I went back to my room and started packing.

There was no need to wait three days. That slap had made everything clear. There was no place for me in the Colobo family anymore. Instead of waiting for them to throw me out, I would leave on my own terms.

I sorted through my things one by one.

There was almost nothing.

After Sophia arrived, my father and brother had barely bought me anything. My allowance was gone. My birthday gifts stopped. Even my name had been pushed to the bottom of the family trust. I had not really lived in this house for a long time.

In a way, it made leaving easier.

My eyes landed on a photo on the desk.

The three of us stood in front of the old Colobo estate, my father, my brother, and me. Back then, I believed carrying the Colobo name meant something.

The memories came back all at once.

Two years ago, I almost left for Australia.

A research institute had invited me to join a long-term project. The base was remote, the work confidential, and once I entered, contact with the outside world would be limited. It was the kind of opportunity people spent years trying to earn.

I wanted to go.

But my father refused almost immediately. He said Australia was too far, the project was too long, and the Colobo family could not have its daughter vanish for years with barely any contact.

Marco reacted even more strongly.

Back then, he had clung to me harder than anyone.

He showed up outside my room that night and stood there for a long time without saying anything. When I opened the door, his eyes were red.

“Bella,” he said, his voice hoarse, “if you go that far away and I can’t even call you when I need you, I’ll go insane.”

He held my hand so tightly that my fingers hurt.

I was still soft-hearted then.

So I stayed.

When I was young, I was often sick. No matter how busy my father was, the moment my brother said I was ill, he would drop everything and come home. Those were the years the Colobo family was fighting for territory across the East Coast, yet he still chose me first. People under him used to say that I was the one thing he valued most.

When I was thirteen, men from a rival family slipped into my school. They would not touch the Colobo heir, but they had no problem going after me.

After class, they cornered me in the parking lot. They pinned me to the ground and burned my arm with a cigarette, saying it was a message for the Colobo family.

My brother arrived soon after. He was only sixteen, but he had already begun handling family matters. He took them down one by one and was beaten badly in the process, his face covered in blood. In the end, he slammed the leader against the hood of a car and pressed a shard of glass to his throat.

“Touch her again,” he said, “and I’ll wipe out your entire family.”

After that, everyone on the East Coast knew that Marco Colobo would turn into a mad dog for his sister.

No one was allowed to touch Isabella.

Luca had been good to me too. When my father was away, he would take my brother and me to the Rizzo estate on weekends. We felt awkward going so often, but he would just smile at me, his eyes bright under the chandeliers, and say it didn’t matter. The Rizzos and the Colobos were allies for life. We could come as often as we wanted.

Back then, I believed him.

So on my seventeenth birthday, when my father asked if I would agree to a marriage alliance with the Rizzo family, I said yes without hesitation. I even thought nothing would really change. Luca’s estate was right next door. The Colobos and the Rizzos would always be tied together.

The next day, my father brought home a girl.

Sophia was the daughter of his old friend.

Years ago, during a failed negotiation on the East Coast, that man had taken a bullet meant for my father and saved his life.

From the moment Sophia stepped into our house, everything changed.

She always appeared at the exact moment when I was alone with my brother or Luca. She broke my jewelry, then showed them her cut hand and said I had pushed her.

She spilled the wine my brother poured for her over her own dress, her eyes red as she said she did not blame me and knew I hadn’t meant it.

She snapped the bracelet my father had just bought her, then apologized to me and begged me not to treat her that way. She said I was a Colobo and she had nothing, that she would never take anything from me.

She poured coffee over herself, cut lines into her own arm with broken glass, and ran into Luca’s arms in tears. She begged him to talk to me, said she could leave if that was what I wanted, just please don’t let me turn the family against her.

Her tricks drove me to the edge.

That day, I finally broke. I laid everything she had done out in front of them, piece by piece. I thought that this time, my father and brother would finally see the truth.

They didn’t.

My father looked at me with nothing but disappointment. He said he never thought I would turn out like this, that I had brought shame to the family, and that the Colobos did not need a daughter like me.

