After that argument, Gianna and Matteo fell into a cold war. He stopped visiting, and she refused to reach out first.
Lately, in her dreams, she kept seeing a warm family that did not exist—doting parents with relatives gathered around them.
This longing was like an addiction. It flared up during rainy nights in the city, gnawing at her bones and piercing her heart. Hence, despite Matteo's strict warnings, she found herself drawn once again to the gates of Orleen Estate.
Tall iron railings wrapped in electrified barbed wire loomed above. Armed Soldati stood guard at the entrance.
"What do you want? Get lost!"
They spotted her again.
A rifle butt struck Gianna's shoulder. She grunted in pain and collapsed to the ground.
Just then, the Don's wife, Isabella Bianchi, stepped outside. Their eyes met.
Isabella froze in place. A powerful instinct deep in her blood made her heart race.
The pale, delicate face and those features bore a striking resemblance to the Don in his youth. She looked more like a Ricci than their pampered Principessa did.
"Stop! Let her go!"
She rushed forward, struggling to control her emotions. "Child, who are you? How old are you?"
Gianna ignored the searing pain in her shoulder and struggled to stand. She wanted to call out 'Mamma'.
This was the closest she had ever been to home. If she just spoke up, if she just...
The harsh sound of brakes cut through the air. An armored SUV screeched to a violent stop beside them, radiating menace.
A tall, cold figure strode over quickly. Matteo shoved Gianna backward with one hand, sending her crashing into the wet, cold mud again.
"What are you doing?" Isabella cried out and moved to help her up.
"Madre, be careful!" He stepped in front of Isabella, his face full of vigilance.
"I just got word that enemy forces might have sent a spy. This woman had plastic surgery to look like the Don when he was young—bone shaving, jaw reshaping, the works. She's trying to get into the Ricci family with bad intentions!"
What was he saying? Gianna was stunned.
He was the one who brought her back to the city. He was the one who promised to help her claim her identity. He was the one who...
"Plastic surgery?" Isabella's outstretched hand froze in midair. The compassion in her eyes was instantly replaced by shock and suspicion. "But those eyes..."
"Modern cosmetic surgery can fake even retinas, let alone a face."
Matteo refused to budge. "Take her inside for interrogation!"
This was her first time entering the estate. Unfortunately, everyone else sat while she knelt.
"Similar. So similar!" Domenico Ricci squinted as he studied her. "Even with your warning, we still need to verify before we can be certain.
"Ricci blood cannot tolerate any confusion!"
The family doctor quickly arrived. In the blood draw room, there was only the doctor, Gianna, and Matteo as the overseer.
The needle pierced her vein. She felt no pain. She only looked at him again and again, her eyes pleading like someone on the brink of death.
He simply adjusted his cuffs. From start to finish, he never looked at her once.
After the blood draw, the doctor took the sample to the inner laboratory. The Ricci family had the most advanced equipment. The testing time was significantly shortened.
Gianna was taken to a holding room to wait. The entire day felt as long as a century.
"Don Ricci, the results are in. Biological kinship probability is 0%. Not related by blood."
That was impossible! Matteo had secretly run a test using hair samples from Domenico and Isabella. It proved she was the real Ricci Principessa. Why was it that now…
In her panic, she suddenly remembered a detail from earlier. It was Matteo!
After she left the blood draw room, he stayed behind for a few minutes. Long enough to bribe the doctor and falsify the results!
Domenico flew into a rage. "How dare she impersonate Ricci blood! I'll..."
"Don Ricci!" Isabella's heart softened after all. She sighed. "Spare her life. Just teach her a lesson and throw her out."
"Then we'll use the whip." He snorted coldly. "Twenty lashes. But her life and death are in God's hands!"
On the estate's punishment frame, a saltwater-soaked whip fell again and again. Gianna was beaten until her flesh split open, but she swallowed her screams.
Not far away, Matteo was wiping tears from Lucia's ruined makeup, completely ignoring the brutal scene behind him.
After 20 lashes, she was nothing but a bloody mess. They tossed her out of the estate like garbage.
Gianna leaned against the wall, struggling forward. Suddenly, someone grabbed her and pulled her into a car.
"Gigi!"
"You tampered with it, didn't you?"
Matteo did not deny it. "If you're acknowledged now, you'll die.
"The family is currently fighting over Arupean shipping routes. Plenty of enemies have their eyes on that position. If you show up now, you'll just become a living target!
"I'm saving you."
Gianna laughed bitterly and finally shouted what was really in her heart.
"Are you afraid she'll fall apart when she learns the truth, or can you just not stand to see her hurt? You keep saying this is all for revenge, but the way you're acting now, you're clearly protecting her!"
Matteo slammed on the brakes. The momentum threw her against the seat back, pulling at her wounds. Her face went deathly pale from the pain.
"Get out."
She had exposed his unconscious favoritism. She did not apologize with red-rimmed eyes like she used to. Instead, she simply left.
