My heart seized, like someone had reached in and ripped it out.

Six years.

For six years, I was his widow. I turned down every man who came near me.

And he wasn't just alive. He had a baby on the way with another woman.

"A little over a month," Seraphina sobbed. "But we can get rid of it. It won't be a problem. As long as you don't hate me..."

Before she could finish, she shot up and ran for the balcony.

"I shouldn't be alive!" she screamed. "I ruined everything!"

"Seraphina!" Axel's face went white. He scrambled after her.

I grabbed his arm. "You stay right here!"

"Let go of me!" He threw me off, his eyes wild. "Don't provoke her! You know what her anxiety is like!"

The force sent me stumbling backward.

My head slammed into the sharp corner of the bar.

A flash of white-hot pain. Then something warm and wet trickled down my neck.

"Aria!" Axel screamed my name.

But the last thing I saw was him on the balcony, holding Seraphina tight in his arms, whispering gently. "It's okay, I'm here. I'm here..."

Then everything went black.

I woke up in a strange clinic.

The back of my head was wrapped in thick gauze, throbbing.

"You're awake!" a young nurse said, relieved. "That was a deep cut. You have twelve stitches."

"Where's Axel?" my voice was a croak.

The nurse's smile faded. "He looked in on you, yes. After he got his wife settled. But her leg was causing her a lot of pain, so he had to return to her side."

His wife.

So that's what he called her. For how long?

"Where is she?" I asked.

"The VIP suite on the top floor. She has her own medical team," the nurse said carefully. "She's in shock, her emotions are very unstable."

And I was in a regular room with a concussion.

I let out a bitter laugh and threw back the covers.

"Ma'am, you need to stay for observation—"

The door was thrown open.

Axel strode in. He had dark circles under his eyes, his face a mess of exhaustion and conflict.

He slammed a file down on the bed in front of me.

"Explain this."

I looked down. It was a printout of an encrypted message.

[Thorne supply line to Kozlov confirmed. Cargo value: 98 million. Handoff at Pier 3, 2300 hours.]

"I don't know what this is," I said, frowning.

"You don't know?" Axel's voice was rough. "We lost almost a hundred million dollars in product because of this message! The Kozlovs set up an ambush at the pier. Thirteen of my men are dead!"

Below that was a long exposé: Axel faking his death, lying to his fiancée, all for his mistress.

The Thorne family name was dragged through the mud.

And the message was sent from a secure channel that belonged to my best friend. A channel she hadn't used in years.

Axel's eyes were cold.

"Still going to deny it? This is your best friend's channel, isn't it? She'd do anything for you, consequences be damned."

I just stared, feeling helpless.

"Emma got out of this life two years ago," I said. "She would never—"

"Enough!" he cut me off. "The proof is right there. Are you going to keep lying?"

I looked at the file. A chill went down my spine.

This was a setup.

Someone was framing me.

"How did you get so cruel?" Axel’s voice was laced with disappointment. "You know, when I saw you lying in that pool of blood, for a second... I thought I was going to lose you..."

His voice trembled.

"But now I see it. The sweet, innocent Aria I knew is dead. You've become a monster, obsessed with driving Seraphina and her baby into the grave!"

His words were like daggers. Tears welled up in my eyes.

"You have no right to say I've changed. Who do you think changed me?"

Axel closed his eyes and took a deep breath, like he was making a final decision.

"Have you forgotten our baby?" His voice dropped, dangerously soft. "We know that pain, Aria. Why would you wish it on another child?"

My head snapped up. I stared him dead in the eyes.

Our baby.

Six years ago, after I found him with Seraphina, I was furious, running down the stairs to get away. I tripped. Fell hard. My stomach hit the banister.

Blood soaked through my dress.

I lost the child I hadn't even had the chance to tell him about.

And now he was using our dead baby to defend Seraphina's.

That miscarriage was the reason the Family ordered him to exile Seraphina.

It was why he knelt before me with a gun to his head, begging me to stay.

I gave a hollow laugh. "You're shameless. She'll always be the home-wrecking whore. The slutty little sister. And that baby will always be a bastard."

Axel's face twisted into a snarl.

"What did you say?"

"I said she's a whore, and her baby is a bastard," I repeated, each word clear and sharp. "She was six years ago, and she is now."

The veins in his fists bulged. He looked like he wanted to hit me.

Just then, his phone rang.

"Axel, I'm scared..." Seraphina's pathetic voice came through the speaker. "I feel like someone's trying to hurt me and the baby..."

Axel's expression softened instantly.

"It's okay, baby. I'm coming right back."

He hung up and looked at me, his eyes now ice-cold.

"I was going to give you a clean break. But you couldn't leave it alone."

