Reborn into His Arms But My Devil Returned Too

After I married Riccardo, the Don of the Moretti family, he paraded a string of mistresses in front of me. He never gave me a second glance. But on our tenth anniversary—right after my father’s death—he suddenly promised me half of his empire. The catch? In return, he planned to seize control of all my family’s arms-dealing routes. That pissed off his favorite mistress. She cornered him on his yacht, demanding he take his words back. Then she fell overboard and died. An “accident.” After she died, Riccardo went insane. He took it all out on me. He tied me to the back of his yacht. He dragged me through the sea, a human anchor, until the rocks shattered my legs. The rocks shattered my legs, crippling me for life. I became the family’s shame. Then, as I lay helpless, he finished the job with poison. Then I opened my eyes. I was back on the day Angelo Marino—the head of our rival family—proposed to me. In my last life, my family forced me to say no. He came for me, a one-man army. He killed Riccardo, but died in the process. This time, I looked at his kind face and nodded. Yes. But as we embraced, Riccardo appeared. He ripped me from Angelo's arms and claimed me as his own. That’s when I realized the cruelest joke of all. My monster was back, too. Chapter 1 My husband, Riccardo, blamed me for his mistress’s death. It wasn't until I was dying that I learned the truth: Angelo Marino, the rival boss who’d once proposed, had loved me all along. I open my eyes. I'm back. Ten years in the past, on the day Angelo Marino proposed. "Liliana, if you won't marry me, then I won't force you." His voice snapped me back to the present. I stared at the man kneeling before me. Angelo Marino, Don of the rival Marino family. My eyes burned with tears. I was screaming on the inside. I was really back. Ten years ago. When we first met, I didn't know what he was. I only found out he was the Don of the Marino family right before he proposed. But my bastard half-sister, Gia, was obsessed with him. She threatened to kill herself. She blackmailed me with our mother’s heirlooms, forcing me to give Angelo up. I turned him down, my heart breaking. Then I married the head of another mafia family, Riccardo Moretti. And in the end, Angelo married Gia. For ten years, Riccardo paraded a string of mistresses in front of me. But then his favorite, his "little rose," threw a jealous fit over me and ended up dead. Riccardo went mad. He tied me to the back of his yacht and dragged me through the sea until I crashed into the rocks. I lay in a cold hospital bed, a white sheet covering my legs. I would never walk again. That’s when Angelo, the man who hadn’t spoken to me in a decade, stormed the Moretti compound alone. He killed Riccardo, only to die in a hail of gunfire himself. It was only then, as my own life faded, that I finally understood. He had always loved me. He never stopped. Now, Angelo’s eyes were full of a gentle warmth, but also a hint of sadness. I knew he was disappointed that I’d said no. I was such a fool in my past life. I rejected the man in front of me and chose to marry that monster, Riccardo Moretti. This time, I wouldn't make the same mistake. I rushed forward, not caring that I’d just rejected him moments ago. "Wait, Angelo! I changed my mind. I'll marry you." The light returned to Angelo’s eyes. "Really? You mean it?" I held out my trembling hand. He carefully slipped the ring, engraved with the Marino family crest, onto my finger. The cool diamond felt right against my skin, just as I’d imagined it would before I died. "Liliana..." he stood up, his voice thick with emotion. I stood on my toes, cupping his face in my hands. "Angelo, I..." "What a touching scene." A familiar voice cut through the crowd, stopping our kiss. I spun around to see Riccardo Moretti walking toward us. He was wearing a black suit, that same fake smile plastered on his face. My husband from my past life. My nightmare. "Riccardo," my voice turned to ice. But I couldn't show how much I hated him. "Congratulations, Liliana." He stopped in front of me, his eyes dark. "And to you, Angelo. But before you make it official, I think you should see the little 'love token' Miss Falcone sent me." He didn't pull out an iPhone. He pulled out a burner. An old Falcone cipher phone, a relic from the old days. Guests who knew what it was gasped. It was an old piece of tech, supposedly destroyed years ago, used to send the family's most sensitive secrets. Riccardo plugged it into a laptop. A decoded message flashed onto the massive screen in the hall: Pier 3. Next Tuesday, midnight. The Siren. —From your Butterfly. My heart stopped. Pier 3 was one of the Marino family’s most important arms depots. "The Siren" was their mobile armory, disguised as a cargo ship. Leaking that intel was like handing our enemy a key to the Marino family’s heart. "A little gift from Liliana, after we spent a night together three months ago," Riccardo announced into the microphone. "She said she had to prove her loyalty to seal our deal. And 'Butterfly'… that's the pet name she only uses for me." The room erupted. Impossible. Three months ago, I didn't even know Riccardo. But that device... that name, "Butterfly"... I felt Angelo’s body go rigid behind me. "It's a fake," I turned to him, my eyes filling with tears. "Angelo, you have to believe me. It's a lie." Angelo stared at me, his brow furrowed. His