Chapter 1

All because he believed I pushed Elena down the stairs out of jealousy.

Six months ago, a rival family drugged Alexander. Elena saved him and got pregnant. Her family disowned her for it.

"Ivy, why can't you just let her be?" Alexander choked me, disappointment and rage in his eyes. "She saved my life! I promised to send her away. Why be so vicious to an unborn child? If anything happens to them, I'll bury you with them."

I didn't argue. I just planned an explosion.

But when I vanished, the high-and-mighty Don went mad.

Chapter 1

In the Italian underworld, everyone knew Alexander was a cruel Don, but he gave all his tenderness to me.

However, the day after our wedding, he stripped me of my dignity as the Donna .

He was convinced I pushed his pregnant mistress, Elena, down the stairs out of jealousy.

Six months ago, Alexander was drugged by a rival family. Elena appeared, saved him, and got pregnant.

That night, she took a bullet for him during the retreat and almost lost the baby.

Her family considered her a disgrace and kicked her out; her fiancé called off their engagement.

Alexander felt guilty toward Elena, but he loved me.

To reassure me, he swore he would give Elena a large sum of money and send her to Switzerland, never to appear before us again.

"Ivy, why can't you tolerate her?" Alexander choked me, his eyes full of disappointment and rage. "She saved my life! I already promised to send her away. Why are you so vicious to an unborn child?!"

Elena lay in the hospital bed, pale as a sheet. "Alex, don't blame Ivy... She didn't mean it. She was probably just upset about staying in the maid's room and scrubbing the floors, so she pushed me... It's my fault for being spoiled. I'll move to the maid's room right now."

That ignited Alexander's fury.

To punish me, Alexander gave my room to Elena for her recovery. I was thrown into a damp, dark maid's room and ordered to scrub the entire manor's hallway floors on my knees.

By the end of the day, my knees were swollen and in agonizing pain.

Late at night, the door was pushed open.

Alexander walked in. He looked exhausted.

He sat on the edge of the bed. Without a word, he reached out to pull up the hem of my skirt.

"Don't touch me!" I shrank back, struggling to kick him away. "Alexander, are you crazy? Go find Elena!"

"Stop moving," he commanded, his voice low and hoarse. He easily suppressed my struggling legs with one strong hand and forcibly lifted my skirt up to my thighs.

My knees were exposed to the dim light—they were hideous, red, swollen.

Alexander's movement paused. The cold hardness in his eyes instantly cracked, replaced by a flash of heartache.

He opened a jar of premium ointment he had brought with him. He scooped out a generous amount and applied it to my wounds.

"Hiss..." I gasped.

"Bear with it. It will help with the swelling," he whispered. His large, rough hand massaged my knees with surprising gentleness.

"Ivy, why must you be so stubborn?" He looked at my bruises, his brow furrowed in pain. "Next time, don't touch Elena. I owe her a life, and the child is innocent. I have to repay that debt."

I looked at him coldly, feeling nothing but desolation. "So, you still think I pushed her."

"The evidence is there," Alexander said, avoiding my gaze, but his grip on my calf tightened possessively. "But listen to me. No matter what happens, Elena will never threaten your position. You are my wife. Once the child is born, I will send her away immediately. She means nothing to me."

I turned my face to the wall, closing my eyes to hide the dead look in them. "Get out, Alexander. I'm tired."

I didn't want to hear his promises anymore. My heart was already dead.

Sensing my indifference, Alexander lingered for a moment, then let out a heavy, helpless sigh against my ear.

He leaned down, burying his face in my neck, inhaling my scent greedily like a drowning man.

"Don't be like this, Ivy," he murmured, his voice trembling slightly. "You know I only love you. Always. Only you."

The old Alexander would panic if I even frowned. But now he told me not to harm his mistress's child.

I remembered the night before the wedding. He held my hand before the priest. "I, Alexander, pledge my loyalty to Ivy on the family's name. If I betray her, may I die by a thousand arrows."

Overnight, everything changed.

Chapter 2

The next morning, before I could recover from the night's torture, several sturdy maids barged in and dragged me up to serve Elena.

"The Don said since Miss Ivy likes scrubbing floors on her knees, she can learn how to serve properly."

I was dragged to the master bedroom that used to be mine. Elena was leaning against the headboard having breakfast. She saw me and smirked.

Her gaze fell on my neck. I was wearing my mother's silver necklace. It wasn't expensive, but the pendant held her ashes.

"Ugh, that thing looks ominous. No wonder I had nightmares last night." Elena frowned and looked at the maid with disgust. "Throw it in the fireplace. Don't let it scare the baby."

