With a sharp gunshot, my husband of twenty years, Marcus De Luca, rushed in front of me and took the bullet for me.

As he lay dying, he spoke gently.

“Nerina, live well.”

I held him in my arms.

My tears kept falling as I pressed hard against the wound in his chest.

But he only touched my hair.

His eyes fell on Vivian’s body.

“She’s dead. I have no reason to live either.”

It felt like a bullet had gone through my head.

All the blood in my body froze.

“She suffered in Sicily for twenty years.”

“She finally came back, and now she died in front of me.”

“Please stay alive. Bury me with her.”

“If there is another life, don’t let her go to Sicily in your place again.”

“Please make us whole.”

His hand fell.

My world collapsed.

When I opened my eyes again, I was standing in front of Marcus’s father.

The old Don looked at me.

“Your wedding with Marcus is set for three days from now.”

I lifted my head and spoke calmly.

“Marcus’s bride should not be me. It should be Vivian.”

“As for Sicily, I’ll go.”

The old Don was visibly stunned.

“Why? Vivian was the one originally meant to go to Sicily.”

That scene from my last life flashed before my eyes.

Marcus and Vivian lay together.

It was as if they had already completed the ritual of sharing the same grave.

“Uncle, I’ve made up my mind.”

I spoke softly. “Please arrange it.”

The old Don looked at me for a long time.

In the end, he sighed.

“Alright.”

I gently closed the door behind me.

As I walked out of De Luca Capital headquarters, I looked back at the towering skyscraper one last time.

But the moment the automatic doors opened, Vivian chased after me.

“Nerina, what trick are you playing now?”

Her eyes were red.

“The old Don suddenly said I’m marrying Marcus in three days.”

I answered calmly. “It’s not a trick.”

“Marcus loves you enough to die for you. You should marry him.”

“And you love him too. I’ll go to Sicily in your place.”

Vivian showed no gratitude.

“You know Marcus values promises more than anything.”

“Once he decides something, he never changes it.”

“You’re pretending to step aside now just to force him into feeling guilty toward you.”

I looked at her. “You’re overthinking it.”

“If you really want to marry Marcus, then be quiet.”

Vivian gritted her teeth.

“You’re saying you’ll go to Sicily on purpose first.”

“Then at the last second, you’ll make the Don change his mind and send me instead. Right?”

A cold male voice came from inside.

“Nerina. How can your scheming run this deep?”

The automatic doors slowly opened to both sides.

Marcus stepped out of the shadows.

He was dressed in black.

He stood at the doorway.

Behind him, the executives and bodyguards stopped at once.

Even the passing secretaries instinctively lowered their heads and moved aside.

My breathing caught.

I suddenly remembered how he looked before dying in my last life.

Blood had kept pouring from his chest.

Yet he still reached up to brush my hair aside.

Gentle.

Cruel.

“I’m going home,” I said.

But the next step sent me straight into Marcus’s chest.

His assistant stepped forward respectfully.

“Miss Nerina, this is the engagement ring the Don prepared for you.”

Inside the black velvet box, the diamond ring gleamed coldly.

Like the choice Marcus had personally made.

Marcus looked at me.

His tone left no room for refusal.

“Put it on. I’m taking you to pick your gown.”

Vivian’s eyes instantly reddened.

“Since Nerina and the Don need to prepare for the wedding, I won’t disturb you…”

“Stop.”

Then he grabbed Vivian’s wrist.

His fingertips brushed the red mark near her forehead.

“How did this happen?”

She bit her lip. “I… I’m scared to say.”

Marcus turned a cold gaze on me.

“Why do you always have to make things difficult for her?”

I said directly, “I didn’t touch her.”

“Don,” Vivian said softly, “Nerina didn’t mean it. She just…”

Marcus only looked at me.

His voice was an order. “Apologize to Vivian.”

“Or I’ll take back this ring.”

He waited two seconds.

When I showed no intention of apologizing, he instructed the assistant.

“Let Miss Vivian keep the engagement ring for now.”

Then he looked at me.

“She can have it returned when she apologizes to Vivian.”

Vivian took the ring box in surprise. “Don, I can’t accept this.”

“I’m leaving soon. I won’t even be able to keep it for more than a few days…”

He said flatly, “Take it.”

The scene was exactly the same as my last life.

Whether I spoke or not, the result would always be the same.

Vivian did not even need to finish framing me.

Marcus had already completed the story of how I must have hurt her inside his own mind.

In his heart, Vivian had always been the pitiful one.

The innocent one.

The oppressed one.

And I had always been the arrogant one.