My brother struck me across the face. He asked how I could treat Sophia like that, whether I had forgotten what it felt like to be bullied, and said I was no different from those people. Then he told me to get out.

Luca held Sophia carefully in his arms. The eyes that used to look only at me belonged to someone else now. He said he needed to reconsider the marriage and that he did not want to be involved in the Colobo family’s affairs anymore.

They took Sophia to a private clinic.

Just like today.

After that, no one in the Colobo family ever called me Miss Colobo again.

Now they call Sophia that.

As for me, even carrying the Colobo name feels like a joke.

By the middle of the night, I was finally done packing.

There was not much to take. Everything fit into one small suitcase.

I had no intention of taking anything that belonged to the Colobo family.

I carried the suitcase downstairs.

Just as I reached the entrance hall, they came back with Sophia.

I stood in the shadows. They did not notice me at first and kept talking among themselves.

“Good thing she didn’t eat much,” Luca’s mother said, still shaken. “The reaction wasn’t too serious, but it was frightening. Isabella went too far this time. She needs to apologize to Sophia later.”

Sophia spoke in a small voice.

“There’s no need. I’m sure Isabella didn’t mean it.”

My brother’s voice was cold.

“Sophia, you’re too kind. Kindness is a good thing for people in the Colobo family, but not for someone like her. She needs to be punished properly. By the way, haven’t you always wanted her bedroom with the fireplace? Let her give it to you as an apology.”

My father frowned, as if he wanted to say something.

Sophia could not quite hide the excitement in her voice.

“Really? Her room has that big fireplace. I’ve always wanted to read beside it when it snows.”

My father’s frown slowly eased.

He said nothing.

That was his permission.

My eyes stung.

What was I still hoping for? No one in this family cared about me anymore. The Colobo name was worth more on her than it was on me.

I stepped out of the shadows and looked at Sophia.

“If you like that room, you can have it.”

Perhaps she was too pleased. When Sophia saw the suitcase behind me, she almost laughed.

My brother, who had just told her to take my room, frowned.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Why are you talking about giving up rooms in the middle of the night? Besides, do you think we can trust you under the same roof as Sophia? What if you try to hurt her again?”

“I’ll move to the family apartment in the city,” I said at once.

His face darkened instantly. He stared at me as if I had shamed the family.

“Do whatever you want.”

Sophia quickly put on a frightened expression and hid behind my father.

“Isabella, don’t be angry. I don’t want your room anymore. I was only joking.”

I looked at her calmly.

“Don’t worry. If I said it’s yours, then it’s yours. And I won’t be coming back.”

Joy flashed in her eyes. This time, she did not even bother to hide it.

My father’s face turned cold.

“Not coming back?” he said. “When Sophia told me, I didn’t believe her. I didn’t expect you to have fallen this far. You’ve just graduated, and already you’re thinking about staying out and fooling around. After all these years, I still failed to raise you properly. You’re just like the useless people who run the second they’re asked to carry family responsibility. The Colobo family can’t afford that kind of shame.”

Pain struck hard in my chest.

So that was how he saw me now.

“That’s not it,” I said, my voice unsteady. “I’m moving out because the day after tomorrow, I’m going to…”

“Do whatever you want.”

His shout cut off the rest of my words. The way he looked at me was no different from the way he would look at a stranger.

“Who cares what you’re planning? If you want to leave, then leave. Do you think I want you to stay? The Colobo family doesn’t need another daughter. I’ll pretend I never had you. I have Sophia now, and she’s better than you in every way.”

I said nothing more.

I picked up my suitcase and opened the door.

It had started raining at some point. The cold drops hit my skin and made me shiver.

I wanted to go back for an umbrella, but the heavy oak door slammed shut behind me before I could move.

That was the door of the Colobo family.

From that moment on, it was closed to me.

My brother’s mocking voice came from inside.

“If you’re leaving, then leave cleanly. Don’t come crawling back later like a dog, begging the family to take you in. The Colobos don’t keep embarrassing things like you.”

I gave a bitter smile and walked into the rain.