"You dare!" I lunged to grab it back.

Two maids pinned me down. I watched helplessly as the necklace was thrown into the roaring fire.

"No!" I screamed. My heart burned with the flames.

Rage overwhelmed my reason. I broke free and slapped Elena hard across the face.

Smack.

Elena threw herself onto the carpet, clutching her stomach and screaming. "My stomach! Alex, help, my baby..."

Alexander rushed in. He shoved me aside without a word.

My lower back hit the corner of the table hard. I gasped in pain.

He saw the necklace burning in the fireplace. A flash of hesitation and pain crossed his eyes, but Elena's screams replaced it with coldness.

He picked Elena up. As he passed me, he looked at me like I was dead. "If anything happens to Elena or the child, I will bury you with them."

While the manor was in chaos and Alexander took Elena to the hospital, I escaped.

I had to contact Papa. Once I returned to my family, I would be safe.

I borrowed a phone from a passerby and dialed Papa's number with trembling fingers.

The line was dead.

Panic set in. I searched for news online. The results froze my blood—Alexander's family had acquired all my family's businesses overnight under the guise of a "merger."

My father was wanted by the police for "money laundering."

Impossible. This was Alexander's doing.

I ran into the police station.

"I want to report a crime! Alexander is illegally imprisoning me! He's framing my father!" I grabbed the chief's sleeve.

The chief turned around slowly, a cigar in his mouth. He looked at me with a smirk. "Princess, I think you're confused."

He took out his phone and dialed a number, his tone subservient. "Don Alexander, your fiancée is here. She looks... mentally unstable."

I stepped back in despair. Even the police were Alexander's puppets.

Half an hour later, Alexander's car pulled up.

He dragged me back to the car and took me to that hellish manor.

In the courtyard, he had his men drag in the passerby who lent me the phone.

"I don't like disobedience," Alexander said coldly. He waved his hand.

Snap.

Bones cracked. The man screamed in agony as his legs were broken.

Alexander squeezed my pale face, his voice terrifyingly gentle. "Ivy, this is the price of running. Next time, it will be your father's legs."

Chapter 3

Alexander was completely enraged by my escape.

He dragged me back to the room like a prisoner, produced a pair of cold handcuffs, and locked my wrists to the headboard.

"Since you have so much energy to run, let's put it to better use."

He tore my clothes apart. There was no tenderness, only the plunder of a beast.

"Alexander! You bastard! Get off me!" I screamed and kicked, trying to push him away. "You have Elena! Why won't you let me go?"

He pinned me down with one hand, his heavy body rendering me immobile.

"Let you go?" He scoffed. His fingers maliciously explored my most sensitive spots, sending waves of shameful shudders through me. "Ivy, look at yourself. Your body is honest... You are soaking wet."

"Shut up! Stop talking!" I was dying of humiliation, tears streaming down my face.

"You will stay by my side for the rest of your life. Don't even think about leaving." Alexander bit my ear, his voice low and dangerous, like a sentence from hell. "You are mine, Ivy. Even if you die, you die in my bed."

"You are mine, Ivy. Even if you die, you die in my bed." He was ready to take me.

I squeezed my eyes shut, tears of humiliation and despair sliding down my temples, wetting the pillow.

I stopped struggling, lying there like a broken doll, waiting for the execution.

But the pain I expected never came.

A drop of hot liquid landed on my cheek. It wasn't mine.

I opened my eyes in shock. Alexander had stopped. He was hovering over me.

That pair of blue eyes, usually so cold and ruthless, was now filled with a shattering pain and self-loathing as he looked at my tear-streaked face.

He saw the fear in my eyes. The fear of him. "Dammit!" He roared and slammed his fist hard against the headboard.

Wood chips flew, scratching his cheek, but he didn't seem to feel it.

He rolled off me as if he had been burned, stumbling back to stand by the bed.

He walked to the door, pausing with his hand on the handle, his back stiff and lonely.

"Don't try to run again, Ivy. You know I can't let you go. But..." He took a deep breath, closing his eyes in defeat,

"I don't want to hurt you. Don't force me." He slammed the door shut.

A single tear rolled down my cheek, and I sat there quietly until midnight.

I heard two maids whispering outside the door.

"Looks like we're getting a new Donna . That Elena sure has means."

"Yeah, Miss Ivy is so pitiful... I heard her father didn't run away at all."

"Shh! Keep it down! I heard the bodyguard Jack say it when he was drunk. The Don actually locked Miss Ivy's father in the dungeon."