He pulled a photo from his jacket and threw it on the bed.

It was my adoptive father. He was tied to a chair, a rag stuffed in his mouth, his eyes wide with terror.

My blood froze.

"I know you've been helping your father all these years. But he still owes the Valkovs five million in gambling debts," Axel said, his voice cold and pained. "And I hear their patience just ran out."

My adoptive father was my only weakness.

In the photo, he was tied to a chair, his white hair a mess, his eyes filled with terror.

My hand trembled violently.

"You can't touch him."

"I don't want to," Axel's voice was tight with a twisted kind of pain. "But you're forcing my hand."

I thought of the old man who waited for me all night outside the orphanage fifteen years ago.

He wasn't my real father, but he gave me a home.

"Papa will give Aria the best life," he'd always say.

To keep that promise, he worked himself to the bone, even borrowed money to send me to the best schools.

Then he got set up, and ended up with a massive gambling debt.

I was still in college. To save him, I learned everything I could.

Painting, sculpting, antique appraisal...

I became the best art forger in the underworld.

And in that world, I met Axel, who was still fighting to become the head of his family.

"Launder my family's art collection for me," he'd said the first time we met, "and I'll give your father the best medical care money can buy."

I helped him turn his dirty collection into a legitimate one, and it helped him win his family war.

And he kept his promise.

My father was moved into the best care facility, with a dedicated medical team.

"I'll treat him like my own father," Axel had once whispered in my ear.

And for the five years we were in love, he did.

When he proposed, he rented out all of Central Park and filled it with a hundred thousand black roses. It was the talk of the city. He made me the envy of everyone.

He bought a penthouse overlooking all of Manhattan and put it in my name. He invested millions in my father's clinic and covered every expense.

All the people who used to look down on me were suddenly congratulating me, sucking up.

Back then, they'd whisper behind my back, wondering what terrible thing Axel must have done to be that good to me.

I was so deep in it, I thought our love was unbreakable.

Then Seraphina shattered the dream.

But I never, ever thought he would use my father's life to threaten me.

Using my only weakness to buy his whore some peace of mind.

I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms. The pain was nothing compared to the agony in my chest.

I couldn't breathe. I closed my eyes, and silent tears rolled down my cheeks.

When I opened them again, my gaze was empty. Dead.

"Fine," I whispered. "I give up. What do you want?"

Axel looked away, pulling a document from his jacket.

"Sign this. End it. It's better for everyone."

I took the document with a shaking hand.

The document twisted the truth into an unrecognizable knot.

[I, Aria Sterling, admit that driven by jealousy, I conspired with outside forces to leak Family secrets, causing significant losses. Furthermore, due to an unstable mental state, I suffered from the delusion that Mr. Axel Thorne was not dead, and based on this delusion, I made malicious and false accusations against innocent people. I hereby clarify: Mr. Axel Thorne did in fact die six years ago, and all of my previous allegations were the result of paranoid delusions.]

A tear hit the paper, smudging the ink.

"Axel, are you really going to do this to me?"

He stood with his back to me, his shoulders tense.

He said, his back still to me. "Sign it."

I closed my eyes and shakily wrote my name. Every stroke of the pen was a knife in my heart.

When I was done, Axel placed a Swiss bank check on my bedside table.

"Ten million dollars," he said, placing a Swiss bank check on the table. "It'll cover your father's debt and set you up for life."

He let out a long, tired sigh.

"Leave this place. Go live a good life."

There was a hint of guilt in his voice, but mostly relief.

He turned to leave.

"Axel," I called out.

He stopped but didn't turn around.

"I hate you."

His back flinched, just for a second. Then he walked out and shut the door.

The moment it closed, my phone rang.

It was one of the Family elders.

"Miss Sterling, based on the statement you just signed, the Family is revoking all of your titles and privileges. You are no longer recognized as our Donna, and you no longer have the Family's protection."

A cold, formal execution.

I had been erased.

I hung up, and my phone immediately buzzed with a text. And a photo.

From Seraphina.

[Brother said it's time to completely forget the past. A is gone. Now there's only S.]

[And just so you know, the night he decided to exile me? He was in my bed. He fucked me seven times. He could never let me go.]

The photo was of Axel's bare back.

The "A" that used to be tattooed on his left shoulder blade was now completely covered by a massive black rose.

The rose looked so real, like it was mocking me.

I deleted the photo, but I couldn't stop the tears.

It started to rain outside.

I dragged my exhausted body out of the clinic. The cold wind bit at my face.

The ten-million-dollar check felt heavy in my hand.

Severance pay. For five years of my life.

Just then, my phone rang again.

An urgent call from my father's doctor.

"Miss Sterling, your father had a massive heart attack!" the doctor's voice was frantic. "It's critical. You need to get to the hospital now!"

