Mag-log inDad wouldn't stop begging me, bowing so low his forehead hit the marble floor. "Laura, consider that we pulled you out of the orphanage and the years we spent raising you, help us."You'll be the head of the Sonnenfeld family if you pay off my debts to Zane. We'll do as you say!"If I were simply a replacement today and didn't have any of these trump cards, I'd have been the one thrown out to the streets and beaten up by the mercenaries tonight."You want to talk about raising me?" I sneered, backing up half a step and dodging Mom's hand as she reached for my skirts. "Did you forget how I had to give up nearly two pints of blood every month so you could fly it to Josie for her treatment abroad?"Did you forget how I was burning up with a high fever and writing code for Benjamin in the basement when you forced me to kneel in the snow for a whole night, all because you claimed I dirtied the carpet?"I crouched before Dad and stared into his bloodshot, fearful eyes. "You didn't bring
The leader of the mercenaries trembled at the sound of the voice coming through his headset. It belonged to none other than their boss, Black Hawk himself."Boss? But the cipher…" the leader pointed out with some strain."Screw the cipher! Who did you idiots piss off?" The roar that came from the headset was one of despair. "Just a moment ago, 72 of our secret accounts in the world were emptied!"Four of our arsenals in Medilova have been targeted, and the missiles are already on countdown! That woman is Janus!"The submachine gun that had been in the mercenary leader's hand a second ago hit the ground with a loud thud. He stared at me as if I were a monster, his legs going numb as he fell to his knees before me."J-Janus…" his voice shook violently. "We didn't know it was you… Please have mercy on us…"Josie, who'd been cackling maniacally earlier, now choked on her laugh.I looked down at the mercenary trembling on his knees and smiled. "Your cipher is a joke."Fishing a norm
"Creator…"Josie mumbled this word repeatedly, the jealousy and malice practically spilling from her eyes. She thought I'd used my good looks to climb the ranks, and that Zane and the other moguls would abandon me the moment she revealed my true colors.Extreme resentment and despair shattered the last of her senses."A creator, huh? You think this is a checkmate, Laura?" She whirled to look at Erik with a crazed, determined gleam in her eyes. "Erik, do you really believe you've wiped out that organization? If you think that killing Marcus has brought that chapter to an end, think again!"Erik frowned. "What do you mean?""Marcus was just a puppet! The real mastermind is the armament mogul lurking on the international dark web—Black Hawk! I didn't just take his money when I fled home, but also his key list of clients and the cipher to his offshore accounts!"And I hid that cipher somewhere in this dinner hall!"A deathly hush fell upon the room.The guests blanched. This was mo
"Punishment? What punishment?" Dad froze in surprise.I straightened up, then surveyed the obscenely resplendent villa the Sonnenfelds called home.The crystal chandelier, the famous paintings, antiques, and woven rug—every inch of this house dripped with the rotting scent of money and the humiliation I'd suffered the last three years as a walking blood bank."Did you really think I was a powerless pushover just because I stayed in the Sonnenfeld family and let you draw my blood for Josie's treatment the last three years without protest?"I chuckled softly, my gaze gradually sharpening. "Since you brought me home from the orphanage, you've leveraged kinship over me and pawned me into marital engagements."You forced me to become Josie's stepping stone and treated me like trash you could dispose of at any second."It only made sense that I started destroying what you cared about and loved the most—money."I snapped my fingers, and as if on cue, Benjamin stepped forward. He produc
Josie, still on the ground, looked as if she'd seen a creature from hell. Everyone in the dinner hall was staring at the fourth man, who smelled like gunpowder smoke.It was Erik Hart, the highest commanding officer of the international special forces.He didn't so much as spare Josie a second glance before he closed the distance between us, his towering height blocking the other three men's view of me.The cold and rough-hewn commanding officer from a second ago had vanished. The man standing before me now might as well be a brooding, oversized dog.Erik tugged on my sweater, his voice low and full of protest. "Honey, I took down three criminal hideouts outside the border overnight just so I could come home to you. You can't revoke my weekend shifts just because I couldn't report for duty these last couple of days."Zane interjected angrily before I could speak. He smacked Erik's hand off me like a possessive panther. "Stop playing the victim here, Hart! We agreed in the group ch
Mom and Dad watched in disbelief as the three moguls, who'd never seen eye to eye, moved in sync through the crowd. They made a beeline toward the corner of the room where I was quietly eating cake.A second ago, the three of them had been cold and expressionless. Now, their indifference and aloofness vanished as they surrounded me, greeting me with matching expressions of grievance, "Honey…"A pin-drop silence filled the room.Mom and Dad's belief system was shattered at that moment. The former pointed at me, her lips quivering. She looked like she was about to say something, but after a while, words eluded her. "No, this is impossible!"Josie had completely lost her mind. A screech escaped her as she threw herself forward, a scowl twisting her delicately made-up face. She leveled an angry finger at me and yelled, "She's nothing! She's just a bumpkin who was brought back here on a whim! She's only my replacement!"Moguls like you shouldn't turn on one another because of a shabby







