"What dissolution process?" Tommaso asked with a frown, but he was listening to Gelsomina's increasingly urgent crying on the phone and completely missed what I'd said.

"Tommaso, where are you? I need you! The doctor says the drugs I took before have side effects!"

"I'm on my way," Tommaso said to me anxiously. "We'll talk about this when we get home."

He left in a rush, clearly not having heard what I'd just said. And if he did, he'd chosen to ignore it.

Over the next two weeks, I rested at the private hospital. The burns in my stomach needed time to heal. The doctor said it would take at least a month for me to fully recover.

Since then, I received photos from Gelsomina every day—photos of her and Tommaso on the beach, where she wore a bikini and nestled against him; photos of them on a shopping spree, her arm linked through his as they browsed luxury boutiques.

Every photo proclaimed her victory. After all these years, I was used to it. Tommaso's love for her remained as constant as ever.

Tommaso, on the other hand, also sent me encrypted messages. They were all about the reversal surgery.

"Found the best doctor. A leading expert in this field."

"The surgery carries minimal risk. 95% success rate."

"This is your responsibility. How could you hide this surgery from me, Alessia?"

I didn't reply to any of them. On the day of my discharge, Tommaso came to pick me up personally.

He drove a black luxury car with Gelsomina in the passenger seat, whose skin was kissed golden by the sun. She looked radiant.

"Ms. Gallo, please sit in the back," she said sweetly, her voice carrying an undeniable command. "The front is my seat."

I didn't argue with her and quietly slid into the back seat. Soft jazz played inside the car, but the atmosphere was unusually tense.

Tommaso glanced at me in the rearview mirror. "About the surgery—"

"I apologize." Gelsomina suddenly spoke, her voice reluctant, like a petulant child forced to eat her words. "Tommaso said I have to apologize to you. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have made you drink that."

"Apology accepted," I said flatly.

Tommaso breathed a sigh of relief and started the car. The engine's roar echoed throughout the underground garage.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"A private auction," Tommaso said. "The Torrino family is auctioning some valuable items of art and antiquity."

The car headed toward Cromer's industrial district, passing abandoned factories and warehouses before finally stopping in front of what looked like a deserted building. This was the mafia's secret auction house. Only those with real power could enter.

Several bodyguards in black suits stood at the entrance. They recognized Tommaso and immediately stepped aside respectfully.

The auction had already begun. Representatives from various families filled the hall. The air was thick with cigar smoke and the scent of money.

Tommaso bid on a Dornwich beachfront villa, and bidding closed at 30 million dollars. He had given it to Gelsomina, who excitedly kissed his cheek, whispering sweet nothings in his ear. "Thank you, Tommaso!"

Then, I saw the cufflinks. They were made out of antique platinum with exquisite craftsmanship, studded with small clusters of diamonds that glittered under the lights.

Marco had once had a similar pair. They were his grandfather's heirlooms.

I raised my paddle and said, "One million."

The auctioneer nodded in confirmation. "One million from Signora Volpe."

Tommaso turned to look at me, confusion flickering in his eyes, followed by something I couldn't quite read. Was it out of surprise, or perhaps… Tenderness? A complicated look flickered across his face, and his expression softened.

"One point five million." Gelsomina suddenly raised her paddle, malice gleaming in her eyes.

She'd noticed the change in how Tommaso looked at me. That unprecedented tenderness drove her mad with jealousy that her voice became as sharp as nails scraping across a chalkboard.

"Two million." I calmly raised my paddle without looking at her.

"Three million!" Gelsomina shrieked, her face flushing red with rage.

"Five million."

"Eight million!" She was practically roaring now.

Tommaso watched the bidding war between us, confusion deepening in his eyes, yet he didn't stop us. He simply observed quietly, as if trying to understand something.

His fingers tapped lightly against the armrest, a habit he always did when he was thinking.

"Ten million." I raised my paddle one last time, my voice still calm.

The auctioneer's gavel fell. "Sold! Ten million to Signora Volpe!"

Gelsomina's face went pale with fury. Her hands clenched into fists, nails digging deep into her palms. But in front of Tommaso, she didn't dare lose control. She could only suppress her rage.

