Chapter 1
"Miss Costa, what happened to you? Why are you covered in blood?"
I dragged my battered body back to the Costa estate.
The moment I stepped through the door, Sophia, one of the housekeepers, caught me in her arms in disbelief. Tears spilled down her cheeks.
Looking at the only one that had shown me any concern since I came home, I tried to smile, only to realize I didn't have an ounce of strength left.
Sophia helped me onto the sofa, heartbroken, then reached for her phone.
She said furiously, "Enzo and Mr. Alexander certainly don't know about this. I'm calling them right now. They'll make those people pay!"
The image of those criminals pinning me down flashed before my eyes, followed by the things my brother, Enzo, and my fiancé, Romano Alexander, had just said.
I reached out and stopped Sophia. After a long silence, I finally said, "Forget it, Sophia. It's over."
Sophia froze.
She stared at me for a long moment before carefully wiping the blood from my face with a cotton swab.
"...Yes, Miss Costa. It is. You're home at the Costa estate now. You're safe, and nothing like this will ever happen again.
"I swear, if you don't want Mr. Alexander to know what happened tonight, I won't let a third person hear about it."
I knew Sophia was afraid the incident would jeopardize my marriage to Romano.
After all, no man wanted his fiancée to go through something like this before their wedding.
What she didn't know was that Romano didn't care whether I had been assaulted.
Even when I was untouched, I could never compare to Aurora in his eyes.
Asking him and Enzo for help now would only make me the butt of another cruel joke.
I lowered my head and stared at my still-bleeding fingers.
"I'm not marrying Romano."
Predictably, Sophia's eyes widened.
"Miss Costa, haven't you always loved Mr. Alexander? When you first came back, you kept talking about getting to know him again. You even moved into Enzo's villa just to be closer to him."
I gave a bitter smile. I wanted to explain that had been the biggest mistake of my life. If I hadn't, I never would have suffered such humiliation.
But the words caught in my throat. I was too exhausted to speak, and an explanation no longer seemed necessary.
I silently let Sophia tend to my wounds. A long while later, I said, "He doesn't love me. Aurora is the only person he cares about, and I don't want to force my way between them.
"You and Mr. Gallo said no one but me knows about the will Mom and Dad left, right? I've made up my mind. I want to inherit everything the Costa family owns more than I want to get married."
Sophia stared at me in shock, as if she no longer recognized me.
But she quickly softened and told me she would support whatever I decided.
Just as I made her promise to keep it secret, the estate's front door was kicked open.
Romano stood in the doorway with Enzo and Aurora behind him.
He strode over and looked down at me.
"Federica, I can't believe you have the nerve to come back here! Aurora says you knew the kidnappers and planned the break-in. Is that true?"
I jerked my head up and stared at Aurora, who stood behind them, in disbelief.
Before I could deny it, Enzo slapped me across the face.
"Federica, is this the kind of filth you learned while you were away? You couldn't beat Aurora, so you tried to destroy her! She's your sister!"
