I dragged Sofia into the main living room like a suitcase.

The priceless Renaissance oil painting that used to hang on the wall was gone. In its place was an oversized photo of Sofia and Lorenzo, pressed together as they looked deeply into each other's eyes.

What a revolting sight.

I raised the gun and fired once. The photo frame shattered, glass raining down across the floor. Sofia screamed, intending to escape, but I kicked the back of her knee, forcing her to kneel onto the shards.

"Shut up. Make another sound, and I'll slice off your tongue."

The maids came running at the noise and froze the moment they saw the scene. Most of them were unfamiliar faces, probably a bunch of new hires that Lorenzo brought in after I left.

Only one man reacted differently—the old butler. The instant he saw me, his clouded eyes filled with tears. "Donna Rossi, you're finally home!"

He tried to step forward, trembling, but a few hulking men blocked his way. They were Lorenzo's newly promoted enforcers. They were all dressed in tight suits, their muscles stretching the fabric to the brink.

"Let him go," I commanded, gun raised, my gaze sweeping over them like a blade. "Anyone who lays a finger on Mario won't see another day."

Mario Alfano was a butler who watched me grow up.

The goons exchanged looks, hesitating, as if they were stunned by my dangerous presence. Although I was still in a prison uniform with messy hair, three years inside had carved something sharp into my bones.

That kind of overwhelming presence wasn't something a bunch of suit-wearing, gym-built punks could handle.

Just then, sharp brakes screamed outside.

Lorenzo burst in with a group behind him. He was dressed in a perfectly tailored suit, hair slicked back without a strand out of place. On his wrist was the limited-edition watch I had given him.

The moment he took in the wreckage—shattered glass and Sofia on her knees with blood all over her face—his expression dropped like a guillotine. "Vittoria, have you lost your damn mind?"

He shoved me aside and crouched immediately, carefully lifting Sofia and checking on her injury. I could see the vivid heartbreak in his eyes. "Are you okay, amore? Does it hurt?"

Sofia melted into his arms and began sobbing. "Amore mio, I'm so scared… She hit me the second she walked in—said she was going to kill me… and that this was her house. She wanted to kick us all out…"

Lorenzo snapped his head up and locked his eyes on me with oozing disgust. "How long are you planning to keep this up, Vittoria? You think this is still prison, where you can just run wild and do anything you like? Sofia's just a child! How could you do this to her?"

A child? A 20-something oversized baby playing house in my estate?

I looked at him coldly. "Lorenzo, unless you've gone blind, you should be able to see this is my house. The deed says Vittoria Rossi, not Lorenzo Morretti—and definitely not some puttana you picked up from a red-light district!"

"Shut up!" he snapped as if I had stepped on his tail, shooting to his feet. "Who's been running the family these past three years? Who kept your precious legacy intact? Me! I did!"

He continued, "If it weren't for me, the Rossi family would've been swallowed whole by the others! I live here because it makes managing family business easier, which the Consigliere approved!"

"The Consigliere?" I sneered, asking, "You mean that senile old fool, Paolo Benetti? Or the bunch of ass-kissing idiots you promoted because they clap the loudest when you talk?"

"You're being extreme, Vittoria."

Lorenzo took a deep breath, forcing calm onto his face. "I know you just got out, and you're… unstable. How about this? I've got an empty apartment in the suburbs. I'll give you the keys, and you can stay there while you cool off."

He paused, then generously added, "At the next family gathering, I'll announce some compensation for you."

Compensation? I took the fall for him and spent three years in prison, and he thought a vacant, nobody-wants-it apartment would settle the bill?

"I don't need compensation," I said, inching closer to him step by step, the muzzle drifting casually across his chest. "I just need you to get the hell out of my house and give back what's mine."

"Be smart and do as you're told," Lorenzo said. "I'll give you a sum of money that's enough to keep you comfortable for the rest of your life. Otherwise…"

I arched a brow. "Otherwise what?"

His gaze sharpened. "Otherwise, I'll treat you like I've never known you."

Suddenly, a soft meow sounded at Sofia's feet. A snow-white, long-haired cat poked its head out near her ankle. Around its neck hung a diamond necklace so bright that it was blinding.

My breath hitched. That was my Mamma's heirloom, a one-of-a-kind, priceless necklace named the Ocean's Heart.

My reasoning vanished at that moment. Without any warning, I lunged forward like a madwoman, reaching straight for the cat's neck. "Take it off now!"

Sofia shrieked and scooped the cat into her arms, stumbling backward like she had been traumatized to her core. Before my fingers could even graze the diamonds, a large hand clamped around my wrist.

The sheer force held me in place before violently shoving me to the side. Lorenzo shielded her, impatience written all over his face. "Vittoria, what the hell is wrong with you? You'll hurt Nevetta!"

I staggered, caught my balance, and locked my eyes on Sofia, who was cradling that animal and hiding behind Lorenzo.

"That's my necklace! It belonged to my Mamma!" I roared, my voice shaking with rage.

Lorenzo cleared his throat awkwardly, still shielding her. "It was just sitting in the safe collecting dust, anyway. Might as well put it to use. Sofia loves her cat, Nevetta, and the necklace suits it."

Put to use? By hanging my Mamma's heirloom around the neck of a pet?

Seeing my face flush red, he frowned and switched to that soothing, patronizing tone he liked to use when he thought he was being reasonable.

"It's just a necklace. You used to have plenty of jewelry, anyway. Having one less won't kill you. Besides, Nevetta is Sofia's baby. It's gotten used to the necklace, and removing it might upset it."

