I had been trying to get pregnant for six months. Ernest Marino, the Don of the Marinos, would personally make me a herbal brew every day to ensure that my body was properly nurtured.

He watched me tenderly as I drank the brew and whispered into my ear, "You're a good girl, Mia. You need to drink this, no matter how bad it tastes, for the sake of our baby."

When my full black hair started to fall, and my gums began to bleed for no good reason, I found out that it was not medicine I was drinking. It was an immunosuppressant.

Ernest had spent six months showering me with adoration, turning me into the perfect organ donor. The herbal brew I had been consuming would make it so that the recipient, his precious stepsister with uremia, would not experience rejection symptoms.

He thought that I was a woman who could be treated anyway he wanted.

However, he had no idea that I was a Corleone. I was from Severia's oldest, most ruthless mafia family, the Corleones.

When Ernest Marino entered the room, I was in a daze as I stared at a clump of dark hair on my dresser.

It had fallen off my head while I was combing my hair. That was not the only thing. My skin was starting to turn an unhealthily pale shade, and my nails had become fragile and easily broken.

"Why are you in a daze again, Mia?" A warm hand pressed on my shoulder.

Ernest was in a dark suit that fitted him perfectly. The cufflinks on his sleeve were printed with the Marino family's crest. It was a silver snake entwined around a cross.

He was gentlemanly and courteous. The eyes hidden behind his glasses were full of adoration and tenderness.

Ernest was holding an exquisite enamel porcelain mug in his hand. The liquid in the mug was steaming with a pungent and bitter smell.

"Drink it while it's hot."

I stared at the dark, dense liquid in the mug. It was making me nauseous.

"Ernest, I haven't been feeling very well recently. I'm always feeling anxious, and my hair is falling. Can we go to another doctor?"

He paused momentarily before scooping up some of the herbal brew with a spoon. He blew on it gently and put it to my mouth.

"Mia, taking care of your body includes the process of detoxification. Once you've gone through a complete detox, our baby will come naturally. Be a good girl. Don't be stubborn about this."

He spoke softly as usual, but there was something in his tone that informed me this was not a negotiation.

This was the control the Don of the Marinos had over everyone. In his world, his word was the rule.

I opened up my mouth to swallow the pungent, bitter liquid robotically. I was not like any of them. I hated bloodshed.

It was the reason why I changed my identity five years ago to escape from the Corleones, a family that was filled with guns and death.

I kept my abilities a secret as all I wanted to do was to be an ordinary designer in Micosa.

That was until I met Ernest. He was different from my father and never forced me to learn or accept anything involving bloodshed.

Ernest saved me from a torturous life and gave me a grand wedding. Everyone in Minota knew that he loved and doted on me immensely.

I thought I had found my sun, but I had no idea that I had left hell and leapt into a deeper, darker abyss.

When I swallowed the last of the brew, Ernest's phone rang. He picked up the call and put it on speaker. The call was from his trusted Underboss, who was speaking in unfluent Gurmon, a language he thought I did not understand.

"Don Marino, the doctors have confirmed it. The Donna has come back with clean results on her immunoglobulin indicator. She is clear of it. We can conduct the organ transplant at any time."

Ernest smiled as he replied in exceptional Gurmon.

"Good. Anna can't wait any longer. Strengthen her safety and supervision for the next three days. She can't have any food that might trigger negative effects.

"After all, there is no better kidney than this in the entire Micosa."

Ernest hung up and turned to look at me tenderly as usual.

"What's wrong, Mia? Why are you looking so pale?"

I clenched the corner of my blanket as my fingers dug into my palms.

Clean results on the immunoglobulin indicator.

No better kidney than this.

Those phrases were like an ice-cold knife that sliced up the dream life I had been living in for the past six months.

Ernest never wanted a child. All he wanted was to use immunosuppressants on me to destroy my immune system so that my kidney could be successfully transplanted into that woman called Anna Bucca without her body rejecting it.

"Nothing."

I never told Ernest that I had been studying different languages since I was three. Understanding Gurmon was not difficult for me. I lowered my head to hide the shock in my eyes.

"The brew must have been too bitter for me."

