"You want to take her place?"My father's hand, holding his cigar, froze mid-air. He looked at me as if I were a stranger, a lunatic. Among all his daughters, my hostility towards Sofia was an open secret.The old-timers in the family used to joke that if Sofia tripped in front of me, I'd probably step aside just to watch her fall harder.The idea of me leaving the heart of our territory for Ashpoint, for the den of a man nicknamed the "Lone Wolf," Nikolai Volkov, to be traded to him like a peace offering, was something my father would never have considered.He knew I would never play a part in his schemes."Just last week," my father said, exhaling a plume of smoke, "you were on your knees on this very rug, begging me to let you marry Dante."My breath caught. Then, in a voice devoid of emotion, I said, "That won't be necessary. Let my sister have our golden boy."My father said nothing, his eyes searching my face. There was no real confusion in them.Between Sofia and me, he had alw
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