Chapter 2

I stared at Darius, the warmth that had just risen in my chest fading bit by bit.

"What about my birthday party?"

I barely recognized my own voice.

Darius glanced at me.

"Postponed."

A word, brushing away the day that was supposed to be mine.

"Bianca and I were born on the exact same day. Why do I have to be the one postponed?"

Darius frowned, and there was already reproach in his eyes.

"You've had twenty-two birthdays. Bianca has never even had a proper party."

He held my gaze, his voice thick with disappointment.

"Bianca is the true heir. Is it really that hard for you to let her have this one?"

Cold crept from my fingertips into my bones. I gripped the document in my hand tighter.

Heels clicked from the other end of the hallway.

Bianca walked toward me in a white dress, Leon following behind her.

When she saw me, her smile was soft.

"Elena, don't forget to come to my birthday party tomorrow."

I bit my lip hard, my gaze moving past Bianca to land on Leon.

Leon stood there with his arms crossed, staring at me heavily.

"Cat got your tongue?" His voice was cold. "Didn't you hear Bianca's invitation?"

Darius chimed in too.

"Seven o'clock tomorrow night. Be there on time. This isn't just an invitation. It's a family directive."

I understood what they meant.

This wasn't just a birthday party. It was a ceremony to confirm Bianca's position as heir.

If I refused, those who supported her and those who still remembered me could clash again. I didn't want anyone bleeding because of me. I didn't want them caught in the middle either.

Darius leaned close to my ear and murmured, "Play along. Just be reasonable—you still have to live under this roof, don't you."

"Fine." I dropped my gaze. "I'll be there."

The next afternoon, Enzo and Leon came to pick me up.

Before I walked out the door, I checked the time. Eight hours left until I left the Falcones.

I'd barely settled into the backseat when Enzo hit the gas. The car shot out of the estate.

My stomach lurched.

"Slow down." I grabbed the overhead handle. "I get car sick."

Enzo didn't even turn his head from the driver's seat.

"Bianca added a last-minute greeting session. You have to get to the hotel early. We can't make her wait."

"But I really don't feel well." I pressed a hand to my throat, holding back the acid rising. "Please. Just slow down."

Leon turned from the passenger seat and glanced at me.

"Don't start acting up today. This is Bianca's first real birthday party. She's more nervous than you."

Enzo didn't slow down. If anything, he pressed the gas harder.

I bit my lip and said nothing.

When we reached the hotel, I barely made it out of the car before I bent over the flower bed and threw up the little water left in my stomach.

Passing servers turned to stare.

Enzo handed me a tissue, his brow tight with impatience.

"If you can't even handle a little discomfort, what makes you think you deserve to stay in this family?"

I clutched the tissue and didn't argue.

The hotel doors swung open, and Darius hurried over to me.

He took one look at my face, pulled off his jacket, and draped it over the stain on my dress.

"Come with me."

He led me to the lounge, poured me a glass of warm water, and bent down to wipe the smear from the corner of my mouth.

His movements were still so practiced, as if the distance of the past six months had never happened.

For a moment, I almost believed things could go back to how they were.

When I was sick as a child, Darius, just a kid himself, refused to sleep. He stayed by my bedside all night.

When I was kidnapped at fifteen, sixteen-year-old Darius strapped explosives to his waist and walked into that warehouse alone, forcing the kidnappers to let me go.

He said that as long as he was alive, he would never let anyone hurt me.

He was the one I'd always thought would be my fiancé.

The last bit of reluctance in me was stirred back to life by his gentleness.

I grabbed his sleeve, tears falling onto the back of his hand.

"Darius, I won't fight Bianca anymore. I'll give her everything. I won't make you choose between us."

I could barely breathe, but my fingers wouldn't let go.

"I just need you to stay by my side, like before. Darius, please. Don't abandon me too."

Darius seemed burned by my tears. His fingers curled slightly.

I thought he would wipe them away, like he always used to.

But the next second, gently yet cruelly, he pulled his sleeve free from my grip.

"We'll talk about all that later. Tonight, the priority is Bianca's party."

He studied me, his voice going low.

"You're dressed too eye-catching tonight. You'll steal the spotlight from Bianca."

Darius opened the lounge closet, pulled out a dress, and tossed it into my arms.

"Good thing your dress is dirty anyway. Change into this."

I looked down and froze.