The Failed Assassination

The night the family’s don was attacked, my husband had abandoned his post to win back his misbehaving mistress. The first time I lived through this, I activated his communication device to summon him back. He thus saved the don and rose through the ranks. However, his mistress had died in the firefight, and he blamed it all on me. Thus, on my delivery date, he dumped me in an abandoned factory and had some stray dogs rip me and my baby apart. “There were so many bodyguards there that night. Why did you have to call me back? You knew that she would die! You did this on purpose!” Somehow, right before I died, I went back in time to that night. I did not activate the communication device this time. I threw it into the fountain and watched it sink. Then, although I was eight months pregnant, I shielded the don and took the bullet meant for him. Chapter 1 The attack began completely by surprise, and everyone was swept into the chaos. Screams and gunshots rang out everywhere. I subconsciously took a half-step back and ducked behind a tree in the back garden. Enzo Tomasi’s personal soldati formed a human wall around him. As for myself, I was only three steps away from him. Tonight was the night of the annual charity gala our family threw. As the wife of Luis Marconi, the family’s head of security, I was also invited. Two hours before, I was still holding a flute of champagne and talking with the wives of some members of parliament about next spring’s charity auction. No one had noticed that Luis was nowhere to be seen. No one knew that he had been driving in a mad rush to an apartment on the east side of the city to soothe the ruffled feathers of his upset lover, Bianca Linetti. “Protect Don Tomasi! Seal all the exits!” someone shouted. The gunshots were coming in quick succession, almost like fireworks. I ducked my head and looked at the little, button-like metal thing in my hand. It was an emergency communication device, connected straight to Luis’ personal channel. He had thrown the thing at me impatiently before we left home tonight. He said, “Don’t bother me unless something dire happens and Don Tomasi’s on the brink of death.” In the previous timeline, I had pressed the button. Luis had come with his men, descending like a guardian angel to save Enzo from the midst of danger. Enzo had been immensely grateful and had promoted him on the spot, bringing him right into the inner circle. He had even gifted Luis a luxury seaside mansion. Luis was so pleased, but I had become the person at fault for causing the death of his supposed true love. Bianca had apparently followed Luis in secret and been killed in the messy firefight. Luis assumed that I had used the communication device at that exact time so as to draw Bianca into danger. That night, Luis dragged me into an abandoned factory. He stood in the doorway and regarded my bloodied body with a cold eye. Then, he told his brawlers, “Clean this up.” From beginning to end, he never even gave me or our child a second glance. “Mrs. Marconi, get back to the car!” a bodyguard roared at me. I abruptly came back to myself and saw that Enzo had been forced into a corner, with two soldati lying on the ground. I had no clue if they were dead or alive. The gunmen were reloading. Within ten seconds, they would start firing again. I tossed the communication device into the fountain behind me and ran out. “Duck!” I rushed before Enzo and shielded him with my body. When the bullet punctured my back, I heard myself let out a muffled, pained groan. It hurt a million times worse than I had ever imagined. Yet, it was not as painful as being bitten and torn at by wild dogs in the previous timeline. Enzo’s voice sounded above me. His tone was colored with shocked disbelief. “Y-You’re—” “Don’t move.” I gritted my teeth and forced myself to ignore the pain. “You can’t die.” I could feel something within me tear apart, and warm liquid gushed down my thighs. I knew exactly what that was. In the previous timeline, just as I was about to die, I heard the cry of an infant. This time, I did not have the chance to hear even that. After some time, the shooting stopped. The leader of Enzo’s personal soldati had arrived with reinforcements. The night was filled with the noise of footsteps, shouts, and the static of walkie-talkies. Someone tried to drag me off from Enzo, but I clutched his suit sleeve tightly, refusing to let go. “I’m…” My voice was distant. “I’m Luis Marconi’s wife.” Someone helped Enzo up. His face was covered with my blood. He looked at me with a different sort of gaze. It was not pity, but respect. “Find Luis Marconi!” he told the person beside him. “Find him right now!” Chapter 2 When I woke up, I found myself in a private ward in the family’s hospital. The smell of disinfectant stung my nose, and the lights were piercingly bright. I subconsciously touched my abdomen. It was flat and soft. There was nothing there anymore. “You’re awake, Mrs. Marconi.” A young nurse rushed in. “You’ve lost a lot of blood. The doctor says it’s a miracle that you managed to pull through. As for the baby… I’m sorry, but we lost the baby.” I did not cry. I had shed every single one of my tears in the first timeline. “Where is Don Tomasi?” “Don Tomasi has been settled back home. However, he left orders to be notified immediately when you wake up. He even sent his personal bodyguards to stand guard at your door. No one is allowed to disrupt your rest.” That meant that no one would be allowed to see me, not even Luis. I closed my eyes and smiled wanly. I had made the right decision. The previous time, Luis had managed to save Enzo with perfect timing thanks to me using the communication device. However, I had been lightly injured. In this timeline, Enzo owed me his life. I opened my eyes at