Chapter 2

I spent the entire next day in the hospital.

Nicolo never came.

On the second day, after I finished the discharge paperwork alone, I passed the VIP floor and looked through the open door of one of the suites.

My father and Nicolo were both inside with Elena.

My father was feeding her fruit with his own hands, patient and almost tender. Nicolo stood beside the bed talking to her doctor with the focus of a man handling a matter that could not afford the slightest mistake.

I stood in the hallway and remembered the night, months earlier, when Elena had come home crying with a swollen belly. She had said the baby's father was trash, that he had vanished the moment he learned she was pregnant, and that she wanted nothing from him except the chance to keep the child. Back then I thought my father and Nicolo were disgusted with her. They had both told her she had brought it on herself.

Later I learned how badly I had misread everything.

My father gave her formal standing in the family. Nicolo had an entire wing, Building B, expanded just for her. She was given her own staff, her own doctors, her own security, and enough room to live in comfort while she carried another man's child. They scolded her in public and protected her in private.

The one fool in the room had been me.

The moment I got back to the estate, I called my graduate advisor and told him I would accept the sealed project at the Nordic Research Institute. It had once been the path I could not bring myself to take. Now it was the only way out.

He booked me onto the institute's private flight for the following day and reminded me that the project's confidentiality level was so high that once I entered, I likely would not be able to come home for ten years.

"You should say goodbye to your family properly," he said.

I looked out at the gray sky beyond the window and answered, "No need."

Nicolo came back at dusk.

He wrapped an arm around my waist from behind and rested his chin on my shoulder as though nothing had happened. "Booking tickets? Where are you planning to go?"

I turned my phone face down on the table. "I was refunding concert tickets. I missed the show because of the hospital."

He pinched my cheek and smiled. "You could have had someone else do that. Why did you leave the hospital by yourself? Why didn't you wait for me to pick you up?"

Before I could answer, the door opened.

Elena walked in carrying a bottle of massage oil, all soft smiles and concern. "You just gave birth, little sister. Your back and legs must be aching. I learned a few therapy techniques. Let me help."

"No."

The refusal left my mouth before I even thought about it.

At once her eyes reddened. She turned to Nicolo with a tremble in her voice. "I only wanted to make up for the misunderstandings between us. Does she still hate me that much?"

Nicolo was silent for a beat before he touched my face and said, "Let her try. She means well."

That was the moment the last bit of warmth in me died.

He knew exactly what Elena and I were to each other, and he still chose to let her cross my line. Not because he did not see it, but because in his heart my feelings would always rank after hers.

I did not argue again.

By this time tomorrow, I would be gone.

Elena took out two straps and smiled sweetly. "For proper treatment, your hands and feet have to stay still. Don't worry. They're soft. They won't hurt you."

Nicolo barely looked at them. He kissed my forehead. "I need to take a call. I'll be right back."

The door closed.

The softness vanished from Elena's face. I tried moving my wrist and realized at once that the thing binding me was not elastic at all.

She lifted the real therapy bands and gave them a small shake. "Don't bother struggling. I didn't come here to help you."

Then she leaned close, eyes bright with malice. "You've always wanted to know how your mother died, haven't you? I'll tell you."

Ice slid down my spine.

She smiled as if she were discussing the weather. "When you were born, Dad looked at you and said you were beautiful, just like Mom. He said the best things in the world would go to you. I hated it. Before you existed, I was the only little princess in this house. So after Mom's surgery, while she was still unconscious, I pulled out her oxygen tube with my own hands. I wanted to see whether Dad would still love you if she died because of you."

For a second, all the blood in my body seemed to stop.

My mother had not died because of me.

I had carried Elena's sin on my back all these years.

My voice shook. "You aren't afraid I'll tell Dad and Nicolo?"

Elena laughed. "Tell them. See whose word they take."

She uncapped the glass bottle in her hand and dumped the liquid all over my arm.

Then she flicked a lighter.

The flames shot up so fast I went blind with pain. I jerked against the restraints hard enough to drag the chair over with me. The second I tore free, Elena screamed and threw herself to the floor, clutching her stomach.

The door burst open.

Nicolo ran in.

Elena grabbed his sleeve with trembling fingers and cried, "Don't blame her. I must have pressed too hard. She kicked me."

Nicolo looked at me on the floor, then at her pale face, and his expression hardened. "Valentina, do you hate her that much?"

I opened my mouth, but the fire still burning across my skin turned my breath to knives. No words came out.

Nicolo did not wait for them.

He picked Elena up and strode out. "I'm taking her to the hospital."

He never once looked back at my blistering arm.

I sat there for a long time before I managed to stand. I found the burn cream myself. When the baby started crying from the crib, I crossed the room on shaking legs and lifted him into my arms. His tiny fingers brushed the bandages on my arm and immediately withdrew, as if even he knew I was hurt.

I pressed my face against his and let the tears fall in silence.

Don't be scared.

At dawn, Mommy will take you away.