"I will be your mistress, Adrian. Just let my family live."

Adrian lifted his glass of wine. A faint smile curved his lips.

"I thought they would send me the adopted daughter," he said, "I didn't expect you."

"Everyone said your brother spoiled you like a princess. Turns out that was just a joke."

The tip of the pen paused, stabbing a small blot of ink onto the paper.

I signed my name, calm to the point of silence.

The contract would take effect in three days.

Then, I would cut all ties with the Willis name.

I traded myself for the survival of the Willis family

and my own permanent release.

Harper POV

The light cast a sliver of warm yellow across the door seam.

I stood in the deep shadow, fingers resting on the brass handle, hesitant to push.

The air inside the house had been suffocating since Father died.

"Joseph, I've settled it..."

I barely managed to push the front door open before my arm was wrenched away.

My body slammed against the leather sofa.

A dull pain shot through my back, knocking the air from my lungs.

When I opened my eyes, Joseph's face filled my vision.

"What did you talk about with Adrian?!" His jaw was rigid.

I rubbed my reddened wrist, my voice a sheath of ice.

"Do you honestly think there's another option?"

I wanted to tell him that the name on that contract was mine.

But looking at the desperate crimson in his eyes, I swallowed the words.

"Harper, Adrian is doing this purely to humiliate our family."

"And he can crush us effortlessly, can't he?"

Joseph buried his face in his hands, his voice raw and broken.

"No. I won't let Aria go..."

Aria, the daughter of my father's underboss, had been here only two months。

Already, she had eclipsed Joseph's affection for me.

He was my brother, the person I loved most in this world.

I didn't want him torn between us in the end, so I signed the contract, placing my name on the line.

Aria was sobbing, on the verge of hyperventilating.

"It's fine, Joseph. I have bad luck. No one has loved me since Father died."

Her voice cracked with manufactured despair.

"I'm just a fake Willis girl. I'm meant to be the one taking the fall for the true master."

I gave a cold laugh.

"Are you playing the victim? Your father—"

A heavy shove struck my shoulder.

"Shut up!"

My pupils contracted, and I was thrown backward, collapsing right into the nearly human-sized antique vase.

Joseph shouted, "Stop bullying Aria! Her father died for this family. You owe her—"

A deafening crash tore through the air mid-sentence.

The vase shattered into countless pieces.

I hit the ceramic fragments hard, the pain searing through every inch of my body in no time.

My breath trembled with every inhale.

Aria's father, Brad?

A life debt?

A bitter laugh stirred in my chest.

Brad had sent Joseph a message, claiming he was fighting Adrian to protect my father.

Yet Adrian had just told me that Brad betrayed Father, and that Adrian shot him dead.

And now, Joseph called him a hero.

Aria was an orphan. She was weak.

So Joseph, who cherished me for eighteen years, gave all his tenderness to her.

I gritted my teeth, pushing myself up off the floor.

If Joseph knew that I was the one who had to go and accompany Adrian...

Would he be kinder to me?

Aria approached me, her eyes still shimmering with carefully managed tears.

"Harper," she whispered, "I know you've never liked me…"

She crouched, picking up a shard of porcelain on the floor.

"I never wanted to fight you for Joseph's love. I only ever begged for a small corner to stay in your home…"

Her voice cracked with manufactured despair.

"I didn't realize even that caused you such distress."

Her voice was feather-light, barely a whisper.

Yet the shard was razor-sharp.

The icy edge dragged across my arm, and the pain plunged deep, sinking into me.

I frowned, my body flinching back.

But the porcelain shards beneath me snagged on my legs, leaving me trapped and unable to move.

Aria leaned in, her breath hot against my ear, her voice dropping to a register only I was meant to catch.

The veil of fragility had vanished.

In her eyes, hatred flashed, raw and undisguised.

"Bitch," she hissed, "you've been the golden girl all your life. You deserve to be his plaything."

Blood slipped down my arm, bright against the white shard.

And the pain, rather than crushing me, ignited a cold, hard inferno of fury.

I shoved her away with a sudden burst of strength.

Aria fell to the floor, screeching as she crumpled into herself.

Joseph rushed over.

"Harper! What did you do to her?!"

I sighed. The performance had begun.

Aria lifted her arm, displaying a faint, shallow scratch.

She buried her head into Joseph's chest, her sobs broken and ragged.

"Don't blame her," she gasped. "Harper just… she's always hated me. I understand…"

Joseph strode over and knelt in front of me, his finger gliding from my face to my neck.

Then it abruptly tightened.

Cold. Merciless.

My breath hitched and cut off.

"Harper, you've been spoiled for too long." His gaze was glacial. "You won't even spare someone as kind as Aria."

I tried to pull back, but his grip only tightened.

