Chapter 1

"Your sentence is up. You're free to go. You're still somebody out there, so do yourself a favor — stay out of trouble and stop hurting people."

Inside the private detention facility, the guard walked Claire Sterling to the front gate and shook his head.

This was the one and only daughter of the Sterling family in New York — raised with every privilege money could buy, yet vicious enough to try to have her own sister killed. What a waste of a beautiful face.

Claire stood on the steps, and a shadow of grief passed through her eyes at his words.

A year ago, her father had brought Vivienne home from London. That was when Claire learned that the man she'd always believed was devoted to her mother had been having an affair for years — fathering Vivienne with another woman and eventually bringing Vivienne's mother, Diane Mercer, into the Sterling household.

Diane had stolen her mother's place and taken over her father. And Vivienne — Vivienne hadn't just taken everything Claire had; she'd framed her for attempted murder.

Her father had been livid. "I don't care how much you resent her — Vivienne is your older sister, Diane's only child! How could you do this to her?"

But Claire hadn't done anything. He'd hurled his phone at her. "See for yourself! The man you hired already gave you up, and you still won't admit it."

Her hands trembling, she'd picked the phone off the floor. In the video, a man stared wild-eyed into the camera and pointed his finger straight at her. "It wasn't me. Claire Sterling told me to do all of it."

There were even screenshots of wire transfers. But Claire had never done any of it. She'd wanted to investigate, to find the truth — but her father had shipped her off to the detention facility before she could even try.

She still remembered the look in his eyes as they took her away. Pure disgust. "I've spoiled you rotten all these years. Get in there and think about what you've done!"

Even now, the memory cut her to the bone. And the reporters who'd been camped outside spotted her the moment she stepped through the gate, their eyes lighting up as they swarmed.

"Miss Sterling, is it true that you were so jealous you tried to have your own sister killed?"

Claire stumbled backward under the barrage. She was dazed, barely holding herself together. "No. I didn't do anything. None of that is true."

She'd barely gotten a word out before another reporter pressed in. "Miss Sterling, if you didn't do anything, then why were you locked up in here? And why isn't a single person here to pick you up?"

Claire's lips were trembling, but before she could speak, another voice cut through. "Miss Sterling, your mother was an Oscar-winning actress. Aren't you afraid of tarnishing her legacy with what you've done?"

Every question was a blade driven into her chest. Surrounded and suffocating, she tried to push through the crowd, but the reporters closed ranks the moment they sensed her retreat. Just when she thought she couldn't breathe —

A hand seized her wrist and pulled her free.

She looked up. It was Ethan Holloway, her childhood sweetheart and fiancé.

Ethan's features were sharp and handsome, his pale face cold as ice. He swept a frigid gaze over the crowd, his presence radiating authority. "This isn't over."

The reporters bristled, but their anger died in their throats when a wall of bodyguards in black stepped forward and confiscated every camera in sight. No one dared protest — not against the rising star of Holloway Industries.

Ethan dragged Claire to the car with long, impatient strides. Inside, the air was thick with tension.

Claire stared at the man in front of her. Today was the day she got out, and Ethan was the only one who'd come. The irony was almost laughable.

He tugged at his collar and fixed her with a cold look. "Standing there like that, not moving — was that on purpose?"

"Or were you playing the victim, hoping to say something to frame Vivienne?"

His words hurt worse than anything the reporters had said. Claire's heart clenched. "I wasn't! I didn't say anything!"

Ethan scoffed, scrolling through his phone with a bored expression. "If I'd gotten here a minute later, who knows what you would've said."

Looking at this stranger wearing her fiancé's face, Claire felt something inside her turn to ice. How had it all come to this?

Before Vivienne appeared, things between them had been perfect. She and Ethan had grown up together — childhood sweethearts in every sense. In high school, he'd cut class to find her. He'd take her to see the ocean. After her mother died, he'd stayed by her side through every dark day.

They'd walk along the shore at sunset, and whenever she got tired, he'd carry her on his back all the way home.

They'd gotten engaged right after graduation, so in love they couldn't stand to be apart for a single day. Then Vivienne came along, and everything changed.

Ethan — the same Ethan who'd once shielded her from the world — heard her father's version of events and believed every word. He'd looked at her like a judge handing down a sentence. "Vivienne is the sweetest person alive. How could you do something so cruel?"

No matter how she explained, no one believed her. She'd begged Ethan to help, begged him not to let them lock her away.

But he'd stood next to Vivienne, his expression arctic. "When you hired someone to kill her, did you think about the consequences? You should've paid with your life. Seven months in a cell — that's nothing compared to the terror Vivienne went through."

Claire's eyes had burned with tears as she stared at him, forcing out every word. "I didn't do it. I swear I didn't."

When she still wouldn't confess, Ethan's brow furrowed deeper. He floored the accelerator. "Seven months in there and you still haven't learned."

A sharp pain lanced through Claire's chest. She noticed the car wasn't heading home. "Where are we going?"

Ethan's face was blank, but something softened in his eyes. "Today's the day Vivienne's throwing a birthday party for your father."

At the mention of that name, Claire flinched. She gripped her hands tight and said nothing. The silence turned to stone.

When Vivienne had first arrived, Claire had been nothing but kind to her — clothes, jewelry, whatever Vivienne liked, Claire gave it without a second thought.

But Vivienne had treated her with open hostility from the start. Back then, Claire hadn't known Vivienne was her father's daughter. Yet every time Richard Sterling walked in, Vivienne would cling to his arm, chin raised, shooting Claire a triumphant look.

Claire couldn't understand where all the hostility came from.

Her father's explanation was simple: "Vivienne grew up without a father. She's starved for love. You're her younger sister — you should be more understanding."

Claire had never liked Vivienne, but those words softened her. She tried, again and again — until she finally realized Vivienne's contempt for her would never change, and she stopped trying.

Then, seven months ago, Vivienne had engineered the frame-up that sent her to the detention facility. She'd only gotten out today.

Claire remembered the phone call from her father a few days ago. "Claire, this was just a lesson. You should be grateful Vivienne was kind enough to let it go."

"She grew up without a father, wandering out there for years, going through things you can't even imagine. I want you two to get along."

Every word implied that Claire was the problem — that she was the one refusing to make peace.

But Claire had tried. After learning the truth, she'd set aside her resentment and reached out. Vivienne was the one who wouldn't have it, who kept pushing, kept attacking.

She'd framed Claire for hiring a hitman, played the victim until their father shipped Claire off to that godforsaken facility.

Seven months in that place had drained every last drop of her strength. All she wanted now was to get away — far away from all of them.

Ethan seemed to register the silence and the awkwardness of it. His tone was stiff when he finally spoke. "Vivienne's been waiting for you. She really wanted to see her little sister. That's why I was in a rush."

"Besides, you were in the wrong to begin with. You —"

Claire cut him off. She couldn't listen to another word. "I know."

Ethan went quiet. She turned to stare out the window, her expression blank, her fingers digging into her palms as she steadied the storm inside her.

She'd known Ethan for most of her life. She'd thought they understood each other completely. Then Vivienne appeared.

No matter how many times she explained, he believed Vivienne's version — believed Claire was twisted and dangerous, that she'd wanted Vivienne dead.

There was no point in explaining anymore. Ethan didn't believe her. Her father didn't want her. She swallowed the tears threatening to spill and forced the corners of her mouth into something resembling composure.

It didn't matter. Soon enough — on the very day of Vivienne's birthday — she would disappear from their lives for good.