At dawn in the Mercer estate, before the morning mist had even cleared, my Aunt Carmela burst into my room.

Just as she had eight years ago when she delivered me to this gilded cage, she was putting on her usual act for the sake of the family's interests.

"Vera, my dear niece, you can't leave."

She clutched at the hem of my dress, her tears flowing with perfect timing.

"The Rossi family's business in Brooklyn is entirely dependent on our connection to Don Mercer. If you anger him, we'll all end up dead in the streets!"

"Your father is still in a hospital, kept alive only because Lucian pays the bills! If you provoke the Don, we'll all end up in concrete shoes at the bottom of the Hudson!"

"Axel still needs you. How can you be so selfish?"

Calling me selfish?

Looking at this woman I was supposed to call family, all I wanted to do was laugh.

"Auntie, in these eight years, have you ever once asked me if I was even living like a human being in this house?"

Carmela froze, her eyes darting away.

A commotion rose from downstairs. A sports car pulled up to the fountain.

Then, the click-clack of high heels on marble floors grew closer.

A woman with flawless makeup walked in.

She had the exact same shade of blonde hair as my sister; even the curve of her lips had been practiced to perfection.

For a moment, seeing her, I was almost in a daze.

Over the past eight years, Lucian would occasionally bring home a woman who bore some resemblance to my sister. She was the twenty-ninth.

She looked more like my sister than any of the others before her. More than me.

"Aunt Vivian!"

Before I could react, a small figure darted past me.

Axel threw himself into Vivian's arms, nuzzling affectionately against her expensive silk shawl.

"You're finally here! This house is so stuffy, it has a cheap smell everywhere."

He shot a disdainful glance toward my room.

The maids were whispering in the hallway, their voices just loud enough to reach my ears.

"Is that the Vivian woman who's supposed to look even more like the late Donna? She certainly looks more refined than that bastard, Vera."

"Of course. Vera is a cheap replacement at best. Now that a better counterfeit has arrived, it's time for the bed-warmer to get lost."

Axel took Vivian's hand. "Aunt Vivian, your perfume smells so good. Not like some people, who always stink of paint and turpentine."

"Papa was right. Someone with no breeding isn't fit to be the mistress of the Mercer family."

My fingers tightened into fists. Though I was long since numb, the words still stung.

I remembered eight years ago, when Axel wasn't even weaned. He'd wake from nightmares every night, and I would hold him for hours, humming Italian lullabies to soothe him back to sleep.

The first name he learned to say wasn't "Papa." It was pointing at me and saying, "Vera."

Back then, he would wrap his arms around my neck and declare, "Vera, you're the best in the world!"

I honestly don't know when everything changed.

The child who once clung to me was gone.

Standing before me was a "little Don," the heir to a billion-dollar Mafia empire.

At some point, Vivian had made her way upstairs and was now standing beside me.

She put on a show of comforting me. "Miss Vera, don't mind him. The little lion is just brutally honest."

"Since you're leaving, you should leave Axel's schedule behind. After all...caring for Don Mercer and Axel is my responsibility now."

I ignored her gloating and turned to face my dear aunt.

"See? There's never a shortage of women willing to climb into Lucian's bed, or to be Axel's stepmother."

"One more or one less of me here makes no difference."

Seeing my resolve, Carmela seemed to realize for the first time that the niece who had been obedient for eight years was gone. She dropped the act.

She shot to her feet and raised her hand.

The slap landed with full force. My cheek burned, and the taste of blood filled my mouth.

"Ungrateful wretch!"

"Your father raised you! You will die in a Mercer bed earning money for this family if I say so!"

Carmela pointed a finger at my nose, her voice a torrent of abuse. "If the family hadn't sent you to Don Mercer to pay our debts, do you think an illegitimate girl like you would be living such a good life? You think you can just fly the coop now that you've grown wings?"

In their eyes, I was never family.

I was just currency for a blood debt, a bargaining chip to curry favor with the powerful.

Carmela raised her hand again, aiming for a second slap.

This time, I caught her wrist in mid-air.

"Enough."

I threw her hand back, my gaze as cold as ice.

"The Vera who could only cry and beg for mercy died eight years ago."

I took a deep breath and straightened my spine.

"I used eight years of my youth to warm Lucian's bed and slave away for his son. That debt has been paid in full, with interest. From now on, whether the Rossi family lives or dies has nothing to do with me."