My throat burned; the air had been vacuumed out of the room.

His eyes were spitting fire, while my heart grew colder by the second.

Only when my vision blurred to white did his hand finally let go.

He scooped Aria into his arms, his gaze slicing over me like a blade.

"Harper, I'm deeply disappointed."

I lay amidst the shattered porcelain, blood staining my luxurious dress.

The man who once treated me like something precious walked away without a single backward glance.

Actually, I wanted to tell him—

Joseph, I'm disappointed too.

Harper POV

The medicine box from the storage closet was gone.

Joseph must have taken it for Aria.

I gave a grim smile, dragging myself back to my own room.

As I passed Joseph's door, Aria's broken sobs drifted out.

He was inside, gently applying antiseptic and whispering reassurances.

His touch was soft, his tone gentle—exactly the way he used to be with me.

Something twisted in my chest. The ache in my wounds deepened.

I stood before the mirror and pulled off my dress.

The reflection showed raw, red welts and bleeding cuts crisscrossing my body.

I remembered how, even the smallest scratch on my finger was enough for Joseph to fuss over.

He would clean it himself, wrap it carefully, forbid the maids to take over.

And now, I picked up a damp wipe, awkwardly twisting my body to clean the gashes.

The sting of the alcohol was sharp.

I leaned against the chair back, biting my lip, afraid to breathe too hard through the pain.

A few tears fell, and I tilted my head back, swallowing the rest.

"Stop crying for a love that's already gone, Harper," I whispered to my reflection.

"You'll be free soon."

A loud knock startled me.

I opened the door to find Joseph standing there, his eyes utterly foreign.

"Harper, switch rooms with Aria. She's injured."

The tears I had just managed to hold back surged again, burning hot behind my eyes.

My throat tightened so much, I couldn't speak.

"But I was the one who crashed into the vase. I'm injured too."

His gaze flickered away for a fraction of a second before he raised his voice.

"Aria is leaving for Adrian in three days. She's sacrificing herself to save us. Are you really going to haggle over a room with her?!"

Aria peeked out from behind him, giving his arm a gentle, tearful tug.

"It's fine... don't make things hard for Harper. It's my fault. I have no right to ask for anything."

Joseph clenched her hand.

"No, Aria. I won't let her bully you anymore."

The next second, my arm was seized, and I was yanked out of the room.

My feet scraped across the floor, and the raw cuts on my legs were pulled taut.

The fiery pain seared along my skin as I was dragged behind him.

"Joseph, slow down… it hurts…"

But he didn't seem to hear.

I was dragged down a long corridor to the back of the villa.

A small, black door was thrown open, and I was shoved inside.

The room was smaller than my bathroom, dark and damp, permeated by the smell of mildew.

"You'll stay in the servant's quarters for a few days. Aria will be with Adrian soon," he said, a poignant tenderness in his eyes as he looked past me. "I just want her to be happy before she leaves."

I wanted to laugh, but the sound wouldn't come.

Everyone knew I was the princess in Father's and Joseph's hearts.

My limited edition luxury items piled up like mountains, and no matter what I asked for, they would never refuse.

But Aria was an expert performer.

She constantly brought up her father's death and wept in front of Joseph.

So, after losing Father, I quickly lost Joseph too.

"Joseph," my throat was thick with unshed emotion. "In your eyes, I'm a bad girl now, aren't I?"

He froze for a moment, shifting his gaze awkwardly away from mine.

"I didn't say that. It's just that… Aria has it harder than you."

His voice lowered, a hint of softness returning to his eyes.

"Harper, do you even know what kind of man Adrian is?"

I rubbed my arm where his fingers had bruised me, my voice unnervingly calm.

"A man who can shoot Father in cold blood obviously isn't a good man."

His throat bobbed, and his face gave a slight twitch.

"I hear he's volatile. That he'll put a gun to anyone's head on a whim, and that he's also…" He turned his face away, his voice barely audible. "...a sadist."

A small, quiet fissure cracked in the pit of my stomach. The chill turned lethal, crawling up my spine.

Joseph abruptly seized my shoulders, slamming me against the wall.

The impact jarred my chest, sending a blunt ache into my heart.

"So you'd send Aria to that monster?!"

I clutched my chest, taking several painful gasps of air.

"What else could we do? Let Adrian destroy us all?"

Joseph froze, staring at me... and slowly loosened his grip.

The silence was terrifying.

For all these years, Joseph had been drowning in the excesses of his own gilded cage, shirking every single responsibility of the family business.

That's why after Father's death, the Capos and foot soldiers defected to Adrian and rival gangs, causing the syndicate to collapse so swiftly.

"Joseph," I looked straight into his eyes. "If it were me going, would you be sad?"

He looked stunned for a moment, then let out a sharp, bitter laugh.