Ernest laughed softly as he brushed my nose intimately with his finger.

"I know it's been hard on you. Once Anna's surgery is a success, I'll take you to the Aldiva Islands to make up for our honeymoon."

Once Anna's surgery succeeded?

Ernest did not even bother to hide the fact that his stepsister, Anna, was the only person whom he truly adored.

The next afternoon, Ernest left the house, using the reason that he had to take care of a shipment at the port.

When the villa doors were pushed open, I was sitting in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the dark sky.

"It's been a while, Mia." A soft, demure voice with a cold tone was heard coming from the living room.

It was Anna in a wheelchair. A bodyguard had pushed her in. Anna was wearing beige, silky pajamas with a huge black coat over her.

I recognized that coat.

It was Ernest's favorite coat. He would never let me touch that coat, as he claimed it represented the dignity of the Marinos. Yet, it was now hanging on Anna.

"What are you doing here? Ernest isn't home," I said coldly.

Anna waved off the bodyguard. She tried to stand up with great effort from the wheelchair as her body was too frail, and she walked slowly toward me. Her face was so sickly pale that it was almost translucent, but her eyes were shockingly bright. They reminded me of a venomous snake that was targeting its prey.

"I came over because he isn't here."

Her skinny hand reached out to grab my wrist. Her touch was like ice, and her fingers were almost digging into my flesh.

"Ernest told me that your DNA matched mine so closely that we're almost the same person." She suddenly laughed. It sounded crazy.

"He told me that you've been drinking medicine religiously for the last six months. The report from your blood test is so perfect that it could be called art."

I flung her hand off me and stood up. I looked down at her.

"Can you sleep at night knowing you're sacrificing another life for yours, Anna?"

"Life?" Anna acted as if she had just heard a joke. She looked up at me with a pitiful look and eyes that were filled with viciousness.

"Don't you know where you stand in this family, Mia? You're not a complete person in the eyes of the Marinos." She pointed at the expensive antiques in the living room and the tailor-made pajamas on me, worth hundreds of thousands.

"These things… They are all just 'rental' that Ernest has been paying you.

"He is renting your body to nurture a healthy kidney. He's renting the remainder of your life to be used in service for the Marinos. Do you think he loves you? All he's doing right now is to protect his 'asset.'"

Anna leaned in close to me and lowered her voice as she spoke. Every word she spat was venomous.

"Ernest came to see me last night at the hospital ward. He had me in his arms when he told me how disgusting he felt when he saw your hair dropping while looking so pathetically frail.

"If it wasn't for me, he wouldn't even want to stay a second longer with you in that bedroom."

It felt like a giant hand was clenching hard on my heart. Even though I already knew the truth, it still hurt so horribly that I could hardly stand when I heard it coming from the mouth of this crazy woman.

"Stop fighting against this, Mia." Anna returned to sit in her wheelchair.

"Ernest has arranged the surgery for the day after tomorrow.

"Stay put these two days, or you might end up suffering in the water prison of the Marinos."

Before she left, she turned back to glance at me with confidence and an arrogant air of victory.

"By the way, remember to continue taking the medicine. That's the last 'adoration' Ernest will ever show you."

After Anna left, I looked around inside the empty living room and suddenly laughed. I laughed so hard that tears fell from my eyes.

Not only did Ernest plan to take my kidney to save the woman he loved, but he even wanted to take my dignity. He thought that I had no one to rely on and was a suitable donor whom he had full control of. However, the daughters of the Corleones would never allow anyone to take advantage of them.

I walked into the study and locked the door behind me. Inside the secret compartment in the lowest drawer of Ernest's desk was a laptop that had been encrypted. Did he really think that the mafia's secret code would stop me? How naive.

When I was ten, my brother Silvio Corleone forced me to decode the most complicated firewall the Corleones had.

My fingers flew across the keyboard swiftly. Soon, a document about me called 'Project Live Organ Transplant' appeared on the laptop screen. It clearly recorded every detail in the past six months of how Ernest had slowly convinced me to take immunosuppressants, and how he had bribed my doctor to fake my medical report.

The last page was an insurance policy with the name 'Ernest Marino' listed as the beneficiary. He would receive a payout if I died of a sudden infection from surgery.

