Chapter 1
Clarice's POV
My whole life, my stepsister Paloma Thorne took everything from me.
My father, my boyfriend, my child, my academic thesis, my future… almost everything I once held dear eventually slipped into her hands. And she never once apologized.
When I was twenty-two, I walked into the lab and caught my boyfriend, Milo, and my stepsister tangled together, stark naked. The shock caused me to miscarry on the spot. As I lay in the hospital bed, Paloma used a sex tape of Milo and me as blackmail, stripping away my last shred of hope. I didn't scream or cry. I signed the papers, packed my bags, and left. The hallway that day felt endless, and I walked down it without looking back.
In Calder City, I met Darius Harlow, the mafia don of the city. He was commanding and powerful, wrapping me in a sense of security so intense it was almost suffocating. So, I married him. I thought that security was my salvation, but I eventually realized it was just another gilded cage.
Four years later, I returned to Ellsworth to attend Paloma's wedding.
On the eve of the wedding, standing outside a closed door, I heard her voice.
"Darius, I was the one who let go seven years ago. Let me make it up to you tonight, please?"
A second later, my husband's ragged, heavy breathing echoed from inside.
Only then did I realize that for the last four years, I had been nothing but Paloma’s substitute…
After giving up everything to my perfect stepsister, Paloma Thorne, I moved from Ellsworth to Calder City. It took me a long time to learn how to stop looking back.
But here we were, reunited on the eve of her wedding. The banquet hall was bathed in a dim, golden glow, champagne cascading down a towering pyramid of crystal glasses. Milo Hawthorne, dressed in a sleek tuxedo, stood before the tower, staring at me with bloodshot eyes.
"Long time no see, Clarice."
I tucked a stray lock of hair behind my ear, letting my diamond ring catch the light of the chandelier.
"I've found the love of my life too. I wish you both the best."
His throat bobbed, but no words came out. He stood there frozen, like someone had hit pause on his life.
My father, Gideon Thorne, raised his glass on stage, announcing that tomorrow was the wedding of Paloma and Milo. He talked about how Paloma had always been his perfect, dutiful child, his greatest pride. The crowd applauded, their smiles fawning. Nobody mentioned the other daughter who hadn't stepped foot in this house for four years. Nobody asked how I had survived those years.
Paloma clung to my arm, her grip subtly tightening. Her voice was sickeningly sweet. "I'm so happy you came. Dad didn't want me to call you, but I sneaked an invitation to Calder anyway."
Rumors flew around the room. Whispers claimed Milo had dragged his feet for four years because he was waiting for me to come back. I listened to the gossip, swirling the ice-cold champagne in my glass. My heart didn't even flutter.
My husband was Darius Harlow. The old docks, the warehouses, and the shipping unions of Calder City were all under his thumb. He was the Don of the Harlow family—a man who commanded every room he walked into. When he heard I was returning to Ellsworth for my stepsister's wedding, he put all family business on hold to fly with me. He had held my hand the entire flight, never letting go.
I carried a gift up to Paloma’s room. As I reached for the door, I froze. Through the wood, I heard her weeping.
"Darius, I was the one who let go seven years ago. Let me make it up to you tonight, please?"
My heart stopped. The next second, my husband's heavy, ragged breath pierced through the door, striking me like a physical blow.
"Paloma, I swore I'd make you regret discarding me."
So, my husband was the man she had dumped years ago. The twenty-two-year-old dock-worker she had deemed too poor.
I covered my mouth and backed down the hallway, digging my fingernails into my palms to steady my breathing. I pulled out my phone and pressed record, forcing myself not to kick the door open.
In four years, Darius had never lost control in front of me. With me, he was always disciplined. Even his kisses felt like a routine, a box to check.
He didn't return to the hotel room until two in the morning. Thinking I was asleep, he slipped quietly under the covers. But he carried a scent that wasn't mine—a sweet, cloying perfume that clung to his collar.
"You knew Paloma. Why didn't you mention her once in four years?"
My voice was raw, barely recognizable. His arm froze mid-reach. Then, he relaxed, as if nothing had happened.
"I spent a year in Ellsworth back then, working the docks. We knew each other. She's getting married, so I went to congratulate her. That's all."
He tried to pull me into his chest from behind. I wrenched myself away, unlocked my phone, and played the audio. The raw, heavy gasps echoed in the quiet room, suffocatingly loud.
"Is screwing her your way of saying congratulations?"
Darius snatched the phone and paused the recording. His voice was unnaturally calm.
"Were you tracking me?"
"I went to deliver a gift."
"Clarice," he said, setting the phone on the nightstand, his knuckles white. "I slept with her in the past. But are you clean? You saw Milo tonight, didn't you? You carried his child once, didn't you?"
The final string of my sanity snapped. The world went dead silent.
At twenty-two, I was the most promising PhD candidate under Professor Adrienne Vogel. It was the only thing I was proud of. But then I pushed open the door of the Sedgwick Lab and saw Milo and Paloma on the floor. I miscarried database-style right there.
The next day, Paloma sat by my hospital bed with teary eyes, saying she hadn't meant to. Then she spun her phone around to show me a sex tape of Milo and me. She forced me to trade my thesis for that video. My academic career was ruined. The security guard cut my lab badge in half. Professor Vogel called me seven times, but I never dared to answer, leaving those missed calls on my screen like unhealed scars.
For four years, I hadn’t breathed a single word about that day.
He stared at my red-rimmed eyes, silent for a few beats.
"Drop it. Stop making a scene," he said, his voice suddenly sharp, laced with irritation. "You’re blowing this way out of proportion. You're overthinking things."
In that moment, a chilling realization hit me: he didn't care about the pain he had caused me. He was only angry because I had shattered his web of lies.
I bit my tongue and said nothing.