The calculating one.

Vivian held the ring box.

She gave me a faintly provocative look.

I nodded politely. “Good. It should have been hers in the first place.”

Marcus said to Vivian, “I’ll take you shopping for some clothes.”

“Even in Sicily, you’ll still be my Rosa mia.”

Rosa mia - ROSE

Last life, whenever Marcus touched me in bed, he would murmur those words against my ear.

“My Rosa mia.”

I had melted beneath him.

I responded with all my passion.

I truly believed it was love.

Now I finally understood.

Other than in bed, he had never once called me Rosa mia.

But every time he looked at Vivian, that word came so naturally.

How slow I had been to realize it.

I watched their backs as they walked away.

And I found that I could not even cry anymore.

How had such obvious love taken me until the day they died together to finally understand?

I stood alone on the busy streets of New York.

Then I walked in the opposite direction from them.

The sunset sank into the skyline.

Marcus, in this life, both your love and the woman you love will finally be in the right place.

After dinner, I went to the gun shop alone.

In my last life, after Vivian was sent to Sicily, she traded her body for protection from local bosses.

She aborted five children.

Only then did she manage to survive long enough to crawl back to New York twenty years later.

This time, I refuse to walk her path.

If I’m going to Sicily, I’m going to find that man.

The one even Marcus keeps his distance from.

The one people disappear around.

So I need a gun.

The owner had just laid several guns on the counter.

Marcus appeared at the door like death itself.

His eyes swept across the counter.

His voice was ice cold.

“What are you buying this for? I have plenty of these.”

“Why didn’t you ask me for one?”

“Do you plan to use it against Vivian?”

I forced myself to stay calm. “It’s for self-defense.”

Marcus let out a cold laugh. “Self-defense? You’re about to marry me.”

“With all my men around, you still think no one can protect you?”

No, Marcus, you can’t.

In my last life, you even threw yourself into the bullet yourself.

I lifted my eyes to meet his. “I need to protect myself.”

He stared at me. His gaze darkened.

“Nerina, I know you’re eager to adapt to the role of the Don’s wife.”

“But my woman doesn’t need to touch a gun.”

Then he turned his head toward the owner.

“You are not selling her anything. Or else…”

Before the words even settled, he casually grabbed the gun off the counter.

He did not even turn around.

He raised his hand and fired.

Bang.

The bullet pierced straight through the center of the target on the wall.

The owner ducked under the table in terror.

The next second, my feet left the floor.

Marcus carried me straight into his Phantom.

The door shut.

Only then did I realize Vivian was already sitting in the back seat.

She looked at me curiously.

“Nerina, why were you at the gun shop?”

I said nothing.

The whole ride, she kept showing off everything Marcus had bought for her.

Designer dresses.

Sun hats.

Sunscreen.

Sunglasses.

The trunk was overflowing.

She thought Sicily required beautiful outfits.

She had no idea the only thing that truly keeps you alive there is power and weapons.

Thankfully, the next day, I still managed to secretly get a gun.

I hid it in the storage room.

But on the third morning, a gunshot rang out across the De Luca estate.

A swarm of bodyguards rushed out.

When I arrived, Vivian was already trembling in Marcus’s arms.

“It hurts…Am I dying…”

There was only a shallow graze on her arm.

And the gun on the ground was the exact one I had hidden the night before.

Marcus slowly lifted his eyes to me.

Then he ordered the assistant coldly.

“Find out where the gun came from.”

Five minutes later, the assistant lowered his head.

“It was hidden there by Miss Nerina last night.”

The concern in Marcus’s eyes instantly turned into a freezing judgment aimed at me.

My vision spun.

He looked at me.

His voice was terrifyingly low.

“So you like playing with guns?”

I spoke immediately. “I admit I hid the gun, but I never fired it.”

“She hurt herself and framed me.”

Vivian shrank into Marcus’s arms.

Tears rolled down her face one by one.

“Don…So she really bought the gun last night to attack me…”

Marcus gently wiped away her tears with his thumb.

“Don’t cry, Rosa mia. I’ll make her pay for it.”

That was the first moment I felt true fear.

I wanted to go to Sicily, but I did not want to die.

Soon, I was tied to the wooden cross in the center of the courtyard.

Marcus stood six yards away from me.

The black pistol rose slowly in his hand.

“Nerina, I told you not to touch guns.”

“But you refused to listen. And you still dared to use it on Vivian.”

The next second.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Six gunshots became one line.

The bullets sliced past my ears and over my head.

The sharp air severed strands of my hair instantly.

I could feel death brushing past my forehead inch by inch.

