Three years ago, he used this gun to teach me how to shoot, guiding my hands with his own wrapped around my wrist.

One year ago, he used this same gun to kill a man who had insulted me.

And now, the barrel was pressed against my forehead as he forced the victim to apologize to the woman who framed her.

"I won't confess to something I didn't do."

I closed my eyes and rested both hands over my stomach.

Silence stretched through the room for ten long seconds.

In the end, Leon did not pull the trigger.

Instead, he slammed the gun down onto the liquor table with a violent crack.

"Get out.

"Kneel in the courtyard. You can stand back up when you're ready to apologize."

A storm was raging outside.

Rainwater poured from the roof like a curtain as I knelt on the stone pavement in that ridiculous bunny-girl outfit.

The shards of glass still embedded beneath my knees hadn't even been removed yet. Soaked by the rain, they throbbed with sharper pain every passing minute.

The storm only grew heavier.

By the second half of the night, my vision had begun to blur.

A dull ache spread through my lower abdomen. I clenched my fists with everything I had, forcing myself not to collapse.

In the end, I still fell.

The moment my body hit the muddy ground, I felt someone lift me into their arms.

Warm body heat.

The familiar scent of pinewood cologne.

Leon.

When I woke again, I was lying in bed inside my room.

Leon sat beside me.

He reached toward me, intending to remove my soaked clothes so he could treat my injuries.

I immediately jerked away from his hand.

Leon's expression darkened instantly.

"Who are you pretending to look pitiful for?"

He grabbed both my wrists and pinned them above my head against the pillow.

Riiip.

He tore open the drenched uniform still clinging to my body.

The dull pain in my abdomen surged again.

The nausea churning inside my stomach finally became impossible to suppress.

I turned my head sharply and retched violently over the side of the bed.

Leon froze.

Then he suddenly stood up and kicked over the chair beside him.

"So disgusted by my touch?"

He strode back over and gripped my chin, violent possessiveness swirling in his eyes.

"That night, you were the one begging me not to stop."

He suddenly leaned down and forced himself over me–

His phone rang.

Caller ID: My Sweetheart.

Anrina.

Leon immediately straightened up and left the room without a second glance.

The next morning, I dragged my feverish body to the infirmary.

My temperature was 39.7 degrees Celsius. The doctor put me on two IV drips.

I fell asleep face-down against the pillow, drifting in and out of consciousness.

Beneath the pillow was a crumpled ultrasound report.

The date printed on it was from one month ago.

That night, Leon had been drunk when he ran into me in the hallway.

He pinned me against the wall while calling my name.

The next morning, he pretended that night had never happened.

But the child growing inside me reminded me every second just how reckless that night had been.

Reckless enough that I actually believed he loved me.

During the two hours I was asleep, one of the maids discovered the ultrasound report while changing the bedsheets.

She took a photo of it.

Then sent it to Anrina.

I stood in the corner at the back of the meeting room.

The family Consigliere hurried in, his expression grim.

"Don Torres, the shipment of arms we stored near the edge of the Mexican desert was hijacked by the Camorra. They took the goods and wiped out our men. We need someone to recover it."

Four Capos sat around the conference table.

Not one of them spoke.

That stretch of desert was a graveyard. Last year, twenty men had been sent there.

Only three came back alive.

Silence settled over the room for nearly half a minute.

Then Anrina walked in.

She went straight to Leon, dropped herself onto his lap, and looped her arms around his neck like she belonged there.

"Leon," she said sweetly, "why not send Isabella?"

"Wasn't she your best Capo once?"

She turned and flashed me a smug smile.

"Isabella would definitely bring it back for you, wouldn't she?"

Leon's brows drew together slightly.

He glanced at me, lips parting as if he wanted to say something, but no words came out.

Anrina leaned close and whispered into his ear.

"If Isabella succeeds, then give her position back, okay?"

Leon was silent for a few seconds before finally nodding.

