

Marco, an appliance dealer who rose from the bottom, returned to his old apartment building and paid out of his own pocket to install air conditioners for every household, as a way of repaying the kindness he had received years ago. However, his neighbor Marina took the lead in filing claims under various pretexts and engaging in moral blackmail. Without arguing, Marco dismantled all the air conditioners overnight and took them away. When the scorching heat arrived, the old building suffered terribly, while the new building across the street remained cool and orderly. After enduring heatstroke, shortages, and failed extortion attempts, the neighbors finally broke down and had no choice but to turn to Marco for help. Marco presented them with a business contract and insisted that things be done according to the rules. In the end, the neighbors paid to have the units reinstalled—except for Anna, the only one who had stayed clear-headed back then, and who received Marco's free, special care.

On our seventh wedding anniversary, I was straddling my Mafia husband, Lucian, kissing him deeply. My fingers fumbled in the pocket of my expensive silk dress, searching for the pregnancy test I'd hidden there. I wanted to save the news of my unexpected pregnancy for the end of the evening. Lucian's right-hand man, Marco, asked with a suggestive smile in Italian: "Don, your new little canary, Sophia. How does she taste?" Lucian's mocking laughter vibrated through my chest, sending a chill down my spine. He replied, also in Italian: "Like an unripe peach. Fresh and tender." His hand was still caressing my waist, but his gaze was distant. "Just keep this between us. If my Donna finds out, I'm a dead man." His men chuckled knowingly, raising their glasses and swearing their silence. The warmth in my blood turned to ice, inch by inch. The one thing they didn’t know was that my grandmother was from Sicily, so I understood every word. I forced myself to remain calm, keeping the perfect smile of a Donna fixed in place, but the hand holding my champagne flute trembled. Instead of making a scene, I opened my phone, found the invitation I had received a few days ago for a private international medical research project, and tapped "Accept." In three days, I would disappear from Lucian's world completely.