LOGINAt the university Ball, Ada ripped my necklace from my throat in front of everyone. Emeralds skittered across the floor. She planted her hand on her hip and jabbed a finger in my face. "Elena, you thief! How dare you steal my necklace? My brothers had it custom-made for me. You had no right to touch their gift!" The ballroom went silent. Her favorite lackey, Louise Parker, swept toward me with her chin high. "Ada is the Costa brothers' little sister. You're dead this time!" A collective gasp rippled through the crowd. "The Costa family? The one that controls the weapons pipeline along the entire Eastern Seaboard?" "Everyone knows the three Costa brothers guard their sister like their lives depend on it. The last guy who tried to get close to her supposedly had his arms and legs cut off before they threw him into an underground fighting pit full of starving wolves." "She's really their sister? Elena is in serious trouble this time!" I stared at the emeralds scattered across the floor, and a disbelieving laugh escaped me. The Costa brothers did have a cherished younger sister. That was me, Elena Costa.
View MoreSeveral months later, final grades were posted. I had finished first in my class again.Elena Connelly stood alone at the top of the scholarship list.Ada's name never appeared again.Some said Ada attended a public high school across town, earned average grades, and kept so quiet she seemed like a different person.Others claimed they sometimes saw her at a jewelry workshop.They were only rumors.I never went looking for her or asked anyone to keep watch.That chapter was over. Just as Ada had promised in her letter, she stayed out of our lives.I earned a place at an Ivy League university. On graduation day, sunlight flooded the Saint Isabella quad.I delivered the commencement address in my cap and gown. In the front row sat three men whose names I could never put under "family" on school paperwork.They wore black suits and expressions solemn enough for a diplomatic summit.When the headmaster placed the medal in my hands, the corner of Luca's mouth twitched.During the photograph
It was late at night by the time we returned to the Costa estate.The main house glowed with light. When our longtime butler, Henry Walsh, saw the bruises on my wrists, his eyes reddened. He turned on my brothers, openly displeased."Three grown men, and you let your sister come home like this? If the old Don were alive, he'd beat all three of you himself!"My brothers did not offer a single excuse. They stood quietly and took the scolding.I patted the back of his hand. "I'm fine."Adrian poured me a mug of warm milk and stirred in a spoonful of honey. "Still thinking about her?"I cradled the mug, letting the warmth of the ceramic seep into my palms.Beyond the windows, the estate's lawn rolled toward a private lake. Moonlight shivered silver across the water.I nodded. "I keep wondering if I made a mistake. I gave her comfort and respect, and somehow helped her lose sight of who she was."Adrian was quiet for a moment before sitting across from me. "People can convince themselves th
The sight of Ada unraveling took me back three years.Three years ago, I was kidnapped by my brothers' enemies.My kidnappers were amateurs. In the chaos, I jumped from their car, and a kind woman hid me in her van.After my rescue, my brothers tried to reward her, only to learn that she had died in a car accident.Her name was Jennifer Kelly. She was Ada's older sister and her only living relative.To repay her, I asked my brothers to support Ada and give her a secure, respectable life.Instead, Ada twisted that kindness into permission to become crueler and more arrogant by the day."Ada, stop lying to yourself," Uncle Mike said."Lying to myself?" Ada let out a shrill, broken laugh. "Fine, I lied to myself! But I would rather have lived inside that lie forever! Why did you have to expose me? Why did you have to destroy me in front of everyone?"She whipped toward me, her eyes twisted with hatred. "Elena, you're cruel! You knew everything all along!"I stood beside Dante and watched
The students' whispers closed in on Ada, each one needling deeper than the last."She really did fake the whole thing. She spent two years pretending to be a Costa!""She used that stolen name to bully people and steal the spotlight from the top student. Now she picked a fight with the real heiress."Every comment landed like a slap across Ada's face.Adrian's gaze moved from my shattered phone to the emeralds scattered across the floor. His expression turned lethal."Who destroyed the necklace?" His voice was low and rough with fury.Louise Parker hid in the crowd and tried to make herself invisible.At the memory of helping Ada humiliate me, Louise went paper-white and lowered her head.Every student who had once fawned over Ada edged away from her.A voice rose from the crowd. "Ada did it! She ripped the necklace off Elena, smashed her phone, and called her a thief!"Ada's denial came out in a rush. "I didn't do anything! She was jealous of me! She provoked me first!""Jealous of yo


















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