After the auction ended, I received the cufflinks. They lay quietly in an elegant box, looking just like the ones Marco used to wear.

Tommaso walked over to me, his voice carrying a tenderness I'd never heard before. "Put them on me."

I froze. He thought I'd bought them for him? Just as I was about to explain, Tommaso's phone rang.

"Don Volpe, there's trouble at the docks." The Underboss, Nico Romano, spoke with urgency. "We found an informant on the Torrino family's cargo ship. You need to handle this personally."

Tommaso's expression immediately turned serious. He had always been one to attend to the family business himself.

"I'm on my way." With that, he hurried out of the auction venue, leaving me alone with Gelsomina. The sweet smile vanished from her face instantly, replaced by pure malice. Her gaze was as cold as a viper's.

"Take her." She signaled to several men with a glance.

I hadn't brought any bodyguards because I'd come to the auction in a rush with the Don. At her words, I was taken to the underground garage.

The space was vast and cold. Only a few dim bulbs swayed overhead, casting eerie shadows.

"You think Tommaso actually cares about you?" Gelsomina sneered, her high heels clicking sharply against the concrete. "You think buying him cufflinks will make him feel something for you?"

She snatched the box containing the cufflinks from my hands, her movements as vulgar as a barbarian's.

"What right do you have to compete with me?" She opened the box and stared at the exquisite cufflinks, her eyes almost green from the venom they leaked. "Even if you give them to him, he'll only ever love me."

I sighed and started to explain, "I didn't buy them for him. You're misunderstanding. I'm not giving them to him."

I only wanted to keep them as a memento of Marco.

"You think I'll believe that? You have improper thoughts about Tommaso!" Gelsomina laughed maniacally, her laughter echoing through the empty garage.

"Tommaso actually wavered because of those cufflinks! He looked at you like an idiot!" She dumped the cufflinks onto the ground, and they clattered uselessly against the concrete.

"No!" I lunged forward to stop her, but her men grabbed my arms.

Gelsomina's high heel stomped on the cufflinks. The clear sound of the antique platinum cracking resonated throughout the space, its decorative diamond clusters scattering across the floor like fallen stars.

"This is what you deserve!" she said venomously, continuing to crush the fragments. "Don't ever think you'll get real love from Tommaso! His heart belongs only to me!"

Just then, the garage door was kicked open violently, crashing against the wall with a loud bang. Tommaso emerged from beyond the door. When he saw the shattered pieces on the ground and me being restrained, his expression instantly darkened like storm clouds.

Fury burned in his eyes, but there was something else there, too. Panic?

"Let her go!"

The burly men immediately released me. They knew how terrifying the Don was when he was truly angry.

Tommaso walked over to me and looked at the fragments on the ground. Pain flashed through his eyes. At that moment, I couldn't hold on any longer and fainted.

When I woke, I was back at the estate. Tommaso sat beside my bed. When he spoke, his voice was laced with genuine remorse. "Mi dispiace."

"Will she be punished?" I hoped he would make some gesture, so I asked.

Then, he pleaded with me. "Can we just ground Gelsomina in her room for a week? She'll never do something like this again."

That was practically no punishment at all. It was the outcome I'd expected all along. It didn't matter to me who he loved, but given how many times these sorts of things had happened, I grew tired of this behavior.

I sat up and stared ahead silently.

"Va bene. You love her too much," I said calmly, my voice free of accusation, carrying only the detached tone of stating facts. "Just like I only love Marco."

There was nothing unusual about that statement. We were the same, both of us loving people we couldn't have. But his beloved was still by his side, and mine was long gone.

His lips moved, and finally he forced out a single sentence. "Don't mention his name again."

Tommaso's voice carried a tremor, his eyes flickering with anger I couldn't understand. I nodded faintly, smoothing the creases on the comforter.

"Va bene. One last week. I won't mention him again."

Tommaso froze, his brows knitting together. "What do you mean, one last week?"

I didn't answer. I simply got up and walked to the vanity, beginning to remove my earrings. For five years, I'd prepared myself in front of this mirror every day, playing the perfect Signora of the Volpe family. But in one more week, all of this would be over.