the sound of the door opening. The man who came in was the consigliere, Rico Angelis. He was a white-haired and expressionless traditionalist. “Mrs. Marconi.” Rico inclined his head toward me. “Don Tomasi asked me to tell you that you are his savior. From now on, you will be provided with the best protection the family has. No one will ever dare to bother you. There’s also the matter of your father’s old case. Don Tomasi will reopen the investigation and work on it personally. As for your baby—” Rico paused. His gaze held a shred of pity. “Although the baby did not survive, your name will live on in the family with the greatest formal respect. Don Tomasi has ordered that you should enjoy the same position as those in the family’s inner circle.” I nodded and did not say anything. Rico turned to leave. I knew that he would inform Luis next. Enzo’s men had been sent to retrieve him. After all, his wife had been gravely injured in a shooting. He should be present here. Nevertheless, I knew that he would not come. In the previous timeline, when Enzo had sent men to find him, Luis had still been in the apartment trying to win Bianca back and stop her from running off. He thought that I was trying to win his sympathy, so he had told those who had found him, “Don’t bother me again, even if she dies.” I knew that things would be even worse in this timeline. As expected, Rico was back within twenty minutes. His expression was grim, his lips pressed tightly together. He looked like he had swallowed something unpleasant. “Mrs. Marconi, Mr. Marconi has… declined to visit.” I was not surprised. “What else did he say?” “He said…” Rico hesitated. “Please tell me exactly what he said.” “He said, ‘Remind her that she’s only my wife, not my master.’” I chuckled. I felt my wound pull at the motion, and the pain woke me up even further. “Got it. Thank you for telling me.” Chapter 3 Three days later, Enzo personally came to visit me in the hospital. He was dressed down and unaccompanied, if not for Rico behind him. He shifted a chair over to sit by my bedside. In his whirlpooled eyes was a warmth that I had never seen before. “Cara,” he said, using my name rather than calling me Mrs. Marconi. “How is your condition?” “The doctor says I will be up and moving around in the next few days.” Enzo nodded and fell into silence for a moment before suddenly speaking up again. “I’ve investigated your father’s case.” My nerves abruptly became strung tight. “Your father was framed.” Enzo’s voice was calm and even. “The accounts were doctored, and his embezzlement was faked. The person in charge of the investigation back then was one of Luis’ men.” My fists clenched under the blanket. “I went through the accounts and shipping logs,” Enzo continued. “Not only did your father not embezzle funds, he had even helped the family avoid more than thirty million dollars in taxes. He was innocent.” I could not hold back my tears anymore. The day my father was imprisoned was the day I discovered I was pregnant. Luis had shut me up at home, refusing to let me out or to allow any visitors. He told me that my father had confessed, to stop fighting and to just take care of my pregnant self. I had trusted him. It was only on the verge of death in the previous timeline that I found out Luis had framed my father. “Don Tomasi, thank you,” I said hoarsely, wiping my tears away. “There’s no need to thank me. This is what I owe you.” He paused. “Your father’s case will be reopened. I will restore his good name. As for you…” He took a file folder from Rico and placed it before me. “This private mansion in Isla Fortuna is under a name completely unrelated to the family. From now on, it’s yours. You won’t have to rely on anyone else to survive, and you won’t have to be afraid of anyone.” I opened the file folder. Inside was the property deed and a black credit card. It was something that only members of the family’s inner circle had. “Don Tomasi, I’m only—” “You put your life in danger to save me,” he interrupted. “That’s enough to do it, in this family.” I clutched the card and could not say anything for a long while. In the previous timeline, it had taken me my whole life to realize something crucial. In this world, nobody but yourself would truly be good to you. I thought that marrying Luis would give me stability, that helping Luis in his career would buy his love. But how had that ended for me? I had forfeited my life, but Luis barely took a second glance at me. Right then, my maid, Winona Turner, rushed in. When I saw her face, I remembered how she had been paid off by Bianca to poison me in the previous timeline. As expected, when she saw Enzo in the room, she walked up to me and taunted, “Save it, Mrs. Marconi. Your attempt to win Mr. Marconi’s sympathy won’t work! And forget using this old man, too! If you think you’ll make Mr. Marconi jealous this way, you’re dead wrong! Mr. Marconi will rip you apart once I tell him you endangered the baby to sleep around with an old man!” Winona acted triumphant all because Enzo was going incognito at the moment. She had assumed that he was my lover. Enzo’s expression turned icy. He let out a scoff, and the men that surged in immediately apprehended her. “Take care of her. Leave her corpse at Luis Marconi’s door! It’s no wonder he would let his wife get in danger if he can’t even discipline his staff.” Chapter 4 After Enzo left, I recovered on my own in the hospital. Just when I had a moment of respite, there came a flurry of rushed footsteps outside the door before it was kicked open. Luis stood there, visibly enraged. “How dare you?” He strode to my bedside and grabbed me roughly by the chin. “How dare you kill my staff? Who gave you the right to kill Winona?” Luis’ eyes were bloodshot, and he looked like a rabid dog. He had spent the