On the eve of my blood-bound wedding, I was taken.
In our world, they call it the Snatch. An abduction sanctioned in the shadows, ordered by powerful hands that never leave fingerprints.
For two endless days and nights, I was imprisoned, humiliated, and tortured until every ounce of dignity had been stripped away.
When my family finally paid the ransom and brought me home, the physician avoided my eyes as he delivered the verdict.
"I... I'm sorry. The damage is severe. You may never be able to bear children."
Before I had even recovered from that nightmare, another blow shattered what remained of my world.
Within a single week, my betrothed, the reigning Don of the Graziano Family, abandoned me and married Camilla Vitale instead, the false daughter everyone adored.
The rumors spread through every ballroom, private club, and underground gathering like wildfire.
They whispered that I had been defiled.
That I was no longer worthy of becoming a Don's wife.
That even fate had discarded me.
Those whispers drove me into a darkness I couldn't escape.
In the end, I climbed onto the bridge and threw myself into the freezing river, convinced there was nothing left to live for.
Just before the current swallowed me forever, Tomasso Graziano appeared.
The Underboss of the Graziano Family.
The younger brother of the man who had abandoned me.
Without the slightest hesitation, he dove into the icy water after me, fighting the raging current until he dragged me back to shore, nearly drowning in the process.
When he finally regained consciousness, the first thing he did was confess.
He told me he had loved me for years.
That he loved me more than his own life.
He begged me to become his blood-bound wife, promising that under his name, no one would ever hurt me again.
My broken heart, desperate for even a fragment of warmth, believed him.
So I married him.
Two years later, fate gave me what I thought was a miracle.
I was pregnant.
Holding the examination report with trembling hands, tears of happiness blurred my vision as I hurried home, eager to tell my husband the news.
But before I could step inside, voices drifted through the half-open door.
Tomasso.
My parents.
I froze where I stood.
"Back then," my father said quietly, "Camilla completely lost her mind. She hired those men to take Serafina."
My entire body turned to ice.
My mother sighed.
"Thank God you paid them enough tribute to keep their mouths shut. Otherwise Camilla would've been ruined. You even accepted marrying Serafina afterward... a woman the doctors said could never give you an heir."
Every word stabbed deeper than the last.
Then Tomasso finally spoke.
His voice was calm.
Steady.
As though they were discussing nothing more than Family business.
"That won't be necessary."
My mother hesitated.
"But the Graziano bloodline can't end with you. We've already decided. Camilla's first child will inherit everything from your brother. As for the second heir..."
"It should be yours."
Silence lingered for a heartbeat.
Then Tomasso answered without the slightest hesitation.
"No."
"This way, my brother and Camilla's child will remain the Graziano Family's only heir."
"As long as Camilla is happy..."
His voice softened with unmistakable tenderness.
"...that's enough for me."
A painful silence followed.
Then he added quietly,
"As for Serafina..."
"I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to her."
……
"Good girl," my mother said softly. "I know how much this has weighed on you. If you hadn't done what you did, the Vitale Family would have lost every ounce of standing we have in the Cosa Nostra."
"I know we've wronged Serafina. I know this isn't fair to her. But this was the only way."
Every word froze the blood in my veins.
A violent chill swept through me, and my body began to shake uncontrollably.
So it was true.
The person who had orchestrated the Snatch...
The one who had me dragged away, humiliated, tortured until I wished for death...
Was my own sister.
Camilla.
The false daughter my family had cherished for years.
I had believed Tomasso was my salvation.
I thought he had jumped into that freezing river because he loved me.
I thought he had pulled me back from death because he couldn't bear to lose me.
How ridiculous.
He hadn't saved me out of love.
He had saved me to bury Camilla's crime forever.
And my own parents...
The people who shared my blood...
Had chosen to sacrifice me without hesitation, all to protect the Family's honor and the daughter they truly loved.
I clamped a trembling hand over my mouth, forcing every sob back down.
I didn't dare make a sound.
If they found me outside that door, I wasn't sure I could survive hearing another word.
Barely able to remain standing, I turned and fled.
By the time I stumbled back to the wing Tomasso and I shared, my legs were so weak they nearly gave out beneath me.
Just then, my phone vibrated.
Tomasso.
A message appeared across the screen.
[Serafina, I've got a sit-down tonight. Don't wait up. Get some rest. Love you.]
For a long moment, I simply stared at those three words.
Love you.
Once, they had been enough to soothe every wound inside me.
Now they felt like the cruelest lie ever written.
I locked the screen without replying.
Instead, my gaze slowly drifted toward the heavy door of his private study.
When we first married, I couldn't escape the nightmares.
Every night I woke screaming, terrified that I was back in that dark room again.
The only way I could fall asleep was with Tomasso holding my hand.
Yet countless times, I'd reached for him in the middle of the night only to find his side of the bed empty.
He was always inside that study.
No one was ever allowed in.
The room remained locked behind a keypad at all times.
I stood there for several seconds before walking toward it.
Almost without thinking, I entered one date.
Camilla's birthday.
A soft click echoed through the silence.
The door unlocked.
For a heartbeat, I couldn't move.
Then I slowly pushed it open.
The moment I stepped inside, the air left my lungs.
Every wall...
Every inch of the room...
Was filled with Camilla.
Photographs.
Portraits.
Sketches.
From the little girl with bright eyes and ribbons in her hair...
To the elegant young woman she had become.
She smiled at me from every direction.
The display shelves were lined with her belongings.
Old dolls.
Hair ribbons.
Music boxes.
Birthday gifts.
Tiny keepsakes that had clearly been handled countless times, dusted carefully, preserved with almost obsessive devotion.
It wasn't a study.
It was a shrine.
A shrine built for the woman Tomasso had loved all along.
Then the truth struck me with terrifying clarity.
Every one of those gifts...
Every treasured keepsake...
Had once belonged to Camilla before being casually discarded by Alessandro Graziano, the reigning Don and Tomasso's older brother.
For ten long years, Camilla had devoted herself to Alessandro.
She chased after him.
Loved him.
Tried everything to earn even a glance from him.
And everything Alessandro threw away...
Tomasso quietly collected.
He kept every abandoned gift as though it were the most precious treasure in the world.
My heart shattered piece by piece.
My fingers trembled as I touched those carefully preserved memories.
Hot tears streamed endlessly down my face.
At last...
Everything made sense.
When I was thirteen, my birth parents finally found me and brought me home.
That was also the day they asked Camilla to call me "sister."
Only then did I learn the truth.
We had been switched at birth.
Camilla had spent thirteen years growing up in my place, showered with love, protected as the Vitale Family's precious daughter.
And although I eventually returned...
I never truly belonged.
My parents tried to make up for losing me.
They gave me gifts.
Kind words.
Their guilt.
But their hearts...
Their hearts had always belonged to Camilla.
She wasn't their daughter by blood.
She was their daughter by love.
Years later, when the Graziano Family chose me, the true-born daughter of the Vitals, for a political marriage, my parents accepted immediately.
Not once did they ask whether I wanted that life.
I never knew...
Camilla had already fallen hopelessly in love with my betrothed.
So she arranged the Snatch.
She paid those men to destroy me.
To ruin me.
To make sure I could never stand beside Alessandro...
So she could steal my place.
And the people who should have protected me...
My parents.
Tomasso.
Every one of them knew the truth.
Every one of them chose silence.
Every one of them chose her.
My knees finally gave way.
I buried my face in my hands and cried until breathing itself became painful.
Just then, my phone began to ring.
Mom.
