My best friend, Sophia Lisciotti, is brutally murdered at the docks, and I cover up for the real killer.

The Don of the Sollazzo family interrogates me, and the Sollazzos hunt me down. Nevertheless, I guard the secret. I would rather die than speak.

Ten years later, my former best friend, Valeria Sollazzo, rises to become the Principessa of the Sollazzo family, wielding absolute power. She chains me to the tribunal platform and places a memory extractor over my head.

"Lina, you let the murderer walk free for ten years. Today, I'll drag out the secret you've spent your whole life hiding."

But when the screen projects the murderer's face, the ruthless Principessa goes deathly pale.

I was bound to an iron chair in the Sollazzo family's underground tribunal. The bare bulb overhead glared so harshly that it was hard to keep my eyes open.

"Lina Colletti."

Valeria Sollazzo stepped toward me in her black heels. Four black-suited confidants followed behind her, filling the room with oppressive pressure.

"It's been ten years," she said. "How much longer do you plan to keep hiding?"

She leaned down, her fingers clamping around my chin. "The night Sophia died at the docks, you were there. You saw the killer."

I turned my head away, avoiding her eyes. My throat was so dry that I could barely force the words out. "I didn't…"

"Didn't?" Valeria abruptly released me and slapped me hard across the face.

The crack echoed through the tribunal. I tasted blood at the corner of my mouth.

"If you hadn't kept your mouth shut back then, the Gambinos and the Sollazzos never would have turned on each other. We lost three docks, and seven casinos went up in flames. More than 30 of our men died in the fighting. And Sophia—she wouldn't have died for nothing."

The room erupted. Every pair of eyes burned into me, filled with hatred.

"You traitor!"

"Throw her into the sea!"

"Kill her!"

…

The roar of furious voices crashed over me like a tide, drowning me.

Like ignorant mobs from the Middle Ages, they were ready to burn a witch at the stake, caring only about venting their rage.

They didn't care in the slightest whether I was innocent or guilty.

A screen in the corner glowed, showing a live feed. Every outpost and hideout in the underworld was tuned in, watching this trial. My humiliation was being broadcast for all to see.

"Bring the memory extractor," Valeria ordered, straightening and nodding toward the technician.

The memory extractor?

My eyes went wide. If they use that…

The moment she spoke, two of her confidants stepped forward and pinned my shoulders down hard.

"Let me go… Don't!" I thrashed violently.

"It's useless," Valeria sneered. "Today, you'll pay for what you've done."

The two confidants forced the memory extractor onto my head.

The cold helmet clamped onto my head like a torture device, its fine needles pressed against my scalp, ready to pierce bone and sink into my brain the instant it activated.

"Valeria, stop!" I struggled, still putting up a fight.

But every move only made the chains bite deeper into my flesh, leaving raw, bloody welts.

I couldn't stop a ragged scream from escaping me. "You can't extract my memories! You'll regret this!"

"Regret?" Valeria let out a cold laugh and strode to the control console, her finger hovering over the activation switch.

"My only regret is the day I pulled you out of the slums and brought you to live with Sophia and me! You spent the family's money, trained in combat, learned intelligence work… and for what? To become an accomplice to a murderer!"

The main screen in the tribunal hall lit up. The livestream to the underworld was live, and countless eyes followed it on their screens.

Valeria's voice echoed through the chamber, amplified by the speakers. "Today, I will show everyone what this traitorous scum, this bastardo who shielded a murderer, has been hiding!"

The moment she hit the switch, I heard my own scream.

Needles pierced my scalp with searing pain, and my consciousness began to unravel, beyond my control.

At that moment, the insults from the others, Valeria's interrogation—everything seemed to vanish along with my mind.

Only one thought remained: they must never see that memory. Never!

The pain made me curl up on the iron chair, my whole body convulsing. The technician adjusted the console as the murmurs around me grew louder.

On the large screen, images from my memories began to flash. It was the third day after Sophia's death.

Two enforcers dragged me into the Gambino estate. Someone wrenched my hair tight in their fist and slammed my face into the cold marble floor.

"Talk," a voice barked. "Who killed Sophia?"

The butt of a gun slammed into my back, knocking the air out of me, my ribs screaming in agony.

"I don't know!" I sobbed, trying to explain. However, it only earned me harsher blows. They spat on me. My arms were black and blue, and blood trickled from the corner of my mouth.

The scene shifted. It now showed my old home, engulfed in raging flames.

I stood at a distance, Bruno's leash tight in my hand. He had protected me since childhood—a retired attack dog, trained by the family.

"Grab her! Don't let the infame escape!" the enforcers shouted from behind us.

I ran deep into the mountains with Bruno, fighting for our lives, but they found us. Three men closed in, each holding knives and iron clubs.

Bruno took a fatal beating for me, died protecting me.

I knelt in the dirt, clutching a fragment of his leg bone, crying my heart out.

I was 16 then. Orphaned, Bruno was the only family I had in this world.

"Such an act… It's convincing," Valeria's voice echoed, heavy with contempt. "Lina, you think this earns you sympathy? If you hadn't shielded the murderer, Bruno would still be alive, and your home wouldn't have gone up in flames. The family treated you well, yet this is how you repay us?"

"Stronza! She's putting on a show!"

"She's just a lying piece of trash!"

"Ms. Lisciotti trusted you, and you just stood there and watched her die!"

"Kill her! Avenge Ms. Lisciotti!"

