It wasn't until the midnight bells rang that the bleeding in my thigh finally slowed.

Just as I was about to close my eyes and lick my wounds alone in this freezing guest room—

A piercing siren shattered the silence of Corleone Manor.

It was the highest-level raid alarm.

Gunshots, explosions, and the screams of servants instantly erupted into chaos.

As the family’s Mamma, I instinctively dragged my freshly clotted leg and rushed downstairs.

The living room was a wreck.

Several blood-soaked Soldatos knelt on the floor, while Luca was screaming hysterically.

"It's all your fault! If she wasn't trying to save me, Auntie Gina wouldn't have been taken!"

Seeing me descend, a loyal Capo walked over quickly, his expression grave.

"Ma'am, it was that upstart family from the East District. They kidnapped Gina. They ... they want to trade you for her."

"They said only the mistress of the Corleone family is worth the hostage they hold."

This was obviously a clumsy trap.

Anyone with a brain knew this was a dead end designed specifically for me.

The Capo clearly understood this too. He immediately pressed his earpiece to give orders.

"Go to the armory! Get the newest Kevlar vests and have all snipers on standby. We need a foolproof breach plan. We cannot let Mamma be in danger."

"No! There's no time!"

Luca suddenly rushed over, shoving the Capo who was deploying tactics.

His eyes, so similar to Marco's, were filled with hatred toward me.

"Auntie Gina is losing a lot of blood! She got hurt saving me!"

"If you don't go now, she's going to die!"

He pointed at my nose, cursing me viciously.

"You selfish bitch. You just want someone else to do your dirty work, don't you? You're praying Gina dies!"

Even though my heart was already dead ashes, I still felt a chill cut to the bone.

This was the son I had risked my life to bring into the world.

At that moment, Marco, who had been silent, walked in.

He had just come out of the study, carrying the faint scent of cigars. He glanced at the crying Luca, then at the frail me.

As the Don who held the power of life and death, he made his judgment quickly—sacrifice me.

"Elena, you go."

His tone was calm to the point of atrocity.

"That is a rival stronghold. We have to follow the rules. Since they want to talk, you will go represent the family."

The Capo was frantic. "But Don, the Madam has no training, and her body..."

"She is a Mafia wife!" Marco interrupted coldly. "She has enjoyed the glory and wealth for so many years; now it is time to make a sacrifice for the family."

He walked up to me, looking down with a hint of impatient charity.

"Stop stalling. It's the code of the Mafia. They wouldn't dare actually touch the Don's wife; they just want to humiliate me a little."

"Just get Gina back. After this is done, I'll transfer the two vineyards in Italy to your name as compensation."

Compensation again.

In his eyes, my life was just a bargaining chip with a price tag.

"What about the bulletproof vest..." The Capo tried to insist.

"Putting that thing on is a waste of time!" Luca shrieked. "Get the hell out there and save Gina!"

Marco frowned and said to me:

"Did you hear that? Don't disappoint our son. Just go directly. "

In this moment, I didn't even have the strength to smile bitterly.

I pushed away the sidearm the Capo offered me. Dragging the leg that was seeping blood again, I walked alone into the night.

No security detail.

No protection.

Like a sacrificial lamb, I walked alone into that abandoned warehouse.

The warehouse was empty, except for Gina tied to a chair. But the scene was too staged; even the knots were loose.

Seeing me enter, the corners of Gina's mouth curled into a sinister smirk.

The next second.

Boom—!

A massive heat wave swallowed me instantly.

The bomb detonated right at my feet.

Agonizing pain tore through my consciousness. My body was tossed like a kite with a cut string, smashing heavily into a pile of rubble.

In the last second before my consciousness plunged into total darkness, through the overwhelming firelight, I saw a scene that would be branded into my memory forever.

My husband, Marco, the man who sent me to die with bare hands.

At this moment, he was fully geared up, wearing a heavy bomb disposal suit. Like a heroic knight, he charged desperately into the sea of fire.

