Chapter 1

Favio Guerrero, my husband, brought Isabella into our home six months before Isabella killed our daughter.

Favio was the Don of the Guerrero Syndicate and the President of Guerrero Corporation, an empire built on mining, diamonds, and jewelry. He had money, power, and enough enemies to make most people afraid to even say his name.

But with me he was different.

“I'll spoil you for the rest of your life, Adeline,” he'd promised. “I'll make you the happiest Donna in the world. You'll never have to worry about anything as long as I'm here.”

And he really kept his word.

Then we had Angelica.

Our six-year-old daughter became the center of everything.

Favio adored her to an almost ridiculous degree. He'd interrupt business meetings because she wanted him to come home for dinner. He'd personally check the security cameras whenever she went outside. Once, when one of his men joked that Angelica had inherited her father's temper, Favio had looked at him coldly and said, “Anyone who touches my daughter dies.”

I believed him.

So when Angelica was diagnosed with kidney failure and needed a transplant, I volunteered immediately.

I would give her mine.

There was never another choice.

The night before our surgery, I sat beside her hospital bed and held her hand while she asked if giving her my kidney would hurt.

“A little,” I told her.

She frowned. “Then I don't want it.”

I smiled and kissed her forehead.

“Mommy will be fine. You just have to get better.”

She believed me.

So did I.

We had the best doctors in Italy. Favio had arranged everything himself, from the specialists to the transplant team. Angelica's surgery was supposed to be routine.

Then Isabella appeared.

She was the daughter of a Mafia informant who had once helped the Guerrero Syndicate. Her father was murdered after refusing to betray Favio, leaving Isabella alone.

Six months before Angelica's surgery, Favio brought her into our home.

He said he owed her father a debt.

I accepted that explanation.

I even welcomed her.

What I didn't understand was how quickly she became important to him.

The strange part was that Isabella looked almost exactly like a younger version of me.

The same dark hair, similar eyes, the same small nose and even some of the same expressions. More than once, people had mistaken us for sisters.

Favio had noticed it too.

“She reminds me of you when you were young,” he'd told me once.

I remember laughing. “Maybe that's why you like her.”

He hadn't answered.

At the time, I thought nothing of it.

Isabella was studying medicine and completing her surgical training at the same hospital where Angelica was being treated.

She was around us constantly.

She helped with paperwork, checked charts, and assisted the medical staff. She knew the doctors. She knew the transplant schedule. She knew exactly when Angelica's surgery was happening.

I trusted her.

That was my mistake.

The morning of the transplant, I kissed Angelica before the nurses wheeled me into the operating room.

“I love you, Mommy,” she whispered.

“I love you more.”

Then the doors closed.

Hours later, I woke up with pain in my side and a dry throat.

My first thought was Angelica.

“Where's my daughter?”

The nurse went silent.

I knew something was wrong.

A doctor came into the room a few minutes later. He looked exhausted.

“Donna, there… there was a complication.”

I immediately sat up. “What did you say? What happened?!”

“The transplanted kidney wasn't compatible.”

I stared at him. “That doesn't make sense! It was my kidney.”

He looked down at the chart.

“Donna, the organ implanted in your daughter wasn't the kidney documented for the transplant.”

For several seconds, I couldn't understand the words.

“What?!”

“There appears to have been an error during organ transfer.”

“Where's Angelica?”

The doctor answered that my Angelica had suffered acute rejection during surgery. Her body couldn't accept the organ, and despite the medical team's efforts, they couldn't save her.

The hospital immediately opened an investigation.

That's when Isabella's name came up.

She’d been working in the transplant unit that morning. More importantly, she was the last trainee documented to have handled the organ transfer records.

When questioned, Isabella claimed it was an accident.

She said she had been working on a research project involving animal kidneys and organ preservation under a senior surgeon. During an emergency transfer, she’d supposedly moved the wrong container and mixed up the labels.

Then the hospital checked the security footage. Isabella had entered the restricted transplant storage area alone. And the investigation concluded that Isabella had done it deliberately.

When I confronted her, she cried.

I grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her until her head snapped back.

"ISABELLA! MY DAUGHTER WAS ONLY SIX YEARS OLD! HOW COULD YOU?!" She stumbled back.

"You switched her kidney with a pig's kidney!" I roared, "My daughter died in agony and you smiled while she suffered!"

She didn't answer. She just smiled.

That was when I knew. There had never been an accident. She'd planned it. Maybe she'd planned it from the moment she walked into our home.

…

My daughter was buried three days later.

I stood beside her grave until everyone left.

I didn't cry.

I had spent the last three days doing nothing but crying. That night, I changed into a black dress and called my bodyguards.

“Bring Isabella to the warehouse.”

They didn't ask questions.

When Isabella saw me, she immediately started begging.

I didn't listen.

My daughter died because of her. I gave my men one order.

"Break every bone in her body. And crush her hands so she never operates again."

Her face went white.

"Adeline, please! Not my hands! They are everything to me… Favio will never forgive you! Favio loves me and you know it!”

I turned away as my men dragged her across the warehouse.

Then the doors suddenly flew open.

“STOP!”

I turned.

Favio stood in the doorway. “Isabella!”

He rushed inside, his face changing when he saw how badly she had been hurt.

“What the hell are you doing?” he shouted.

My bodyguards stepped back as Favio crossed the warehouse and grabbed my wrist.

“Addy, what have you done?”

I looked down at his hand around my wrist. “Let me go!”

“Are you out of your mind?”

“She killed Angelica!”

His expression hardened. “I know what happened. Isabella made a mistake.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “A mistake?! She switched my kidney with an animal kidney and put it inside our daughter's body! She killed our daughter!”

“I know you're grieving, Addy, but you can't punish her like this.”

“Can't I?!” I yanked my wrist from his grip. “I gave my kidney to Angelica! I woke up missing an organ, and my daughter was dead because someone deliberately replaced it! And you're standing here defending that woman!”

He opened his mouth, but before he could answer, a broken cry came from the floor.

“Favio...”

We both turned.

Isabella was trembling violently. “Favio...” she whimpered. “It hurts! Please... it hurts so much. I can't breathe.”

Favio's expression changed instantly.

He dropped to his knees beside her.

“Isabella!”