The white lights in the underground clinic were cold and harsh, forcing the smells of disinfectant and blood into every corner.

I lay on the black leather-covered examination bed.

Thick gauze was wrapped around my temple. The family’s private doctor had just finished removing the last stitch.

I needed thirty-two stitches, with not a single one done under anesthesia. The dull pain of the needle piercing flesh was still throbbing at my temples.

“Ms. Rossi, Don Corleone instructed that the bandages shouldn’t be removed for three days. Don’t let them get wet,” the doctor said.

His movements were light as he packed up his tools, but he deliberately knocked the tweezers heavily against the tray. “And you’d better stop provoking Miss Sophia. In this family, no one will offend the young lady for an outsider.”

The word “outsider” felt like a needle.

I didn’t respond and reached under the pillow to take out my phone.

The first notification on my social feed was Sophia’s post.

In the video, Vincenzo sat on a leather sofa in his study. White bandages were wrapped around his fingers as he carefully wiped the diamond-studded handgun. Sophia leaned against his shoulder, smiling at the camera.

The caption was a single line: [The Corleone Don, always protecting me.]

The comments were full of agreement from family members. Even an old council advisor left a comment praising the closeness between the don and the young lady.

I clenched my phone until my knuckles turned white.

The family rules clearly stated that intentional harm to family members must be judged by the council.

Sophia smashed a bottle over my head and stunned me with a taser, yet somehow it was reasoned as “closeness”.

I struggled out of bed. As soon as I reached the clinic door, two guards in black suits stopped me.

“Ms. Rossi, Don Corleone has ordered that you are not allowed to leave the clinic for now.”

“I want to convene a family meeting.” I raised my phone in front of them. “Sophia violated family rules. I want her to pay the price.”

The guard on the left sneered. “The family received Don Corleone’s instructions this morning. Corleone family matters aren’t for outsiders to comment on. You should behave yourself and not make things difficult for us.”

“Outsider?” I stared at the family badge on their chests and suddenly laughed. “I am Vincenzo’s lawful wife. How exactly am I an outsider?”

No one answered. The guards simply stepped forward half a step, blocking every path.

I didn’t know how long it had been before the clinic door was finally pushed open.

Vincenzo walked in wearing a dark gray custom suit. He wasn’t wearing a tie, and two buttons at his collar were undone.

There was a black velvet box in his hand, and he tossed it onto the bedside table in front of me.

“Sophia is young and lost control of her emotions,” he said flatly. “I’ve punished her with one week of confinement at the family villa. She won’t be allowed to participate in any territorial affairs.”

“One week?” I picked up the velvet box and opened it.

Inside was a set of blue diamond jewelry. The pendant on the necklace was as large as a pigeon egg, dazzling to the point of hurting my eyes.

“I needed thirty-two stitches and almost got electrocuted to death, and she only gets confined for one week?”

Vincenzo frowned, as if he felt I was being unreasonable. “Stop dwelling on this. I’ve already arranged for a private jeweler to customize another set of blue diamonds for you. Once you’re discharged, you can also visit antique jewelry shops in Monaco. Buy whatever you like. It’s all on me.”

When he said this, a trace of guilt flickered briefly in his eyes before being covered by indifference, as if jewelry could erase everything.

I slammed the box shut. My voice trembled as I said, “Vincenzo, do you think this is what I want? What I want is fairness under family rules, and you, as my husband—”

“Enough.” He cut me off, his tone turning cold. “I decide Corleone rules. Either accept the jewelry or stay in the clinic. Choose one.”

I didn’t speak again and stared at the blue diamond box on the bedside table.

Seeing that I didn’t argue, he turned and walked toward the door. “You’ll be discharged tomorrow. I’ll have the driver pick you up.”

The next morning, a black armored car stopped outside the clinic.

As soon as I got into the back seat, I froze.

Sophia was already there.

She wore a red dress, with a gold family honor badge pinned to her chest—the kind only core members involved in central affairs were allowed to wear.

“Ella, I’m sorry.” She glanced at the bandages on my temple, her tone perfunctory, as if reciting lines. “I shouldn’t have been impulsive. Don’t take it to heart.”

Before I could respond, Vincenzo’s voice suddenly came from the front seat, filtered through the partition.

“Sophia will move into the main villa and participate in the family’s jewelry smuggling operations. The two of you will work together.”

“Jewelry smuggling?” I turned sharply toward Sophia, who smiled, clearly pleased.

