Chapter 3

The council discussed it and seemed ready to agree. Marcus opened his mouth to make the decision official.

The floating comments flashed before my eyes again.

[This is bad. The council thinks Julie is being generous. They're definitely going to force Nora to stay at the Voss estate as a servant.]

[Once William and Julie use her identity to swallow the Hathaway family's businesses, territory, and bank accounts, they'll kill Nora without a sound and tell everyone she died by suicide during a psychotic episode.]

[Poor Nora. There is no one who can help her.]

I read the comments and gave a humorless laugh.

If I waited for someone to save me, they'd arrive in time to collect my body.

What made them think the eldest daughter of the Hathaway family had no way to fight back?

I snatched the gun from the guard beside me and, before anyone reacted, aimed it straight at William.

"I came here to marry William, not to become your maid. If you won't allow that, I'll shoot him, and he can marry me in hell."

No one had expected someone who looked as delicate as I did to go that far.

Several council members cursed me in fury. "You're nothing but a Hathaway maid. What makes you think you could become the Voss family's next matriarch?"

"You're out of your mind."

Before they finished, a shot cracked through the window and tore clean through my wrist.

A sniper.

Pain forced my fingers open. The gun hit the floor. Blood sprayed from the wound, and a second later Voss security slammed me facedown against the cold marble.

As they dragged me away, I twisted back and forced a smile at William.

They threw me into the private torture room in the Voss basement.

They called it a torture room, but it was really a storeroom with an iron door. Tools of every kind hung on the walls, and the air reeked of rust and disinfectant.

The wound became infected. By that night, I was burning with fever.

By the third day I was barely conscious.

I could make out only two figures standing over me.

Julie wore a long black velvet dress and a blue gemstone necklace.

The necklace was all I had left of my brother. He had said I must wear it on my wedding day.

She crouched and studied my swollen, festering wrist. Naked triumph filled her eyes; not a trace remained of the gentleness she had pretended before.

She ground the toe of her heel into the wound. When I winced, she laughed under her breath.

"Nora Hathaway. Bet you never imagined I'd have you under my heel like a dog one day."

I clenched my teeth and forced the words through my throat. "I never mistreated you. When you were sold on the black market, my father paid the traffickers to get you out of their hands. When you were burning with fever, I stayed at your bedside for three days and nights. Why did you steal my identity and try to have me killed?"

"Never treated me badly?"

Contempt twisted her face. "What disgusted me most was the way you looked down on me while pretending to be generous. Every handbag you gave me was one you didn't want. The clothes were things you'd worn once and cast aside.

"Why should I get only the things you didn't want?

"But we've traded places now. If you want anything from now on, you'll have to beg me for it."

I knew Julie loved nice things, so I always pretended I was giving her things I no longer wanted.

I had bought them for her all along. I never imagined she would see kindness as humiliation.

I glared at her, hooked my fingers into the hem of her dress with all my remaining strength, and yanked her off her feet.

Sonia, who had been guarding the door, shrieked and lunged at me. She slapped me twice, back and forth, until stars burst across my vision.

"You bitch! You're about to die, and you still dare put your hands on my sister!"

She straddled me and locked both hands around my throat. "You're dying today anyway. What difference does it make whether it's now or tonight? I'll kill you myself!"

Her hands tightened until my vision darkened and the air drained from my lungs.

Just before consciousness slipped away, I found enough strength to seize Sonia's wrist.

I smiled at her.

My smile made her hesitate.

My voice came out as a rasp. "Thanks for finally telling the truth. I won't be dying today. Whether you two make it out alive is another matter."

She followed my gaze and slowly turned toward the far end of the room.

Somehow, the darkness at the back of the room had filled with people.

Every one of them wore the Hathaway family crest.