Chapter 1

After I slapped Vito's mistress Gina across the face, he had my entire family committed to a psychiatric hospital.

To beg him to let them go, I spent three years as Gina's live-in nanny.

And then, by accident, I stumbled onto Gina's Instagram.

In one of her videos, my father and brother were gathered around Gina and her baby, their faces glowing with a contentment and joy I had never once seen them show me.

That was the moment I realized Vito had been lying to me all along.

Watching the color drain from my face, he finally came clean, feigning reluctance.

"Luciana, the truth is, your own family put Gina in my bed. She's your father's illegitimate daughter."

"Your family was never in any psychiatric hospital. These past three years, they've been with Gina the whole time."

"I only hid it from you because I didn't want you to get hurt."

My eyes flooded red in an instant, my chest torn open as if by a blade.

Vito went on, indulgent, self-satisfied.

"Luciana, you've been a good girl these three years. Keep it up. Whatever compensation you want, name it."

"Although..." He gave that subtle, cruel smile of his. "Even if I offered, you probably wouldn't want anything anyway..."

I wiped my eyes, lifted my face, and smiled.

"Vito. Then compensate me with a hundred million."

A husband like this, a family like this—I didn't want any of them anymore.

...

Vito's expression froze for a beat.

"What did you just say?"

I looked him dead in the eye, my voice shaking slightly.

"If you want to compensate me, then pay me."

"A hundred million. Not a cent less."

Vito's gaze went cold.

Then he let out a scornful laugh and turned to the phone on his desk.

"Gina—looks like neither of us called it right."

At some point the screen had switched to a live video feed.

Gina was smiling out at me, mocking.

"Luciana, we made a little bet on what you'd demand from Vito once you found out the truth."

"I bet you'd refuse the money and lose it—trash the office. Vito bet you'd use it as leverage to make him swear never to divorce you."

"As for Dad and our brother—one bet you'd demand Vito send me away, the other bet you'd hurt yourself to force him to give in."

She turned the camera.

Dad was cradling Gina's baby, positively glowing. The instant he saw me, every trace of that warmth vanished.

"Luciana, I honestly never thought you'd have the gall to ask Vito for money!"

"Have we ever let you go hungry a day in your life? Since when did you become such a gold-digger? What's the difference between you and any common whore off the street!"

My brother stroked Gina's hair, his eyes soft and doting—then the second he turned to the camera, that indifference locked back into place.

"Luciana, I get that you're upset."

"If you need money, I'll wire you some. But you have no right asking Vito for it."

"Gina and Vito are in love. They don't owe you a thing."

"Is that so?"

I cut him off, my eyes stinging red.

"Steal my husband. Steal my father and my brother. Destroy my marriage and my family."

"Play me for three years. Trick me into being her nanny for three years."

"And you're telling me none of you owe me anything?"

My brother frowned.

"Luciana, don't twist it into something ugly."

"None of us meant to deceive you. You've just always been stubborn, ever since you were little. If we hadn't done it this way, how were you ever going to accept Gina?"

"Gina's been struggling since the birth. We were worried about postpartum depression, so we thought up this little bet as a joke to lift her spirits. Don't take it to heart."

I twisted the corner of my mouth into a smile.

"Fine, then. Just pay me."

"Dad gives me fifty million, brother gives me thirty. I'll even keep playing along and keep being Gina's nanny. How about it?"

My brother's face went dark as thunder.

"Luciana, how much longer are you going to keep this up?"

I laughed, cold.

"It's pocket change. Don't tell me the Romano and Cortina families combined can't scrape that together?"

"Enough."

"You want money? Fine. You'll have it."

Vito shot me a look and pulled a document from the drawer.

"Gina's had the baby. My child is not going to be a bastard. Sign these divorce papers and the hundred million hits your account today."

I stared at those few thin pages. Not a second's hesitation. I grabbed the pen and signed my name.