Chapter 4

The value of that dress could no longer be measured in money.

Star Sea wasn't just a gown.

It was a promise.

A beautiful dream Andrew had once created for me with his own hands.

I closed my eyes.

For a moment, I could still see the night of our engagement, Andrew staring at me in Star Sea as though I were the only person in the room.

He'd taken my hand and said, "Jade, I think I used up a lifetime's worth of luck the day I met you."

I'd never doubted that Andrew had loved me once.

Only now did I understand that even the sincerest love could change.

Exhausted, I sank onto the sofa.

One of the maids immediately brought warm water and a soft towel and began carefully cleaning the ink from my face.

The water had to be changed several times.

My skin grew raw from the rubbing, but the blue ink refused to disappear completely.

A pale stain remained across my cheek like a bruise.

My phone suddenly began vibrating.

More than a dozen messages had arrived from one of my closest friends.

[Has that Garcia girl completely lost her mind?]

Below it was a photo that had already been passed around half of New York's underworld circle.

My face was turned slightly to one side.

The shock and anger in my expression hadn't faded yet, and the words stamped across my skin were painfully clear.

[MORETTI PORKHOUSE: GRADE A]

My hair was disheveled. My makeup was smeared.

I looked humiliated.

Hazel herself had posted the photo.

Her caption consisted of only two lines and a laughing emoji.

[Some women get awfully sensitive when they realize they're not the youngest woman in the room anymore. It was only a joke.]

[Being young is better. No rules, no burdens, and no need to take everything so seriously.]

My friend's call came through almost immediately.

"Jade, it's everywhere. Every Family in the city has seen it by now. What she wrote isn't exactly vicious, but..."

She stopped.

She didn't need to finish.

The damage was already done.

In our world, humiliation traveled faster than bullets.

Hazel hadn't simply mocked me.

She'd publicly trampled on my dignity.

I wanted to tell my friend I was fine, but my throat felt blocked.

After a moment, I forced my voice to remain steady.

"I'll handle it."

Then I hung up.

Almost at the same moment, footsteps sounded outside the room.

More than a dozen men in black entered first.

Two Russo soldiers followed behind them, dragging Hazel between them before shoving her onto the floor.

She stumbled, then snapped her head up at me.

"Jade!"

Her face twisted with anger.

"Is this all you know how to do? Hide behind your Family and use their power to crush people beneath you?"

She struggled against the men holding her.

"Without your name, what are you?"

I slowly sat upright and looked at her.

Then I laughed.

"Hazel, do you actually know who I am?"

She froze.

"My full name is Jade Elizabeth Davis."

Her expression remained confused.

"The Davis Family isn't simply wealthy. My grandfather built one of the Five Families that controlled the East Coast long before Andrew Moretti inherited his first territory."

I paused.

"I was the only granddaughter born into the Davis bloodline in three generations."

The smile faded from my face.

"I wasn't raised to fight for a seat at the table. I already had one from the moment I was born."

Hazel's face gradually lost its color.

"And you know exactly what the Davis name means in this city."

Of course she did.

Everyone in our world did.

The Davis Family stood at a height Hazel couldn't reach no matter how desperately she climbed.

Her lips began trembling.

She forced herself upright, but her voice had already lost its earlier confidence.

"I... I only borrowed one of your dresses. What's the big deal?"

Her hands flew to the zipper of Star Sea.

"I'll give it back!"

"No."

She stopped.

I rose from the sofa.

"I don't want it back."

I walked toward her slowly, my eyes moving over the gown Andrew had once made only for me.

"I don't wear things after they've been dirtied."

Then I stopped directly in front of her and looked down at her.