Everyone knew that the mafia family's second son, Luca Romano, loved Serena Vitale to his very bones.

Five years ago, Serena climbed into bed with the Romano family's eldest son, Adriano Romano. Photos from that night spread everywhere, but Luca quietly suppressed them all.

Four years ago, Serena gave birth to Adriano's child, but Luca raised the baby as his own. He could forgive Serena for anything she did, as long as she loved him.

The underworld whispered that Serena stayed with Luca not out of love but to grab at the mafia's power and influence.

Luca did not care. He poured every ounce of his strength into treating Serena and the child well, but it was not enough. Serena became Adriano's caged canary instead.

The night they broke up, she threw his illegitimate birth in his face to humiliate him. Yet she willingly, even gladly, let herself be imprisoned by Adriano, enduring the wax and the whips.

Everyone cursed Serena for being shameless and desperate, but she was the only one who knew the bitterness she endured.

Everyone knew that the mafia family's second son, Luca Romano, loved Serena Vitale to his very bones.

Five years ago, Serena slept with the Romano family's eldest son, Adriano Romano. Scandalous photos spread far and wide, yet Luca quietly had everything suppressed.

Four years ago, Serena gave birth to Adriano's child, and Luca raised the boy as his own. He could forgive Serena for anything she did as long as she loved him.

Word across the underworld ran that Serena stayed by Luca’s side not out of affection, but to grab at the mafia's power and influence.

Luca did not care. He simply devoted himself wholeheartedly to caring for Serena and the child well because they were each other's first love. They had grown up together in the orphanage.

Serena was an orphan, and Luca was the illegitimate son who the Romano family abandoned. He clawed his way up from nothing. Only he knew the bitterness of that climb.

In college, Luca started his own business and achieved some modest success. That was when his half-brother, Adriano Romano, found Serena and demanded she become his woman.

Serena refused, but Adriano threatened her with Luca's life. At first, she did not believe him. However, she then watched Luca's business collapse around him as deals fell through one after another until a partner's breach of contract nearly killed him.

She could not take that gamble, so she agreed. To make Luca give up on her, Serena used his illegitimate birth to humiliate him the night they broke up. She would never forget the look on his face that day. His eyes had already gone red, but he stubbornly refused to let the tears fall.

He only asked in a hoarse voice, "Serena, are you serious?"

She nodded.

With that answer, Luca turned and left. His back stayed straight, but he stumbled at the corner.

That day, Serena became Adriano's caged canary. She was imprisoned in a villa, humiliated in every degrading way imaginable, and filmed in compromising videos that were pushed to the top of trending searches.

Whenever the pain became unbearable, she would bite down on the corner of her pillow. Her tears soaked through it over and over again. She did not dare scream. The more she screamed, the more it excited Adriano.

All she could do was grip Luca's photograph tight enough to wrinkle the edges, her knuckles bone-white. Every time she could not bear it any longer, she would stare at the person in the photo. She looked at his eyes and at the way he smiled.

She thought that Luca had to be working hard. Luca would come to save her one day.

Over time, she started hallucinating. Hence, when Luca actually came to rescue her that day, she froze in place. She did not dare move forward.

She was afraid that if she moved, the hallucination would disappear, so she stayed frozen until Luca rushed over and pulled her into a crushing embrace. His arms locked around her so tightly that she could barely breathe.

Both his body and voice trembled. "Serena, I'm late. I'm so sorry."

The burning warmth of his embrace told her it was not a dream. Her Luca had really come to save her. He had become the Don. He wielded absolute power now, and he had come to save her.

However, Serena developed severe depression after this experience. She could not sleep through the night. Every time she closed her eyes, she would see those images from her imprisonment.

She was afraid of the dark and of being alone. Luca stayed with her 24 hours a day, holding her as he repeated over and over in her ear, "Serena, it's all over. I'm here. I'm always here."

It took her two months to slowly recover. They eventually went back to how things were before, finding their rhythm again. Then, one day, Serena discovered she was pregnant.

It was Adriano's child.

She planned to terminate the pregnancy, but the doctor told her that her uterus was severely damaged. If she went through with it, she would never be able to conceive again in this lifetime.

When she left the hospital, Serena sat on the steps for a long time. When Luca found her, she just sat there blankly, her eyes hollow. She told Luca what the doctor said. She finished it with, "Luca, let's break up."

Luca crouched down and took her freezing hands in his. "Don't talk nonsense."