All six rounds were emptied.

The empty magazine clicked onto the ground.

Marcus did not look at me again.

He turned and walked away.

And I was still tied to the cross.

I had already fainted from fear.

When I slowly came to, Marcus’s assistant knocked and stepped into my room.

“Miss Nerina, tonight is the De Luca family charity gala.”

“The Don has requested that you perform the opening piano piece.”

I looked up and answered without hesitation.

“I’m not going. That’s Vivian’s role. Let her do it.”

I had to use tonight to slip into the black market and get another gun.

The assistant hesitated. “This was personally arranged by the Don.”

“The opening piece must be performed by the future Don’s wife…”

I cut him off coldly. “Then tell him I will never be his wife.”

A low, indifferent voice suddenly came from the doorway.

“Who won’t be?”

I turned to look at Marcus.

Those six bullets that had grazed my scalp had made me see this man for what he really was.

“I won’t. Marcus De Luca, I am never marrying you.”

“And the one going to Sicily the day after tomorrow isn’t Vivian. It’s—”

Marcus flipped his palm.

His phone lit up.

Vivian’s name flashed across the screen.

He answered almost without hesitation.

After hanging up, he looked at me, his tone leaving no room for argument.

“Tonight, all of New York will be watching that piano.”

“The only person allowed to sit there is the future mistress of the De Luca family.”

The next second, his men took me straight backstage and pinned me in front of the dressing mirror to do my makeup.

Vivian sat beside me, her makeup already flawless, staring at me through the mirror.

I said, “You already got Marcus. You don’t even have to go to Sicily anymore.”

“Why still won’t you leave me alone?”

She touched up her lipstick and let out a soft laugh.

“No reason. I just can’t stand you.”

“As long as you’re alive, you’re my biggest threat.”

I answered coldly, “I have things to do. I’m not going on stage.”

She suddenly put down her lipstick and turned to me.

“If you don’t want to, then forget it.”

I froze.

Then she curled her lips into a smile.

“I’ll play for you.”

For a moment, I actually felt relieved.

What I didn’t know was that she had already planned the next move.

The curtain rose.

Thunderous applause filled the hall.

Vivian sat at the piano, basking in the spotlight that should have belonged to the future Don’s wife.

Down below, Marcus frowned slightly.

He clearly hadn’t expected the person on stage to be her.

Then, above the piano, came the faint sound of a rope tightening and fraying.

Marcus’s gaze turned sharp in an instant.

With just one look from him, the black-clad guards stationed around the hall all looked up at once.

Like hunting hounds, they instantly locked onto the loosened cable above.

The next second, several of them rushed the stage.

Vivian was violently tackled to the floor and shielded by Marcus’s men.

Boom.

The massive crystal chandelier came crashing down.

Shattered crystal exploded across the stage.

Curled in Marcus’s arms, Vivian burst into terrified sobs.

“It was Nerina! She forced me to take her place backstage!”

“She wanted this seat more than anyone. How could she possibly give it up so easily?”

“She must have cut the chandelier rope in advance and lured me into sitting here!”

“Don, if not for your men, I would have died just now…”

In that instant, everything became clear.

Vivian’s goal was to destroy me completely.

Only then would I stop being a threat to her.

She had been certain Marcus’s guards would keep her safe.

Marcus held the severed rope in his hand.

The cut marks from a blade were obvious.

He slowly turned to look at me.

“Twice in one day, you tried to kill Vivian twice.”

Tears slid down my face.

“It wasn’t me! Marcus, you idiot!”

Marcus turned his head slightly and spoke to his assistant in a calm voice.

“Punish her by family law.”

His arm wrapped around Vivian’s shoulders as he walked away.

All he left me was the sight of their matching backs disappearing together.

“I’m begging you… please don’t do this to me…”

My vision blurred.

The assistant stood there with his head lowered.

Marcus’s guards—his bodyguards and killers—closed in around me.

The moment the tearing pain hit, I heard the sound of my own bones cracking.

Then everything went black.

When I woke again, the sharp smell of disinfectant filled my nose.

All five of my fingers were splinted and fixed in place.

The doctor lowered his voice.

“Don, Miss Nerina may never be able to play the piano again.”

My tears slid silently down my temples and soaked into the pillow.

Marcus’s voice came from beside the bed.

“Use the best medicine.”

“She is my wife, she doesn’t need to know how to play piano.”

I slowly turned to look at him.

“If one day you find out Vivian lied to you… Will you regret what you did to me?”

“Vivian would never lie to me.”

His answer was absolute.

“And I will never regret it.”