Chapter 1

"Stella? Hello? What are you waiting for?"

When I didn't answer, Matteo finally ran out of patience.

"Serena and I both picked Manhattan. Just confirm some branch near New York. Any one."

I stared at the score on my screen. Overall: 96.8. I still didn't answer.

It was the highest score I had ever gotten in a family assessment. It was higher than any of my practice runs.

By the rankings, I had more than earned a place at New York headquarters.

But not one person had asked me how I did.

Because the moment Serena walked out of the exam room, she ran into Mom's arms with red eyes.

"I totally blew it this time. What do I do?"

Mom held her right away and comforted her softly.

"Oh, honey, it doesn't matter."

"Even if you didn't pass, the family will put you in the best department. Nobody would dare give you a hard time."

My brother, Alessandro, waved it off like it was nothing.

"What are you scared of? When I run the family, taking care of you will be easy."

Matteo was even gentler with her. "Serena. Hey. Don't worry."

"Even if it wasn't your best, I bet you still beat Stella."

"Worst case, we'll take it again with you. Help her catch up while we're at it."

To them, I was always just the backdrop that made Serena shine.

She was lively and outgoing, always knowing how to charm the people around her.

At every family banquet, people fought to compliment her and bring her gifts.

Even the elders in the family liked to pull her onto their laps and call her their little princess.

I was quiet and reserved.

Whenever people met me, the most they ever said was a polite, "What a well-behaved girl."

When I was little, I truly believed being good was something to be proud of.

So when Mom bought Serena beautiful custom dresses, I never begged for one.

When my brother came home with Serena's favorite chocolates and nothing for me, I never reached for them.

Even at family banquets, when Serena took the last strawberry on the dessert plate, I would say I didn't like strawberries anyway.

Because every time I did, Mom and Dad would look at me for a little longer.

They would pat my head and praise me.

"Stella's such a good girl. She knows how to let her sister go first."

Back then, I thought if I could just be a little better, a little more understanding, they would love me a little more.

But when I grew up, I finally realized that being understanding didn't make them love me more.

It only made them think I didn't need taking care of at all.

Serena and Matteo had always been the center of attention at family gatherings.

One was the Vittore family's little princess. The other was heir to the Rossi family.

They trained together from the time they were kids, and they were always at the top.

I was slow at everything. My assessment rank usually sat somewhere in the lower middle.

Over time, everyone decided I just didn't have what it took to carry on the family business.

I didn't even seem to have the right to talk about the future with them.

This time, I had finally caught up. And not one of them had even looked.

In the end, I couldn't help asking Matteo.

"Didn't you say London was where you really wanted to go?"

Matteo blinked. Then he laughed, like I had said something funny.

"New York, London, what's the difference? What matters is where Serena wants to be."

I stared at him.

More than once, Matteo had told me London was his dream.

London ran the family's key trade network in Europe. It was the goal he had worked toward for years.

But now, all it took was one word from Serena about wanting to stay in New York, and he dropped it without a second thought.

So the dream he had held on to for so long could be tossed aside because of one sentence from her.

Suddenly, everything I had held on to all these years seemed ridiculous.

In silence, I searched for a location in the application system.

Geneva.

The Geneva branch was one of the Vittore family's most important overseas operations, and one of the hardest to get into.

It was far from the New York headquarters, an ocean away from everything I had ever known.

I looked at the application page and checked it one last time.

Then I hit submit.