"It's a lie! That date is in memory of my mother..." I screamed, my voice raw.

I didn't care how Riccardo was back. I had to stop my past life from repeating itself.

But Riccardo just walked closer, a cruel smirk on his lips. "Is that so? Then can you explain why you used a secret Falcone code to ask me to meet at the St. Marco Hotel, room 1204, to discuss our families' future?"

Ice flooded my veins.

Room 1204 at the St. Marco.

That was our wedding night suite in my past life.

The bastard really was back.

"Remember, Liliana?" Riccardo's voice dropped to a whisper only I could hear. "The things you told me in bed? About Angelo's weaknesses? About the Marino family's... secrets?"

"Shut up!" I lunged at him, but Angelo grabbed my arm.

"That's enough," Angelo's voice was like ice.

He slowly turned to me, the warmth in his eyes gone.

All that was left was the disappointment and pain I remembered so well.

"Angelo, it's not what you think," I grabbed his arm. "I swear, I never—"

"Swear?" He ripped his hand away, his laugh like ice. "On what? Your lies? Your betrayal?"

The ring slipped off my finger and clattered to the floor.

It sounded like my heart breaking.

Angelo bent down, picked up the ring, and closed it in his fist. "Liliana Falcone, as of now, we're done."

He turned and strode away.

"Angelo!" I tried to run after him, but Riccardo grabbed my wrist.

"Don't waste your breath, sweetheart," he said, dragging me toward a back exit. "He doesn't want you anymore."

I could feel the guests' eyes on me. Whispers and laughter followed us out. I was a joke.

Riccardo pulled me into the alley behind the hotel.

"Let go of me!" I struggled.

"Don't move," he said, pinning me against the wall and showing me a photo on his phone.

It was Marco. My childhood friend. My most loyal bodyguard.

He was hanging in a warehouse, covered in blood.

"He's not dead... yet, Liliana," Riccardo’s voice was pure venom. "But if you don't behave, the next picture will be of his corpse. I'll make everyone you care about disappear, one by one."

My blood froze.

This was the real Riccardo. The monster.

In our last life, even with all his mistresses, he’d killed Marco.

Just because Marco had stepped between us once when Riccardo was hurting me.

Riccardo saw it as a challenge. He thought Marco wanted his woman.

And now, he’d already kidnapped him...

"If you're back, you know everything!" I shrieked. "Your little rose is alive! You have your mistresses! Why won't you leave me alone?!"

He sneered, his eyes raking over me with contempt.

“Let you go? Liliana, in our last life, I died at the hands of Angelo’s revenge. If it wasn’t for that, I never would have known how much he loved you. How dare he desire what is MINE? This life, you are still my woman, even if I have to chain you in a room and torture you every single day. You will not marry anyone else!”

The bastard.

Even if he didn’t love me. Even if he never spared me a glance after we were married.

In his eyes, everything Angelo did for me wasn’t about love.

It was a challenge to his authority.

He had to possess me, consume me, until there was nothing left…

A week later, the phones at the Falcone estate wouldn't stop ringing.

Our cargo ships were vanishing at sea.

Our front businesses were getting hit by rival crews.

My father called me into his study.

He looked like he'd aged a decade overnight.

"Liliana, the Moretti family has offered to help us through this," he said, his voice weary. "On one condition... you marry Riccardo."

I had only one option left.

I had to see Angelo.

Desperate, I went to the one place I knew he frequented in our past life.

The underground fight club in the neutral zone.

I pushed through the loud crowd and found him in a VIP booth.

"Angelo," I said, walking up to him.

He looked up, a flash of surprise in his eyes that quickly turned to ice. "Liliana Falcone. What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you."

"We have nothing to talk about." He looked back down at his papers.

"About the cipher phone that night, I can explain—"

"Explain?" He shot to his feet, his voice rising. "How are you going to explain it? Tell me it's not from your family? Or that the 'Butterfly' signature—a code only you and your father know—is a forgery too?"

"You don't have to love me, Liliana. But you will not make a fool out of me." His words were knives. "A traitor has no right to stand in my presence."

"Get out," he said, sitting back down and refusing to look at me. "Now."

His guards escorted me out of the booth.

I walked down the hall in a daze.

Suddenly, the power went out.

The club plunged into darkness and chaos.

People started screaming.

In the confusion, I felt people moving toward me.

Not one person. A group. They were coming for me.

Just as I was cornered, about to die, Riccardo appeared.

The attackers scattered instantly.

Riccardo’s grip was like iron as he dragged me through a secret passage, one he navigated with an expert’s familiarity.

A passage only insiders should have known.

My wrist burned, feeling like the skin was about to tear.

When we emerged from the passage back into the brightly lit main hall, Angelo was standing there.

He had just gotten clear of the chaos and was directing his men.

He watched us emerge together from an emergency exit… one marked with the Moretti family crest.