"What kind of joke is that, at a time like this?"

Was it a joke?

His phone vibrated. He snatched it up right away.

"Aria? Don't be afraid. I'm coming right back."

The tenderness in his tone was a hundred times softer than anything he had shown me.

He spun around and left, never looking back.

The instant the door clicked shut, tears slipped from my eyes.

I asked him if he would be sad, and he dismissed the question as a joke.

Fine.

Then let it be a joke.

Harper POV

Only two days remained before the departure, and I spent almost the entire time lying in the servant's room.

The mattress was hard, the curtains faded and threadbare, and the air was thick with a faint, musty staleness.

My cuts were beginning to scab over, but the wounds in my heart, I knew, would never fully heal.

Thinking I needed to pack a few changes of clothes, I returned to the main house.

A light, cheerful humming sound drifted from my walk-in closet.

I paused, stopping dead in my tracks to peek through the door crack.

Aria was inside, wearing one of my haute couture gowns.

She posed in front of the mirror, shifting angles, as her phone emitted the faint click of the camera shutter.

"Why should she get to have all of this?"

Another click.

"Send her off to be that pervert's plaything… and all of this will be mine."

The doorknob felt ice-cold against my fingertips. I released it and stepped back.

As long as she cried in front of Joseph… his choice in the end… would always be me.

But... was Adrian really that terrifying?

My heart suddenly skipped and stuttered.

--

Finally, the day of departure arrived.

Early in the morning, a piercing scream tore through the sky.

Aria was standing on the very edge of the rooftop, only half of her foot resting on the tiled slope.

Joseph stood a few meters away, his face white as if all the blood had been drained.

"Aria…" He licked his chapped lips. "Listen to me… don't do this… we still have time…"

Aria saw me rushing over and wept even harder.

"Joseph, I'm not brave enough. I should bear all of this… but I'm scared, truly terrified…"

Joseph edged two steps forward, the tiles beneath his feet crunching faintly.

"It's not your fault. You don't have to go."

Aria's gaze swept over my face, a fleeting glint of light—a signal only I could read—flashing in her eyes.

"But… Harper won't agree…"

The wind suddenly intensified.

Her body swayed, her skirt billowing out, and she tilted backward, falling.

"Aria—!!!"

Joseph screamed, hurtling forward.

He slipped a foot on the tiles, but his hand shot out and clamped down on her wrist just in time.

Tiles shattered, tumbling and clattering all the way down from the height.

I rushed over and grabbed her other hand.

Aria was suspended between us, yet she thrashed wildly, struggling to break free.

Her nails dug deep into my skin, tearing at the flesh.

"Let go! Let me die. If I'm dead… Adrian will leave you all alone…"

Joseph looked at me, his eyes blazing red. "Harper… help me pull her up."

A fleeting, triumphant smirk flashed in Aria's eyes—a look that cracked my heart open further.

Joseph's roar, her weeping, and the wind's howl all pressed in on me.

My throat tightened. "So, the person who isn't weak is supposed to bear everything?"

Joseph yelled, furious, "She's already been through hell. You want her to suffer more?"

"Adrian will be here soon. She must be terrified to choose jumping."

"It's barely three stories," I sneered, the coldness in my voice absolute. "She picked the safest spot. She knew the bushes would catch her."

The anxiety in Joseph's eyes was close to ignition, ready to consume him.

"Harper, help me pull her up, now!"

His rage, his sheer lack of empathy, finally froze my heart solid.

I straightened up, my gaze sweeping over him with cold indifference.

"What if I don't?"

The next second, Aria yanked my ankle with sudden force.

I didn't even have time to scream before my body was airborne.

The wind tore past my ears, and the scenes of the three-story building blurred as they raced past my eyes.

In my mind, happy memories with Joseph flashed, frame by broken frame.

Then, I hit the bushes in the first-floor garden, the violent impact sending a surge of agony that finally snatched my consciousness.

The world swam, shaking in waves of white light.

A loud, relentless ringing filled my ears.

Gradually, I began to make out Aria's panicked, ragged sobs.

"I… I just lost my head… I didn't mean it…"

Next, an unfamiliar male voice cut through the noise, thick with suppressed fury.

"Is this how you treat my woman?"

I was lifted, nestled into a warm embrace.

Joseph stammered, his voice choked.

"She? Harper? She's… your woman?"

I forced every last ounce of strength into my throat, producing a weak, scratchy sound.

"The name on the contract… with Adrian… was mine…"

Joseph froze.

His jaw trembled.

The full realization crashed down on him.

After a long moment, he finally whispered, "This isn't real… Harper, you absolutely can't go…"

He let out a primal howl, his voice thick with sheer, gut-wrenching despair.

"I won't allow it—!"