He didn't even spare a glance at me, lying in a pool of blood only a few steps away.

He threw himself madly toward the unscathed Gina, shielding her tightly in his arms.

Then, my world went completely black.

I was unconscious for two whole days.

When I woke up again, I was lying on the top floor of a private hospital controlled by the family.

Only the Capo who had tried to put the bulletproof vest on me that night was guarding the door like a statue.

Seeing me open my eyes, he immediately stepped forward, though his gaze was evasive.

"Where is Marco?"

I spoke, my throat scorched by smoke and dust, sounding as hoarse as if I had swallowed a handful of razor blades.

The Capo lowered his head, hesitated for a moment, and handed me a tablet.

"Ma'am, the Don said... to comfort the frightened Master Luca and Gina, he must stay by their side."

The screen lit up. It was live surveillance footage from a private amusement park registered under Marco's name.

This was the amusement park Marco built for me when I gave birth to Luca.

He once said this park belonged exclusively to our family of three and that no one else could enter.

I had mocked myself back then, saying I was thirty years old and past the age for amusement parks.

But Marco looked at me and said I was his eternal Princess, and a Princess belongs in an amusement park.

Times have changed. Now, he allowed, and even personally took, Gina to this park.

In the footage, the sun was shining brightly.

Marco had taken off his usual grim black suit and changed into a casual trench coat. He held Luca in one arm and held Gina's hand with the other.

The three of them were wearing custom matching Burberry family outfits, holding balloons and cotton candy. Their bright smiles stung my eyes.

I took the phone and dialed Marco.

It rang for a long time before being picked up. The background was full of cheerful merry-go-round music.

"You're awake?"

Marco's voice sounded like he was in a good mood.

"Don't worry, it's handled. It was the Rossi family. They coveted our underground arsenal in Sicily, so they wanted to kidnap Luca as a bargaining chip."

"While you were out, I personally led the team and wiped out the entire Rossi family. That is the price for touching my woman."

"I want to see you." I looked at the tall back in the surveillance footage. "Marco, I almost died. I want to see my husband and son."

There was a moment of silence on the other end, followed by his impatient scolding.

"Elena, when did you become so needy?"

"The doctor said you just have a concussion and a few fractures. You'll heal. As the Mamma, can't you toughen up a bit?"

"But Gina is different. She suffered huge mental trauma to save Luca. She still shakes when she hears loud voices. She saved Luca, so she saved the family. I have to compensate her properly, even if just to repay the debt."

"Stay in the hospital and rest. Once I've calmed Gina down, if I still have time, I'll come back to see you."

Just then, Gina's sweet, delicate voice came from the other end.

"Marco... look! Look how happy Luca is!"

Immediately after, my own son's voice, crisp and loud, pierced my eardrum like a sharp knife through the receiver.

"Mommy! I want that biggest balloon! Buy it for me!"

That "Mommy" rolled off his tongue so naturally, a hundred times more affectionate than when he called me.

Marco didn't stop him.

He even responded gently, "Okay, Daddy will take Mommy to buy it."

Beep—beep—

The phone was hung up.

I stared stiffly at the surveillance footage in my hand.

Under the Ferris wheel, the three of them held hands, their backs looking as harmonious as a perfect oil painting.

That was the real family of three.

While I was forgotten inside this cold hospital.

Watching their warm interaction, my determination to leave hardened.

For an entire week, neither my husband nor my son came to visit me.

Even though the hospital I stayed in was only a twenty-minute drive from the family estate.

Instead, Marco's chief assistant, David, arrived with a pile of limited-edition Hermes bags and Cartier jewelry.

They were stacked in the corner of the ward like a pile of expensive trash.

David conveyed Marco's message:

"The Don says these are the latest releases for the season, sent specifically to relieve your boredom. He has been too busy accompanying Gina and Luca ."

You see, this was Marco's love.