I walked alone, thinking I would find a hotel for the night. The apartment in the city might carry the family name, but the key had been taken from me long ago. I could not get in.

The gate of the Rizzo estate opened next door.

Luca came after me into the rain.

He did not seem to care that he was getting soaked.

“Isabella, would it kill you to say something nice for once?” he said. “Sophia is a good person. Why can’t you just get along with her? You know how important the relationship between the Rizzos and the Colobos is. Do you have to make everyone uncomfortable?”

I did not answer.

Why didn’t they ever ask themselves why I could not get along with Sophia if she was so good?

Because she was two-faced to the bone. Because every word out of her mouth was a lie.

But I no longer wanted to say any of that.

I suddenly realized I had nothing left to say to the man I had once wanted to spend my life with. From beginning to end, he had never once stood on my side.

When I stayed silent, Luca lost his patience and grabbed my wrist. His grip was tight, like he was restraining a disobedient subordinate.

“Isabella, can you stop acting like this?” he snapped. “If you apologize to Sophia properly and promise to get along with her from now on, I can still marry you.”

“The engagement doesn’t have to be canceled. The alliance between the Rizzos and the Colobos can still go on. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?”

I stopped walking and looked into his eyes.

Those eyes had once been full of me. Now they only saw a problem that refused to behave.

“There won’t be an engagement, Luca. We ended a long time ago, didn’t we? Go marry Sophia. Give her the alliance. Give her everything you once promised me.”

My gaze seemed to sting him.

He threw my hand away.

“Stubborn as ever. I shouldn’t have gone soft on you. Go ahead and destroy yourself. Don’t expect anyone to collect your body when you take this too far.”

He turned and left.

The Rizzo gate slammed shut behind him.

The rain grew heavier.

I stood under the streetlight, water streaming down from my hair. Then I dragged my suitcase forward, one step at a time.

Behind me, the gates of both families were closed.

But I was no longer a Colobo.

Luca left.

I kept walking toward the edge of the estate district. This area belonged to the old families of the East Coast, and at this hour, it was almost impossible to find a car.

Before I lost all feeling from the cold, a taxi finally accepted my request.

I was soaked through. The driver only agreed to let me in after I offered him a generous tip.

The moment I got into the car, a black sedan came from the opposite direction. I recognized the Colobo plate at once.

It was my brother’s car.

He had probably come to see for himself how pathetic I looked.

His car stopped beside us and flashed its headlights again and again. In the family, that was the signal to stop.

The driver glanced at me.

“Someone you know?”

I shook my head.

“No. Please go.”

The taxi pulled away.

Through the rain and the blurred window, I thought I saw my brother’s face. It was not mocking or disgusted. For a brief second, it looked worried, even panicked, as if he had lost something in the storm that he should never have let go.

I must have seen it wrong.

Why would he worry about me? The Colobo family’s eldest daughter was Sophia now.

What was I?

After the rain, I fell ill after all.

I spent two full days drifting in and out of fever at the hotel. I had to ask the front desk to buy medicine for me, and even then, I could barely stand on the day I left for the airport.

Before boarding, I received a message from Sophia.

It was a video.

In it, she was sitting in my old bedroom, the one with the large fireplace. The room faced the main house of the Colobo estate and had always belonged to the eldest daughter of the family.

Now it was hers.

A fire burned brightly in the fireplace. She posed in front of it, while behind her stood the luggage and jewelry boxes my father, my brother, and Luca had moved in for her. All three of them were smiling, as if they were preparing the room for an honored guest.

Sophia stood there watching, like the true mistress of the room.

Her caption read:

Isabella, your room is mine now. Aren’t you jealous? They didn’t just give me the room. They’re taking me to Switzerland to ski, too.

I smiled.

Then I replied:

Congratulations. You got what you wanted. Not just the room. The entire Colobo family will be yours from now on.

After sending it, I removed my SIM card, snapped it in half, and threw it into the airport trash can.

From that moment on, Isabella Colobo no longer existed.

I did not look back.

I boarded the flight to Australia.