"Isabella."

He looked at me across the room.

"Go retrieve the shipment. Come back alive, and I'll restore your position as Capo."

I stood there quietly, staring at the man I had personally helped place on the throne.

Now he sat there holding the woman who had stolen everything from me, using the power I bled for to send me to my death.

And suddenly, I smiled.

Something inside me that had been stretched tight for years finally snapped.

"Fine," I said softly. "I'll go."

Leon's hand tightened slightly against the armrest.

He could not explain it, but the smile on my face unsettled him for a brief moment.

The night before departure, he summoned me to his study.

The fire in the fireplace burned fiercely, shadows flickering across the room as he stood with his back to me in silence.

After a long pause, he opened a drawer, took out a pistol, and tossed it toward me.

A black suppressed handgun.

Custom-built.

My initials were engraved into the grip, and the barrel had been modified for an extra thirty meters of range beyond standard models.

"Come back alive," Leon said coldly. "Then you can have your seat back."

He never looked at me while saying it.

I slid the gun behind my waist and turned toward the door.

"No need."

My voice was calm.

Behind me came the sharp crack of a glass slamming onto the desk.

Leon's voice darkened with anger.

"Don't push your luck, Isabella."

I did not turn around.

Leon.

This is the hundredth debt I repay for you.

From this day forward, if we ever meet again, we'll meet as enemies.

The GPS showed we were less than two kilometers from the exchange point.

Then the radio crackled once.

Every communication device went dead at the exact same moment.

Ice shot through my veins.

"Use the vehicles for cover!"

I kicked the door open and rolled into the sand, drawing the handgun engraved with my name.

Figures began surfacing along the dunes, one after another until the ridgeline was crawling with them.

At least forty men.

Camorra.

They knew what time we would arrive, which route we would take, even how many men I brought with me.

There was a rat.

And I already knew who it was.

Anrina.

She had sold us out from the very beginning.

She never intended to let me leave this desert alive.

Gunfire rained down from every direction. My men dropped one after another into the sand.

I took out three shooters trying to flank the right side, then rolled behind an armored vehicle to reload.

That was when a stray round punched into the fuel tank.

The armored truck jolted violently.

The explosion threw me sideways.

My abdomen slammed hard against the crash bar.

Warm liquid spilled between my legs, soaking through the fabric of my pants.

The baby.

My hand clamped over my stomach instinctively, blood seeping thick and hot through my fingers.

No.

I had not taken him home yet.

I pulled out my phone and sent a satellite message.

[Brother. Come get me.]

Another burst of gunfire tore into the sand near my feet, shards of gravel slicing across my cheek.

I grabbed an AK-47 off the ground and charged straight toward the heaviest crossfire.

Just like every other time I had risked my life for Leon.

Except this time, it was not for him.

A bullet tore through my left shoulder.

I kept moving.

Shrapnel ripped open my thigh.

I did not stop.

The blood between my legs kept pouring out, more and more with every step. My vision blurred.

Then I saw them.

The oil drums stacked outside the warehouse.

The Camorra hitmen realized my intention immediately. Bullets chased after my heels like a storm.

I pulled the trigger without hesitation.

The explosion swallowed half the desert.

Fire erupted into the night as the shockwave hurled me through the air.

I crashed into the sand, drowning in blood while flames flickered at the edges of my vision.

Slowly, I reached up and tore the Heart of Protection necklace from my throat.

Then I threw it into the fire.

Before consciousness slipped away completely, I saw helicopters descending from the sky, each one marked with my family's crest.

Through my fading vision, men in black suits poured from the cabins and dropped to one knee in the sand in perfect unison.

"Welcome home, Principessa."

A man ran toward me and pulled me into his arms.

His voice was shaking.

"Little sister, your brother's taking you home.

"No one will ever hurt you again."

I closed my eyes.

"Leon... one hundred debts.

"We're done.

"And we will never meet again."