What great plans Ernest had for me. He took the opportunity to squeeze every ounce of advantage he could from me, even before my body had turned cold.

There was a sudden thunderstorm in Micosa that night.

Cold air followed him into the room when he returned. He was holding a box of my favorite dessert from a particular Froise pastry shop I loved. He was still acting loving toward me.

"Mia, I'm so sorry I came home late. I got delayed by that business at the port."

He came over to me to kiss me on the forehead as usual, but I instinctively turned away to avoid his touch. His hand paused mid-air, and his eyes narrowed dangerously behind his glasses. However, he quickly regained his composure.

"What's wrong? Did Anna say something to you when she stopped by this afternoon?"

He sounded like he was trying to figure out what was going on in my mind. It was clear that the bodyguard had told him everything.

I stared at him right in the eyes.

"We have been married for six months, Ernest. Was there a moment when you had been true to me?"

Ernest turned quiet. He slowly took off his glasses. Without them to hide his eyes, they looked chillingly emotionless. That was the true colors of a mafia Don who had removed his mask.

"Mia, being true to someone in this circle is considered a luxury."

He crossed his legs while he sat on the sofa. Ernest looked elegant, yet domineering at the same time.

"I've given you a life of luxury that you could never ever have imagined. Every woman in Micosa is envious of your life."

"But what you really want is my kidney, even my life," my voice was trembling.

Ernest burst out laughing as he lit a cigar. Wisps of smoke billowed around him, and his voice sounded like it was coming from somewhere far away.

"Mia, you need to learn to be grateful. You're just a lone designer with no background and no one to depend on.

"Without me, you would still be spending your time entertaining fat and useless men with fake smiles over a few meaningless designs. I've given you the title of Donna and the protection of the Marinos.

"Now, all Anna needs is a kidney. You are the best match for her in the entire Micosa. All you need to do is donate a kidney you don't even need to save my sister, and I'll still be able to continue pampering you after that. Isn't this a win-win situation for all of us?"

"Win-win?" I laughed in anger.

"You're taking my kidney to sustain the life of the woman you love, and you want me to risk death while in surgery. How is this a win-win situation?"

Ernest took a deep swig of his cigar and slowly blew smoke out of his mouth.

"Mia, stop saying such unhappy things. The surgery has been arranged for the day after tomorrow.

"Be good and stay home for the next two days. I'll get the doctor to visit you and give you one last injection of immunosuppressants.

"If you refuse to cooperate…"

He suddenly stood up and came to me. His slender fingers grabbed my chin with so much force that my eyes teared up from the pain.

"Don't forget that I'm the Don of the Marinos, Mia. I have many ways of making a person vanish into thin air in Micosa. Do you want to experience it?"

This was the mafia's logic. It was their version of Quid Pro Quo. Once they gave a person something, they thought it would give them the right to take everything they could from the person.

"You'll regret this, Ernest," I said slowly with clenched teeth.

Ernest reacted as if he had just heard a joke. He let go of his grasp and instructed the bodyguards in black standing guard at the door.

"Watch the Donna and cut off all internet connections in the house. Take away all her communication tools as well.

"She's not allowed to leave the room before the surgery."

I was in captivity. My room door was heavily locked.

Ernest thought I was a trapped canary in a birdcage after he cut off all communication from me, but there was something he did not know. I was the daughter of the Corleone family. We did not need the internet to communicate with each other.

I sat next to the bed and opened up a button deeply hidden in the layers of my pajamas. A silver sensor the size of a fingernail was sewn inside it. The sensor reacted to a person's touch. All I had to do was press it, and a signal would be sent out to the Corleones.

Five years ago, my older brother, Silvio, took me to the airport looking upset. However, he still said to me, "Mia, people out there are more horrible than you think. If there comes a day that you want to come home, or someone has hurt you, press this.

"It's the family rule of the Corleones. No one would dare touch you, even if you're in Micosa."

I took a deep breath and pressed down hard on that metallic silver sensor. My fingers trembled slightly.

Did Ernest really think I had no background? Let's see how arrogant he could still be when he witnessed the Corleones plant their black flag on the lands of Micosa.