In Chicago, Lorenzo "Enzo" Castello, the heir to the Castello crime family, and I were the city's most notorious couple.

He hated me, convinced I had sabotaged his sister Bianca’s life-saving medication just to secure my place in the family.

And I loathed him for doing nothing when my younger brother was murdered in a street conflict.

When he heard the news, he just sneered and spoke to me for the first time in four years. "This is what you deserve."

I was three months pregnant with his child when I was kidnapped by a rival family.

The torture left me bleeding uncontrollably, the life in my womb hanging by a thread. The enemy demanded he trade a key shipping route for my life.

But he just scoffed. "Enough of her act. Tell Cora I'm not falling for it. She's not making a fool out of me."

In the end, I lost everything. It was the fate he had always wished for me.

So why, then, did he come to regret it?

————————

1

When the Castello family found me, I was a broken, bleeding wreck.

The doctor who arrived recoiled at the sight of me. As he quickly administered emergency treatment, he whispered, "Hang on! We're getting you out of this."

Days of torture had left me too weak to speak.

I could only hear the shocked, stifled gasps of the family's soldati around me.

I struggled to grab the doctor's sleeve, wanting to tell him to save my baby first.

But when I opened my mouth, no sound came out. My throat was in agony, as if a wire had been tightened around it.

Oh, right. I’d almost forgotten.

After Enzo refused the ransom, the kidnappers had roared, tightening a rope around my neck. "You useless bitch, can't even keep your man on a leash? He won't trade a single shipping route for you. You're worthless!"

The searing pain in my throat lingered, and my whole body trembled uncontrollably.

On the way to the family's private hospital, Enzo's Consigliere, Nico, sat beside me.

He took a call, his expression grim, then turned to me. "Cora, at the family dinner last night, one of the Capos asked about you..."

I looked at him. Nico's voice was soft, but it cut like a cold knife. "In front of everyone, Enzo said that he has no fiancée."

I was thunderstruck. The physical agony and the shattering of my heart collided, stealing the air from my lungs.

Disowned me... ha.

Before this, no matter how we tortured each other, I had told myself this resentment was just part of our twisted love. I thought we still loved each other.

No matter how he ignored me, I kept trying to atone for my supposed crime.

I thought that if I gave my all, he would eventually come around.

Unfortunately, that was just wishful thinking.

His hatred for me ran bone-deep. He had once wished me dead—how could a man like that possibly love me?

It was time to wake up.

I closed my eyes, tears mixing with blood as they streamed down my face.

As the sedative was injected, a burning sting spread through my veins, and I passed out.

Just before my consciousness faded, I thought I heard Nico's voice again.

He seemed to be reporting to someone.

"...Yes, he was praising Juliana to the elders, calling her the family's future."

Juliana... Enzo's new favorite. And my former assistant.

In my daze, fragments of memory flashed past.

Back then, Juliana was a fresh-faced graduate, a medical assistant assigned to me.

Her theoretical knowledge was a mess, and her practical skills were a disaster. She was more of a hindrance than a help.

Because of her, I often worked late in the lab. Whenever Enzo came to pick me up and saw how exhausted I was, he would glare at Juliana with contempt. "You've got no business playing doctor. Pack your things and get out."

He clearly despised her.

But now, he was publicly praising her, calling her the future of the family.

I was so utterly exhausted that my consciousness plunged into a deep, heavy sleep. Buried memories began to surface.

Enzo's sister, Bianca, and I were the best of friends. We were inseparable, closer than sisters.

She suffered from a rare hereditary heart condition, and as a top cardiologist, I poured all my knowledge into finding a way to prolong her life. I couldn't bear to watch the once-vibrant girl grow weaker by the day, so I stayed by her side, doing everything I could to make her happy.

It was during that time that I got to know Enzo.

At first, he was guarded. Every time I tried to talk to him, he would ignore me. In his world, only Bianca existed.

Later, when he saw how much effort I put into treating Bianca's condition, he realized I wasn't putting on an act. He began to accept me.

His smiles were no longer reserved just for Bianca; he would talk to me like a friend. He even remembered the coffee I liked, which I had mentioned offhandedly, and would bring it to me discreetly the next time he saw me.

His heart was slowly opening up.

Bianca even tried to set us up.

"Cora, my brother has never cared about a woman like this. I think he's completely fallen for you."

Although I feigned annoyance and told her to stop talking nonsense, my flushed cheeks always betrayed me.

I no longer dared to meet Enzo's eyes. I wasn't sure how he felt, but I was certain I had fallen in love with him.

For Bianca, I endured the immense pressure of working for the Castello family, determined to find a final treatment plan.

Bianca was my best friend, the only person who had stood by me during the lowest point of my life. I couldn't lose her, so I vowed to do everything in my power.

With the help of a renowned specialist, I finally found a breakthrough drug that could stabilize Bianca's condition.

When I told Enzo the news, he was ecstatic. He pulled me into his arms and kissed my forehead.

"Cora, once Bianca is better, we'll have the grandest wedding in all of Chicago."

I gazed into his gentle eyes and nodded, my heart soaring.

However, the treatment failed.

The medication had been swapped. That dose not only failed to save Bianca but induced a fatal complication. In the end, Bianca died.

