His Love and Devotion Are All Lies

On the day I discover that Ignazio Corelli, who is my husband and the Don of the Corelli famiglia, is cheating on me for the first time, I file for divorce and buy a plane ticket to leave.

But he locks me in the master bedroom of the villa for five days and uses up three whole bottles of lubricant.

After that, he explains with a helpless expression, "Carlotta, my enemies set me up and drugged me. That's why I spent one night with Chiara Linetti. You have to forgive me."

The second time, I see him accompanying Chiara to a prenatal checkup at the hospital. Once again, I ask for a divorce.

His eyes turn bloodshot as he pins me against the wall. "Honey, if you want a divorce, it'll only happen over my dead body. You have to trust me. Chiara is a spy my enemies planted. I need to keep her under control and make her my double agent.

"It won't take long. We just need to wait until after she gives birth. I swear that once the time comes, I'll send her away immediately."

But later, Chiara suffers a miscarriage. Everyone suspects that I am secretly responsible.

Chiara grabs my throat like a madwoman and shrieks, "If you're angry, take it out on me! Why did you have to harm my child?"

Even Ignazio looks at me with heavy disappointment in his eyes. "I told you to wait a little longer. Why did you have to make a move against my child?"

With that, he orders his men to lock me in the basement where he usually imprisons his enemies.

"You can come out when you've truly reflected on your mistakes," he says.

Curled up in a corner, I send a message that will erase itself once it is read from my phone.

I write, "Destroy all records of my childbirth. Once the paperwork is complete, take me and the child away."

The basement that reeked with the stench of blood was finally opened just as I was about to lose consciousness.

Ignazio Corelli scooped me up into his arms and held me tightly like he felt immensely sorry for me.

He said, "Carlotta, you almost caused the famiglia's counterintelligence plan to fail. I had to punish you harshly to give the members an explanation. You know you're the one I love the most. Once I successfully use Chiara to carry out the plan, we'll be able to go back to how things were before."

The so-called counterintelligence plan he was carrying out through Chiara Linetti was simply getting her pregnant with his child again. He justified it with the noble-sounding excuse that it was the only way to have a hold over her and to keep his enemies in the dark.

I watched him put on his act of deep affection with frosty eyes, feeling nothing but desolation in my heart.

"But Ignazio, we can never go back to the way things were. And there