In my last life, my sister Serena Vega ran to Monaco the night before her wedding, and my family shoved me into her dress before dawn.

Damian Lucchese, the young Godfather of New York, had been waiting at the altar for her. The moment he lifted my veil and saw me instead, the warmth in his eyes went cold.

For five years, I was his hidden wife. The underworld knew he was married, but no one knew to whom. My parents blamed me for stealing Serena’s place and still failing to keep his heart.

Then Serena came home.

That Christmas, Damian took her and my parents to his mountain estate. When a blizzard hit, his men rushed everyone onto the helicopter.

No one remembered me.

I died in that frozen house, three months pregnant with Damian’s child.

When I opened my eyes again, Serena had just returned to New York.

This time, I would not beg for love.

Only when I truly walked away, none of them had the right to regret it.

In my last life, my sister Serena Vega ran to Monaco the night before her wedding, and my family shoved me into her dress before dawn.

Damian Lucchese, the young Godfather of New York, had been waiting at the altar for her. The moment he lifted my veil and saw me instead, the warmth in his eyes went cold.

For five years, I was his hidden wife. The underworld knew he was married, but no one knew to whom. My parents blamed me for stealing Serena’s place and still failing to keep his heart.

Then Serena came home.

That Christmas, Damian took her and my parents to his mountain estate. When a blizzard hit, his men rushed everyone onto the helicopter.

No one remembered me.

I died in that frozen house, three months pregnant with Damian’s child.

When I opened my eyes again, Serena had just returned to New York.

This time, I would not beg for love.

Only when I truly walked away, none of them had the right to regret it.

...

"Mrs. Lucchese, congratulations. You're twelve weeks along."

The family doctor slid the report across the desk. He kept his voice low, but he couldn't hide his excitement. "The heartbeat is strong. This child means a great deal to the Lucchese Family."

The nurse had already picked up the encrypted phone to call Damian. I reached over and pressed the receiver down.

"Don't."

The room went still. They didn't understand. The Godfather's wife carrying his heir should have been enough to bring half the Family to its knees. But I knew better than anyone that if Damian found out now, this baby would be dragged into Serena's mess with me. In my last life, I had already let my child die once.

"Seal today's record," I said, folding the report and slipping it into my bag. "No one hears about this except me."

When I left the medical wing, Lucchese Manor was being dressed for a welcome party. White roses lined the halls, guards pinned silver wolf badges to their jackets, and every window in the main house blazed with light.

Serena was back.

The sister who had run from the altar, forced me into her wedding dress, and still somehow remained the daughter everyone loved had finally returned to New York.

I entered the code at the front door. Red flashed on the screen. [Denied.]

I tried again. [Denied.]

In my last life, this had happened too. The day Serena came home, every code in the manor changed: the front door, the wine cellar, the private elevator. Everything was reset to her birthday.

I typed in 0604, Serena’s birthday.

The door opened.

I had barely stepped into the foyer when a leather folder struck my forehead. Blood slid down my brow, but my mother didn't even blink.

"Sign it," she said coldly.

The papers scattered across the marble floor. The first page read: Marital Dissolution Agreement.

My father sat by the fireplace with a cigar between his fingers. "If Serena hadn't had an accident five years ago, what made you think you had any right to marry Damian? She's back now. Give her back the title of Mrs. Lucchese."

Serena stood on the staircase in a white dress, her curls loose and her eyes wet, looking like a flower the whole world existed to protect. "Eve, I didn't come back to steal anything. But if you're willing to let go, I'll always remember what you did for me."

In my last life, I had broken down at those words. I had knelt in front of my parents and asked them why they were doing this to me.

This time, I bent down and picked up the papers.

"Pen."

Everyone in the foyer froze.

My mother's face tightened. "What game are you playing now?"

I took the pen and signed on the last page. Eve Vega.

Five years ago, I had used that name to marry into the Lucchese Family for Serena. Five years later, I would use it to walk out with my own hands.

Serena snatched the agreement from me. Once she checked the signature, she couldn't quite hide her smile.

"How sweet of you, Eve." She pushed the folder back into my arms and lowered her voice so only I could hear. "But you'll get Damian's signature yourself. I don't want to bring it up and look desperate, as if I'm dying to steal your husband. Three days. Get the divorce done, then disappear from this house and from his life."

I looked at her and nodded. "Fine."

I've wanted that for a long time.

Half of my room had already been cleared out. Serena's champagne-colored gowns hung in the wardrobe, and her perfume bottles sat on my vanity. My books, photographs, and old coats had been thrown into cardboard boxes in the corner.

This bedroom had a new mistress before the old one had even left.

I opened my suitcase and packed what was left. Five years of marriage fit into half a case. That was almost funny.

The moment I zipped it shut, the door opened.

Damian stood in the doorway in a black three-piece suit, silver wolf cufflinks at his wrists, his expression sharp enough to cut. His gaze dropped to the suitcase, and his face darkened.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Before I could answer, Serena slipped out from behind him and grabbed my wrist.

"Eve, I only came home to see Mom and Dad. Are you really leaving because of me? Do you still blame me for not marrying Damian back then?"

Damian gave a cold laugh. "I didn't know you had it in you to throw a tantrum like this."

I looked at him. This was the same man who had once stayed up all night when I had a fever. Once, when a branch wife mocked me under her breath, he made her kneel on a dock until dawn while the sea wind tore through her coat. He had not always been cruel to me.

That was why I had mistaken scraps of warmth for a lifeline in my last life. I had clung to them until they strangled me.

Damian lifted his hand, and his underboss took my suitcase from me at once.