"Oh my God, that dungeon is hell on earth. No one comes out alive! Why would he do that?"

"I heard that six months ago, when the Don was drugged and almost died, the person who sold him out was Miss Ivy's father... He sold the Don to a rival family for profit."

That sentence exploded in my mind like thunder, instantly chasing away my sleepiness.

Impossible!

That was absolutely impossible!

How could Papa sell out Alexander?

Six months ago, on the day Alexander was attacked, Papa was with me the entire night celebrating my birthday. He never left my sight! He didn't have the time to commit the crime!

This must be another lie Alexander invented to torture me, or he was deceived!

But thinking of Alexander's ruthless methods and the rumors of the torture devices in the dungeon, fear gripped my heart.

If Papa really was in the dungeon... If Papa was being tortured...

I had to save him.

Chapter 4

I dragged my heavy body to the master bedroom to beg Alexander to spare my father.

That was the dungeon. I knew what went on down there; Papa wouldn't last three days.

But Alexander wasn't there.

Lying on the black velvet king-sized bed, symbolizing absolute power, was Elena, wearing sexy lace lingerie.

She was holding a glass of red wine. Seeing me enter, her mouth curled into a vicious smile.

"Looking for the Don in this house? Ivy, have you forgotten who the mistress is now?"

I turned to leave, not wanting to look at her disgusting face.

"Don't be in such a hurry," Elena's lazy voice came from behind. "Don't you want to see what your dear father looks like now?"

I froze.

Elena threw a stack of photos at me.

In the photos, Papa was suspended in the water dungeon, covered in blood and barely alive.

My hands trembled violently, and my heart felt like it was being torn apart.

"How dare you..." I stared at her with red eyes.

Elena walked up to me, lowered her voice, and spoke with triumphant arrogance. "Ivy, let me tell you the truth. Your father didn't sell out Alexander."

I looked up sharply.

"I set the whole thing up." Elena laughed, her body shaking with mirth. "I was the one who put the aphrodisiac in the wine that night. I was the one who leaked Alexander's location to the rival family. Otherwise, how would I have had the chance to climb into his bed? How would I have had the chance to get pregnant with this 'treasure'?"

The truth hit me like a lightning bolt.

"You psycho!"

"So what if I'm crazy? Alexander believes me." Elena gently stroked her manicured nails. "Next, I'll have them chop off your father's hands and feet..."

My sanity snapped.

"I'm going to kill you!"

I screamed and lunged at her, my hands strangling her neck.

Elena didn't fight back. Instead, she screamed dramatically, "Help! Guards! Ivy is trying to kill me!"

The bodyguards outside rushed in instantly, roughly pulling me away and pinning me to the floor.

I tried to struggle but was suppressed.

"I am the Donna ! Who gave you the guts to stop me!" I screamed.

The head bodyguard said coldly, "The Don ordered that no one is allowed to hurt Miss Elena."

I looked at Elena in despair.

She walked up to me, looked down, and slapped me across the face a dozen times.

"Donna ? Not for much longer."

My cheeks burned with pain, and my consciousness began to blur.

Before I passed out, I saw Alexander storm in.

He kicked the bodyguard holding me, sending him flying. I heard a sickening crack—the sound of breaking bones.

"You bastards!" Alexander picked me up, his eyes terrifying as a demon's. "Who gave you the courage to touch my woman!"

Chapter 5

I woke up in the VIP ward of the hospital, the smell of disinfectant making me nauseous.

Alexander sat by the bed, brows furrowed, holding an unlit cigar.

Seeing me awake, before he could speak, I grabbed his hand desperately.

"Alexander! It was Elena! She admitted it herself!"

I incoherently recounted everything that had just happened. "There was no betrayal! Papa is innocent! She drugged you! She leaked your location! It was all her setup!"

Alexander's look of concern gradually turned into impatience.

He pulled his hand back and looked at me coldly. "Ivy, that's enough."

"To clear your father's name, you're making up such ridiculous lies now?"

"Elena voluntarily sacrificed herself to save me. She was exiled by her family and abandoned by her fiancé for it. She paid such a terrible price just to set up a trap?"

He stood up, looking down at me with eyes full of disappointment.

"Stop letting jealousy blind you. For your sake, I can keep your father alive, but release him? Absolutely not."

Just as I wanted to laugh out of despair, the doctor pushed the door open.

He wore a professional smile and bowed to Alexander.

"Congratulations, Don. The results are in. The Donna is pregnant."

Alexander froze.