Even after four years, I could still see the look in Enzo's eyes. It was filled with such hatred and despair that not a trace of tenderness remained.

He gripped my shoulders, roaring like an enraged beast, "Tell me! Why did you switch the medication?"

I desperately explained that I hadn't, that I had no idea what happened.

But he no longer believed me. In that moment, he cursed me with the most vicious words imaginable.

"Cora, you're the one who should be dead. You should be in hell!"

For four years, his words were branded onto my soul. No matter how hard I tried, they would always echo, bringing fresh tears.

I thought I had grown numb, having heard far worse from Enzo since, but when I woke up, I still found my pillow soaked.

I wanted to call out Bianca's name, but all that came out were faint, choked sobs.

With tears drying on my face, I instinctively touched my flat stomach. The horrifying emptiness where our child had been sent a fresh wave of grief crashing over me.

Seeing me awake, the doctor who came to check on me said apologetically, "Miss Cora, I'm so sorry. We didn't know you were pregnant... By the time we found out, it was too late to save the child."

He glanced at my abdomen, his voice trailing off into a heavy silence that told me everything I needed to know. My womb... my body... It was all irreversibly damaged. I could never get pregnant again.

Tears blurred my vision. As I struggled to sit up, the doctor gently pushed me back down, his voice laced with concern.

"You're severely injured. You must rest. Don't move, or your wounds will reopen."

Feeling his kindness, I wiped my tears and nodded weakly.

But before I could settle back down, Enzo stormed in, his face a mask of fury.

He glared at me, his eyes burning with accusation and resentment.

"Cora, how could you be so vicious? Even if you hate me, even if you didn't want my child, you never should have staged this whole charade with outsiders!"

I shook my head in confusion, wanting to deny everything, but only broken whimpers escaped my lips.

Enzo strode to the bed and gripped my shoulders fiercely. "Don't deny it! One of the kidnappers confessed. He said you were behind the whole thing!"

His eyes filled with scorn. "You actually used our child as a bargaining chip?"

His anger blazed, and his hands tightened on my shoulders so hard I thought my bones would crack.

Sharp pain radiated from my shoulders, and a cold sweat broke out over my skin as I tried to push him away.

In his eyes, my every move was just more proof of a guilty conscience.

Before I could react, he shoved me hard. "Still trying to fool the doctors? Drop the act!"

My back slammed against the sharp corner of the nightstand with a sickening thud.

The freshly bandaged wound tore open again. Blood seeped through the gauze as agonizing pain washed over me.

I curled into a ball, but he yanked me up as if I were a rag doll.

"Do you have to destroy everyone I care about? Wasn't Bianca good to you? What did my child ever do to you? Aren't you afraid they'll come back to haunt you?"

His voice was thick with anguish.

I shook my head desperately, gesturing wildly, trying to make him understand I was the victim. That I hadn't planned any of this.

But I couldn't make a sound. I could only stare at him with pleading eyes.

My gaze seemed to sting him. Enzo instinctively looked away, gritting his teeth. "How long are you going to keep this up? I won't tolerate it anymore. You will pay for what you've done!"

Despite my injuries, he dragged me to the Castello family's private cemetery.

My gaze fell on a new, unmarked tombstone next to Bianca's.

No name, no photo. Just a heart-stopping blankness.

A terrible thought struck me, leaving me breathless. I instinctively looked at Enzo.

He mistook my expression for fear and sneered, "The child you murdered is buried here. He never even had a chance to meet his father. You stole that from him!"

No! It wasn't me!

I wanted to scream that I would never harm my own child. The killer was someone else. He had to investigate.

But he ignored my frantic gaze, pressed down on my shoulders, and forced me to my knees.

The wounds on my knees tore open instantly, leaving bloody prints on the stone slabs, but he didn't even flinch.

I endured the agony and struggled to stand, only to hear his icy command to the two soldati beside him, "Make her kneel. She doesn't leave until she confesses."

"Yes, Boss!" The two soldati, Rocco and Sal, answered firmly.

Enzo didn't give me a second glance as he turned and walked away without a backward glance.

I watched his retreating back, trying to follow. One of the soldati, Rocco, thinking I was trying to run, kicked me hard in the back of my knee.

Excruciating pain sent me collapsing to the ground.

Before I could recover, I was hauled back into a kneeling position. My hair was pulled violently, a tearing pain shooting through my scalp. Forced to look up, I met Rocco's malicious gaze, and a chill ran down my spine.

He stomped on my leg. "The Boss said you kneel until you confess!"

Seeing my silent tears, he slapped me hard. My cheek immediately swelled, and blood trickled from the corner of my mouth.

It was just like the kidnappers.

Terror seized me. I didn't want to go through that again. I looked at him with pleading eyes.

The other soldato, Sal, seemed unable to watch and stopped him, whispering, "Whatever she did, she's still... You shouldn't do this. If the Boss finds out..."

Rocco scoffed. "What is she? Everyone knows the Boss only has eyes for Miss Juliana now. He's only keeping this one around to torture. We're just doing his dirty work; he'll probably reward us! Besides, Miss Juliana is the future Donna. As long as we're on her good side, we'll be on the Boss's good side. What's there to worry about?"