Chapter 1

I was the Castell family's designated heir in Rosewick, Delmaris, and my older sister Sabrina had been adopted into the family.

So she was overprotective of me.

She reminded me constantly, "Avery, you're the family's only heir. It's not safe for you to be out in public."

Even my dates with Julian Vescari, the Don of the most powerful family in Rosewick, were things she attended in my place.

When the grapes ripened at the estate, Sabrina said the crowds made it unsafe.

So she went with Julian to pick grapes instead of me.

At family banquets, she said there were too many cameras and it made an assassination too easy.

So she linked arms with Julian and gave the speeches in my place.

Every time she came back, Sabrina told me gently, "As long as I'm standing in front of you, you can inherit everything safely."

I always believed she did it for my sake.

Until the day before my engagement to Julian.

Sabrina was sitting in the dressing room in the gown I'd had made for myself.

As I passed the doorway, I happened to see Julian feed her a peeled grape.

Sabrina complained sweetly, "I run around handling everything for the two of you and never get a moment to myself, and one grape is supposed to settle it?"

Julian answered easily, "You've worked hard. Ask me for anything you want."

Sabrina looked him up and down, and then she smiled.

The intimacy between them froze me where I stood and sent a sharp pain through my chest.

In that moment I finally understood. This boundary-crossing game they called protection had to end.

Chapter 1

I left without a word and spent the whole afternoon alone in a coffee shop on the corner.

By the time I got home, Julian and Sabrina were already on the sofa, laughing together.

Their smiles faded a little when they saw me.

Sabrina stood, took my hand, and said, "Avery, that gown fits really well. It was just too warm. Good thing you weren't the one wearing it.

"And the heels are no good either. They're beautiful, but your feet would kill you after standing that long.

"Julian told me to wear flats. He has absolutely no appreciation for anything."

Sabrina swatted his arm, playing at being annoyed.

Julian smiled and raised an eyebrow. "I was worried about your ankles."

Sabrina pretended to sulk. "What's wrong with trying things on for my sister? I can put up with a little pain."

There was no way into the warmth between them. I stood off to the side and said nothing, like someone who shouldn't have been in the room at all.

Sabrina and I have very different builds. I'm a little taller and finer-boned, and the gown fit her exactly.

I couldn't wear it.

They kept calling it protection, and yet they hadn't even let me try on the one dress that mattered.

I'd disappeared for an entire afternoon on the eve of something important, and neither of them had noticed.

I turned toward my room. Only then did the laughter behind me cut off.

Before I could shut the door, Sabrina caught up and braced it open. "Avery, are you angry?"

My voice came out cold. "No."

Her eyes filled at once.

"You must be angry. I know I meddle too much.

"But I really do it for you. You're the Castell heir. If something happened to you, what would Mom and Dad do? What would Julian and I do?

"I still remember the time our enemies took you. A bullet went right past my ear. We were terrified..."

Her voice broke, and she put her head down and started crying.

Julian's face darkened beside her.

"Avery, Sabrina is doing this for your own good."

For my own good. I'd been hearing that for more than a decade.

Ever since my parents announced at a banquet that I'd inherit the Castell family, they'd made every decision for me.

I wasn't allowed to appear in public, and I wasn't allowed to go anywhere alone.

I wasn't allowed near anything that carried even a hint of risk.

To this day I still hadn't met the family elders.

I'd looked into it myself. The old enemies had been picked up by the police years ago, and I could live a normal life like any other heir.

Sabrina and Julian held on to their own version anyway.

Julian took Sabrina downstairs, and at last it was quiet around me.

From the balcony I watched them talking and laughing in the garden, as though the whole scene upstairs had never happened.

I booked a ticket to Seabreak.

If there was no place for me here, I didn't want to stay.

I packed my suitcase and set it by the balcony door.

Then a message from Julian came through on my phone.

"Don't be late tomorrow."

Chapter 2

The next day, Julian came himself to take me to the engagement venue.

When he saw me, he ruffled my hair and said, doting, "Once we're engaged today, I'll take you away for a few days."

He was back to his old self, so I let the night before go.

By then Sabrina had come out of the house in full makeup, glowing, a smile all over her face.

