Chapter 1

When I opened my eyes, Severin was standing by the bed with Lucien and Seraphina on either side of him, their arms crossed.

All three of them looked at me like I was a nuisance they'd finally dealt with.

Severin looked down at me. "You're finally awake. Next time, watch where you're walking.

"Estella, what were you doing in front of the car?"

Lucien was frowning. "Mom was so scared. She's been crying this whole time."

Seraphina nodded. "Mom said it was her first time driving that car alone. You jumped out in front of her, and she jerked the wheel to avoid hitting you.

"Estella, can you not do this every single time? Mom was going to take us out today, and now, after your little stunt, she's too scared to drive."

They'd gotten used to calling Valerie Mom again so quickly.

I lay in the hospital bed while the back of my head throbbed.

I remembered it clearly. I'd been standing in the garden, watching the gardeners trim the holly.

Valerie's car roared out of the garage and shot straight at me.

"Is she okay?"

I heard myself ask.

"She sprained her wrist."

Severin finally spoke, his voice flat.

"And she's badly shaken. Once they're done examining you, go next door and apologize to her. You weren't watching where you were going, and she's only just learned to drive that car. You're partly responsible."

Lucien chimed in. "Yeah, stop making a scene. This is mostly your fault."

Seraphina, who had always been quick-witted, shot me a mocking look. "Mom said if you really can't stand having her around, she can leave."

I looked at the three of them and nodded.

"It's just an apology, right? Fine. I'll go."

All three of them froze for a second.

Before this, whenever Valerie and I clashed, I'd sooner die than back down. I'd turn the whole house upside down.

Severin frowned but said nothing. Then he turned and left with the kids.

The door didn't close all the way, and voices drifted in from the hall.

"Don't cry, Mom. She admitted she was wrong," one of the twins said.

"Severin, I'm so afraid she hates me..." Valerie whimpered.

"She doesn't. You're here now. I'd never let anyone hurt you..." Severin murmured.

The voices faded as they walked away.

I lay there a while longer, then sat up and pulled out the IV.

I ignored the nurse telling me to stay under observation and left the hospital in my bloodstained shirt.

When I got back to the estate, the lights were on in the living room, and the air smelled like dinner.

I pushed the door open. There were only four place settings on the table.

Severin sat at the head of the table, sliding a plate of steak he'd already cut up toward Valerie.

She held her fork in her right hand. Her left wrist was bandaged, and she was beaming at Severin.

"Your favorite. Steak with avocado sauce," Severin said tenderly.

Valerie pressed a hand to her mouth, delighted. "You remembered."

Lucien laughed and teased him. "Dad, you never cook!"

Seraphina joined in. "Mom comes home, and suddenly you're falling all over yourself to impress her."

I stood behind the screen, my chest tight with a bitterness I couldn't put into words.

Ten years. I'd been married to him for ten years, and even when I was burning with a 102-degree fever, he never once set foot in the kitchen.

I'd always assumed he just didn't know how to cook.

It turned out he knew how. He just didn't want to do it for me.

I closed my eyes and thought back to how it had all started.

Severin had raided an underground fight club in Brooklyn 11 years earlier and pulled me out of an iron cage.

For a long time after that, I couldn't sleep with the lights off. Every time I closed my eyes, I heard chains rattling and fists landing.

Back then, no matter how much business he still had to deal with, he always stayed with me when I couldn't sleep.

To help me overcome the nightmares, he personally taught me how to shoot.

The first time I hit the bull's-eye, I spun around, thrilled, to look for him.

He was already standing right beside me, holding up an emerald ring.

He leaned close, his voice warm and commanding.

"Marry me, Estella. I promise that one day I'll take the Don's seat. Stay with me, and you'll never have another nightmare."

And for a while, life with him really did feel like a beautiful dream.

Only now did I understand: every dream ends eventually.

"Mom, will you please move back in?"

Lucien's voice drifted over from the table and pulled me from my thoughts.

"I don't want to live with Estella anymore."

Seraphina piped up. "I want Mom and Dad to get married again!"

I turned around, pushed the door open, and stepped out onto the porch.

Over those ten years, I'd come to think of my stepchildren as my own.

When a rival family sent a hitman after us, I got the kids down to the basement and took a bullet in my left shoulder for them.

When the doctors removed the bullet, the twins cried and promised that when they grew up, they'd protect me.

But now Valerie was back, the birth mother who had walked out on them years ago.

In just three weeks, she'd erased ten years.