eyes were filled with pain, confusion, and a flicker of doubt I couldn’t bear to see. Riccardo's laugh cut through the silence. "Don't worry, Angelo. I have more proof. Liliana gave me a 'little secret' to confirm the intel was real." He paused, his eyes turning dangerous. "She told me that to prove her love, she set the device's activation key to the date we first met. A secret only she would know." My blood ran cold. That was my private passcode, set to the anniversary of my mother's death! In my past life, Riccardo only learned that after he'd broken my family and tortured the truth from my lips! There’s no way he could know that now. Unless… I saw the smug smile on his face, and a horrifying realization slammed into me. He was reborn, too. Chapter 2 "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. Chapter 3 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." Chapter 4 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. Chapter 5 "Crippled?" The word hung in the air. I stared at my father, my voice a raw whisper. "What did you say?" "The doctors confirmed it." My father wouldn't meet my eyes. "Your spine was severely damaged in the fall. The nerves to your legs... they're severed. You'll be in a wheelchair for the rest of your life." I shook my head frantically. "No, that's impossible. There has to be a cure, there has to be..." "Liliana, accept it," my father said, standing up. "At least you're alive." Alive? You call this living? I slammed my fists against my thighs, but I felt nothing. It was like hitting two logs of wood. "No!" I shrieked hysterically. "It's not possible!" A nurse rushed in and gave me a sedative. As my consciousness faded, I saw my father's disappointed face. He looked at me like I was damaged goods. Worthless. Three days later, Angelo came. He stood in the doorway of my hospital room holding a bouquet of white roses, his handsome face a mask of complicated emotions. "Liliana," he said softly. I turned my head away. I didn't want to look at him. "I heard what happened." He walked to my bedside and set down the flowers. "I'm so sorry." "Sorry?" I laughed coldly. "What are you sorry for? For not saving me? Or for the fact that your fiancée almost murdered me?" Angelo's face darkened. "It was an accident," Angelo said, his voice tight. "Gia was terrified. She's still in shock." "An accident?" I finally turned to look at him, speaking each word slowly. "Do you really believe it was an accident?" "Liliana, don't overthink this," he frowned. "Why would Gia want to hurt you? You're her sister." I saw the sincerity in his eyes, and my heart died completely. He really believed her. He really thought Gia was innocent. "You're right," I said, closing my eyes. "It was just an accident." "Liliana..." Angelo's voice cracked. "If you need anything, anything at all, I can—" "Get out." "What?" "I said, get out!" I opened my eyes and stared at him coldly. "Your fiancée is waiting for you. You shouldn't be wasting your time here." Angelo stood in silence for a few seconds, then turned and left. Before he left, I heard him whisper to my nurse in the hallway, "Take good care of her." I watched him go, silent tears streaming down my face. An hour later, Riccardo arrived. He swept into the room with a huge bouquet of red roses, a look of heart-wrenching devotion on his face for the reporters that had flooded in behind him. "My angel," he knelt by my bed, stroking my cheek. "You've suffered so much." The camera flashes were blinding. "Mr. Moretti, are you really going to marry a disabled woman?" a reporter shouted. "Of course," Riccardo said, looking at me with deep affection, his voice loud and clear. "Liliana is the love of my life. No matter what happens to her, I will love her, marry her, and take care of her for the rest of our lives." The next day, the headlines all screamed about the devoted mafia boss who refused to abandon his crippled fiancée. But when we were finally alone in the room, his face went cold. He leaned in close, his voice a venomous whisper meant only for me. "Now you can't run, can you, Liliana? It's perfect. My butterfly, with broken wings. Trapped under glass. Mine. Forever." I looked at the crazy, possessive gleam in his eyes and felt a chill go through my bones. Two weeks later, I was in the hospital garden in my wheelchair. As the nurse was pushing me back to my room, I heard familiar voices coming from the end of the hall, near another VIP suite. It was Angelo and Gia. I motioned for the nurse to stop around the corner. "You better start explaining!" Angelo's voice was frigid. "The fire alarm that day, the broken elevator... was that you?" "I..." Gia's voice was choked with sobs. "Angelo, I just love you so much! I was jealous of her! My whole life, everyone has always loved Liliana more! She had everything, and I just... I wanted to teach her a lesson, make her less than perfect, so you would only have eyes for me! I never thought she'd actually be crippled..." "So you tried to kill her?" Angelo’s voice was filled with a terrifying, suppressed rage. "I didn't! It was an accident!" Gia shrieked. I gripped the arms of my wheelchair, my knuckles white. I held my breath, waiting for Angelo's verdict. He was going to get justice for me. But what I heard next sent me into an icy abyss. "Enough," Angelo's voice was terrifyingly calm. "From now on, this is the story: it was an accident. Liliana fell, and you were the hero