No One Told the Cripple the Story Was Fake

Five years after the Falcones took me back into the bloodline they'd cast off, the woman they called their heiress, Vittoria Falcone, ran me down in the courtyard of the estate and shattered my leg beneath her tires.

My father and mother, and the man I'd loved since childhood, Lorenzo Bianchi, rushed me to the Family physician in a panic. When Dr. Russo bowed his head and declared, in that grave, careful voice of his, that I might never walk again, Lorenzo dropped to one knee without hesitation and swore before them all to keep me safe for the rest of my life.