Nico dropped my wrist like it was on fire.

He immediately turned, pulling Bianca into his side. The move was so smooth it looked rehearsed.

“Baby, there you are.” He kissed her temple. “I was just catching up with Aurora about her… travels.”

Bianca’s smile widened.

“Oh, that’s wonderful!” She pressed closer to Nico, a flash of triumph in her eyes as she looked at me. “Aurora, you know I’ve been so worried about you. We’re cousins, after all.”

The other guests started to drift back toward us.

“Isn’t that the Falcones? I hear you two are set to inherit the family business soon.” A woman dripping in pearls approached them. “Bianca, darling, your charity work is simply divine.”

“Thank you,” Bianca said, dipping her head shyly. She played the part of the adoring wife perfectly.

More people joined the circle of flatterers.

“You’re a lucky man, Nico.”

“That donation to the children’s hospital last month…”

“You two are a perfect match.”

I was the outsider at their little love fest.

“And this is…?” The woman’s eyes slid over to me, her lip curling in distaste.

“My cousin, Aurora Rossi,” Bianca said before I could speak. “She just got back from Europe.”

The whispers started immediately.

“Rossi… isn’t that the one…”

“The scandal from five years ago…”

“Heard she was thrown out…”

“She certainly looks the part…”

Bianca’s face filled with faux concern.

“Aurora, darling, it must have been so hard for you all these years.” Her voice was thick with pity. “I always wanted to help, but you left so suddenly…”

She paused, a sharp glint in her eye.

“But now that you’re back, I know just the thing!” She clapped her hands together. “Mr. Hoffman!”

A fat man in his sixties waddled over. His bald head gleamed under the chandeliers, and his hands were covered in tacky gold rings.

I knew him. Charles Hoffman. A notorious loan shark with a filthy reputation.

“Bianca, my dear.” His voice was as greasy as he looked. “What can I do for you?”

“Mr. Hoffman, I’d love for you to meet my cousin.” Bianca’s grip was like a vise on my arm. “Aurora is quite the art expert. I’m sure you two will find plenty to talk about.”

Charles’s beady little eyes sized me up, and his gaze made my stomach turn.

“An art expert?” He licked his greasy lips. “I’m in the market for a new… protégée. Someone with an eye for the finer things.”

The people around us chuckled knowingly.

I’d had enough.

“Bianca.” I pulled my arm from her grasp, my voice dangerously calm. “Why the rush to marry me off? Worried I came back for him?”

Her smile froze.

“What did you say?”

“You heard me.” I looked around at the silent crowd. “After all, just two minutes ago, your husband was offering to set me up in a penthouse apartment if I’d just say yes.”

Dead silence.

Every eye in the circle ricocheted between the three of us.

Nico’s face turned to stone.

“Aurora, what the hell are you talking about—”

“A penthouse overlooking Central Park,” I added calmly. “His words, not mine.”

Bianca’s eyes instantly welled up. Tears gathered on her lashes.

“Nico…” Her voice trembled, full of hurt and disbelief. “Is that… is that true?”

She looked so fragile, so innocent. A flower in a storm.

The perfect victim.

The crowd looked at her with pity, and at me with disgust.

“That Rossi girl has no shame.”

“How could she say something so cruel?”

“In public, no less…”

Bianca’s tears finally fell. She clutched Nico’s arm like a lifeline.

“I… I was only trying to help her…” she choked out. “I never thought she would do this to me…”

The whole party was now focused on the drama. A charity gala turned into a gossip column.

I didn’t care. I just looked away.

“Enough.”

Nico’s voice was low and furious.

Nico pulled Bianca tight against him, letting her bury her face in his chest.

“Look at you, Aurora.” His gaze cut into me like a knife. “This is why I left you. You’ve always been this vicious, jealous, and out of control.”

Bianca sobbed quietly in his arms, the picture of a wounded bird.

“You come back after five years, and you’re still the same,” he seethed. “You think you’re still the Rossi family’s little princess? Wake up, Aurora. You’re not fit to shine Bianca’s shoes.”

Murmurs of agreement rippled through the crowd.

Then he did something that made everyone gasp.

He grabbed Bianca’s face and kissed her. Hard. Right there in front of everyone.

It wasn’t a polite, social kiss. It was possessive, raw, and meant to be a show.

Bianca looked surprised for a second, then melted into it, wrapping her arms around his neck. They kissed like they wanted the whole world to see how in love they were.