She was wearing the gown she'd tried on for me the day before.

Sabrina came up, took my hand, and smiled. "Avery, all of Rosewick knows the two of you are getting engaged today. I'll wear the gown in your place so I can keep you safe on the way."

I froze and looked at Julian.

His face gave away nothing. He opened the front passenger door and said, "Sabrina is doing this for your own good. There'll be a crowd today. We should be careful."

I said nothing, and he added, "Once we get there, I'll send the two of you back to change."

I kept my eyes on the dress Sabrina was wearing.

"You said yesterday it fit you. Then it won't fit me."

Her face dimmed, and Julian gave a small laugh.

"You haven't even tried it. How would you know it doesn't fit? Whose fault is it that you took your own engagement so lightly you never had a fitting?

"How are you still this careless?"

He pinched my cheek, his voice soft and indulgent.

It landed badly. Sabrina was the one who'd insisted on trying the gown for me.

Had I ever had the chance? She'd even gone in my place when the designer took the measurements.

"All right, stop keeping score. Get in the car.

"We're going to be late."

I swallowed it and said nothing.

When I moved toward the front seat, Julian stopped me outright.

"Sit in the back. You're not in the gown yet, and it'll look bad if the press gets a photo."

They'd arranged everything between them. Sabrina slid into the front seat as though it were hers and turned around. "Avery, this is all for your own good."

On the drive over, Sabrina kept describing the arrangements to me. She'd been the one to suggest closing the boulevard so our car could reach the venue without stopping.

The balloons along both sides of the street had been put up on her instructions.

So had the congratulations on the billboards.

Every bit of it, she'd designed herself.

Julian praised her, smiling. "Thanks to Sabrina, you get a perfect engagement."

I looked out the window and saw plainly that the photograph on the billboards was Sabrina's.

She had her arm around Julian and was smiling sweetly.

They looked like the couple being celebrated.

No wonder Julian wanted me in the back. Sabrina was on those billboards. A photo of me beside them would only hurt her.

I looked away, and my heart gave a tight pull.

We finally reached the Rosewick Grand Pavilion, where every guest had already arrived. Julian sent Sabrina and me backstage first to change.

Once we were back there, we traded clothes.

The dress I'd been wearing was visibly too small on her.

And the gown that should have been mine hung so loose that I had to hold it up with both hands to keep it from sliding down.

I remembered that Sabrina had taken my measurements for it.

Even if it were off, it wouldn't be off by this much.

Julian called from outside, "What's taking so long?"

Then he saw us, and his expression changed.

Sabrina forced a smile. "I'm fine. I can put up with it."

"No. It's too tight. You'll be miserable." Julian looked at me and sighed. "Avery, switch back for now."

I couldn't hold it in. "My own gown, and somehow I'm the one it doesn't fit."

Chapter 3

Sabrina's face changed. Embarrassed, she took my hand again, her eyes filling. "Avery, are you angry with me?

"When I tried it on for you yesterday, I thought it would fit you...

"I was afraid someone might sew a needle into the lining to hurt you. That's why I tried it first. If anything happened to you, what would we do? I only did it for your own good."

I'd heard enough of it. I stopped answering.

The moment she cried, Julian stepped in again. "Enough, Avery. Try to be reasonable.

"Sabrina is doing this for you. Change back and stop holding up what matters."

I swallowed the knot in my chest and laughed coldly. "You want her to attend my engagement in my place?

"Have all of you forgotten that I'm the one getting engaged today?"

I was leaving soon, and I couldn't hold the words down any longer.

Once they were out, the tightness in my chest eased considerably.

"You expect to walk out there dressed like that? What will the family think when they see you?"

Julian raised his voice at me.

Sabrina's hand jerked and she pulled at him. "Don't. It's my fault. I didn't take Avery's measurements properly beforehand, and now she can't wear it."

The more she said, the more wronged she sounded, until she was crying again. "But I did it for her. I never wanted to hold up your engagement."

"This has nothing to do with you. Don't blame yourself." Julian comforted her.

Standing between them, I somehow became the unreasonable one.

The ceremony was about to start. When my parents saw that we hadn't come out, they hurried backstage too.