"Tonight is Serena's welcome party. You are her sister, and you are not going anywhere. Change your clothes and stop embarrassing the Vegas and the Luccheses."

Serena touched his sleeve. "Don't be so harsh. Eve is still your wife."

The word wife fell into the hall, and everything went quiet.

Damian glanced at me as if he wanted to explain something. In the end, his voice only hardened. "Go inside."

I didn't argue. I took another document from my bag and handed it to him.

Serena's face changed.

Before she could speak, I said, "Serena just came back. She doesn't have anything strong enough to get her a seat on the Vega board. I want to transfer my shadow shares in the port to her. I need your signature to confirm it."

Damian frowned. "Do you know what those are worth?"

"I do."

"Three shadow shares, two shipping routes, and at least two billion in clean value."

"Yes."

He stared at me, and for the first time that night, something moved in his eyes. "And you're willing to hand them over?"

"There's nothing I can't let go of."

After all, I was letting go of him too.

Damian picked up the pen and signed without reading at all. The real divorce agreement was tucked between the authorization papers, and now his signature sat on the final page.

I put the folder back in my bag and turned to leave.

Behind me, Serena asked sweetly, "Damian, aren't you being too cold to her? She has been married to you for five years."

After a moment of silence, Damian said, "She was never supposed to be in that position."

My steps paused.

He used to say he kept me hidden because his enemies would target me. I believed him. I had even been grateful for his protection.

So it had never been protection.

I had simply never deserved to stand beside him.

Back in my room, I locked the door, slipped the signed divorce papers into my bag, and tucked the pregnancy report beneath them.

"Baby," I whispered, resting a hand on my stomach, "we're leaving soon."

The welcome party was held at the Lucchese club in Manhattan. From the outside, it looked like an abandoned theater. Inside, it was filled with New York's most respectable criminals: politicians, lawyers, dock bosses, bankers, and every ally Damian needed to keep his throne.

In five years, he had never thrown a public dinner for me. Serena came home, and he gave her the whole city as an audience.

She entered on Damian's arm, wearing the Lucchese obsidian pendant at her throat. It was the symbol of the Godfather's wife. Five years ago, Damian told me it was too dangerous to wear in public and locked it in a safe. He had never put it on me.

Now it rested against Serena's collarbone.

Whispers moved through the crowd.

"So she's the real one."

"The Godfather kept the wife hidden for five years because he was waiting for the younger Vega daughter."

"We'd better start calling her Mrs. Lucchese."

My parents stood in the middle of the room, smiling with a pride I had never received from them. Years ago, when they tried to brag about my marriage, Damian warned them to stop. They lost face because of me, so they hated me even more. Tonight, Serena was finally giving them the glory they wanted.

Damian raised his glass. "Serena has been away from New York for too long. From tonight on, she remains the jewel of the Vega family and someone the Lucchese Family will protect."

Applause thundered through the club.

Serena took the microphone with tears in her eyes. "The person I want to thank most is my sister. Eve carried so much for me, and she has always been willing to give me the best of everything. Without her, I wouldn't be here today."

Every face turned toward me.

I stood behind a pillar on the second-floor balcony and lifted my glass.

"Welcome home."

The calmer I was, the more disappointed Serena looked.

The gifts came next. My father gave her a yacht. My mother fastened our grandmother's sapphire necklace around her neck, the necklace that should have gone to the eldest daughter.

At last, Damian's underboss wheeled out a black velvet case. Inside was the deed to the San Lorenzo Winery in Tuscany. It was not just a vineyard. It was the cleanest public face of the Lucchese fortune.

Serena threw herself into Damian's arms and cried right on cue.

The room cheered.

When it was my turn, I asked a waiter to bring over a narrow mahogany box.

"A welcome-home gift."

Inside, there should have been a ruby bracelet. It was the first thing Damian had given me after our wedding, and I no longer wanted it.

Serena opened the box in front of everyone.

The bracelet was gone.

On the velvet lay a bloodstained silver bullet, pinned beneath a black card with one sentence written on it: Impostor. Pay what you owe.

The hall went dead silent. Then someone screamed.

Serena stumbled back with a hand on her stomach, her face bone-white. "Eve, why would you scare me like this? I only wanted to come home."

My father slammed his glass down. "Eve! She is your sister!"

My mother rushed in front of Serena, sobbing as if I had put a knife to her throat. "You can't stand that people love her. You can't stand that Damian cares about her, so you had to ruin her night."

I looked at Serena. She was crying in Damian's arms, but for half a second, the corner of her mouth lifted.

I understood.

She didn't just want my place. She wanted to make sure I could never come back from this.

"Someone switched the box," I said.

My voice vanished under the noise.

Damian held Serena close and looked at me as if I were staring down the barrel of his gun.

"Eve, I thought you at least had a line you wouldn't cross."

I tried to explain, but one of the Lucchese guards shoved through the crowd. In the chaos, he moved as if he were protecting Serena, then slammed his shoulder straight into mine.

I fell backward and struck the champagne tower. Glass burst across the floor. A shard opened my calf, and the edge of the table drove into my lower stomach so hard that pain shot up my spine.

Someone gasped. "She's bleeding."

Damian looked back at me.

Only once.

Serena cried against his chest. "Damian, my stomach hurts."

So he turned away, lifted her in his arms, and left. The doctors, guards, and his underboss followed him out.

I slid to the floor, one hand braced against the table leg, while my mother's voice cut through the room.

"Karma. That's what this is."

In my last life, it had been snow.

In this life, it was blood.

As long as Serena was there, they would always leave me behind.