Stunned by my sudden defiance, Carmela staggered back, still muttering curses under her breath.

I didn't look at her again. I turned to leave.

But as I turned, I stopped dead in my tracks.

Lucian was standing in the shadows of the hallway, an unlit cigar between his fingers.

His bottomless black eyes were locked on me.

Lucian just watched me, his gaze like that of a man observing a foolish pet trying to run away from home.

"Vera, don't be stupid."

He slowly lit the cigar.

"Without the Mercer family's protection, you won't survive three days in New York. Our enemies will tear you to pieces, and the loan sharks will sell you to the highest bidder."

"And that family of leeches, the Rossis, will eat you alive."

He tapped the ash from his cigar, his tone dripping with condescending charity.

"For old times' sake, I'll make an exception. Stay. You can live here with Vivian."

"During the day, you can care for Axel together. At night..." He smirked, his eyes sweeping over my body, "you can both serve me. This is the greatest honor you could ever hope for."

My stomach churned.

I had fallen for him at first sight. How could I have been such an idiot?

I once thought he felt the same way about me.

All the sweet nothings this man once whispered to me vanished the moment Vivian appeared, all because she looked more like my sister and knew how to be more submissive.

Only then did I understand that I was just another piece in his sordid collection.

"Lucian, you disgust me."

My refusal exhausted the last of his patience.

"You don't know what's good for you."

Vivian seized the moment, feigning the look of a frightened rabbit as she nestled against Lucian's arm.

"Don Mercer, is Miss Vera still angry? I don't mind. Even though I graduated from a prestigious university, I can learn..."

Lucian sneered and pulled a black velvet box from his pocket.

I recognized it from the document I had labeled "Account Ledgers." It was originally intended to be my severance pay for eight years of "service."

Now, he opened the box right in front of me.

The brilliant diamond glittered under the light with an ironic gleam.

He personally fastened the necklace around Vivian's pale throat.

"Beautiful jewels are only for obedient women."

Lucian wrapped his arm around Vivian's waist, but his gaze remained locked on me, as if he was eagerly awaiting my reaction.

He waited a moment, then finally realized my only response was silence.

I didn't throw a tantrum like I used to.

"Let's go, Vivian. Come with me to the private cinema, a place Vera was never worthy of entering." There was a sharp edge to Lucian's voice, a clear attempt to spite me.

As they walked away arm in arm, Vivian glanced back, giving me a victor's smile.

Only Axel and I were left in the hall.

"See? This is what happens to fakes."

He walked up to me, toying with a folding knife.

"The old-timers in the Family all say you're a jinx."

"Ever since you came here, the Mercer family has been plagued with trouble. You're a jinx."

But over these eight years, I had done everything a mother would do.

I stayed up all night when he had his asthma attacks. I once took a bullet for him during a firefight.

I had given all my love to this child who was not my own.

My heart was utterly dead. I couldn't even feel the pain anymore.

So, after all those days and nights, after eight years of pouring out my love, all I earned was this absurd curse.

"Fine." I nodded, my voice terrifyingly calm. "If I'm bad luck, then I'll give you back your good luck."

Without another glance at him, I turned and walked into the adjacent service corridor.

I should probably thank Vivian for showing up at the right time and taking Lucian off my hands.

Everyone assumed that with the gates locked, I couldn't get out.

But they forgot that over these eight years, fetching late-night snacks for Lucian and medicine for a sick Axel, I had learned every secret passage in this estate better than anyone.

I made my way through the dark, damp wine cellar and pushed open a dusty, hidden door.

The exit was on the hill behind the estate, where an unmarked black car was already waiting.

It was the ride I had arranged, paid for with private funds from my paintings and booked through an old acquaintance.

The driver was a silent man. Seeing me emerge, he immediately started the engine.

I pulled open the door and got in. Through the window, the Mercer estate looked like a giant tomb, one that had buried eight years of my youth.

"Drive," I said in a low voice.

The car started moving slowly, its tires crunching over the gravel.

The taste of freedom was so close.

Through the rear window, I took one last look at the colossal, luxurious tomb that had consumed my youth.

But in all my calculations, I had forgotten one thing: Axel, like his father, was exceptionally clever.

"Don't even think about escaping!"