"So…" I uttered, my chest heaving. "That thing is her baby, while my Mamma's heirloom is some disposable trash?"

Seeing their ugly faces, I could no longer hold back my urge to kill. I raised my gun and fired it in their direction. The bullet grazed Lorenzo's ear and penetrated the vase behind him, shattering it.

Everyone froze. Gone were the colors from Lorenzo's face. He stared at me in disbelief. "You're actually insane, Vittoria."

"The next shot will be aimed at your head," I said flatly. "You have three seconds to take the necklace off and give it back to me."

The air in the living room was so suffocating that no one dared to move.

Clearly, Lorenzo hadn't expected me to pull the trigger. In his memory, I was the woman hopelessly in love with him. What he forgot was that before I ever met him, my name alone was enough to make all of Cicelya shudder.

I began the countdown. "Three."

Sofia's hands were shaking so badly she could barely hold Nevetta. It probably sensed my hostility, too, considering it was thrashing wildly in her arms, desperate to get away.

My finger tightened on the trigger. "Two."

"Give it to her! Just give it to her!" Lorenzo shouted at Sofia, his composure in pieces.

She sobbed as she tore the necklace off Nevetta's neck, hands shaking as she held it out to me. I took it from her, then carefully wiped away the cat hair and her scent with my sleeve before fastening it around my neck.

The cold diamonds rested against my skin, calming me, albeit minusculely.

"That's not all," I added, sweeping my gaze across the room. "The antique guns in the study, the collection in the wine cellar, as well as the haute couture in my wardrobe—return them all to me, or I'll start cutting off fingers."

"They're all here! I promise!" Sofia blurted out. "Those guns… Lorenzo said they were outdated… so he dumped them in the basement. We drank some of the wine… And the clothes, I only wore a few…"

Her voice shrank with every word until it was barely there.

I smiled coldly and headed straight for the basement. There, the sight hit me like a punch to my gut. The antique guns were piled in a corner like trash—people who didn't know better wouldn't realize they were the Rossi family's legacy.

Every gun carried a story written in lead and loyalty. Now, rust gnawed at the metal, leaving scattered parts and shattered stocks in its wake.

What infuriated me even more was that the rest of the basement had been turned into a sick little playroom for Lorenzo and Sofia. Chains, whips, and tools I didn't want to name hung on the wall.

In the center of it all stood a red velvet chair. It used to be my Papa's favorite throne, the very symbol of his authority. Now, it was smeared with stains I didn't recognize. Even the air around it reeked of something foul.

"Lorenzo…" I muttered, turning around to face the man who had followed me to the basement.

By then, he had regained his composure a little. He had even straightened his tie, trying to force the air of an authority figure.

"This is practically nothing, Vittoria. It's perfectly normal for young people to act more liberally nowadays. You've been out of society for too long that your way of thinking has become outdated."

He walked over, reaching out as if to drape an arm around my shoulders.

"As long as you're willing to bow down to me, we can go back to how things were. I can give you a proper status—maybe not the Donna, but the Underboss. We'd run the family together and—"

"The Underboss?" I interrupted him, then delivered a harsh backhand slap.

I put everything into that slap. Lorenzo staggered a few steps back, one side of his face swelling almost instantly. "You must've forgotten who used to sit in that chair."

I pointed at the desecrated seat. "That was the Donna's throne. And you? At best, you were just a dog I kept around. When a dog tries to climb over its owner and shit on her head, there's only one ending—death."

He clutched his face, finally revealing the killing intent in his eyes. "Very well, Vittoria. You asked for this."

With a few claps, a hidden door in the basement slid open. More than a dozen gunmen poured out, weapons up, pointing their muzzles at me.

"I'd wanted to give you a way out, but you forced me into this. Now, don't blame me for being ruthless."

He laughed maniacally. "This basement has amazing soundproofing. Even if you die here, no one will ever know. I'll tell the outside world you died of illness—maybe even give you a big, respectable funeral."

Sofia came down, too. When she saw the scene, she looped her arm around Lorenzo's with a smug smile. "I knew you were the best, amore mio! Now, kill this crazy woman!"

I looked at the ring of gun barrels aimed at me, and instead of fear, I let out a laugh. "Oh, Lorenzo. You're still as foolish as ever."

I pulled a small remote from my pocket. "You really think I spent three years inside doing nothing?"

"What's that?" Lorenzo asked, his face shifting.

"This," I said, my thumb slowly brushing the red button, "is the self-destruct trigger for the whole estate. When this place was renovated, I buried two tons of C-4 under it. The moment I let go, we all go down together."

Everyone's faces shifted. The gunmen started trading looks. Some even lowered their weapons without realizing it.

"You… You wouldn't!" Lorenzo barked shakily. "You'd die here as well!"

"I'm not held back by anything," I said, taking one step forward and locking eyes with him. "My worthless life, traded for you two bastards and half a family of traitors… Honestly, it sounds like a good deal."

Sofia collapsed to the floor, clutching Lorenzo's leg like a drowning woman. "No! I don't want to die! Amore mio, let her go! Tell them to put their guns down!"

Cold sweat ran down Lorenzo's face. His eyes stayed glued to the remote in my hand, trying to decide if I was bluffing. However, the crazed look in my eyes stopped him from gambling.

"F-Fine," he said through clenched teeth, then waved. "Guns down!"

The gunmen parted, opening a narrow path. I walked straight through them and stopped when I passed Lorenzo. "This is only the beginning, Lorenzo. Enjoy what time you have left."