The bullet grazed past Alice's cheek and shattered the mirror behind her. Glass shards rained down on her.
Alice lost control of her bladder and collapsed to the floor, trembling violently. "Don't kill me! Domenico, don't kill me!"
Domenico threw the stack of documents in her face. Papers were scattered across the ground.

"So, it was you. It was always you!" He advanced step by step, blood-red tears streaming from his eyes. They were the manifestation of extreme grief and rage.
"You fabricated that video to frame Lucia. You bribed the doctor to fake your pregnancy. You even tried to kill the children in her womb! Because of a worthless whore like you, I killed the woman I loved most. I killed my own flesh and blood!"
He raised the gun and aimed it at Alice's forehead, his finger tight on the trigger.
"No! Domenico! Don't kill me!" Alice screamed. In this life-or-death moment, she suddenly cried out. "I know a secret about Lucia! About that dagger!"
Domenico's finger froze on the trigger.
"Talk." His voice was terrifyingly hoarse.

Alice fumbled in her clothes with shaking hands and pulled out the antique dagger she had used to peel apples. It was the only thing she had on her when she was locked up. She had kept it for self-defense.
"This dagger... I found a hidden compartment in it." She twisted open the handle with trembling hands. A tightly rolled slip of paper fell out.
Domenico picked up the note and unfolded it.
It was my mother's final letter to me, written in elegant script. "My daughter Lucia, I have left assets in a Swass bank. The password is your birthday. May you live in peace and joy, far from conflict."

It was the key to a fortune large enough to buy all of Cecilo.
When the Calvetti family faced their crisis, I pawned the dagger for cash but never touched the card my mother left for me. It was meant to be a last resort for Domenico and me. It was my final act of trust in him.
Domenico stared at the note, his entire body shaking violently. Tears streamed down his face. He finally understood what I had sacrificed for him these past ten years.
I had guarded that astronomical fortune while willingly staying by his side as the plain, neglected wife everyone mocked.
I cooked for him, handled his problems, and gave him everything. Even when he sold my mother's heirloom for another woman, I never used this secret to reclaim my dignity.
Yet, he had taken my devotion for granted, treated my love like cheap trash, and pushed me into hell with his own hands.
Domenico let out an anguished cry, filled with despair and regret. He suddenly turned the gun on himself and shot his own thigh.
Blood gushed out and stained his pants red, but he seemed not to feel the pain. He just pressed the note to his chest and called my name over and over.
"Lucia... Lucia… How can you be so cruel... punishing me this way, leaving me to live in hell for the rest of my life..."
He did not kill Alice because he thought death would be too easy for her.
"Send her to the lowest tier of the red light district," Domenico ordered his men expressionlessly.
"Since she loves seducing men so much, let her seduce to her heart's content. As long as she has a breath left in her, don't let her die. Let her live and atone."
Alice's screams as she was dragged away echoed throughout the entire mansion, shrill and desperate.
Meanwhile, Domenico dragged his ruined leg and crawled back to my room step by agonizing step.
He curled up on my bed, clutching the silk robe I had left behind. It still carried traces of my scent. He buried his face in the robe again and again, desperately inhaling what remained of me. His tears soaked the bedding.