Those usually gloomy blue eyes suddenly burst with ecstatic light.

"Really?" He looked sharply at my stomach. The coldness from a moment ago vanished, his voice trembling. "You mean, I'm going to be a father?"

He almost stumbled as he sat back down by the bed, reaching out carefully to touch my lower abdomen, as if a rare treasure were hidden there.

"Ivy... we're having a baby." A layer of mist formed in his blue eyes, a depth of emotion I had never seen before. "This is a chance from God, isn't it? We can turn the page on all the unpleasantness before. For the sake of the child, let's start over."

Seeing the hope in his eyes, my heart trembled.

Hatred surged in my chest, but when my hand subconsciously covered my flat stomach, a strange sense of blood connection made my eyes red.

This was my child.

In this cruel world, this was the only family that truly belonged to me.

Even though I hated Alexander to the bone, the child was innocent.

Chapter 6

I started forcing myself to eat. No matter how bad the morning sickness was, for the sake of the child, I forced myself to swallow.

I silently swore that no matter how stormy it got outside, I would do everything to protect this little life.

However, this brief peace lasted only two days.

That afternoon, Alexander walked in with the doctor.

Unlike his previous ecstasy, Alexander's face was as pale as a sheet, and he looked like he had aged ten years in an instant.

"Ivy..." Alexander's voice was terribly hoarse. He sat by the bed and buried his head deep in my palms. "The doctor says your heart can't handle the pregnancy. If you insist on having this baby, you will die."

I felt like I had been struck by lightning.

I looked at the doctor in disbelief.

The doctor avoided my gaze and whispered, "Donna , your vitals are alarming. If the pregnancy continues, there is a high probability that both of you will die. The Don made this decision for your safety."

"No! You're lying!" I pushed Alexander away like a madwoman and shrank into the corner of the bed. "My health has always been fine! How could I have heart disease! I want a different doctor! I want a re-examination!"

"Ivy! Calm down!" Alexander rushed over and hugged me tightly, his eyes red. "I want this child too! But I can't lose you! We can have children later!"

To comfort me, Alexander cupped my face and said something that plunged me into an ice cave:

"Ivy, listen to me. I know you like children... Elena is due soon. I've arranged it. When she gives birth, I'll give that child to you to raise. It will be under your name. That will be our child..."

My blood froze instantly.

This was the ultimate cruelty.

He wanted to kill my own flesh and blood, then make me raise my enemy's child?

"Alexander, you are a devil..." I looked at him in despair, the last light in my eyes extinguishing. "I hate you... I will hate you forever!"

No matter how I resisted, I was forcibly pushed into the operating room.

On the cold operating table, the anesthesiologist injected the drugs.

But I didn't lose consciousness completely.

My body couldn't move, but I could clearly feel the cold instruments entering me. The excruciating pain of flesh being stripped away made me want to scream, but I couldn't make a sound.

Amidst this hellish torture, I heard the sound of high heels outside the door.

Then, Elena's triumphant voice.

"Oh, how pitiful." She seemed to be standing right next to the operating table, looking down at me. "Such a healthy baby, turned into a pool of blood just like that."

"Miss Elena, keep your voice down," came the attending doctor's voice. "Although she was given anesthesia, the patient might still be subconsciously aware."

"What are you afraid of? Here is the check for one million dollars. Take it." Elena chuckled lightly. "Thanks to your forged medical report. Not only did you help me get rid of this bastard, but you also filled Alexander with guilt toward her. Now, let's see who can shake my position."

So... that was it!

Agony and hatred intertwined, almost exploding my chest.

There was no heart disease! My baby was healthy!

They conspired to murder him!

Tears slid silently from the corners of my eyes, mixed with cold sweat.

Alexander, Elena... I swear, as long as I don't die, I will make you pay with blood!

After the surgery, I was wheeled back to the ward.

The anesthesia hadn't worn off, and everyone thought I was still in a coma. Alexander guarded me for a while before his men called him out to deal with a family emergency.

The room was empty.

I struggled to open my eyes.

With trembling hands, I reached into the hidden compartment inside my pillow and found the micro-communicator I had hidden for a long time—the last card Papa left me before he was taken.

I dialed an encrypted number.

It connected quickly, and an old, steady voice answered, "Princess?"

It was one of Papa's loyalists, an expert in explosives and forgery.

My throat was dry and hoarse. "Prepare some supplies for me."

After hanging up, I flushed the communicator down the toilet.

After that, I became like a walking corpse, refusing to say a single word to Alexander.

Meanwhile, opposition within the family grew louder.