"What's going on?"

"Why hasn't it started yet?"

The moment they took in the scene, their faces turned ugly.

There was no way I could walk out in a gown that wouldn't stay on my body.

My father snapped immediately, "What is wrong with you? If it didn't fit, why didn't you have it altered? You spent all yesterday afternoon on a fitting."

My mother added, "Forget it. Take it off and let Sabrina stand in for you again."

That look of disappointment was nothing new to me.

Years ago, on my birthday, Sabrina fought to taste my cake for me and ended up in the hospital with an allergic reaction. My parents held her and wept.

Then they laid the whole thing at my feet.

They scolded me for being thoughtless and insisted all over again that Sabrina walk ahead of me and test everything first.

I never needed her to test anything for me.

Afterward, I overheard my father talking to Marco Ferraro, his underboss, in the study. He sighed. "Avery may be my own blood, but she doesn't have Sabrina's judgment.

"She doesn't think things through the way Sabrina does. She isn't suited to inherit the family.

"If only Sabrina had been born mine."

Marco said, "She's been in this family for years. You can treat her as your own."

My heart had gone cold the day I heard that. I had no interest in arguing today either. Without a word, I went in and took the gown off.

I only had to get through today, and then I'd be gone for good.

The moment Sabrina had the gown back on, she let out a breath. "Finally. I can breathe again."

"Good. Let's go." Julian gave her a look.

The two of them walked out of the dressing room.

I stayed in the corner, forgotten there.

Even so, they entered late and kept the guests waiting.

On my way out I saw my parents standing in the hall, their faces like thunder. I didn't linger. I left through the back and went straight home to pack.

Sabrina couldn't wait to tell me about it afterward. "It's a good thing I went to the engagement for you. Toasting everyone in those heels was exhausting.

"I had to drink so much, and the family elders are impossible to handle."

Chapter 4

I had no interest in any of it and kept my head down.

Julian picked up on my mood right away.

He pulled me over and brushed his thumb along the corner of my eye. "You should have been the one out there today, but the gown didn't fit.

"That's the only reason Sabrina helped. I know how much you were looking forward to wearing it."

When the gown was first commissioned, I'd spent three months at home choosing the designer.

But when the meeting was set, Sabrina said it wasn't safe to meet a stranger and went in my place, and every conversation after that went through her.

The finished gown kept the color I'd wanted.

The design was the exact opposite of everything I'd asked for.

Julian kissed my forehead. "It's all right.

"You'll be my Donna in the end. I'm marrying you. It doesn't matter who stood at an engagement party."

None of it mattered anymore. He was right about that much.

I pushed him off, done listening to any more of it. "I'm fine."

I was leaving. There was nothing left worth being angry about.

Seeing that I was fine, Julian seemed to relax, and he smiled.

Soon all of this would be over.

"Come out to the estate with me tomorrow. We'll get the vows signed."

I didn't want to go, but if I refused they'd only decide I was sulking again, and that would make more trouble on my way out.

The next day I went to Vescari Estate as agreed.

It was my first time there. Sabrina had always come in my place. Only then did I notice that the garden looked almost exactly like the one she'd built at home.

As I crossed it, I heard a familiar voice.

It was Sabrina. She gave a little cry and said, playfully cross, "She's shedding again."

Julian said, "It's fine. I'll have someone clean it up."

Sabrina was here, and I'd had no idea. I stood at the edge and watched the two of them brush the dog.

The dog caught my scent, sprang off the table, and came at me barking. The hair went up on my arms and a thin sweat broke across my back.

Before I could react, it had my pant leg in its teeth.

I was too frightened to make a sound.

Sabrina hurried over, scooped it up, and scolded it softly, "No biting."

Julian helped me up. "Are you all right? Sabrina has been keeping a dog for you. We know you're afraid of dogs, so she picked out a gentle one ahead of time.

"Her name's Mia. She's usually very good.

"Once you move in, you won't have to go pick out a new one."

I stood there frozen, my hands stiff at my sides. I've been afraid of dogs my whole life and never once wanted one.

Why had Sabrina picked one for me? Why had she raised it for me?

It struck me as absurd, and a small sound of contempt escaped me.