Amid the shouting and curses, the image on the big screen suddenly changed.

The private island off Siciliana basked in sunlight as Valeria, Sophia, and I laughed and played on the beach.

Sophia wore a white sundress and held out a ring with two serpents coiled around each other.

"Lina," she said, "this is the alliance ring of the Gambinos and the Sollazzos. From now on, we'll always be la famiglia—truly one family."

In the memory that was being played, I could be seen smiling as I took the ring and carefully slid it onto my finger.

"How dare you even think about that!" Valeria lunged at me, yanking my hair and slamming my head against the iron chair. "You don't deserve to! You backstabbing traitor! If it weren't for you, our family would have already expanded overseas!"

A sharp pain swallowed everything in darkness, blood streaming from my forehead.

I heard her shriek at the technician. "Turn it up! I want to see the murderer, adesso!"

The needles inside the helmet penetrated deeper, as if they were chiseling into my skull. I let out a blood-curdling scream, my consciousness teetering on the edge of collapse. Yet, I clung desperately to that last line of defense.

I refused to let that memory ever be seen.

The hum of the machine grew louder, like a relentless drone. The red needle on the control console went wild, shattering past the safety limit.

Blood welled from every opening—my eyes, ears, and nose—streaming hot down my face. My throat filled with that metallic, bloody taste. I clenched my teeth so hard that they split, soaking my gums in blood.

On the main screen, the display flickered and shifted again. It now replayed my memory of that night, cold and drizzling with rain.

Sophia's body had been pulled from the docks, swollen and pale.

Valeria threw herself over the corpse, her screams raw and broken. "Sophia! Dio mio, wake up! Who did this to you?"

I stood to the side, trembling. Clutched in Sophia's stiff fingers was half of a Leone family cufflink. The cufflink bore a lion crest, and I recognized it immediately. Only members of the Leone inner circle were allowed to wear this.

At that moment, everything clicked. This incident was no accident. It was a setup—a move meant to shatter the alliance between the Sollozzos and the Gambinos.

"It was the Leones!" someone in the crowd shouted.

"Lina must have taken their money. That's why she helped cover it up!"

"Kill her!"

"Then, we should level the Leones' territory!"

Valeria's eyes held me in place, her hatred so fierce that it felt like it could burn me alive. "Lina, you saw them—it was the Leones! Why didn't you say anything? Why protect them? How much did they pay you to betray all of us?"

"It… wasn't…" I forced the words out as blood welled from the corners of my mouth. "It wasn't the Leone family, Valeria. Per favore, let me explain."

"Explain?" Her hand snapped out, striking across my face. My vision blurred, and my cheek was instantly on fire.

"What's there to explain? Ten years! You watched me live in the dark for ten years. You watched our family tear itself apart. You watched our men die, one by one. Are you happy now? You heartless bitch!"

Just then, the footage on the big screen started to warp and flicker. The crucial scene about to unfold seemed abruptly cut off by something, dissolving into static snow.

The machine shrieked with piercing alarms, and the technician's face paled.

"What's going on?" Valeria turned, glaring at him.

He wiped cold sweat from his brow and stammered, "M-Ms. Sollazzo… She's fighting it. Her mind is rejecting the extraction. The system's about to overload!"

"Rejecting?" Valeria let out a furious, icy laugh. She stepped closer and yanked a fistful of my hair, forcing my head back to meet her gaze.

"Even now, you're still resisting? Who is this killer? Who is worth risking your life to protect? What could he have given you that matters more than the ten years we've shared?"

"He's not… what you think…" I gasped, struggling for breath. My vision blurred, and the image of Valeria before me slowly merged with the woman she was ten years ago.

"Valeria… Stop… Please… The truth… It will destroy everything… It will destroy the Sollazzos…"

"Destroy everything?" she roared, her eyes bloodshot. "Everything was already ruined the night Sophia died! You coward! You traitor! You watched it happen and did nothing. You won't talk… Is it because you helped kill her?"

The crowd was completely enraged. People broke through the Soldati's barricade and charged toward the iron chair, brandishing knives and iron clubs.

"Kill her! Cleanse the family!"

"We can't let this traitor live and disgrace our name!"

In the chaos, a club grazed my shoulder and smashed against the chair, causing sparks to fly. The Soldatis immediately moved to block the attackers, brawling with them as the tribunal hall descended into chaos.

Valeria stood at the center of it all, unmoved. Her eyes were ice-cold as they locked onto me. Her voice cut through the noise, sharp and final. "No matter what it takes, I'll unearth the truth. Lina, you'd better pray that you last until then. I'll make you pay dearly for your silence."

She raised her hand, signaling the technician. "Keep going. Even if you have to scramble her brain, pull that memory out. If anything goes wrong, I'll take responsibility."

The machine's power surged again. It felt as if my soul were being torn apart.

Through the agony, I seemed to see that rainy night from ten years ago—Mateo Sollazzo's cold eyes, and the words he spoke. "If you talk, I'll make sure the Sollazzos and the Gambinos tear each other apart. Everyone will go down with Sophia."

I clenched my jaw as my consciousness sank deeper into the dark.

No. I couldn't let Valeria see the truth. I absolutely could not.

But I couldn't hold on any longer. The memory I had buried so deep resurfaced, appearing on the large screen.

A wave of gasps rippled through the crowd.

Valeria spun around, startled. When she saw the familiar face on the screen, all the color drained from her face.