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.”

On the night before the wedding, the old Don called me into his study one last time.

“Nerina, Sicily is not New York. I won’t be there.”

“Marcus won’t be there either. I’m afraid no one will be able to protect you.”

“Have you truly made up your mind?”

I rose from my chair and bent to kiss the back of the old man’s hand.

“It’s precisely because Marcus won’t be there that I have to go.”

“Thank you and, goodbye.”

The reception in the main hall was still going on.

Vivian was immersed in happiness, her skirt swaying as she moved.

Marcus stood not far away, silently watching her.

I crossed through the corner of the hall, ready to head back to my room.

But he suddenly stepped in front of me and blocked my path.

“Why do I keep hearing the same thing?”

“That the one going to Sicily tomorrow… is you.”

Since everything was already set in stone, I lifted my eyes to his and answered calmly.

“Yes.”

His gaze fell to my right hand, still wrapped in splints.

“Does it still hurt?”

Instinctively, I pulled my hand behind my back.

“It doesn’t.”

As if he knew perfectly well I was lying, he let out a soft laugh.

“You’re best at making the truth sound like a lie.”

“It obviously hurts, yet you say it doesn’t.”

“It’s obviously you marrying me, yet you insist it’s Vivian.”

I no longer had the strength to argue with him.

I simply turned toward the staircase.

Even then, he still reminded me,

“Go back to your room and try on the wedding dress.”

I stopped and turned back. “The dress is already with Vivian.”

Just then, Vivian walked over.

Marcus looked at her, his tone turning colder. “Return it.”

Vivian’s expression tightened.

I spoke before she could.

“Let her try it on for me. We’re about the same size.”

Only then did she quietly relax.

But Marcus suddenly took my hand.

“Tonight is Vivian’s last night in New York. I’ll dance with her later.”

With that, he turned and walked toward the dance floor.

Seeing that I was still about to leave, Vivian suddenly grabbed my arm.

She lowered her voice, madness and hatred burning in her eyes.

“What exactly did you say to the Don? Why did he suddenly speak to me like that?”

“Nerina, as long as you’re alive, I will never feel safe.”

Before I could even react, she shoved me hard.

I stumbled backward.

The twelve-tier crystal champagne tower collapsed with a deafening crash.

Glass exploded.

The entire banquet hall fell into instant silence.

Everyone turned at once.

Marcus spun around too.

As I was about to fall backward into the field of shattered glass, I instinctively threw out my left hand to brace myself.

My right hand was still splinted.

It was useless.

Large razor-sharp crystal shards pierced straight through my left palm.

Blood spread instantly.

Marcus was already striding toward me.

But in the very next second, he still chose to pick up the crying Vivian first.

Without looking back, he carried her out of the banquet hall.

And behind him—

I sat alone in the center of the shattered crystal.

Both my hands were covered in blood.

That night, I sat by the window in my room and stayed there until dawn.

I watched the moon hanging in the sky and imagined that I was already in Sicily.

At first light, I carried my suitcase and got into a taxi outside the estate gates.

Many years later, when I thought back on that day, I suddenly realized something.

At that moment, I had not thought of Marcus even once.

At the airport security checkpoint.

Hurried footsteps came from behind me.

“Vivian!”

It was Marcus’s voice.

I stopped and smiled softly.

So he really could put aside his own wedding just to come and see her off in person.

I didn’t turn around.

I didn’t dare raise my hands either.

Both of them were wrapped in layers of gauze.

At this moment, my heart no longer hurt.

Neither did my hands.

His deep voice came from behind me.

“I’ll find a way to bring you back as soon as possible.”

No need, Marcus.

In my last life, you gave your life to protect me.

In this life, let me fulfill your wish for you.

I disappeared behind the security gate.

Leaving behind this steel-and-concrete New York.

Heading toward flowers, sea breeze, and a Sicily without you.

And the man there, Marcus would never touch.

Whether I live… or not…depends on him now.

Marcus.

If there is another life.