Chapter 3

Alessio spent the night at Bianca's and returned the following afternoon.

Without explanation, he took me to the Costa estate for a banquet.

I couldn't recall any major family event that warranted a banquet. Before I knew it, I was there.

A staff member handed me a gown and directed me to a private dressing suite. Bianca was already inside.

She grabbed my hand excitedly.

"Elena, you made it! I have the most amazing news to announce today! We're going to be family!"

Faced with her forced intimacy, I felt a wave of nausea. The pretense between us had already shattered. I had no interest in playing the sisterly act anymore and quietly pulled my hand free.

She didn't mind and kept talking.

But then I noticed something. The jewelry she was wearing looked very familiar.

It was the one-of-a-kind ruby suite my birth family had given me days earlier, valued at fifty million dollars. They had noticed how simply I dressed and insisted I accept it.

I had locked the jewels in the safe Alessio and I shared. He must have assumed they were his gift to me and handed them to Bianca without asking.

I stared at Bianca coldly while she continued showing off her new jewelry.

"Elena, isn't this gorgeous? Alessio gave it to me."

"He said the stones suit me better. You could never carry them the way I can. Besides, an adopted daughter has no business wearing something this valuable."

"And perhaps no one told you: I'm Bianca Costa, Victor and Margaret's biological daughter. You stole twenty years of my life. I won't ask for those years back—but from now on, anything you have is mine to take."

"Both our parents and Alessio agreed to that."

I already knew I was adopted, but learning that Bianca was the Costas' biological daughter still drove a blade through my chest. I remembered Victor and Margaret's shock when I first introduced her, and every slight that followed finally made sense. They had known from the beginning.

"You can have everything that belongs to the Costa heir. Those jewels don't."

I reached for the necklace around her neck, but before my fingers even touched her, Bianca suddenly threw herself backward toward the floor.

In the same instant, a pair of arms caught her around the waist.

"What are you doing!"

Alessio's voice exploded in my ears. Before I could react, his palm struck my face hard.

My cheek swelled beneath my palm. Alessio's usually cold face was alive with fury. He'd waited until we were alone to hit me.

"You knew Bianca was pregnant. How dare you push her! Are you trying to kill my child?"

"I should have known. No matter how you dress yourself up, Elena, you can't hide the lowness in your blood."

Rage shook me from head to toe. I'd believed that even a loveless marriage should contain respect. I'd stood beside him through his worst years, and now he spoke of me as though I were a disposable pet.

"Believe whatever you want about me, Alessio. Those jewels are mine. My birth parents gave them to me."

"Your parents are Bianca's birth parents!"

Bianca, cradled in his arms, clutched her belly and cried pitiful tears. Hearing my words, she tugged at his sleeve urgently, begging.

"Alessio, please, stop. It's all my fault. I came back and took my sister's things. She has every right to be angry at me."

She slapped herself across the face, twice, hard.

"I'm sorry, Elena. Please don't be angry. We used to be best friends. I thought becoming sisters would bring us closer."

"If it makes you unhappy, I... I don't have to come home."

Her voice broke, and by the end she was nearly sobbing. Alessio hadn't been able to stop her in time. He touched her reddened cheek with trembling fingers.

When he turned to me, his eyes were blazing.

"Guards, lock my wife in the storage room. Perhaps a night alone will teach her some discipline."