who tried to save her. But this will not happen a second time. " "Angelo..." Gia’s voice was laced with surprised relief. "Shut up and listen," Angelo’s tone was a flat, deadly threat. "Our engagement won’t be off. But if you ever breathe a word of this to anyone, including Liliana, not only will I make your life a living hell, I will make sure the entire Falcone family pays for your stupidity." I heard footsteps. Angelo was leaving. "Do you... still love her?" Gia asked, her voice desperate. Angelo paused for a long, suffocating moment. "A cripple," he answered, his voice devoid of all emotion, "and a woman about to be Mrs. Moretti... is of no use to me." I quickly signaled the nurse to push me away. Back in my room, I sat in my wheelchair, feeling a deep, soul-crushing cold. He knew the truth. But he chose to bury it. He used my family to threaten Gia, to keep the scandal from tainting the Marino name. And his last words... they crushed every last bit of hope I had. A cripple. Of no use to him. In his eyes, I was already a lost cause. Chapter 6 A month later, my wedding day arrived. The ceremony was set for St. Mary's Cathedral. That morning, I sat in my wheelchair, looking at my gaunt reflection. I had lost twenty pounds in a month. My cheeks were hollow, my eyes empty. I was a living corpse. I couldn't just give in. I couldn't beat Riccardo. I couldn't fight fate. But I could choose to stop being Liliana Falcone. I had to die. To them, at least. The wedding was my only chance to escape. I sent away my bridesmaids and servants, saying I wanted a moment alone before Riccardo came to get me. I told everyone to wait at the church. The Falcone estate was empty. I sat alone in my bedroom, surrounded by memories and the roots of all my pain. I took out my brightest, blood-red lipstick. Wheeling myself to the vanity, I faced the huge mirror. And I wrote my final words. Riccardo, you win. But all you've won is an empty shell. Gia, your jealousy destroyed me. One day, it will devour you, too. Father, you got your alliance, but you lost your daughter forever. Finally, my hand trembled as I wrote the name that hurt the most. Angelo. A tear fell, smearing the red lipstick on the glass. I loved you. You broke me. You chose his lies over my truth. You left me to suffer. I hope you're happy. I finished and took a box of matches from the nightstand. I needed a fire. A fire big enough to burn "Liliana Falcone" to ashes, to convince everyone I was dead. I looked out the window, waiting for the signal. Dr. Valerio, my mother’s most trusted family doctor, was going to help me. He would get me out and leave an unidentifiable body in my place—a "stand-in." I heard a faint bird call from downstairs. Three long notes, two short. The signal. I took one last look at my gilded cage, turned my wheelchair, and headed for the back door without a second thought. Minutes later, flames erupted from the second floor of the Falcone estate, black smoke billowing into the sky, consuming everything. --- Angelo's POV At that exact moment, Angelo was sitting by the floor-to-ceiling window of his penthouse office. It was Liliana and Riccardo’s wedding day. He crushed the glass in his fist. He didn't feel the shards digging into his palm, didn't feel the blood dripping through his fingers. Every cruel word he’d said in that hospital was a lie. A lie to protect Liliana. He had figured it out long ago: Riccardo was able to crash the proposal that day because Gia had been working with him from the inside. This venomous woman, driven by jealousy for her half-sister, wanted to destroy everything Liliana had. The only thing he could do was to keep this viper chained to his side, where she could no longer harm Liliana. He knew Liliana. If she learned the truth, she would throw herself into a reckless quest for revenge, and in her crippled state, she would be no match for Gia. Besides, for Gia to be this brazen, she must have backup. Someone else was pulling the strings. The truth… he would uncover it, one step at a time. The only way was to push Liliana away, to make her think he'd abandoned her so she'd be safe. He would handle the rest. He even said that she was "of no use to me," knowing she might be listening. He needed her to give up on him completely. To get married and stay out of the storm he was about to create. He never imagined his protection would be the thing that killed her. Suddenly, his office door flew open. His second-in-command rushed in, his face pale with panic. "Boss! Something's happened!" "What is it?" Angelo's voice was raw. "The Falcone estate... it's on fire!" Angelo shot to his feet. His man's voice trembled. "The fire started in her bedroom... They say... the whole wing is engulfed. No one could have survived." Angelo's mind went blank. He had forced her to marry Riccardo. He had personally pushed her off a cliff. She would rather die in a fire on her wedding day than marry that man. In that instant, all his logic, all his pride, all his doubt, burned away. All that was left was a suffocating wave of regret and terror. He didn't think. He shoved everything aside and sprinted for the door. "Sir!" his driver shouted after him. "It's too dangerous!" Angelo didn't hear him. He snatched the keys, threw himself into the driver's seat, and slammed the pedal to the floor. He raced toward the plume of black smoke on the horizon. He was a man driving into the heart of his own personal hell.