Applause and whistles broke out.

“Now that’s love!”

“So romantic!”

I watched the performance, my face a blank mask.

No pain. No jealousy. Not even anger.

Just a deep, bone-weary exhaustion.

“That’s funny,” I said softly.

My voice wasn't loud, but in the sudden quiet, it carried.

They broke apart. Nico looked at me, a smirk on his face, waiting for me to shatter.

I let a small, cold smile touch my lips. “You know, Bianca? He kisses you the same way he used to kiss me. At the Hamptons lake house.”

The color drained from Bianca’s face.

“He even does that little thing with his thumb,” I continued, my voice sweet as poison. “Tracing your jawline. Just like that. Right, Nico?”

Dead. Silence.

Everyone held their breath.

The Hamptons lake house. The Falcone family’s private retreat. The place Nico and I went after we got engaged.

What was left of it, anyway.

“You…” Bianca’s voice shook. “Why would you bring that up?”

“Because it was our place,” I said, my voice light, like I was talking about the weather. “Every room. Every bed. Every corner. We slept in all of them.”

“Shut up!” Nico exploded. “You have no shame, Aurora!”

“No shame?” I laughed, a short, bitter sound. “That’s rich, coming from you.”

The memory hit me like a tidal wave.

Five years ago. One week before our wedding.

I was standing in the dressing room of the Vera Wang boutique, wearing my custom gown. Ivory silk clung to my body, the long train pooling around me like a cloud.

Nico’s going to love this, I thought, smiling at my reflection.

My phone rang.

“Sweetheart, I’m sorry.” Nico’s voice was tight, rushed. “Something came up. An emergency meeting. I can’t make it to the fitting.”

“But you promised…”

“I know, but this is important. I’ll make it up to you, okay?”

He hung up before I could reply.

I was disappointed, but I understood. He was busy.

After changing, I was scrolling through my phone.

Bianca had posted a new story.

The photo was blurry, taken from a strange angle. A man’s muscular back. A woman’s slender arm wrapped around him.

Both naked.

I tapped the screen to play the video.

And then I heard it. A man’s voice, thick with lust. A voice I knew better than my own.

“Bianca… God, you’re so fucking beautiful…”

It was Nico.

My hands started to shake.

I stared at the background of the photo.

It was the master bedroom of the Hamptons lake house.

Our bedroom.

The room where we’d made love countless times.

I didn’t even bother to change. I ran out of the boutique in the thousand-dollar fitting dress.

The driver stared at me.

“Miss, you—”

“The Hamptons!” I screamed. “Now! Go!”

An hour later, I threw open the doors to the house. I could hear them. Disgusting, wet sounds.

I walked up the stairs, each step a knife in my heart.

The master bedroom door was ajar.

I saw it all.

Nico on top of Bianca. Tangled together.

In our bed.

In the bed where he’d promised me forever.

“Nico…” My voice was a broken whisper.

They flew apart.

Bianca scrambled for the sheets to cover herself.

Nico’s face was white.

“Aurora… I can explain…”

“Explain what?” I stared at them. “Explain why you’re fucking my cousin in our bed?”

“It’s not what it looks like…”

“Not what it looks like?” I laughed, a hysterical, tearing sound. “What is it then? Role-play?”

“Aurora, calm down…” Nico got off the bed, tried to come toward me.

“Don’t touch me!” I backed away. “You were just inside her!”

“Just listen to me…”

“I’ve heard enough!” I turned and ran.

Down the stairs, through the living room, out into the garden.

I just ran, the white dress trailing behind me.

But the shock was too much for my body.

A white-hot pain ripped through my stomach. My legs gave out.

I collapsed on the stone steps at the entrance to the house.

A river of red soaked the ivory silk of my dress.

“My baby…” I cried, my voice raw with despair.

Nico ran out. He saw the blood and his face went even paler.

“Call an ambulance!” he screamed at Bianca.

But it was too late.

At the hospital, the doctor told me the baby was gone.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “You’ve had a miscarriage.”

I lay on the cold hospital bed, staring at nothing.

Two days later, the elders of both families held a meeting.

“This cannot get out,” the Falcone patriarch said. “The alliance must proceed.”

“But…” I said, my voice weak.

“No buts.” Vincent Rossi, my father, looked at me without an ounce of sympathy. “You will marry Nico. The families depend on it.”