“Liliana, are you alright? But thanks to you, I know about this passage now.” The moment he saw Angelo, Riccardo feigned concern, checking me for injuries.

He was deliberately making Angelo believe, once again, that I had betrayed his trust.

He pressed his body close, ripping my dress in the process.

I was locked in his arms, unable to move, my chest crushed against his.

It looked sickeningly intimate.

But all I could feel was a searing pain.

It felt like he was about to shatter my bones.

I stared into his eyes, fury burning through me, wanting to scream why he had to torture me like this.

Why he had to orchestrate all of this right when I was trying to win Angelo back.

But I knew it was useless.

The moment Riccardo appeared, my attackers had retreated.

They were his men.

He would never let me escape his grasp.

My eyes, red with unshed tears, turned to Angelo.

"Angelo!" I broke free from Riccardo and ran toward him. "I can explain. Someone tried to kill me—"

"Explain this," his voice was eerily calm. "Explain why you just walked out of a private Moretti exit. On my territory. During an attack on my club. Looking perfectly safe under the protection of my enemy."

He looked at me, and the last flicker of conflict in his eyes died, leaving only a dead calm.

"Liliana, you made your choice. Don't regret it."

He turned and walked away without a second glance.

Riccardo stepped up beside me, a smug look on his face. "Looks like your knight in shining armor thinks you're a co-conspirator."

I watched him walk away. My heart turned to ash in my chest.

Even if I couldn’t get Angelo back, I was still trying everything to avoid marrying Riccardo.

When Riccardo came to make the official proposal, I was sitting in the Falcone family meeting room.

"You want to marry me? Fine. Here's my condition," I said, looking Riccardo dead in the eye. "I want the man who caused my mother's car crash three years ago. And I want him alive."

The room was stunned.

Everyone believed it was an accident, but I was convinced it was murder.

It was an impossible demand. I wanted him to fail.

Riccardo smiled. "An interesting condition. I accept."

Three days later, a bloody, beaten man was dumped at the gates of the Falcone estate.

He was a minor captain from a Moretti branch family.

Riccardo announced that this was the killer and that he had "cleaned house" as a show of good faith.

My father was stunned.

Riccardo had sacrificed one of his own capos. For a woman.

The message was clear: he was powerful, ruthless, and absolutely obsessed.

In his mind, the marriage was a done deal.

Just then, the butler rushed into the room.

"Sir, Angelo Marino is here."

A flicker of hope ignited in my chest.

He had to be here to stop this sham of a wedding.

The moment Angelo walked in, I stopped breathing.

He was as handsome and powerful as ever.

But the look he gave me was ice-cold.

"Mr. Falcone." He nodded to my father, completely ignoring me.

"Angelo, have a seat," my father said, gesturing to the other end of the table.

Angelo sat down, lacing his fingers on the table. "I hear the Moretti family is making a very generous offer. But I'm here to remind you of the price for making a deal with the devil."

My father's face tightened.

"I'm here to make a real proposal. One that will truly solidify the alliance between our families." Angelo's gaze swept the room.

His eyes slid past me, as if I were nothing more than a piece of furniture.

For a split second, I thought he was going to change his mind.

"I want to marry your other daughter, Gia Falcone."

The world went silent.

Angelo added calmly, "Gia is untouched. Simple. Pliable. She'll make a fine wife for the Don of the Marino family. This is business, Liliana. Nothing more."

The room started to spin.

Gia. My half-sister.

The one who used our mother's memory and the threat of suicide to force me away from Angelo.

The illegitimate one.

So, in the end, is it all fated to repeat itself?

"Angelo..." my voice was barely a whisper.

He finally looked at me, his eyes empty of any emotion. "Miss Liliana, congratulations on your upcoming marriage to Mr. Moretti. It seems we've both found our most logical match."

"'Logical match'?" I stood up, my voice trembling. "This isn't what I want..."

"Well, Mr. Marino wants to marry your sister," Riccardo taunted from the side. "Looks like you're stuck with me for life."

"Shut up!" I snapped at him.

"Liliana, sit down," my father's voice was stern.

I didn't. I looked at Angelo, tears in my eyes. "Why Gia?"

Angelo was silent for a few seconds. "Because she's clean."

That one word was a knife to the heart.

Clean.

Which meant I was tainted.

Because of the lies. Because of the betrayals he believed were real.

"Angelo, let me explain—"

"There's no need," he cut me off. "My decision is made."

He turned to my father. "Mr. Falcone, I await your answer."

"You don't have to wait," my father stood up. "I accept your proposal."

I collapsed back into my chair, my world falling apart.

Angelo was going to marry Gia.

And I was going to marry Riccardo.

This was so much worse than my last life.

At least then, Angelo had still loved me, even after I'd rejected him.

This time, he hated me.

After the meeting, I ran out and blocked Angelo's car at the estate gate.

The window rolled down, revealing his cold, impassive face.

