My mother and sister never liked me.

The only son they ever truly cared about was my older brother, Lucian Vieri.

Before she married me, Serafina Valcieri, the only daughter of one of the most feared syndicates in the country, was always the one who stepped in when I was cornered, mocked, or blamed for things that were never mine to carry.

She never said much. She just made people back off.

Then she married me.

Then, not long ago, Lucian shoved me off a ski slope.

I said he meant to kill me.

My mother called it an accident.

My sister said he had only been trying to save me.

Only Serafina believed me.

When I woke up in the hospital, I heard voices outside the door.

“Who told you to do it like that?” Serafina said, her voice low and cold.

My mother answered in a panic. “Lucian’s leukemia can’t wait. If Cassian learns the baby isn’t his, everything falls apart.”

Then Serafina said the words I still can’t forget.

“I chose him, and I married him for my own reasons. But Lucian still needs this child. If anything had happened to Cassian, none of you would have walked away from it.”

I stood there in silence, listening to every word.

The child my wife was carrying was never mine.

It had been conceived through IVF to save my brother.

And the marriage I had trusted from the beginning had never belonged to me alone.

I had spent my whole life coming second to Lucian.

I just never thought Serafina would be the one to prove it.

If no one truly wanted me, then I would leave.

Tears kept slipping down my face as I stood alone in the hospital corridor.

My mind would not stop dragging me back through old memories.

After my father died in a mountain accident while trying to save me, my mother and sister never truly cared for me again.

From that day on, I became the son who had lived when the wrong man died, while the only one they ever loved was my older brother, Lucian Vieri, seven years older than me and, in their eyes, worth more than the rest of us put together.

When Lucian came of age, they threw him a lavish birthday party, invited nearly everyone at school, and ordered a ten-tier cake that stood in the center of the ballroom like a monument to how much he was adored. Whenever he got sick, my mother and sister took turns watching over him at his bedside. When I was hospitalized with pneumonia, no one came at all.

For a long time, I believed I deserved it. I thought that as the son who had cost our father his life, I had no right to ask for love.

Then came Lucian’s birthday banquet.

That night, he shoved me into the pool in front of everyone and laughed at me for being unwanted. I kept trying to drag myself to the edge, and his friends kept pushing me back under. By the time my lungs were burning and I could barely fight anymore, Serafina was the one who pulled me out.

She draped her coat over my shoulders, looked at the people mocking me, and said in a voice that turned the whole room cold, “Cassian is under my protection. If anyone lays a hand on him again, I won’t let it go.”

At the time, she felt like a miracle.

I fell in love with her almost instantly.

Even after we got married, I still had trouble believing it was real. Someone like Serafina, the sole heiress of the Valcieri family, had no reason to choose a man even his own family could barely tolerate. And yet she did. Or at least, that was what I told myself.

I truly believed she loved me.

Then, as I was heading back toward my hospital room, I heard Lucian’s voice coming from the lounge next door.

“I was never sick. The leukemia was fake.”

I stopped dead.

“I just wanted Cassian to give up for good. I wanted him to understand that Mom, Viola, and even Serafina would always choose me in the end.”

A chill ran through my whole body, so sharp it stole my breath.

“Especially Serafina,” Lucian said with a quiet laugh. “She still thinks I was the one who pulled her out under gunfire when she was kidnapped by a rival family at sixteen. Later, at that charity gala, she thought I was the one who made her stop and listen to that piano piece all the way through. She has no idea both times it was Cassian.”

There was a pause, then he added, almost lazily, “She thinks I’m the one she never forgot. The truth is, the person she could never get out of her head was always Cassian.”

“And luckily for me, she’s never going to find that out.”

I stood there in stunned silence.

So Lucian’s illness had been a lie.

So Serafina had been deceived from the beginning.

So all the times she had hurt me for Lucian’s sake, she had done it without ever knowing that the man who had truly stayed in her heart was me.

My fingers curled so tightly they hurt. That was when I realized my phone had somehow switched to recording mode. Every word Lucian had just said was preserved on the screen in front of me.

I stared at the file for a few seconds, then saved it and put my phone away.

After that, I called my lawyer.

“Prepare a divorce agreement for me.”

There was a brief silence on the other end.

“Mr. Vieri, are you certain?”

“Yes.”

He did not ask anything else. Less than half an hour later, he arrived at the hospital in person with the paperwork.

I took the file from him and walked back toward my room. Before I reached the door, Serafina appeared from the other end of the corridor.

She looked anxious, and the moment she saw me, relief flashed across her face. She came straight to me, took my hand in hers, and asked, “Where did you go? When I didn’t see you just now, I thought something had happened.”

There was a time when her touch would have calmed me.

Now it only hurt.

“You were worried about me?” I asked.