“I won’t marry a traitor.”

“Then Bianca will marry him,” the patriarch said calmly. “She’s a Rossi daughter, too.”

“What?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“Perhaps Bianca is a better fit for the Falcone family,” my father said. “She’s more docile. Obedient.”

“And,” the old Don added, his voice like ice, “Bianca is… whole. She can give the Falcone family a healthy heir.”

I sat bolt upright in the bed, rage burning through me.

“Are you kidding me? She slept with my fiancé!”

“So what?” my father sneered. “At least she has discretion. She didn’t throw a tantrum and lose a child because of it.”

“So this is my fault?”

“It is what it is,” the patriarch said, standing up. “Nico has chosen Bianca. We will honor his choice.”

I looked at Nico, waiting for him to say something. Anything.

He just sat there, silent, refusing to meet my eyes.

“Nico…” I whispered his name one last time.

“Aurora,” he finally said, his voice flat and empty. “Maybe this is for the best.”

In that moment, my world ended.

Three days later, I was discharged.

I didn’t go home. I went straight to the Hamptons.

I doused the entire house in gasoline.

Then I lit a match.

The flames shot into the sky, burning every memory to ash.

By the time the fire department arrived, the house was a ruin.

Two days after that, the family officially disowned me.

My bank accounts were frozen. My credit cards canceled.

The official story was that Nico and Bianca were the intended match all along.

And me? I was a ghost.

The day I left New York, I saw the headline on a newspaper.

Falcone Heir to Wed Rossi Heiress in Perfect Match of Power and Prestige.

The photo was of Nico and Bianca, smiling at each other.

Like I never existed.

The memory faded.

I was back in the ballroom, facing Nico’s furious face.

“You want me to apologize?” I asked softly.

“Now,” he growled.

I looked at him, and all I felt was a dead, empty space where my heart used to be.

This man. He was my fiancé once.

Now, he was nothing.

I turned my back on him and walked toward the most important table in the entire ballroom.

In the deepest part of the hall, there was one table set apart from the rest. Black tablecloth, silver settings, no flowers, no fuss.

But everyone knew what that table meant.

It was Lucas Moretti’s table.

The Don of New York. The most feared man in the city. The true ruler of the Five Families.

I walked straight for it.

Behind me, Bianca’s shrill laugh cut through the silence.

“Aurora, darling!” Her voice was pure venom. “Have you lost your mind? Do you have any idea whose table that is?”

I didn’t stop.

“That’s Don Moretti’s throne!” she shrieked, making sure everyone could hear. “Touching it is a death sentence!”

A nervous murmur went through the crowd.

“My god, she’s lost her mind…”

“What is she doing?”

“That’s suicide…”

I reached the table and looked at the empty chair. A high-backed throne of black leather, carved with an ancient family crest.

Then, I sat down.

The entire ballroom went completely silent.

Everyone stared at me like I was a madwoman.

“Aurora!” Nico’s roar echoed through the hall. “Are you insane?!”

He stormed toward me, his face a mask of fury.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” His voice was a raw mix of terror and rage. “You’re going to get us all killed! The entire Rossi family!”

I leaned back in the chair and looked at him calmly.

“Get up!” He reached for me. “Get up right now!”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because you don’t belong there!” He grabbed my arm and yanked me out of the chair.

He used too much force.

I lost my balance and fell, hard. My knee cracked against the marble floor with a sickening thud.

Pain shot up my leg.

I heard a sharp intake of breath from the crowd.

But no one moved to help me.

“Nico!” Bianca cried out in fake shock. “You were too rough!”

But I saw the glint of satisfaction in her eyes.

I pushed myself up, my knee screaming in protest.

“Enough.” I brushed the dust from my pants and looked up at Nico.

This time, I was furious.

I met his terrified eyes, my voice like ice. “You want to know why I can sit here?”

I tilted my head. “Because this is my table.”

Nico froze.

“I came with my fiancé.”

“Fiancé?” Bianca’s laugh was a hysterical shriek. “Oh, Aurora, you’re delusional! Who would possibly want you—”

“Then why don’t you ask him?” I cut her off.

I looked past Nico, to the tall figure moving slowly toward us from the entrance.

“My fiancé is here.”

I looked back at Nico.

“Don’t believe me?” I looked past him, a slow smile spreading across my face. “Why don’t you ask him yourself?”