"I don't deserve you." She kept her head lowered. Tears fell onto the back of his hand. "I'm dirty. I'm pregnant with another man's child. I can't give you children. I can't give you anything—"

"Then have the baby." Luca cut her off and reached up to wipe away her tears.

"As long as it comes from your body, it's my child."

Serena shook her head. "That's not fair to you."

"Serena." Luca cupped her face and forced her to look at him.

"I only want you. I don't care about anything else."

After Mattia Romano was born, Luca truly treated the baby as his own. He would feed Mattia, change his diapers, and pace the floor at midnight to soothe the baby to sleep. He did it all more skillfully than she did.

The first time the little one called him 'Papa', Luca froze for a long moment. Then, his eyes went red.

At that moment, Serena thought that even if the whole world betrayed her, at least she still had Luca.

That was until today.

Mattia suddenly spiked a high fever at preschool. The diagnosis came back as leukemia. They needed to find a bone marrow match as soon as possible.

Serena was not a match. She called Luca three times, but it was not picked up. Frantic, she asked his Underboss, Tommaso Marino, and learned he was entertaining clients at The Monarch.

She took a cab there, praying the entire way. "Pick up the phone, Luca. Mattia's sick. Please come back."

Upon arriving, she took the elevator to the third floor. She found the private room and had just touched the door handle when she heard the voices inside.

"Luca, you're ruthless, you know that?"

The voice from inside made her freeze.

"Back in college, your business was thriving and you had the old Don backing you up. Adriano wouldn't have dared touch you, but you still sent Serena to his bed, then accused him of attacking you so that you could blackmail the old man into kicking Adriano out of the family.

"Those photos of Serena in bed… You had those leaked too, didn't you? All so she'd turn against Adriano and hate him for the rest of her life. Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant."

Serena's hand froze on the door handle. She could hear her own heartbeat pounding so hard her eardrums ached.

What did he mean? Luca sent her to Adriano's bed?

She did not believe it and wanted to push the door open. She wanted to hear Luca say it was not true, but she could not move. Her entire body felt nailed in place.

"Luca, your wedding with your fiancée is next month, right? You'd better hide it well. Don't let Serena find out."

"What does it matter if she finds out?"

That voice was Luca's. Serena heard the click of a lighter, then the sound of him exhaling smoke.

"Serena knows better than anyone how filthy she was during the time Adriano kept her locked up. Without me, she has nowhere to go. But Ginevra's different..."

When he said Ginevra's name, Luca's tone suddenly softened.

"She reminds me of Serena back at the orphanage—clean and dependent on me. I put in a lot of effort to win her over. I never missed a meal with her, showed up whenever she needed me, proposed with all the grand displays she wanted, and filled the street outside her apartment with flowers and candles.

"We've been together a year, and the most intimate thing we've done is kiss. She's clean. She's the perfect person to bear the Don's bloodline.

"Serena and I have been together so many years that she's become part of my life. I can't give her up. But because she's dirty now, I can't love her the way I used to.

"When she gave birth to Adriano's child, I had the doctor remove her uterus as revenge. But as compensation, I'll let Serena stay by my side as a mistress for the rest of her life. It's not a bad arrangement!"

Serena's nails dug into the gap around the door handle until they broke, but she could not feel the pain. Had her uterus removed? Stay by his side as a mistress?

She remembered that after giving birth, Luca had held her hand and said, "Serena, the doctor said your body was too weak. They did a repair surgery while they were at it. We won't have any more children, but having Mattia is enough."

She had believed him. She had believed everything. From the very beginning, she had been living inside a lie Luca wove with his own hands.

Serena stumbled away from the door. She did not know how she made it down the stairs.

On the last step down, she missed her footing and fell. Her knee slammed into the edge of the step. Pain shot through her and she gasped, but she did not dare stop.

She scrambled up and limped toward the exit, breaking into a run. She kept running until she left that street and ducked into a narrow alley. Only then did all her strength drain away and she slid down against the wall.

She covered her mouth, not daring to make a sound, but tears fell onto the back of her hand and onto the ground.

She thought about those days locked away. She thought about all the things Adriano had used on her. She thought about the photograph she had clutched every time she could not bear it anymore.

She had thought that photograph was her light, but Luca was the very one who had shoved her into the abyss.

Serena looked up at the sky. The world was so vast, and she had plenty of places to go besides staying at Luca's side. Since their pure love had turned rotten, there was no need for her to stay.

