Chapter 1

My fiancé Alaric dragged me to the basement of the Voss estate and kept me there for seven days and seven nights.

"How dare you glare at Isabella at the banquet. You deserve everything that comes to you."

With that, he gouged out my eye. No anesthesia. The pain knocked me unconscious.

It was not until the eighth day that my three brothers finally showed up.

Julian arrived first and slapped me across the face without a word of explanation.

"Because of your attitude, Isabella had a complete breakdown last night. As compensation, I have already transferred your trust fund and every personal asset you own into her name."

Marcus came next. Ex-Special Forces, built like someone who had spent his entire life becoming a weapon. He planted his boot on my knee and pressed down until something cracked.

"From today, Isabella is the only Voss heir that matters. I will not acknowledge you as my sister."

Last was my brother who practiced medicine. No one in Los Angeles dared show him anything less than respect.

He was the only one who crouched down and wiped the blood from my face.

But what he said frightened me more than anything my other brothers had done.

"Isabella's leukemia is progressing. She needs a bone marrow donor, and you are a match." He held up a syringe. "This will not be comfortable."

I had no chance to speak.

The needle went in.

......

After the extraction, they moved me upstairs.

Clean sheets, a private nurse — the kind of careful attention that arrives too late to mean anything.

When I opened my eyes, Julian was standing by the window. He had dark circles he had not bothered to hide, which was unusual.

Julian always appeared composed. In his line of work, it was necessary. He rarely let his appearance slip like this.

"You are awake," he said, turning around. "You gave us quite a scare."

I watched his performance without saying a word.

"Do not look at me like that," he said. "As if we have been cruel to you. Was it not you who made the first mistake — frightening Isabella into a breakdown?"

"What you are going through now is simply paying for what you did."

"Everything you know about this came from Isabella alone. Did anyone ask me?"

His eyes shifted for just a moment. The movement was small, but I caught it.

None of what I said mattered here. Only Isabella's happiness did.

Silas walked in then, holding a tablet.

"Vitals are stable. Take your medication on schedule and you will be mobile within two days."

I turned my face away.

"Vivian, you have always had a strong constitution. This will not cause you any irreversible damage."

"Do not think that a few tears will earn you our sympathy."

"Or make us turn against Isabella on your behalf."

In the past, faced with this kind of misunderstanding from my own family, I would have defended myself with red eyes, crying as I insisted on my innocence. But now, there was no point.

I closed my eyes and said quietly, "You can all go. I want to be alone."

For me, the fastest relief at this point was to let this broken body die as soon as possible.

Julian heard something entirely different in those words.

"Vivian! Are you saying this just to spite me?"

He pressed down on my wound in anger. The stitching that had just been sewn together was wrenched apart, and the pain hit me in waves.

Watching me convulse, a flicker of hesitation crossed his eyes. His voice softened slightly.

"You are my own sister. We three brothers spared nothing to find you, spent everything we had to bring you back. How could we possibly let you die just like that?"

"But when it comes down to it, if you were not so petty, always making Isabella cry, how did you end up in this situation?"

As he spoke, he brought a cup of something over and pried my mouth open to pour it in.

"Just swear that when you go back, you will stop going after Isabella and apologize to her properly. Then I will take you home. Otherwise, you can stay here."

Listening to him speak as if he were granting me a favor, I felt a chill go through me that had nothing to do with the cold.

I had suffered from a young age. Three years ago, they finally found me. They held me and wept, saying they had owed me eighteen years and would give me only the best of everything from then on.

But when I arrived at the Voss household, I found there was no place left for me.

Years earlier, when we were both wandering the streets, Isabella had seen the notice the Voss family put out searching for me.

She locked me inside a room, took my identity, and was taken in by the Voss family in my place.

For all those years, she had enjoyed the love and privilege that should have been mine. I had struggled alone in the mud.

Yet no matter how she stirred things up, no matter how she performed her victimhood, my brothers always took her side and found fault with me.

Even Alaric, the man I was engaged to, doted on her and treated me with ice.

I was too tired of the endless entanglement and pain to waste another breath defending myself.

While the sedative had not yet fully taken hold, I tore open the wound that had just been sutured.

As blood and torn flesh surged out, Julian screamed.

"You have lost your mind! You will die!"

Watching him panic with reddened eyes, I pulled at the corner of my mouth into a faint, hollow smile.

"Dying sounds wonderful."

"Every second I keep living is suffering."

After those words, I could hold on no longer. Everything went dark.