Chapter 2

The wedding went ahead as planned.

I owed it to my mother's dying wish to at least try to be a gentle, respectable wife.

For the first three days of our marriage, Adrian played the perfect husband.

He had breakfast with me every morning, spoke to me politely, and even made my coffee himself.

On the fourth day, Lily showed up.

Three carloads of luggage rolled straight through the Valenti gates—Adrian had already ordered my security to let them in.

She stood outside the gates of the private estate my mother had left me, loudly ordering the staff around as they carried her things inside.

“Adrian said I could stay here so we could all look out for each other!”

Her voice carried across the entire courtyard.

She wanted the garden wing on the east side.

It was the second-best part of the estate, and Nora and the others had been staying there.

I watched from an upstairs window.

Nora's face went white with anger.

“Alessandra, your mother left this estate to you. It doesn't belong to the Bellinis. What gives her the right?”

I answered calmly.

“Adrian does.”

Sure enough, Adrian arrived soon after.

He was as polished and mild-mannered as ever.

“Alessandra, Lily grew up with the Bellinis. She's used to having people around to take care of her. Let her have the east wing. She won't bother you.”

“No.”

Adrian smiled.

“Her things are already inside. Making her leave now would look terrible. People might start saying the Valentis can't even make room for one young girl.”

He said it so calmly, as if it were the most reasonable thing in the world.

I stared at him for three seconds. “Fine.”

Nora's breath caught.

I turned and went back to my room without looking back.

Once Lily moved in, the entire estate changed.

She complained that the chef's food was too bland and replaced him without asking me.

Then she complained that the armed checkpoints were ruining her parties and had two of them removed.

She ignored every rule in the house.

No one dared say a word.

Adrian had already made his position clear.

“Lily's young. She doesn't know any better. Cut her some slack.”

He was always saying she was young.

Lily was seventeen.

Seventeen, and she still didn't understand basic manners or boundaries?

What a joke.

That night, I met Luca Ferraro in my study.

It had been ten years since we'd stood face-to-face like this.

He hadn't changed much.

The same cold expression. The same quiet eyes.

He was the Head of Security my mother had left me.

Ten years ago, when I put down my gun, he and twelve men faded into the shadows with me.

For the past decade, he had never stopped protecting me from a distance.

He dropped to one knee in front of me.

“Miss Valenti.”

“Are your men still with you?” I asked.

“All twelve.”

“It's been ten years. Any rust on the guns?”

Luca looked up at me.

“Your guns don't rust.”

I nodded.

“Now I need you to look into two things.”

“First, Lily Hayes. Find out who her biological parents are and why the Bellinis raised her.”

“Second, find out whether she and Adrian are really just brother and sister—or something else.”

Luca paused. “Understood.”

He stood and left the study.

The moon was bright outside the window.

Mother, you asked me to put down the gun and live a good life.

I'm trying.

But I can't shake the feeling that people only know how to prey on those who won't fight back.