Sophia pulled out her phone and waved the screen. On it were contact details from a rival family.

“Vincenzo, people from the Valentino family contacted me again yesterday. They want to cooperate with me.”

Vincenzo’s voice hardened instantly. “Delete it.”

Sophia paused. “Vincenzo, they said they could help us—”

“I said delete it.” He gripped the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles turned white.

His tone was filled with undeniable control. “Your connections can only be with the Corleone family. You are not allowed to have any contact with outsiders.”

Sophia reluctantly deleted the contact. Then, she turned toward me and raised her brows slightly, the provocation in her eyes impossible to hide.

He cared so much about the men around Sophia. Yet, for my injuries, he didn’t even offer a single sincere word of concern.

That afternoon, after returning to the villa, I was so exhausted that I fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.

When I woke up the next day, a burning pain stabbed straight through my left shoulder. I struggled to sit up and pulled open my silk robe.

The palm-sized Rossi family tattoo on my shoulder had been forcibly cut away at one corner, the edge crudely stitched with silver thread.

Blood rushed to my head. Enduring the pain, I rushed downstairs.

Sophia sat on the living room couch, casually playing with a transparent sealed box. Inside was the piece of tattooed skin, still stained with fresh blood.

She smiled, innocent yet cruel.

“Ella, the Rossi family tattoo is really beautiful. I liked it the moment I saw it, so I had the doctor take a small piece as a keepsake. You won’t be angry, right?”

“A keepsake?” My fingers clenched white. “That tattoo is a symbol of the Rossi family. What right do you have to touch it?”

“What right?” Sophia stood up and walked over while deliberately shaking the box.

“It’s because I’m the most favored young lady of the Corleone family. Also, my brother won’t blame me. You’re just an outsider who married in through an alliance. Don’t tell me you actually think you’re the lady of the Corleone family?”

That sentence lit the fuse.

I raised my hand and slapped her across the face. The sharp sound echoed through the villa.

Sophia covered her cheek and suddenly screamed, “You dare hit me?! Soldati! She has overstepped her rank. Seize her!”

The doors on both sides of the villa were thrown open. Four soldati in black suits rushed in, pressing down on my shoulders and forcing me to my knees.

Sophia said coldly, “According to the family’s punishment for overstepping one’s rank, she shall receive one hundred lashes, as a warning to others.”

The whip had been soaked in cold water, feeling like a branding iron whenever it struck my back. I let out a muffled groan, cold sweat instantly soaking my robe.

“One, two, three…” The soldato’s voice as he counted was cold and mechanical.

Each strike tore through flesh.

When the count reached ninety-nine, Sophia suddenly stepped forward and tapped my knee with the tip of her high heel.

“Make it a nice round number. One hundred. Let her remember who she is. Corleone rules aren’t something she can break.”

When the hundredth lash fell, I spat out a mouthful of blood. My vision blurred, and then everything went black.

When I woke again, I was lying on the bed in the bedroom.

Vincenzo sat on the sofa beside it, a document in his hand.

Seeing that I was awake, he finally spoke.

“I made her hand over the ruby necklace she treasured most. That counts as an apology to you.”

“A necklace?” I propped myself up. The pain in my back made me suck in a sharp breath.

“She cut off my tattoo and whipped me a hundred times, and all she loses is a necklace? Vincenzo, how are you making sense?”

He frowned, impatience creeping into his voice. “You hit her first. The punishment was justified. Ella, don’t push your luck.”

“Justified?”

I grabbed the family dagger from the bedside table, the “self-defense weapon” he had once given me, and smashed it to the floor.

The blade pierced the wood with a shrill sound. “Get out! I’ve had enough!”

Vincenzo’s expression darkened completely. However, he didn’t say anything else and turned to leave the bedroom.

Over the next three days, I gathered everything connected to him—the family badge I once pinned to my chest, the diamond handgun meant for protection, and the jewelry he had given me—and threw them all into the fireplace.

As the flames swallowed them, crackling sounds filled the room, as if mocking the absurdity of my past six years.

Vincenzo returned just in time to see me throw the last family badge into the fire. He rushed over and grabbed my wrist, anger in his voice.

“What are you doing?”

I shook off his hand and looked at the flames, my voice calm and without a trace of emotion.

“Your family, your power, everything you gave me, I don’t want any of it anymore, including you.”

He stared at me. Emotion flashed in his eyes before being quickly covered by indifference.

