The Scapegoat's Rebirth

My best friend, Lena Vitale, left me for dead in a fire she started.

I suffered severe burns and lay in a hospital bed for three long months.

The day I was discharged, I discovered she was marrying my ex-boyfriend, the Don Victor Gambino.

She claimed she married Victor to punish him on my behalf for being such a "scumbag."

However, she sold all her wedding jewelry and told Victor I had stolen it.

She maxed out Victor's secondary credit card, claiming it was to pay off my gambling debts.

She even blamed me for her miscarriage—the one caused by her affair with Victor’s driver.

Ultimately, Victor sold me to a rival drug cartel's underground prison.

There, I was brutally tortured to death.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day Lena had her affair and miscarriage.

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1

Whenever Lena Vitale had a tryst with her lover, she told her husband, Victor Gambino, that she was with me.

She’d either say I was being punished for ruining the family business and needed someone to look after me.

Or she’d say I was gambling and needed help because rivals were after me for my debts.

She even used the excuse that I was entangled in a mob dispute and needed her to mediate.

If Victor hadn't shown up on my doorstep in my previous life, furiously listing my crimes,

I would never have known my life could be so… eventful.

Right now, Victor's calls were blowing up my phone again.

The moment I answered, Victor's furious voice exploded in my ear:

“Serena Moretti, it’s this late, what are you doing keeping Lena at your place again?”

“I’ve had enough of you. I don’t care if you want to wallow in self-pity after I dumped you, but can you stop preying on Lena? She’s your best friend, not your mother!”

“Lena is married now, and she’s pregnant! Can’t you have some shame and stop bothering her over every little thing? Do you have any idea how pathetic you are?”

“Is it because I dumped you that you’re holding a grudge and deliberately trying to ruin my family? Lena is an innocent. If you keep using her, don’t blame me for what happens next! Send her back to me, now!”

Victor sounded like he was at the end of his rope, his verbal assault a deafening roar that made my ears ache.

I hadn't had any contact with Lena since she set that fire.

But Victor didn't see it that way.

I received his calls almost every day.

At first, when I heard Victor's angry complaints, I actually believed Lena was "punishing the scumbag."

It wasn't until the day Victor stormed into my home, read me the riot act in a fit of rage, and then had me stuffed in a sack and sold to a rival family.

Only then did I realize I had been made a scapegoat, the fool who took the fall.

Remembering how Lena had burned me and slandered me in my past life.

And Victor's cruel revenge.

Rage ignited in the pit of my stomach.

Victor Gambino, today I’m going to let you see with your own eyes just what kind of woman your "innocent, good wife" really is!

A cold smile touched my lips as I spoke into the phone, “The Vitale princess is probably busy… clearing some pipes. She’s very busy. Can't come back just yet.”