Chapter 1

Six years after my husband died for me, I learned it was all a lie. He faked his own death to run off with his exiled adoptive sister.

The second she saw me at her door, the color drained from Seraphina's face.

"Aria..."

She tried to slam the door in my face.

I jammed my hand in the door. "See a ghost?"

She stumbled back, lips trembling, speechless.

Just then, I heard familiar voices from the hallway. Marco, Axel's right-hand man.

"...her engagement to the Hayes heir. It's about time. Six years is a long time to be a widow..."

"...heard the Boss can finally stop obsessing. Ever since the news broke, he’s been stalking her socials all night..."

"...can’t believe he pulled it off. The yacht explosion, the deal with the Valkovs... all so he could disappear. And he let her think he died for her..."

"...she had a breakdown, man. More than one..."

"...shut up, you want him to hear you?"

They turned the corner and saw me. Their voices died.

Marco couldn't meet my eyes.

"Donna," Marco breathed, his eyes wide. "What are you doing here?"

Then, a voice I knew in my bones came from inside the apartment.

"Honey, are Marco and the guys here?"

The air left my lungs. My heart stopped.

I shoved past Seraphina and stormed into the living room.

Axel. The husband I'd mourned for six years was standing behind the bar.

The moment he saw me, pure shock hit his face. His lips parted, but no sound came out.

My eyes went past him, to the huge wedding photo on the living room wall.

I gestured to the wedding photo. "Happy anniversary. You've done well for yourself these six years, Axel."

Axel moved instantly, pulling a trembling Seraphina behind him. A protective shield. His face was a grim mask.

Everyone else was frozen. The silence was deafening.

"Aria, let me explain—" he said, holding her, his voice shaking as he looked at me.

"Explain what? How you went from a dead man to someone else's husband?" I laughed, a bitter, broken sound.

Six years ago, Axel died protecting me. A yacht explosion during a firefight with a rival family. No body to recover.

By the time I arrived, all I could do was bury an empty casket.

I was drowning in guilt and grief. If only I'd been more careful, he wouldn't have died for me.

The day they buried him, I cried until I passed out on his tombstone.

For years, the thought of him kept me up at night. I'd go to the cemetery and just sit there until dawn.

At my lowest, I tried to cut my wrists at his grave. The groundskeeper found me just in time.

And it was all a goddamn lie. A trick so he could disappear.

My eyes landed on the Fabergé egg on the table. Three million dollars. A gift from him.

My eyes burned, a stabbing pain in my heart.

"You've kept this in good condition. I'm sure Seraphina loves it."

When we were planning our wedding, he always brought his adoptive sister, Seraphina, along.

One day, I joked that I wanted a one-of-a-kind egg. She jumped in.

"I think a Fabergé egg is perfect for Aria," she'd said. "Each one is unique, a symbol of a one and only love."

I thought of her as a sister then. I didn't see the jealousy in her eyes when she looked at me, or the hunger in them when she looked at Axel.

Not until the night before our wedding.

I walked into our new villa to find them tangled up naked.

Seraphina was moaning under him, crying. "Can't you just not marry her?" she begged.

He was still buried deep inside her, pounding away. His voice was hard. "This is a one-time thing. After this, you are my sister, and nothing else. You understand?"

I stormed in, demanding to know what the hell was happening.

I couldn't stand her wanting him like that. I couldn't accept that they had crossed that line. Not even once.

I told him the wedding was off.

He cried. He begged me to forgive him. He even put a gun to his own head.

"I love you, Aria. Please, don't leave me."

My heart broke. I gave him one more chance to clean up his mess.

He erased every trace of her. He exiled Seraphina. He did everything he could to make it up to me.

He even "died" for me.

And now here he was, alive and well, with a home and a life with the mess he was supposed to have cleaned up.

Rage and grief twisted inside me.

I snatched the egg and hurled it at the floor with everything I had.

"No!" Axel screamed.

The beautiful piece of art shattered. A shard of porcelain sliced across Seraphina's calf.

She screamed and collapsed, blood instantly staining her expensive white dress.

"Seraphina!" Axel dropped to his knees, his eyes filled with panic. "Does it hurt? I'll call a doctor."

Then he looked up at me, the guilt on his face replaced by fury. "Aria, what the hell is wrong with you!?"

I laughed, my voice raw and hoarse.

"What's wrong with me? Yeah, I'm crazy! I've been living like a crazy person for six years because you were 'dead'!"

Axel's chest heaved, his eyes red with anger. "I did what you asked! I exiled my own sister, the girl I grew up with. But you couldn't let it go! You drove me crazy, making me burn our photos, second-guessing everything. Do you have any idea how exhausting you were?"

I slapped him. Hard. My wrist stung and tears finally broke free.

"You betrayed me, Axel! You lied to me! How dare you say I tortured you? That your life was hard?"

Seraphina knelt in her own blood, sobbing. Her crying had that same pathetic, desperate edge.

"This is my fault, Axel," she sobbed. "I should just disappear. I ruin everything."

"I can give up everything," she choked out, her hand flying to her stomach. "Even our baby. I'll disappear, Axel. Just please... don't hate me."

Axel's expression shifted.

Shock. Conflict. Then, it settled on a flicker of undeniable hope.

His gaze snapped away from me. A slow, stunned smile spread across his face as he held Seraphina closer. "You're... pregnant?"