Chapter 2

In the original plot, I'd crawl back to that house, wait for him, and tearfully show him the pregnancy test results I'd been saving as a surprise. He'd sweet-talk me, I'd forgive him again, and I'd go right on groveling.

Forgive him?

Yeah, right. I wasn't about to run off and cry like some side character anymore. Instead of going back to play the tragic heroine for him, I decided to get something to eat.

I hailed a cab to my usual restaurant. I'd heard the chef had a new dish, and I wanted to try it.

Warm golden light spilled from the restaurant's huge windows, but it made my eyes sting.

Cosima stood at the center of the crowd by the window. Around her were my fiancé, my best friend, and nearly everyone I knew.

And in that cheering crowd was a face I'd never forget as long as I lived.

A month ago, on our way to the wedding, a rival crew had ambushed us. I'd taken a bullet in my right hand while shielding Raphael, and I'd never be able to hold a scalpel again.

I remembered Raphael holding me tight, scared and guilty, telling me again and again how sorry he was and how much he loved me. He promised I'd never go through anything like that again.

I believed him.

Yet here was the leader of that so-called rival crew, champagne in hand, smiling beside Cosima.

My best friend, who swore she hated roses and got queasy just looking at the leaves, was eagerly holding out a huge bouquet of them to Cosima.

And my fiancé was carefully lifting out a jewel-encrusted tiara and gently setting it on Cosima's head.

Like she was some fragile treasure.

So the ambush had been another setup they'd staged together to postpone the wedding.

And I'd fallen for it. While I hid from the gunmen, certain I was about to die, I'd even sent everyone one last pathetic text.

"I love you all."

I stood outside the window, trembling uncontrollably.

Right then, every memory of the original book came flooding back.

My name was Vera Sterling, and I was the villainess of this over-the-top melodrama.

My father was the Don of the Sterling family, a man every other family feared.

My parents had married to seal an alliance between families. My mother was handed over like payment on a debt, and she died of depression when I was five. Before she died, she held my hand and said just one thing.

"My baby, I want you to find real happiness in this life. Don't end up like me..."

I watched my father see to her funeral, his face completely blank. The next day, he went back to his usual routine, as if my mother had never existed.

That was when I swore I'd never carry his name, marry for an alliance, or live the way my mother had. So I ran. I left the Sterling name behind, hid who I was, and tried to live like an ordinary person.

After I left the Sterling family, I met Raphael. He treated me with care, respect, and love.

Once we were together, I told him I was an orphan. He brought me home to meet his family, and they were so warm to me. For the first time, I knew what it felt like to belong.

So I kept my secret and spent four years as his family's doctor.

The Bellandi family's medical team. The East Port shipping lanes. The guarantee that kept the other families from starting a war with them. I'd secured every one of those through my authority as the Sterling heir.

Raphael assumed the Bellandi family had earned all those things on its own. I never corrected him. Back then, I thought we'd be family soon enough.

Even after I found out he'd lied to me and left me behind for Cosima again and again, I still forgave him every single time.

In the finale, I would follow Raphael to New York after he abandoned me at the altar for Cosima. He would have his men waiting for me. The moment I drew my Browning, he'd order them to stop me. They'd shoot me dead.

Only when he saw my body would he finally break. He'd spend the rest of his life mourning me, with Cosima still at his side. He wouldn't even visit my grave.

Why should I accept an ending like that?

The plot had controlled the old me. I'd been content to play the fool, waiting for the hero to show me a little pity.

But now that I was awake, it was time to take back everything I'd given them, one piece at a time.