Just as the car was about to turn onto the main road, Axel came chasing after us, a gun in his hand.

Down below, the bodyguards were shouting, "Young master! Those are live rounds!"

But Axel paid them no mind.

He cocked the gun as if it were a common air rifle.

The muzzle was aimed directly at my rear right tire.

BANG!

In that instant, the world spun.

The acrid smell of burning rubber filled my nostrils as the car swerved out of control, slamming into the guardrail.

The screech of metal on metal pierced my eardrums. The moment the airbag deployed, the world tilted, then plunged into a silent, blinding white.

A few seconds later.

The pain returned.

I kicked open the car door and stumbled out.

On the lawn not far away, Axel stood frozen in his shooting stance, the gun clattering from his hand to the ground.

All the arrogant cruelty from before was gone.

Now, he was just an eight-year-old boy, terrified by the massive recoil and the violent crash he had just caused.

"Vera," His lips trembled, his face ashen. "I didn't mean to..."

I wiped the blood from my forehead.

The nearby guards were in shock, completely unprepared for me to get back on my feet as if nothing had happened.

With a sudden burst of strength, I yanked the tactical combat knife from a guard's belt.

The cold blade glinted under the lamplight.

The guards instinctively raised their guns but didn't dare pull the triggers.

Clutching the knife, I walked step by step toward Axel.

"No... don't..."

My blood-streaked face terrified him. The cruel little lion was gone, replaced by a helpless child who had made a terrible mistake.

He tripped over the curb and fell backward, scrambling away from me on his hands and feet.

I stood over him and raised my arm.

I plunged the sharp combat knife into the asphalt right beside him. The hilt quivered violently.

I hope that one day, he will remember this and understand.

Axel screamed, squeezing his eyes shut.

I bent down, my bloodstained hand reaching out, and snatched the silver amulet from his neck.

I had gotten it for him on his first birthday, when he was gravely ill, by kneeling outside a church in a blizzard.

For eight years, he had never taken it off.

"You're not worthy of wearing this anymore."

I yanked hard.

The cord snapped, and the silver charm fell into my palm.

Axel's eyes shot open in terror, his face a mess of tears and snot as he gasped for air.

Lucian and Vivian arrived with a large group of men.

Seeing the scene, Lucian's perpetually unflappable face finally showed a crack.

"Vera! What are you doing!" he roared, his eyes fixed on my still-bleeding arm.

Vivian covered her mouth with her hand, trembling behind Lucian.

I ignored Lucian's command.

In front of them all, I raised my hand and threw the amulet into a nearby storm drain.

It was the sound of my affection sinking into the gutter.

I took out the dried sprig of lavender from Tuscany, my mother's homeland, that I had always kept close to my heart.

It was the last memento I carried with me.

I gently placed the dried flower on the ground.

It was an offering, a final, complete farewell to my past.

From this moment on, I had no one left to hold me back.

I turned to face this group of well-dressed thieves.

"Lucian. Axel."

My voice was soft, but it carried with startling clarity in the quiet night.

"You win. I was an unworthy guardian after all."

"I couldn't even teach this child the sanctity of life."

Axel stared blankly, his hand clutching his empty neck, having forgotten to cry.

Lucian took a step forward, trying to grab my wrist, his voice grim. "Have you had enough? Come back with me. I'll get the best doctors..."

"Don't touch me."

I looked at him coldly, my eyes a desolate wasteland. "Vivian can have the Mercer family's golden cage."

"It's his turn now."

With that, I turned away without a shred of regret.

"Vera! You dare leave!"

Lucian's roar exploded behind me. "You'll regret this! You won't make it out of New York without my permission!"

But I couldn't hear anything anymore.

The wind howled, rushing into the collar of my shirt.

It was cold, but more exhilarating than anything I had ever felt.

I walked into the vast darkness of the night.

Faintly, I heard Lucian's furious command from behind me:

"Find her! Tear this city apart if you have to, but you bring her back to me!"

But I wasn't afraid.

My heart pounded in my chest, blood rushing through my veins.

That long-lost, wild sense of being alive was reawakening inside me.

I ran past the street corner, past the neon lights, toward the unknown darkness.

I remembered the girl I was at eighteen, running wild and free on a beach out west.

The girl who had not been sold, who had not learned to bow her head, the Vera with an unbreakable soul.

She was back.