"Move, Liliana."

"Why?" I leaned on the car window, my vision blurred by tears. "Why are you marrying Gia?"

He looked at me without a flicker of emotion. "Do you really want to know?"

"Yes."

His lips twisted into a cold smirk. "This way, when you're Mrs. Moretti, you won't have to feel guilty about betraying me."

I tried everything to get out of marrying Riccardo, but nothing worked.

Despair and pain were my constant companions.

The next morning, the butler handed me an invitation.

"Miss Liliana, an invitation to the grand opening of the Black Diamond Club."

I looked at the embossed skyscraper on the card, and a sharp pain shot through my chest.

That club. It was where Angelo and I had our first real date.

He told me he would buy the building one day, that he would give me the best of everything.

Now, it was built, but he wasn't the owner.

"I'm not going." I pushed the invitation back.

"Liliana," my father said, coming out of his study. "The Moretti family is one of the hosts. You will attend with Riccardo. You need to show everyone where the Falcone family stands."

I closed my eyes. "I understand."

The party was in a penthouse club at the top of a new Manhattan skyscraper.

The noise inside was suffocating, so I slipped out onto the observation deck.

You could see the entire New York City skyline, but the hundred-meter drop was terrifying.

"Liliana."

A familiar voice made me turn.

Angelo stood there in a dark grey, subtly patterned suit, looking sharp and cold against the glittering night.

But it was the woman next to him that made my heart stop.

Gia.

Poured into a champagne-colored dress, she clung to Angelo’s arm, a sickeningly sweet smile plastered on her face.

"Liliana," Gia said sweetly. "All alone in the cold? I heard you were a little short on cash lately. You tried to sell Mother's 'Heart of Eternity' sapphire, but Mr. Moretti bought it back at a high price. He must really love you."

Her words were a dagger to the heart.

That sapphire was my last resort. I was going to sell it and use the money to disappear.

Riccardo had cut off that escape route, too.

He bought the gem but put the money in an account he created for me.

I couldn't touch a single cent.

"Gia, it's windy. You'll catch a cold," Angelo's voice was soft.

He produced a pocket square and gently dabbed her lips, where a single drop of champagne lingered. The gesture was so casual, so intimate, it twisted the knife in my gut.

Then I saw the platinum cufflinks on Angelo's wrist.

I had given them to him. They were engraved with our initials.

As if feeling my gaze, Angelo frowned.

Without a word, he unfastened the cufflinks. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he tossed them into the fountain on the deck.

"Old things," he said, his voice flat. "They were never really mine."

The cufflinks sank to the bottom, just like our past.

I couldn't take it anymore. I turned to run.

Just then, a piercing fire alarm blared through the building.

The sprinkler system kicked on, causing instant chaos.

Guests screamed and scrambled for the fire exits.

"Liliana, this way!" Gia suddenly ran back and grabbed my hand. "I know a shortcut!"

Before I could question her, she was pulling me toward the other end of the hall, toward a bank of service elevators.

The door to one was eerily ajar, revealing a pitch-black shaft. The fire alarm had cut power to all the elevators.

"Gia, we can't go this way!" I tried to pull my hand free.

"Why not?" A twisted smile spread across Gia's face. "Isn't this perfect? The scene of a perfect accident."

My blood ran cold. "What did you do?"

"I just wanted you to disappear!" she screamed, shoving me with all her might toward the open elevator shaft.

I was ready for it. I grabbed the doorframe, but my heels slipped on the wet floor.

As I lost my balance, I lunged and grabbed Gia’s arm.

"If I go down," I snarled, "you're coming with me!"

We fell into darkness, her shrieks echoing above us.

Before the pain hit, I felt my body slam into a hard, metal surface.

We had landed on top of the elevator car.

I felt like my spine had snapped. I couldn't move.

Gia was just scraped up. She looked around in terror, then at me.

From above, I heard Angelo’s desperate shouts.

"Gia!"

A beam of light cut through the darkness. I saw his face, filled with fear and worry.

"Angelo! Help me!" Gia screamed first. "The elevator's going to fall! She... she tried to take me with her!"

I was in too much pain to speak. All I could do was weakly reach a hand toward him.

The elevator cables groaned, a sickening, high-pitched screech.

The car began to sway, ready to plunge into the abyss.

"Don't be afraid! I'm coming!" Without hesitating, Angelo used a fire hose to rappel down to the elevator car.

But he went to Gia first.

The moment Angelo lifted her, a chunk of concrete, loosened by the fire, fell from the ceiling above me. It crashed down onto my back.

I heard a sickening crack. My spine. The sound was absolute. Final.

"No!" Angelo roared in agony.

He secured Gia to a rescue line, sending her up first.

Only then, after she was safe, did he bark an order for his men to get me.

They pulled me up to safety.

But as I lost consciousness, I knew that my legs, and my life, had shattered with that one, final crack.