By the time Serena returned to the hospital, Mattia had finished his examination. The small figure lay on the hospital bed, his face flushed with fever. When he saw her, he reached out his arms. "Mamma, hold me."

Serena pulled him into her arms and pressed her cheek against his.

Mattia asked softly, "Mamma, where's Papa?"

"Papa's busy."

"Will he come see me when he's done?"

"He will."

The doctor called her to his office to talk. He said the best option for now was to wait for a match from the bone marrow registry or find a close blood relative to test.

A close blood relative. That would be Adriano.

Serena clenched her fingers.

That period of her life was the deepest nightmare she would ever know. She thought she would never have to face that man again, but now…

She had not yet figured out what to do when her phone buzzed. It was a message from Luca.

[In a meeting. I'll stop by the hospital later.]

She did not reply. When she took Mattia for a follow-up exam, they passed by the maternity ward. That was where she saw Luca. He was supporting a young woman, treating her carefully and cautiously like she might shatter at any moment.

The woman's belly was slightly rounded. The way Luca looked at her was so tender it was almost absurd.

When Serena was pregnant, he had been careful too. However, now that she thought about it, it was more like a performance for her benefit.

She was about to turn and leave when Mattia broke free from her hand and ran over.

"Papa!"

Ginevra Bianchi's eyes went wide. "Who's this child? Why is he calling you 'Papa'?"

Her expression shifted. "Luca, you put on such a show chasing after me, but you have a child with another woman behind my back?"

She raised her hand and swung it at her own stomach. "Then I'll get rid of this one right now!"

Luca's expression changed. He grabbed her wrist with one hand and, with the other, shoved Mattia hard.

Mattia fell to the ground. The back of his head hit the tile floor with a dull thud.

"It's a stray kid running around calling strangers his father!"

Serena rushed over and pulled Mattia up. He clutched the back of his head, tears welling in his eyes, but he did not dare cry out loud. He just stared at Luca and asked quietly, "Papa, why did you push me?"

Serena moved Mattia behind her and stood up. She looked directly at Luca. Her heart was pounding wildly. She told herself that as long as he explained, as long as he said those things were not true, she would believe him.

Serena wanted so badly to believe him.

"Luca, tell me. What's going on?" Ginevra stared at him too.

Luca looked at her, then at Ginevra. He closed his eyes. When he opened them again, all that remained was impatience.

"Did I say something wrong? I'm not the child's biological father. Who his father is and how this child came to be… Serena, you know that better than I do."

He looked at Ginevra, and his tone softened. "Ginevra, you know how I treat you. I do have a past with her, but that's over. How could I possibly like someone who's been..."

He paused, then said each word deliberately, "... used and thrown away."

Serena heard something shatter. It was not her heart but all the beliefs she had desperately built up over the years.

She remembered that after being rescued from Adriano's hands, she had nightmares every night. Luca would hold her and say, "Serena, it wasn't your fault. You're a victim. Don't ever think of yourself as dirty."

Yet now, to prove his loyalty to another woman, he tore open her wounds himself.

Ginevra stared at Serena for a long moment, then suddenly laughed. "Oh, I remember now. You're Serena Vitale, who climbed into bed with the Romano family's eldest son for money and mafia connections. The one who got filmed in those videos, right?

"Tsk, how do you even have the nerve? You dumped Luca back then because he was illegitimate, and now that he's made something of himself, you come crawling back. You're even trying to play the sympathy card, making some bastard from who knows where call him 'Papa'?"

Serena's body trembled. Images from that dark time surfaced in her mind.

Adriano was a monster. During the time he kept her locked up, he had used wax, whips, and chains on her. Memories she buried deepest were dragged back to the surface.

Her face went pale, and her breathing became labored. She clutched her chest and crouched down.

"Mamma, what's wrong?" Mattia cried out in terror, "Papa, you have to save Mamma!"

"Stop putting on an act. Luca, let's go," Ginevra sneered.

Luca did not even glance at her. He helped Ginevra turn around and walked away.

The world spun, and Serena's vision blurred. The sound of Mattia's sobbing drifted in and out, but Luca's cold, retreating figure remained painfully clear.

During those dark days when she was locked away, she cried every single day. However, every plea for mercy only brought more vicious torment from Adriano.

In those agonizing moments, all she thought about was Luca. Now, she could never rely on him again.