Her brows drew together. “You’re my husband. Who else would I worry about?”

Husband.

The word landed in my chest like a blade.

I felt my throat tighten. Serafina, were you really worried about me, or were you only afraid that if something happened to me, Lucian’s plan would fall apart?

I drew in a slow breath and handed her the file.

“There’s a document I need you to sign.”

“What document?”

She had barely lowered her eyes to the page when her phone rang.

“Serafina, come quickly. Lucian’s not feeling well again.” My sister Viola’s voice was soft, but I still heard every word.

Serafina’s expression changed at once. She answered quickly, murmured that she was on her way, then signed where I pointed without reading a single line.

“I need to go,” she said, handing the file back to me, her voice tight with urgency. “We’ll talk when I come back.”

Then she turned and left.

She never looked twice at what she had signed.

I lowered my eyes and opened the document.

The words Divorce Agreement blurred immediately as tears hit the page.

I stood there for a long time, staring at them.

At last, I folded the papers and put them away.

I could not stay here anymore.

I did not want this family anymore.

I was going to leave the Vieri family, and I was going to leave Serafina.

If no one had ever truly wanted me from the start, then I would be the one to walk away.

I spent the whole day in the hospital, and Serafina never came.

The next morning, after handling my own discharge, I passed the VIP ward and saw the kind of scene that made pain feel physical.

My mother and sister were with Lucian. One fed him fruit. The other turned on the television and picked one of his favorite comedies. Serafina stood beside his bed, speaking with his doctor, her expression grave.

Then Lucian tugged at her sleeve and pointed to a box of chocolates on the table. She unwrapped one and fed it to him.

I stopped walking.

They looked like a family.

I looked like the outsider.

The sight dragged up an old memory. Years ago, Lucian and I were both hospitalized with pneumonia. My mother and sister stayed by his bed, fussing over every detail. I was left alone in a cold room down the hall. No one noticed when my lips cracked from thirst until a nurse came in and gave me water.

That kind of neglect had followed me my whole life.

Only after I married Serafina did I learn what it felt like to be cared for. She noticed everything. What I liked. What I avoided. What I needed before I asked. I had believed I was the one person she chose above everyone else.

I had not expected her to be so gentle with Lucian too.

I turned away, wiped my eyes, and went home.

The moment I stepped inside, I called my university advisor and told him I was ready to accept the sealed research position at the Nordic Institute. Ten years. No return.

He went quiet for a moment, then said he would make the arrangements and get me on the earliest available flight.

Before hanging up, he told me I should say goodbye to my family. I did not tell him I had no intention of doing that.

I had barely ended the call when Serafina came back.

She slipped an arm around my waist from behind and asked, “What were you booking?”

I forced myself to stay calm. “An opera ticket I bought before I was admitted. I missed it, so I asked for a refund.”

“I see.” She studied me for a second. “Then why did you leave the hospital on your own? I went back to your room and thought something had happened.”

I was about to answer when the bedroom door opened.

Lucian walked in.

“Cassian, that was thoughtless of you,” he said with a mild smile. “You should have told Serafina you were being discharged. She went to your room, saw you were gone, and nearly panicked.”

He stepped farther inside. “You know who she is. There are always people watching her. For all she knew, one of her enemies might have taken you.”

I looked at him.

He had always been good at this. A few soft words, and somehow I became the unreasonable one.

I glanced at Serafina. She spoke before I could.

“Lucian’s still weak,” she said. “The doctor wants him somewhere quiet for a few days. The house is secure, so I told him to stay here.”

Lucian smiled at me, all apology on the surface and triumph underneath.

“Sorry to intrude on your time with Serafina.”

He was waiting for me to react. That had always been his game. Push me until I lost my temper, then stand back and let everyone call me petty.

This time, I only said, “Stay as long as you want.”

For a moment, the smile on his face faltered.

The rest of the day, Serafina personally arranged everything for him. She told the staff how to prepare his room, what he could eat, what he should avoid. She knew his habits as well as she knew mine.

That realization should not have hurt as much as it did. But it did.

That night, I went back to my room early and began packing.

Clothes. Documents. Medication. My laptop. A few things that actually belonged to me.

I was almost done when Serafina came in carrying a glass of warm water and a bottle of pills. She unscrewed the cap, tipped the tablets into her palm, and handed them to me.

“Take these before you sleep,” she said. “Your leg still isn’t healed properly. If you skip them, the pain will wake you up again tonight.”

Watching Serafina act so gently with me left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Maybe none of that care had ever been meant for me in the first place.

I took the medicine from her and swallowed it.

“Cassian, Serafina, are you awake?”

The door opened before either of us answered.

Lucian walked in holding a tube of frostbite ointment, smiling like he meant well.

