My father, Don Victor Vaughn, on his deathbed, summoned all the family's made men.

In front of everyone, he entrusted me, and the entire Vaughn family, to Julian Russo.

My uncle, Julian.

“Shannon is still young. Treat her well.”

“When you two marry, everything the Vaughn family has will be yours.”

Julian silently agreed.

He raised me for eight years, treasuring me like a precious jewel.

Our feelings for each other had long since crossed the forbidden line between uncle and niece.

But at our wedding, he slit my mother Isabella Vaughn’s throat with a single slash of his knife.

He clamped his hand on my head and roared in my ear.

“If it wasn’t for your father’s scheme, how could Sophia and I have ever been separated!”

“I’ve been a dog for you Vaughns for all these years, just for this day!”

“I’m going to make you feel my pain!”

I showed no mercy.

I shot him, breaking his arm, and fled far away.

Years later, he was getting remarried.

I returned in a stunning red dress, dressed to kill.

I faced him and fired two shots.

————————

1

Years passed in a flash, and the old Vaughn family estate now belonged to a Russo.

To that dog, Julian Russo.

He had transformed himself, becoming the new Don.

The guests coming to offer their congratulations were an endless stream.

Unfortunately, no one recognized me.

I slammed the leather case filled with my gift of money onto the table.

The soldato in charge of registration didn't even look up. “Name.”

I coldly uttered two words.

“Shannon Vaughn.”

The moment the words left my lips, the bustling banquet hall fell deathly silent.

All eyes were pinned on me.

Whispers erupted.

“That’s Shannon Vaughn? The Vaughn family’s Principessa?”

“Didn’t she flee the country? Why come back now?”

“What other reason could there be? She can’t let go of Julian. A sheltered flower like her, how could she live without a man?”

“So shameless. He killed her mother, and she’s throwing her own mother’s memory away for a man.”

Everyone knew. The new Don, Julian Russo, had an ex-wife he hated to the bone.

A love that turned to slaughter.

Julian Russo killed my parents and seized my family's fortune.

I didn't hold back either. I killed his entire family and broke one of his arms.

I knew he had been searching for me all these years.

He went to great lengths to force me out of hiding.

First, he killed my pet cat.

Then, he had the maid who raised me thrown in prison.

And now, here I was, brazenly making my appearance.

The soldato, not daring to slight me, scrambled off to inform Julian.

After countless days and nights apart.

I finally saw him again—the face that had haunted my thoughts day and night.

Just as handsome, just as coldly arrogant.

And just as deserving of a bullet to the head.

The years had tempered him; Julian had lost some of the viciousness of his youth.

Having successfully laundered his reputation and gone legitimate, he even carried a certain refined air.

But his clenched fists still betrayed the hatred in his heart.

He stared at me, his eyes filled with a mortal hatred.

“Shannon, what do you think you’re doing?”

A brilliant, cruel smile touched my lips.

I tapped the leather case with my fingertips.

“Here to give you a gift, of course.”

“Wishing you and Sophia Rossi, and your entire family, a swift trip to hell!”

The case opened, and a bloody, severed head rolled out.

Screams erupted all around.

Some people fled, others drew their guns.

Only Julian and I remained, standing perfectly still.

We both knew the person in the case.

Bruno Esposito.

My father’s bodyguard.

And the traitor Julian had bribed to poison my father.

Julian had hidden him well.

A pity I still found him.

I smiled, contemptuously wiping the blood from my fingertips.

“Disappointed it wasn't a bomb inside?”

“Don’t worry, Julian. Your life is so worthless, I have no desire to die with you.”

He tore off the mask of the refined businessman.

She softly soothed Julian.

Then, without a change in expression, she ordered her men to clean up the blood on the floor.

Finally, she turned her gaze to me.

“Shannon, I can’t believe you still haven’t given up on Julian.”

“The moment you heard he was getting married, you couldn’t wait to rush back.”

“What, still fantasizing about marrying him and continuing to be the Vaughn family princess?”

“Let me tell you, it’s impossible. From beginning to end, I am the only one Julian has ever loved!”

I looked at her without a word.

But in my mind, countless memories came flooding back.

My meeting with Julian was an accident.

The day we first met was a bitterly cold winter day.

He was being chased by loan sharks and collapsed, covered in wounds, in front of my car.

I looked into his untamed eyes and said to my father.

“Papa, give me a stray dog.”

My father laughed and agreed, bringing Julian home.

That was the first life he owed me.

Without me, even if he hadn't been beaten to death, he would have frozen to death that winter.

When Julian first came to the Vaughn estate, he was like a startled wild beast.

He didn’t even dare to raise his head when he saw me.

He would only mumble, “Young Miss.”

My father had many soldati under him.

But among them all, Julian was the most handsome and the most stubborn.

From a young age, I loved to tease him.

I loved kicking my high heels at him, ordering him to kneel and put them on for me.

I loved seeing the look of restrained endurance in his eyes.

I loved how he'd act indifferent to me, yet obey me absolutely.

He never tried to please me, but he would carry out my commands to perfection.

Those puppy-like eyes always managed to please me.

Back then, no one paid him any mind.

They just thought of him as my personal plaything.

But gradually, Julian revealed his astonishing talent.

He killed for my father, expanded the family’s territory.

Step by step, he became my father's Underboss.

Before my father passed away, he became my Uncle Julian.

After my father was gone, Julian honored his last wish and took care of me.

For eight years, he spoiled me to the heavens.

For me, he would walk through fire and climb mountains of knives.

Our relationship gradually spun out of control.

Every corner of the old estate held traces of our passionate entanglements.

I liked to leave bite marks on his skin, claiming my ownership.

He, in turn, would respond to my provocations with rough kisses and possession.

Back then, I had fantasized about forever.

I thought I would keep that mad dog, Julian, chained to my side for a lifetime.

It was a pity that our youthful love...

...came to such a tragic end.

Julian killed my mother.

He killed that kind woman who only knew how to fast and pray, who shed tears before my father’s portrait.

The wedding I had anticipated for years became my nightmare.

All I remember is my mother’s blood soaking my wedding dress.

A world of crimson.

Julian pressed my head down, whispering like a demon.

“I never loved you.”

Marrying you was, at first, because your father forced me.

Later, it was because of hate.

He said Sophia Rossi was his true love.

Just because someone saw Sophia secretly bringing him medicine after he was injured.

Her face was slashed and she was driven out of the Vaughn estate.

Because of that, he hated me, hated the Vaughn family.

“Sophia and I were innocent! What right did you have to hurt her!”

“She was the only pure thing in my heart, and I won’t allow anyone to defile her!”

“Shannon, you must pay the price for this!”

He gripped my slender ankle and pointed to a dog cage not far away.

A half-smile played on his lips. “Don’t you like me so much? Don’t you want to be with me?”

“I’m going to break your legs and keep you chained to my side forever!”

It was only then that I understood.

Julian’s hatred for me ran so deep.

He hated me, and he hated himself.

He hated me for making him stain his hands with blood, for pushing him past the point of no return.

He hated me for standing in his and Sophia’s way.

So, he wanted to drag me down with him, to rot together in this sunless hell.

I didn’t know if there was a misunderstanding in all of this.

I only knew that my mother, who only wished for good, was innocent.

Just as my eighteen-year-old heart, which I gave to Julian, was also innocent.

The life I saved back then could be balanced out by the eight years he raised me.

But the murder of my mother was a debt that could only be paid in blood.

I had to make him pay with his life.