from deep in my lower back.

I tried to sit up but collapsed back onto the pillow from the agony, cold sweat instantly soaking my hospital gown.

The moment I tried to get out of bed, I was hit with a wave of nausea and dry heaved until I coughed up bile.

I couldn't bring myself to look. My head was spinning.

I didn't understand. It was just a little blood donation, with an anesthetic because I'm squeamish. Why did I feel like my body had been hollowed out?

Before I could figure it out, the door to my room was violently kicked open.

It was Sofia. The moment she entered, she started screaming at me.

"You goddamn half-breed!"

The taste of iron instantly filled my mouth. I struggled to push myself up.

"Are you insane?" Her yelling left me stunned. "Where's Lorenzo? He should be fine..."

"Fine?" Sofia let out a piercing laugh. "Still playing innocent? You did this on purpose!"

She grabbed my collar, forcing me to look her in the eye. "Your filthy blood poisoned the Moretti bloodline! It caused the rejection that killed him!"

"Why would you do this to him? Just because he took your gun? How could you be so vicious?"

An impure bloodline? Me? How was that possible?

"I didn't. How could I do that to my own brother?" I tried to explain to Sofia.

"Still trying to deny it? Then explain how my husband is dead!"

"Sienna, you're the type who needs to see a body to believe someone's dead. I'm taking this for a lab test right now!" Sofia cursed as she ran off with my blood sample.

A short while later, she stormed back toward me and slapped me hard across the face.

"The proof is right here! How are you going to deny it now?"

"Ah!"

I cried out, clutching my stinging cheek, looking in disbelief at the genetic test report Sofia was holding.

The blood I had given Lorenzo did, in fact, test positive for non-pure Moretti genes.

I was shocked into silence.

I was the family's princess, my bloodline considered flawless.

How could there be impurities?

Sofia grew more and more out of control, starting to punch and kick me. "Lorenzo treated you like gold his whole life, and at the critical moment, you do this to him. Now he can't even rest in peace."

A heart-wrenching pain tore through me, her words echoing in my head.

Had I really killed Lorenzo all over again?

I looked toward the doorway. My father and mother were standing there, their faces blank. Neither of them contradicted Sofia.

After a long moment, my father finally spoke. "That's enough, Sofia. Lorenzo is gone. Don't take it out on Sienna. You should go home now."

"I feel dirty even hitting you! You spoiled little princess!"

Finally, after some gentle persuasion from my parents, Sofia shot me a venomous glare and left to handle Lorenzo's funeral arrangements.

"Father, Mother, I'm so sorry..."

"I really didn't mean to kill Lorenzo!"

A thick wave of guilt washed over me, and I was at my breaking point.

"I... I was just trying to save him."

"You said I was his only hope. I don't know why the test said my bloodline was impure!"

I could only offer mechanical apologies.

My mother shook her head and simply held me. "Let's not talk about this, Sienna. Let's go back to the estate to rest."

The phone rang, and my own voice drifted out eerily.

"See? You've killed the family's crown prince."

"That genetic report might be fake, but Don Luciano's killing intent is real."

"He believes you've disgraced the family's honor. They aren't taking you back to the estate to protect you. They're taking you back to face family justice, to let you die with 'dignity' and atone for your sin."

In my past life, I listened to the phone's manipulations and failed to check on my parents after Lorenzo's accident. That's why I wasn't there for them when the attack came.

I shouldn't believe her words.

I took my mother's hand and said, "Let's go back together."

At dinner, the atmosphere was heavy because of Lorenzo, but my parents still kept putting food on my plate.

They were clearly grieving, but they were far from hating me. In fact, they were constantly worried about my appetite.

I thought back to the phone call and scoffed internally.

See? My parents haven't done anything to me. I'm their beloved daughter, after all. The phone's misdirection is absurd.

The next day, my parents told me they wanted to stay at the estate and not go anywhere. I was about to agree when the image from my past life flooded my mind: rival assassins storming the estate and slaughtering my parents.

There was only one way to prevent that tragedy from happening.

"Father, Mother... I know you're upset about Lorenzo."

"I want to take you somewhere to clear your heads. Let's move to my safe house for a couple of days."

I moved my parents.

It was a hidden fortress in the city center.

Though its exterior was ordinary, the interior was reinforced with steel plates, guarded by my privately hired armed security and the family's most elite bodyguards working in shifts.

My parents would be perfectly safe here.

For the next few days, I would tell my parents not to trust any outsiders, not even "mediators" sent by other families, before I left for the day. At dinner, we would discuss family business. Life was quiet but warm.

But we couldn't escape the professional killers. The bloody revenge found us anyway.

One day, I came home carrying medicine I'd bought on the black market. I pushed open the door only to be met with a wall of thick, rolling smoke.

"Damn it! How could this happen!" My heart hammered in my chest.

The safe house was engulfed in flames. The fire department arrived, but they couldn't even find my parents' remains.

The fire chief told me, "It was a timed bomb that detonated a gas line."

"This is a professional-level assassination. Who did your family cross?"

"I..."

I collapsed to my knees in the rubble.

So, just like my brother, had my parents failed to escape the curse in this life, too?

I had tried to protect them with the family's strongest defenses, but my excessive precautions had become the very trap that burned them alive.

Sofia rushed over when she got the news, jabbing a finger in my face and roaring, "You cursed bitch!"

"You don't deserve the Moretti name! Wasn't it enough to get Lorenzo killed? Now you've killed the Don and Donna too! Won't you be satisfied until you've destroyed the entire family?"

"That's not it, Sofia. I was just trying to keep my parents from..." I tried to argue, but my words felt weak and powerless.

"You locked the Don and Donna in that deathtrap. They didn't even have a chance to fight back. You are a disgrace to this family."

"I'm going to air your crimes to the entire underworld and let the Five Families pass judgment. Let them see the jinx you really are."

Sofia spread the scandal of how I had killed the heir with my "tainted" blood and burned the Don and his wife to ashes throughout the criminal world.

The bosses of the various families were all abuzz, and every one of them took Sofia's side.

"What damn princess? She's a cancer on the family!"

"Sofia's right. They fight for family honor, and this is the thanks they get from that ungrateful wolf!"

"I think she's a mole, deliberately destroying the Moretti family from the inside. She should be executed according to their rules!"

"Her location is locked. Sienna Moretti is a traitor. Boys, don't let her see the sunrise."

Rival families dispatched their top assassins, sending me threatening letters smeared with blood.

I was tortured to the brink of insanity, my conscience gnawing at me relentlessly. I was physically and mentally exhausted.

I was the family's sinner. I had killed Lorenzo and my parents. The belief was carved into my soul.

Sofia would show up at my hiding place every day with her thugs to beat me.

"You killed the entire core of the family! How do you still have the nerve to be breathing?"

I finally broke completely. I walked out onto the rooftop, staring down at the stream of cars below, wanting for a moment to leap and end this nightmare.

"I failed to live up to your trust, Sofia."

Sofia followed behind me, her tirade not ceasing for a second. "Don't think playing the victim is going to save you. If you've got the guts, then jump!"

Seeing the eager glint in her eyes, everything suddenly clicked into place.

I turned to face her. "You've been waiting for this moment, haven't you, Sofia?"