whole of last night with Bianca, and I could smell alcohol and perfume on him. The lapel of his custom suit even had a lipstick mark on it. “Don’t you know how hard Bianca cried when she saw Winona? You wicked woman. I should never have married you!” I wiped away the blood from the corner of my mouth and looked at him. “Let’s get a divorce then.” The words came out much more calmly than I had ever expected. Luis was stunned. In his eyes, I was still that pitiful woman who would get on her knees to beg him to stay, to never leave, and to please just take one look at her. I could suddenly hear the clicking of high heels coming from the hallway outside. Bianca was here. She wore a cream dress, and it highlighted just how pale and fragile she looked. She walked to Luis’ side and put her arm around him like it was the most natural thing in the world. Tears streamed from her face. “Luis, it’s all my fault. If it wasn’t for me, Cara wouldn’t…” She bit her lip, her words sticking in her throat. “What if I leave? I don’t want to bring you or Cara any trouble.” Luis immediately held her in his arms. He looked very anxious about her tantrum. “What nonsense is that? I only love you. Once she has the baby, I’ll divorce her and marry you.” I looked at this horrible couple. “I lost the baby,” I said. The ward became silent. Luis turned and frowned at me. “What did you say?” “I lost the baby,” I said slowly and clearly. “It’s your darling Bianca’s fault. If she hadn’t thrown a tantrum and threatened to run off, you wouldn’t have left your post. Don Tomasi wouldn’t have met an assassination attempt, and I wouldn’t have gotten shot. The baby would have survived.” Luis’ face went pale. He subconsciously let go of Bianca’s hand. “How could that be…?” he muttered. Bianca went white for a moment, but she quickly composed herself and returned to looking pitiful. She grabbed Luis’ sleeve and said tremblingly, “What is Cara talking about? I was only trying to leave because I got scared when I saw her getting close to another man…” “What other man?” Luis frowned even deeper. “Well… Winona told me that a man was regularly visiting Cara. She even saw them…” Luis whirled toward me, and I could see the temper rising in his eyes. “You never let me touch you after you got pregnant. It seems you found a new man!” I chuckled. I could not help when I saw the way Luis tried to rationalize things. “Yesterday was the family’s charity gala. The only reason I lost the baby was because I took the shot meant for Don Tomasi. What were you doing at the same time? You were supposed to protect Don Tomasi, but where were you? Our baby wouldn’t be dead if you hadn’t gone to see Bianca!” Luis did not believe a word I said. He pulled the gun from the holster at his waist with rage and held it against my forehead. “You’re still lying! How dare you and your lover openly cuckold me? Am I dead to you? If you don’t tell me where he is right now, I’ll sell you to the seediest nightclub. I want to see if you’ll still be refusing to tell me what I want to know at that point! As for your lover, I’ll be sure to kill him and dump his body into the harbor!” A flurry of loud footsteps came. “Did you just say that you want to throw me into the harbor, Luis Marconi?” Chapter 5 Enzo walked inside. When he saw the gun pressed to my forehead, his rage overflowed and he let out a bark of sardonic laughter. His voice was strong and firm, and he was much more intimidating than Luis. Luis’ face went white. He went from looming over me to falling to his knees in an instant. “Cara protected me when there was an attempt on my life. She was hurt because of this and lost her baby. I felt guilty, and so I gifted her a mansion and had her taken care of in this hospital. “As her husband, you never even bothered to check on her. Worse, you’re scolding and accusing her of things! How could you bring up the possibility of her having a lover now? You barely considered her your wife when she was in danger of dying. Instead, you were with your own lover!” Enzo’s words landed on Luis like knives. He started shaking uncontrollably all over. He looked very different from the previous timeline, where he acted like he was God’s gift to the world. When threatened, even vermin fought to survive, much less Luis. He appeared anxious as he tried to get himself out of this predicament. “It was my fault that I arrived late, but Cara has always mistreated Bianca, using her pregnancy as an excuse to do whatever she wanted. Before leaving, she even stole my communication device. I didn’t even know there was an assassination attempt!” My heart skipped a beat when he said this. I gave a bitter laugh. The communication device I had begged for had suddenly become something I had stolen. Luis did not dare to look up, but that did not stop his words from resounding clearly. “Don Tomasi, you may not know this, but I wanted to marry my first love, Bianca, when I was brought into the family’s inner circle. But Cara’s father used his power to force our union. He threatened Bianca’s life to make me marry Cara. “Back in the day, he was one of the inner circle in charge of the family’s finances. He even said he would steal my position! I risked everything to get to this point in the family. I didn’t dare to risk it all! “Cara is vicious. She took over my entire life and forbade any woman from coming near me. Worse than that, she tried to sell Bianca to a brothel! I grew up with Bianca, so there was no way I could let that happen. That’s why I took her as my lover. “Cara’s father was dealt with after being accused of betrayal. I suspect that all of this is a plot hatched by Cara herself. Sir, you have to investigate this!” Luis pleaded with Enzo, and his demeanor made him seem like a loyal underling. But that was very far from the truth.