Chapter 3

Eight years ago, I met Alvis for the first time at a Christmas party thrown by the Cardini family.

He stood in the crowd in a charcoal suit, and his deep-set eyes and golden hair drew me in.

I walked over with a glass of champagne. "Mr. Sartori, may I introduce myself?"

He glanced down at me and clinked his glass against mine like a gentleman.

We talked all night at that party.

When it was over, he smiled. "Ms. Lauretti, I really enjoyed tonight.

"I look forward to seeing you again."

I smiled and nodded. That night, I knocked on my father's study door and asked him to look into Alvis for me.

With my father's connections, it took him just one day to find out everything there was to know about Alvis.

Alvis was first in line to lead the Sartori family. His mother, Mia, came from an old, distinguished family, and his father, Richard, ran the Sartoris' core businesses.

In business, Alvis was ruthless and hard to read. He never gave anyone an inch.

There was only one complication: his adopted sister seemed to have a crush on him.

Althea's father had been the Sartori family's lawyer. Before he died, he left Althea in their care.

Around that time, Mia had lost her own young daughter, so she took Althea in.

According to the file, Alvis and Althea had grown up together and were very close.

I looked at that page of the report and shrugged.

The Lauretti family was every bit as powerful as the Sartori family. I was my father's only daughter, and he'd raised me to be his heir.

Whatever I wanted, I got. There was nothing I couldn't have.

Why should Althea worry me?

But I soon found out it wasn't that simple.

A few days later, I saw Alvis again at another party.

I went over happily to say hello, but someone else got to him first.

"Alvis, I've been looking for you everywhere."

Althea hooked her arm through his and practically hung off him.

She turned to look at me, openly hostile.

After that, every time I showed up near Alvis, Althea would show up too, right on cue.

She'd cut in whenever Alvis was talking to me.

At parties, she'd accidentally spill red wine on my dress, then apologize with pitiful, teary eyes.

That was when I understood. Althea was in love with Alvis.

And even if Alvis knew, he'd pretend not to notice. After all, she was the sister he'd grown up with.

Later, Alvis and I slowly grew closer.

Althea got jealous of me. To get Alvis's attention, she sold the Sartori family's most important business secrets to a rival faction.

She thought it would make Alvis notice her. Instead, her betrayal cost the Sartori family more than a billion dollars.

The board forced Richard out, and the elders humiliated Mia in front of everyone at a family meeting.

Alvis was stripped of his inheritance and lost everything.

I went to his side without a second thought and helped him.

The day Alvis was fully restored as heir, he got down on one knee and proposed.

He swore he'd love me and protect me forever.

I believed his promise, gave up everything, and married into the Sartori family.

Those first days of our marriage were the happiest of my life.

Alvis would get up early to make me coffee, and on weekends he'd go with me to art exhibits he didn't care about at all.

When anyone in the Sartori family let Althea's name slip, he'd frown in disgust.

I thought I'd never have to see Althea again as long as I lived.

I never imagined what would happen while I was fighting for my life after taking a bullet for Alvis.

At the end of the hallway, he ran into Althea. She said she had cancer, and a few tears and pleas were enough to soften him.

After all, in his heart, Althea would always be the little girl who came to him crying after a nightmare.

But that was no excuse for betraying me.

As the pain from my gunshot wound grew worse, my mind grew clearer.

I'd make them pay for everything they'd done to me.