Chapter 1

I was reborn.

I had come back to the day my mafia husband brought a merfolk home—the day my life was ruined.

Memories of my past life flashed rapidly before my eyes.

My mother’s death. The merfolk taking a woman’s form. My family business destroyed. My final days alone in the basement…

My eyes filled with rage. I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms until they drew blood.

“Everyone, keep a close eye on my beautiful mermaid. No one is allowed near her. Do you hear me?” Matteo’s voice rang out.

The servants lowered their heads.

"Yes, Mr. Bellucci."

My consciousness returned to the present.

Now was not yet the right time for revenge.

From the balcony, I watched the silver-blue mermaid from afar.

In my previous life, my husband had made the captive merfolk trust him before the full moon. During the Choosing, it had taken a female human form and bound itself to him for life. This time, I would not let Matteo control that choice.

I would become the person he trusted, and when the full moon came, Matteo would not get the woman he had already decided to own.

I took off my glasses, hid my pale hair beneath a plain black wig, darkened my brows, and changed into a maid’s uniform. Then I went to the kitchen for the freshest salmon before making my way to the open-air saltwater pool where the merfolk was being guarded.

My husband had taken one look at the merfolk’s beauty and could not bear to hide him in a laboratory. Instead, he had chained him inside this open-air pool.

Which suited me perfectly.

“Hey, time to eat.”

I set the food down by the edge of the pond.

“Where are you? Where did you go? Come eat some fresh salmon.”

Suddenly, a hand shot out of the water and clamped around my throat. A voice that sounded neither male nor female came from the water.

“Let me go.”

“I… I can’t let you go. You don’t even have legs yet. You can’t leave.”

“Then once I become human, will you let me go?”

“I… I don’t know. I’m only a servant. The entire estate is under the Don’s control. I don’t have the keys…”

He released his grip on my throat, flicked his fishtail across my face, and said, “Get lost!”

I crawled out of the pond and pushed the salmon toward him. “You should eat something. The salmon is fresh. You’ll probably like it.”

I returned to my room in my soaked clothes. Maria helped me remove the black wig and hurried to find something dry for me to wear.

“Ma’am, if the Don finds out what you’re doing, he’ll kill us.”

“Don’t worry. He won’t find out. Do you think there’s a big difference between me with glasses and me without them?”

I dried my hair and gave Maria a radiant smile.

“Wow, Ma’am, you really are beautiful without your glasses. I almost didn’t recognize you.”

“See? Even you couldn’t tell. Let alone anyone else. Besides, I have other arrangements.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

That night, I brought the merfolk fresh salmon again. This time, the kitchen had prepared it as salmon sushi.

The moment he saw me, he swam into the water and hid.

“Do you want to try how human chefs prepare it? This is a dish from a country near the Bering Sea. It’s called salmon sushi. It’s very good. Try some.”

He remained unmoved.

“If you don’t want to eat this, then what would you like? Shrimp? Crab? Octopus? Or kelp? Whatever you want to eat, you can tell me. I’ll find a way to bring it to you. Otherwise, the Don will blame me.”

His head suddenly broke the surface. A pair of dark blue eyes stared at me, his skin shimmering with tiny flecks of light beneath the moon.

“Stop talking and disturbing me. Eat all of this yourself, then say I ate it.”

“I can’t do that. I’m only a maid. I’m not worthy of eating something this good. If anyone finds out, I’ll be beaten to death.”

“Then starve.”

He was about to swim away when I called out to him.

“Wait. This is for you. It’s a conch shell I picked up by the sea. If you hold it close to your ear, you can hear your homeland.”

He froze for a moment, then swam away.

I placed the conch shell beside the pond.

Then I left.

Back in my room, I went through every book I could find about mermaids.

North Sea merfolk lived in the cleanest waters and fed on unpolluted deep-sea fish. They disliked harsh sunlight. Their tears hardened into pearls. At adulthood, under a full moon, they completed the Choosing: they chose a sex and, sometimes, a mate. The sex they chose could never be changed, but they remained merfolk—able to breathe beneath the sea and walk on land. A chosen mate, however, was for life. Adult merfolk were also said to carry power in their voices.

Only then did I understand. In my previous life, after the merfolk chose a female form, she had stayed by Matteo’s side and done anything he asked.

She had chosen him as her mate, and Matteo had used that bond like another chain.

In this life, I would not let the same thing happen again.

“Charlotte, are you asleep?” Matteo appeared outside my bedroom door.

I immediately shut my computer and put on my gold-rimmed glasses.

“What brings you here today, Matteo?”

“There’s something I need to discuss with you.”

“What is it?”