The elders were already dissatisfied with me. Now that I was the "daughter of a traitor" and had lost the heir, they unanimously demanded that Alexander depose me as Donna .

Alexander was under immense pressure.

To quell the anger of the masses, and to give me a chance at "rebirth."

"Ivy, you know the family rules." He looked at me with a depth I didn't understand. "Accept the 'Judgment of the Revolver.' Russian Roulette."

"One bullet, one in six chance. If you survive, the past is wiped clean."

Chapter 7

The day of judgment was set in the family's underground council chamber.

Alexander slammed a revolver onto the table in front of all the elders.

"Russian Roulette," he said, scanning the room coldly. "One bullet, a one-in-six chance. If the Donna survives, the past is wiped clean."

The elders whispered among themselves and eventually nodded in agreement.

Alexander didn't check the cylinder in public; he seemed confident in his arrangement.

He picked up the gun and strode over to me.

As he handed me the gun, his finger gently grazed my palm.

Those usually gloomy blue eyes were now filled with suppressed tension and deep affection.

He leaned into my ear under the pretense of handing me the weapon, his voice low enough that only we could hear:

"Trust me, Ivy."

"I've already had the cylinder cleared. Just pull the trigger, hear the empty click, and these old geezers will have nothing left to say."

"When this is over, we start fresh."

Start fresh?

I looked at his hopeful eyes, but my heart was a wasteland.

Alexander, you were too naive. With so much blood debt between us, how could we possibly start over?

But I said nothing. I just nodded obediently and took the heavy gun.

"Okay, I trust you."

I raised the gun and slowly aimed the dark muzzle at my left chest.

Chapter 8

Just moments before I pulled the trigger, Elena suddenly walked over.

"As the victim, I have the right to one final check."

She didn't touch the gun. Instead, she walked up to me and opened her arms in an extremely hypocritical gesture of a hug.

"Ivy, don't be afraid. The Lord will protect you."

To everyone else, this looked like the victim forgiving the perpetrator.

However, when she leaned close to my ear with that sickly sweet perfume, her voice was like a venomous snake crawling out of hell:

"You fool, did you really think it was empty?"

"I switched out Alexander's men long ago. I had it fully loaded. Six bullets. Every one of them lethal."

"Go to hell. Don't worry, once you're dead, I'll send your old man down to join you. I'll have his limbs chopped up and fed to the dogs so the whole family can be reunited..."

The old me might have seen red and tried to kill her regardless of the consequences.

But in this moment, I was unusually calm.

I didn't push her away. Instead, I turned my head and gave Elena a smile so bright it was eerie.

"Is that so?" I whispered, my tone as gentle as if chatting with a best friend. "That's wonderful."

"Elena, thank you for everything. In return, I've prepared a big gift for you too... I hope you like it."

Elena froze.

Seeing my smile, a massive wave of unease rose in her heart. She thought I would go mad or scream, but my calm acceptance of death, mixed with mockery, terrified her.

"You..." She instinctively tried to back away. "What are you bluffing about!"

The moment she stepped back, I didn't give her a chance to think.

I looked at Alexander. The man was watching me nervously, waiting for that crisp click, waiting to "start fresh" with me.

"Goodbye, Alexander."

I mouthed the words to him soundlessly.

The next second, I shifted my wrist outward by an inch—imperceptible to others—avoiding the main artery of my heart, and pulled the trigger without hesitation!

Bang—!

The gunshot exploded in the enclosed chamber, deafeningly loud!

It wasn't empty!

Blood instantly bloomed on my chest, dying my white dress red.

The expression on Alexander's face froze.

The anticipation from a second ago turned into absolute terror and pallor. He let out a gut-wrenching roar: "Ivy—!!"

He lunged at me like a madman.

But I didn't give him the chance to touch my body.

The moment I fell, I pressed the micro-detonator hidden in my palm.

Boom—!

Just as Alexander was about to touch the hem of my dress, the floor shook violently!

Thick white smoke, accompanied by the explosion, instantly swallowed the entire chamber.

"Cough! Bomb! There's a bomb!"

"Protect the Don!"

The scene was chaos, with screams and coughing rising and falling.

In the blinding confusion, enduring the agonizing pain in my chest, I relied on my memory to agilely roll into a secret door in the corner.

Below it lay the underground river channel leading out of the manor, where a speedboat was already waiting.

Clutching my bleeding wound, I jumped into the dark chute.

Behind me, the sound of chain explosions rang out.

Fire swallowed everything.

The Ivy who loved Alexander finally died in this grand display of fireworks.