The fire in the fireplace gradually died down, leaving behind a pile of black ash. Just like my last attachment to the Corleone family, burned away completely.

A few days later, the Corleone family’s territory expansion banquet came to an end at the estate.

Before the crystal chandeliers had fully dimmed, Vincenzo’s armored car had already driven out through the gates.

I sat in the back seat. Beside me, Sophia played with her newly acquired family medal, her fingers tracing the window as she spoke with undisguised pride.

“Vincenzo just took three more docks from the Valentino family. From now on, no one in Chicago will dare compete with us in smuggling.”

I didn’t respond. Just as I closed my eyes, a sudden boom rang out.

A black off-road vehicle from the Valentino family slammed hard into the side of our armored car. The vehicle lost control instantly, carving long skid marks across the road.

When I opened my eyes again, Sophia and I were tied back-to-back against cold metal frames. Timed explosives were strapped tightly around our waists.

The red countdown numbers flickered harshly.

Sophia collapsed immediately, crying hysterically. “Vincenzo! Save me!”

Tears mixed with grime on her face, completely ruining her makeup.

I forced myself to stay calm.

Bomb disposal was a survival skill every mafia family child had to learn.

My fingers carefully felt along the wiring, trying to distinguish between the main line and the backup line.

The warehouse door was suddenly kicked open.

Vincenzo charged in with armed men behind him. His black suit was smeared with dust, and blood seeped from his temple. It was clear he had fought his way in.

His gaze swept over the two of us. Without hesitation, he rushed straight to Sophia. “Ella, wait here. I’ll get her out first and come back to save you.”

His hands moved rapidly as he dismantled the bomb on Sophia’s body, efficient and precise. He was nothing like the cold don he usually was.

Sophia clung tightly to his arm, shaking as she cried. “Vincenzo, I’m scared!”

The bomb on Sophia was finally disarmed. She grabbed Vincenzo’s arm and refused to let go.

“Run! Don’t worry about her!”

Vincenzo glanced back at me. I had my head lowered, focused on pulling at the main fuse, cold sweat dripping from my temple onto the device.

He suddenly pushed Sophia away.

“You go first. Wait outside!”

Then he turned and ran toward me.

“Don’t touch me!” I looked up sharply and glared at him. My voice was hoarse but resolute. “I, Ella Rossi, am not someone who survives on your charity!”

Sophia seized the opportunity and grabbed Vincenzo’s wrist tightly, dragging him toward the exit.

“Vincenzo! There’s no time! She can handle it herself!”

The moment they rushed out, I finally pulled the main fuse free.

However, before I could relax, the bomb suddenly emitted a sharp beeping sound.

The backup fuse had been triggered!

A massive wave of heat threw me through the air. My back slammed heavily into the metal frame, and my consciousness plunged into darkness.

When I woke again, I was in the familiar underground clinic.

A piercing pain shot through my left arm, as if countless needles were stabbing into it.

Vincenzo sat beside the bed with a document in his hand. Seeing that I was awake, he spoke in a flat tone. “Sophia’s arm was cut by bomb shrapnel. She’s afraid it’ll scar.”

I stared at the ceiling and said nothing.

He continued, “The doctor said your skin tone matches hers the closest. So I had him take a palm-sized piece of skin from your left arm for a graft.”

“You didn’t ask me?” My voice trembled as I looked at him in disbelief.

“There was no need to ask.” He spoke as if it were a trivial matter. “Once you recover, I’ll take you to a Paris auction for top-tier jewelry. I’ll also get you a seaside villa in Monaco. That’ll be your compensation.”

“Compensation?”

I suddenly laughed, tears spilling down at the same time.

I ripped the IV needle from the back of my hand and screamed at him.

“Do you think money and gifts can cancel out your selfishness?! Just because I like you, you think you can treat my body and my feelings like bargaining chips and trample them however you want? You disgust me!”

The despair in my eyes made his chest tighten. He reached out to touch my shoulder, but I flung his hand away hard.

“Don’t touch me. You make me sick.”

A few days later, Vincenzo received a call from his assistant, saying the Princess Diana limited-edition necklace Sophia wanted would be auctioned in France that night.

He put away his phone and said to me, “I’ll be abroad for a few days. I’ll bring you a gift when I return. I won’t go back on the compensation.”

After that, he pushed open the door and left in quick strides.

The moment the door closed, I could no longer hold on.

I slowly curled up, hugging myself tightly as tears streamed down my face.