"Alessia, what did you just say?" he pressed, a note of unease creeping into his voice. Just then, hurried footsteps and crying came from outside the door.

"Tommaso!" Gelsomina burst into the room, her eyes brimming with tears. "You're punishing me because of that woman?"

Her voice was especially jarring in the quiet night.

"I'm your sister! You've never treated me like this before, and certainly not for some outsider!" she shrieked hysterically.

Tommaso wearily rubbed his temples. He looked older than usual. "Gelsomina, you almost killed her."

"So what?" Gelsomina's voice grew even sharper. "She shouldn't even exist! This house only needs the two of us!"

I watched this familiar scene quietly, just as I had countless times over the past five years. Tommaso would always choose to soothe her, then apologize to me. The cycle repeated endlessly.

Sure enough, he walked toward Gelsomina, his voice softening. "Come now, don't cry. I'm not punishing you..."

"I don't want to hear excuses!" Gelsomina cut him off. "You're taking her side!"

Tommaso sighed helplessly and followed her out of the room. "Gelsomina, wait. Let's talk about this."

Their voices faded down the hallway, leaving me alone in the empty room. I continued packing my last few personal belongings: only Marco's ring and a few photographs.

Just then, the sharp screech of brakes came from outside the estate. Then came a volley of gunfire.

I set down the jewelry box and hurried to the window. A rival family had surrounded the estate over a cargo dispute. Muzzle flashes lit up the night, but what happened next caught everyone off guard.

Gelsomina had somehow gotten hold of a red motorcycle and was preparing to burst through the estate gates. She revved the engine and charged straight toward the armed men.

The gunfire intensified. I watched her body jerk violently on the motorcycle before she crashed heavily into a pool of blood.

"Gelsomina!" Tommaso let out a heart-wrenching roar. Completely ignoring the enemies still shooting, he rushed out recklessly.

Bullets whizzed past him, but he paid them no mind. He simply scooped Gelsomina up from the blood.

"Get a doctor! Get a doctor now!" He carried her back toward the estate, his voice filled with a desperation I'd never heard before.

I immediately called Dr. Mancini. "Doctor, get to the estate immediately! Gelsomina's been shot!"

Tommaso laid Gelsomina on the living room couch. Her face was deathly pale, her breathing so faint it was barely audible.

"Tommaso..." she called out to him weakly. "It hurts... it hurts so much..."

"You'll be fine. Dr. Mancini's on his way," Tommaso said, gripping her hand tightly. "You'll be okay. I promise."

After an emergency examination, Dr. Mancini's expression turned grave as he uttered quickly, "She's lost too much blood. At least 1,500 milliliters."

"She has Rh-negative blood. We need to find a matching donor immediately."

"Use mine!" Tommaso didn't hesitate, rolling up his sleeve. "I'm Rh-negative too."

"Don Volpe, your blood type matches, but she's lost so much blood. She needs a massive transfusion." Dr. Mancini looked at him with concern. "This will put a severe strain on your body."

"I don't care!" Tommaso cut him off, his tone absolute. "Save her! Use all my blood if you have to!"

The doctor began preparing the transfusion equipment. Tommaso lay on a makeshift bed beside Gelsomina. An hour passed, and Gelsomina's color improved slightly, but Tommaso had grown so weak he could barely speak.

"Don Volpe, you've already given a lot of blood." Dr. Mancini tried to dissuade him. "If this continues, you'll go into shock."

"Keep going!" Tommaso said weakly but firmly. "She's not completely stable yet."

Another half an hour passed, and Tommaso's body began trembling uncontrollably. His lips had turned white, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead.

"Tommaso, that's enough." I walked over to him. "You'll die."

He looked at me, equal parts of pain and pleading swirling in his eyes. "I can't lose her," he said, his voice barely a whisper. "She's my only family..."

Dr. Mancini checked Gelsomina's vital signs again and finally breathed a sigh of relief. "She's stable for now, but Don Volpe, you must stop the transfusion immediately."

Tommaso wanted to insist, but his body had reached its limit. His voice was troubled with worry as he murmured, "Gelsomina…"

Finally, his body swayed. He couldn't hold on any longer and lost consciousness.