

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.

Hidden genius doctor Damian Mercer (alias Umbra) disguises himself as a beggar to evade global pursuit, only to receive a black card as charity from heiress Liana Lowell. He diagnoses her terminal "Yin-collapsed meridians," but three renowned doctors dismiss him.After publicly humiliating the trio, Damian is forcibly brought to the Lowell estate, where his golden needle technique saves Liana's life, shocking the medical world. Upon escaping, he's publicly humiliated by his fiancee Molly Sawyer and half-brother Rowan Mercer, who break off their engagement. He also discovers the Mercer family has grown arrogant after gaining a seat among "the Twelve Ascendant Elders of the Sanctum" through Damian's own subordinate, Left Sentinel of the Sanctum. Damian secretly orchestrates his revenge, announcing as "Umbra" that he'll attend the Mercer family wedding—causing a sensation.