I bolted from the clinic, stumbling through the parking lot.

The rain was coming down harder now, cold and blinding, mixing with my tears.

As I reached the edge of the lot, several men in black suits stepped out of the shadows.

Valkov's men.

"Well, well. If it isn't the high-and-mighty Donna of the Thorne family," the leader sneered. "Look at you now. Like a stray dog."

"Get out of my way!" I tried to push past them. "My father is dying!"

"Dying?" another one laughed. "You think you're still the Thorne Donna? That the Family still has your back?"

They circled me, trapping me.

"Heard you got kicked out of the Thorne family."

"Your own man faked his death just to get away from you. You got any shame left?"

"Please!" I fell to my knees in the rain. "Let me go to the hospital! My father is sick!"

"Hahaha!" They roared with laughter. "Look at the former Donna, begging on her knees like a dog!"

A steel-toed boot came down, crushing my phone under its heel.

The screen spiderwebbed into a thousand pieces.

"Five million dollars. Not a penny less," the leader said, squatting down and grabbing my chin. "Without Axel Thorne to protect you, how are you gonna pay?"

"I have money!" I pulled the check from my coat with a trembling hand. "Ten million! Take it all!"

They paused for a second, then burst out laughing again.

"Is that your pity money? Looks like the new Donna wanted to make sure you were thoroughly humiliated."

Just then, a hospital security guard appeared.

"What are you doing? Get out of here!"

The Valkovs looked at each other, then backed away with a smirk.

"This ain't over."

I scrambled to my feet and ran for the hospital.

The elevator was too slow. I took the stairs.

Twelve flights.

My legs felt like lead. Every step was a struggle.

I finally burst onto my father's floor.

The door to his room was open. There was a figure on the bed, covered with a white sheet.

"No..."

I stumbled over and ripped the sheet back.

It was my father's pale, peaceful face.

"Doctor! Doctor!" I screamed hysterically.

His doctor walked in, his face full of regret.

"Miss Sterling, we did everything we could."

"How..." I collapsed to the floor. "You said he was stable."

A nurse standing nearby spoke in a low voice. "About a half hour ago, a woman calling herself Mrs. Thorne came to visit."

My head snapped up.

"She was arguing with him, shouting things like 'your daughter betrayed our family' and 'she'll do anything for money'."

The nurse glanced at my face, then continued. "The old man became extremely agitated. His heart just gave out."

My own heart felt like it was being torn in two.

"And..." the nurse hesitated. "The top cardiac specialist Mr. Thorne had arranged... his surgery was suddenly canceled by his office at the last minute. They said it was a 'scheduling conflict'."

I understood.

This was Seraphina.

She didn't just provoke my father's heart attack. She cut off his only chance of survival.

And Axel... he knew how evil she was. And he let her do it.

I held my father's cold hand, tears streaming down my face.

"Papa... I'm so sorry..."

The person who loved me most in this world was gone.

Because of me. Because I was stupid. Because I loved the wrong man.

For the next three days, I handled everything alone.

No one came to pay their respects. No one called.

I was a ghost. Nothing left to hold onto in this world.

On the day of the funeral, I stood alone at his grave.

It was still raining.

I looked at my father's kind smile on the headstone, and my heart turned to ash.

"Papa," I whispered to the gray sky. "I'm coming home."

At dusk, I dragged my empty body to the Brooklyn Bridge.

The sun was setting, the river glittering below.

I took out my backup phone and started recording a voice memo.

"My name is Aria Sterling. If you are hearing this, it means I'm dead."

"Six years ago, Axel Thorne didn't die. The yacht explosion was a carefully planned hoax..."

I told them everything.

Axel's betrayal. Seraphina's poison. How they destroyed my life, piece by piece.

When the recording was done, I set it to send on a timer.

Then I walked slowly to the edge of the bridge.

The wind was strong, whipping my hair across my face.

I closed my eyes, thinking of the warm days with my father.

"Papa, we'll be together soon."

Then I jumped, and the world went dark.

---

Meanwhile, in the Miami penthouse.

Seraphina was clinging to Axel.

"Honey, my tummy hurts... I think our baby is being naughty," she cooed. "Can you stay with me?"

Axel frowned, his mind elsewhere.

He hadn't been able to shake a feeling of dread since Aria left.

"You're probably just tired. Get some rest," he said, distracted.

"Nooo," Seraphina whined, grabbing his arm. "I'm scared to be alone..."

Just then, Axel's phone rang.

It was Marco, his voice panicked and rushed.

"Boss, it's bad," Marco's voice was panicked. "It's the Donna—I mean, Miss Sterling. She... she jumped from the Brooklyn Bridge."