Chapter 3

"Mrs. Rossi, please calm down…"

Seeing Carmine, the lead surgeon rushed out with his assistants. He bowed his head deeply, his voice trembling in fear.

"How is my son?!" Carmine snapped, grabbing the doctor by his collar.

"The surgery took seven long hours. We saved his life," the doctor stammered, sweat dripping down his face. "But Boss Dominic's spine and pelvis are shattered. His spinal cord is severely damaged. In the worst-case scenario, he will be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life."

"Paralyzed?!" Carmine shrieked. Her eyes rolled back, and she passed out cold, slamming onto the floor!

The hallway erupted into pure chaos.

I watched cold-eyed as bodyguards scrambled to revive Carmine, quietly backing into a corner.

For seven hours straight, I didn't touch a drop of water. I didn't shed a single tear.

I organized every single medical bill, handed hot coffee to every family lieutenant waiting in the hall, and secretly saved all of Dominic's diagnostic records on my phone.

The way many mobsters looked at me started to change.

The next morning, outside the ICU on the top floor of the family hospital.

Vanessa tried to force her way in with her mother, her eyes red, holding a flask of homemade soup.

However, the Rossi elders and guards at the door showed no mercy. They didn't even give her a single glance.

In the mafia, a woman who made the family heir lose his legs was nothing but a curse.

"Sienna,how is Dominic?" Vanessa asked, her voice shaking as she took a tentative step toward me.

"Still under observation in the ICU," I rasped out, rubbing my temples with an exhausted look. "Your wrist is still hurt. Why aren't you resting?"

Vanessa froze. My flawless, gentle attitude stung her, leaving her utterly embarrassed.

Just then, a nurse threw the door open and rushed out in panic: "Ma'am! Boss Dominic is awake!"

Carmine, who had just been wheeled over with an IV in her arm, didn't care about her weak body. She ordered her men to push her inside right away. The elders and I followed right behind her.

On the hospital bed, Dominic was pale as a ghost, covered in tubes.

He shifted his gaze with great effort, opening his cracked lips. His first words weren't about his own injuries, nor were they for his mother.

Instead, he rasped out with weak, obsessed desperation: "Vanessa… is Vanessa okay? Is she hurt badly?"

Standing by the bed, Carmine and the elders turned deathly quiet, their faces dark as night.

Dominic didn't notice a thing. He turned his head toward Vanessa:

"As long as you're safe… why are you still hurt? Don't worry about me. As long as you're okay, it's all worth it."

Beside the bed, Carmine shook with pure rage.

"Dominic! You almost lost your damn life, and the first word out of your mouth is about an outsider?"

Before the man could answer, the lead surgeon walked in.

He put on sterile gloves, pulled back the blanket, and jabbed a sharp pin into the skin of Dominic's toes and calves.

Once. Twice.

"Feel any pain, Mr. Rossi?"

Dominic froze. He tried with all his might to move his lower body, but from his waist down, there was only dead silence.

"Why… why can't I feel my feet?!" Dominic frowned. "Is the anesthesia still working?"

Looking at the pity in everyone's eyes, the brutal truth hit him.

His confusion turned into shock, then melted into a full meltdown. "What the hell did you do to my legs?! I am the heir of the Rossi family! How could I be a cripple?!"

He wildly knocked the metal tray of medical tools onto the floor. The tubes attached to him shook violently.

Vanessa broke down into heavy tears. She threw herself onto the bed, holding his hand: "Dominic! Don't be like this! No matter what happens to you, I will stay by your side forever!"

Seeing Vanessa, the terror in Dominic's eyes instantly turned into wild malice. His glare pinned strictly onto me.

The hatred and toxicity in his eyes threatened to swallow me whole.

"Sienna! Was it you?!" Dominic roared in a hoarse, brutal voice. "My vest was right next to your hands! Why didn't you pull me up?! Did you do this on purpose?!"

The air in the room froze solid.

Everyone snapped their heads around to look at me.

I scoffed inside my head.

Look at that. This is the man I loved with all my heart in my past life. He ruined himself to save his precious girl, and the first thing he does when he wakes up is throw mud at his own wife.

My eyes turned blood-red in a second. Big tears fell like broken beads down my face.

I didn't argue. I just silently lifted my arm and pulled back my sleeve.

The deep purple bruises and bloody scars carved into my arm by the vest buckle—along with the scabbed, torn flesh on my palm—were laid bare for every family elder to see.

"Dominic, what are you talking about?" I sobbed, my voice trembling. "To pull you back, my hands almost got ripped off in those metal rings… But you only wanted to save Vanessa! How could I hold the weight of two whole people?!"

I turned to look at Carmine: "If I hesitated for even a second, how could I get my skin torn off like this? He is my husband… but his heart was only set on saving Vanessa!"

Carmine looked at the terrifying bloody scars on my arm, then looked at Vanessa crying fake tears by the bed. Her eyes turned completely cold.

SLAP!

Carmine turned around and hit Vanessa across the face with a brutal slap!

"Get the hell out!" Carmine pointed toward the door, her eyes cold as ice, looking at her like a piece of trash. "Starting today, don't let me ever see you near the Rossi family again!"

Vanessa crashed onto the floor, holding her burning cheek, screaming in disbelief: "Aunt Carmine! Dominic and I are clean!"

"I said GET OUT!" Carmine roared with pure fury.

Dominic lay there frozen in shock, unable to believe his mother, who had always favored Vanessa, could be this ruthless.

Cold-faced guards dragged the screaming Vanessa out of the room.

Carmine turned around, taking my hands into hers. Her voice was softer and more reliant than ever before: "Sienna, you've suffered so much. From now on, this family needs to rely on you."

Right now, Dominic lay flat on the bed, his face pale as death, his eyes fixed on his paralyzed legs.

I lowered my head, hiding the bone-chilling smirk in my eyes.

Don't be in such a hurry, Dominic. The punishment of your fall into hell has only just begun.