Chapter 3

The next afternoon, I returned to the Moretti estate with my suitcase to collect my passport and work documents.

Sofia was sitting on the living room carpet, editing the video she planned to show at our engagement gala. My parents and Dante were gathered around her.

On the screen, I was fifteen years old, hiding in a school bathroom and crying.

That day, Sofia had covered the school hallways with pages from my private journal, then read aloud a letter I had written to a boy.

She had sped up the sound of my crying and added ridiculous music.

The video cut to footage of me having a panic attack after she locked me in the wine cellar.

“This part is the funniest,” Sofia said. “We have to show it tomorrow.”

Mom glanced at the time.

“You just had your follow-up appointment yesterday. Don’t exhaust yourself over a video.”

Dad also urged her to let someone else finish the editing.

Dante recognized the footage from the wine cellar.

When it first surfaced years ago, he had stayed with me all night and sworn he would never let anyone use my fear for entertainment again.

Now, he simply took the laptop from Sofia.

“Mark the clips you want. I’ll have one of my people finish it for you.”

No one told her to delete the footage.

They were only worried that editing it might tire her out.

I turned and went upstairs.

Inside my room, I propped my phone against the bookcase and pressed record.

The door suddenly opened.

Sofia walked in and locked it behind her.

“I know you saw the video.”

She studied my face.

“Why aren’t you angry? Why haven’t you gone running to Mom and Dad?”

“Because it isn’t worth it.”

Sofia mistook my answer for surrender.

A satisfied smile appeared on her face.

“You could always go to Dante. He used to warn me whenever I touched anything that belonged to you.”

I placed my passport inside my suitcase.

“He won’t do that anymore.”

“So you finally understand.”

The sweet, innocent expression disappeared from her face.

“You always thought I didn’t know you hated my jokes, didn’t you?”

She gave a quiet laugh.

“Of course I knew.”

“That was the entire point. If you laughed with everyone else, where would the fun be?”

She walked closer, triumph shining in her eyes.

“We’re twins, but everyone has always praised you. You got better grades. You built the better career. People even said you were the only woman worthy of becoming the Moretti Family’s Donna.”

“You don’t have to do anything. You just walk into a room, and everyone notices you first.”

“So I make you cry. I make you lose control. I make everyone believe you’re sensitive, cruel, and incapable of taking a joke.”

“Then all I have to do is let my eyes fill with tears. They protect me and force you to apologize.”

So I had never imagined the cruelty behind her games.

I had never been too sensitive.

She had meant every bit of it.

When chemotherapy took all her hair, I cut off the hair I had spent six years growing. I wore the same hat she did and walked back into school beside her.

I had once been terrified that my sister would die.

But after she survived, tormenting me became her favorite game.

Sofia was still smiling.

“I don’t even have to lie to them. They choose to believe I’m only being playful.”

“Even Dante is on my side now. You’re about to marry him, but he’s still willing to use your fear to keep me entertained.”

My gaze flicked toward the phone that was still recording.

“Aren’t you afraid they’ll discover that the sweet daughter they’ve protected all these years has been deliberately hurting her own sister?”

“They won’t believe you. And even if they do, what difference would it make?”

Sofia stepped closer.

“I’m the daughter who survived leukemia. At worst, they’ll make me apologize. Then they’ll tell you to forgive me, just like they always do.”

She looked directly into my eyes.

“How could you ever compete with that?”

I met her gaze calmly.

“I’m not losing to you. I simply don’t compete for love. If I have to fight for it, I don’t want it.”

Sofia heard only that I wouldn’t fight.

Believing she had won, she unlocked the door with a satisfied smile.

“Don’t be late tomorrow. I’ve prepared an even bigger surprise for you.”

After she left, I stopped the recording and saved every word she had said.

Then I recorded another video, less than a minute long, and sent it to my friend Emma, who was managing the audiovisual system at the gala.

“Play this before Sofia’s video tomorrow.”

I scheduled the first recording to be emailed directly to my parents and Dante.

Sofia’s true face didn’t need to be exposed to every guest.

The people who needed to see it were the ones who had chosen to protect her every single time.