Reeking of money, arrogant and high-handed, but devoid of any warmth.

My phone vibrated. It was a taunting DM from Gina.

In the photo, she was wearing my silk pajamas, lying in the master bed—my bed—with a sleeping Luca beside her.

The caption read: [Luca said he wished I were his mother. He sleeps so soundly beside me.]

I turned off the phone, feeling my heart being crushed by an invisible hand.

After my parents died in a car accident, I became an orphan with no blood relatives in this world.

I was afraid of loneliness; I was terrified of the dark.

On our wedding day, Marco swore on the Bible in front of the priest: "Elena, the Corleone family is your blood now. I will never let you feel alone."

Later, when I had Luca, I thought I had finally taken root in this world.

But now I understood.

Even with sky-high power and wealth, if Marco decided to take it back, I would still be that orphan with nothing.

I looked at the room full of luxury goods and made a decision.

"Pack these up for me," I ordered the servants.

To leave New York, to leave the family's sphere of influence, I needed a large amount of cash.

Using Marco's supplementary card would expose my location. Only anonymous cash and jewelry transactions were safe.

That afternoon, Sotheby's Auction House.

Wearing sunglasses and a mask, I was in the VIP room having a set of emerald jewelry appraised.

The moment the door opened, the world seemed to stand still.

The man who was "too busy" was currently standing at the door, with Gina holding his arm.

Gina was wearing a simple white dress. Upon seeing the jewelry box in my hand, she covered her mouth in feigned surprise.

"Oh my God... everything here is so expensive. The shine is blinding. Marco, I shouldn't go in. Someone from my background doesn't belong in high-society places like this."

She shrank back like a frightened deer.

Marco immediately tightened his arm around her waist lovingly, his voice dripping with tenderness:

"Nonsense. You are Luca's savior, which makes you the benefactor of the Corleone family. If you wanted the stars in the sky, I would pluck them for you."

When he turned to look at me, the tenderness in Marco's eyes instantly froze.

He strode over, snatched the jewelry box I was about to consign, and let out a cold laugh.

"Elena, I didn't realize the Corleone family was so bankrupt that the Mamma had to come out and pawn her jewelry."

"I send you gifts, and you turn around and sell them for cash?"

"Are you that desperate for money? Are you that greedy?"

In his logic, I was slapping him in the face.

I was about to speak when the auctioneer walked onto the stage carrying the finale lot of the day.

It was an extremely rare ruby necklace named "The Heart of Sicily."

In our world, red symbolizes blood and power. A ruby of this caliber was historically something only the Mamma of a Mafia family was worthy of wearing.

Marco narrowed his eyes. To humiliate me for my "greed," he raised his paddle directly.

"Fifty million dollars."

The room went into an uproar.

Without any suspense, he won the necklace that symbolized the power and the wealth.

I thought he would at least maintain a shred of decency.

But he didn't.

In front of everyone, he picked up the ruby necklace and personally fastened it around Gina's neck.

"Elena, since you love money so much, don't even think about this necklace."

"Gina has a kind heart and doesn't care for fame or fortune. This 'Heart of Sicily' only stays clean around her neck."

Gina touched the ruby, looking overwhelmed with flattery. Right in front of me, she rubbed her body suggestively against Marco's arm and said in a delicate, sugary voice:

"Thank you, Don... This is too precious. I only did what I had to do. Taking care of Luca is my honor."

She turned her head, and in a voice only the three of us could hear, she said to me with feigned innocence:

"Elena, don't be mad. Marco just wanted to reward me. Besides... since you like money so much, selling what you have in your hand should be enough for you. Unlike me, I only need Marco's heart."

Marco looked at me, seemingly waiting for my outburst, waiting for my explanation, waiting for me to desperately prove that I loved him and not the money, just like I used to.

But he was disappointed.

I simply withdrew my gaze calmly and said to the auctioneer:

"Hurry up. I want cash."

Then, I left without looking back.