Sabrina said, "She's very affectionate. She turned four this year."

Only then did I learn that she'd been raising a dog for me at this estate for four years.

I didn't argue. I pressed my heartbeat down and sat carefully. My leg had escaped, but there were several holes torn in my pants.

Sabrina handed the dog to a housekeeper and gave the order in the tone of the woman of the house. "Give her a bath, get her cleaned up, and feed her."

Julian said, "You're feeding her again? Look how fat she's getting."

"Eating well is healthy."

The two of them went back and forth like a married couple raising a child.

A few minutes later it was Father Rinaldi who reminded them why we were there.

He took out the vow book, and before it reached my hands Sabrina took it first.

Father Rinaldi said, "Look it over carefully and sign your own names. You'll recite these at the wedding next month."

My hand hung awkwardly in the air. I gave a dry laugh and pulled it back.

Julian smiled at me. "Let her check it over for you. She's your sister. She still worries. Let her look."

It hadn't mattered to me to begin with.

But as Sabrina read, she picked up a pen. "I'll sign for you. It's safer. You're the family heir, so even your handwriting should stay private."

I frowned and started to speak.

Julian talked me down. "Sabrina always thinks further ahead."

I looked up at her again. She'd already signed and was turning the book toward me. My eyes landed on the handwriting.

My face went stiff.

The name written on the line for the one making the vow wasn't mine.

Chapter 5

It was Sabrina's own.

Julian, right beside her, noticed nothing wrong.

He told Father Rinaldi, "This copy will do."

Father Rinaldi had barely taken it when Sabrina realized. Her face flushed and she grabbed for it.

"Oh no. I signed it wrong. I wrote my own name."

But the book had already been sealed by both families, and it was the only copy. It couldn't be altered.

Julian looked embarrassed.

He turned toward me, waiting for me to speak.

I looked straight ahead, my face blank.

Sabrina crouched in front of me and took my hands. "I really didn't mean to, Avery. Please don't be angry."

Julian said, "Never mind. It's a name. On the day you'll be reciting your own, and the guests won't know the difference."

"Let's just do that, Avery." Sabrina stared up at me, tears already running.

I stood up calmly.

"It's fine. You've done everything else for me. One more signature is nothing. It's good, really."

I only felt how completely pointless all of it was.

Julian thought I was angry and took my hand to soothe me. "It doesn't matter. You're the one who'll be living with me. It's a formality. Don't take it to heart."

I took the book out of Father Rinaldi's hands.

"I'm not taking it to heart."

I picked up the pen and wrote a few quick words at the very bottom.

This ends here.

The moment the pen came up, both their faces changed.

Sabrina faltered. "Don't do this. It was my mistake, but don't take it out this way. Julian did nothing wrong.

"This book isn't yours alone, Avery. When are you going to grow up?"

Julian snapped, "What exactly do you think you're doing?"

I didn't say a word. I put the book back in Father Rinaldi's hands, picked up my bag, and turned to go.

Julian caught my hand. "Avery, don't push this too far."

"It's my fault. She's only angry because of me." Sabrina's eyes filled and fat tears rolled down.

Julian's face darkened, his voice heavy. "Apologize."

"What did I do wrong?" I asked.

"Sabrina thinks of nothing but you. She signed one name wrong. Is that worth losing your temper over? Worth humiliating her like this?"

So that was it. I gave a faint, cold laugh.

Their two names were sitting on the vows, and I'd written that it ended here.

That was what would hurt the two of them.

I shook his hand off, let my eyes move over them both, and walked out without a word.

Behind me, I heard Sabrina start after me.

Julian held her back and barked, "Let her go. Without us, let's see how she manages. Who else is going to protect her?

"Let her figure it out herself."

I quickened my steps. My neck was strangely cold.

I called a car straight home, picked up my luggage, and left for Rosewick International Airport.

While I was waiting at the gate, Julian sent me a message.

"Sabrina has been crying for hours. Are you satisfied now?"

"Come to the estate now and apologize to her, and we'll put this behind us."

"The wedding goes ahead as planned."

I didn't reply. I switched the phone off.

From that moment on, I wanted nothing more to do with any of them.