“You took a bad fall on the slope today. You’ve probably got a few spots that need treatment. I asked the doctor for this. It works fast. Let me help.”

I frowned and refused on instinct.

“No.”

Lucian and I had never been close enough for this.

His expression stiffened, then turned wounded as he looked at Serafina.

“Is he still that wary of me? I’m only trying to help. I know he’s never liked me, but I don’t mean anything by it.”

Serafina touched my face, her voice as soft as ever.

“Lucian feels bad about staying here and disrupting things. He just wants to make it up to you. It’s only ointment. Don’t be so tense.”

My throat tightened.

Again.

Between me and Lucian, she chose him without hesitation.

Even knowing what he had always been to me, she still took his side.

Something inside me went cold.

By this time tomorrow, I would be gone. I would be on a plane and far away from all of them. There was no point in fighting anymore.

“All right,” I said quietly. “Go ahead.”

Lucian smiled.

“The ointment needs to be spread evenly,” he said. “He shouldn’t move too much, or it won’t absorb properly.”

He pulled two fastening straps from his pocket.

“They’re medical restraints. Not tight. They won’t hurt him.”

I looked at Serafina, hoping she would finally hear how absurd that sounded.

Who needed restraints just to apply ointment?

But Serafina said nothing.

She let Lucian bind my wrists and ankles.

“I’ll take care of it,” he said with a pleasant smile. “Give us a minute.”

Serafina nodded. Before leaving, she took my hand for a moment.

“It won’t take long. I’ll come back.”

The door closed behind her.

In the same instant, Lucian’s whole face changed.

The warmth vanished as if it had never been there.

I twisted hard against the straps, only to realize I could barely move.

“Don’t bother,” Lucian said, lifting the real elastic bands with a grin. “Those are the stretch ones. The ones on you don’t give at all.”

I stared at him, my face darkening.

“You know, don’t you?” he said lazily as he stepped closer. “You know Serafina didn’t marry you just for you.”

I said nothing.

He tapped my cheek like he was enjoying the look on my face.

“Knowing changes nothing. She’ll still choose me. Just like Mom and Viola.”

I bit down hard, my chest heavy and tight.

Then he bent toward me, his voice turning soft and ugly.

“You know what else? Dad’s death had nothing to do with you.”

My heart stopped.

He watched me with open pleasure.

“Before that trip, he adored you. Said you were the one who took after him. Said the best things he had would be yours one day. I got sick of hearing it.”

My whole body went rigid.

“So before we left for the mountain, I tampered with his safety line.”

For a second I couldn’t breathe.

“Then the accident happened exactly the way I hoped it would,” Lucian said, smiling wider. “He died saving you, and Mom and Viola blamed you for the rest of your life.”

I was shaking so badly my voice barely held.

“You’re insane.”

He gave a soft laugh.

“No. I just took back what should have been mine.”

“These years worked out well, didn’t they? All their love went to me.”

Heat rushed behind my eyes. It felt like someone had ripped something open inside my chest.

So my father’s death had never been my fault.

The guilt I had carried all these years had been something Lucian handed to me with his own hands.

“Tell them,” he said, leaning close enough for me to feel his breath near my ear. “See whether they believe you or me.”

Then he uncapped the tube in his hand.

For one second I thought he was really going to use it.

Instead, he poured a different liquid over my forearms.

The smell hit me first. Sharp. Chemical.

A cold pulse of fear went through me.

“What are you doing?”

Lucian smiled and pulled a lighter from his pocket.

“Cassian, you always wanted to know why everyone chose me over you.”

He flicked the flame alive.

“Because you’re so easy to destroy.”

Then he touched the fire to my arm.

Flames jumped up my skin in an instant.

The pain was so violent it turned my vision white.

I screamed and thrashed against the restraints until one wrist finally tore free. I hit the floor hard and smothered the flames the best I could, pressing my arm down, half-blind with pain.

Footsteps pounded down the hall.

In the same second, Lucian let out a shrill cry and threw himself to the ground like he had been attacked.

Serafina burst into the room.

“Don’t blame Cassian,” Lucian said at once, red-eyed and shaking. “I must have touched one of his injuries. He got upset and shoved me.”

Serafina turned to me, her face tightening.

“Cassian,” she said, her voice hard, “how could you hurt him?”

I opened my mouth, but the pain in my arms tore the words apart before they could come out.

Serafina was already crouching beside Lucian.

“I’m taking him to the hospital.”

She never noticed how white I had gone. She never saw the burns properly, never saw the last traces of fire still eating through my sleeves.

The door slammed behind them.

I stayed on the floor, shaking so hard I could barely hold myself up.

After a long while, I forced myself to stand. I went into the bathroom, washed the chemical residue from my skin, and put ointment on the burns with hands that would not stop trembling.

Then I gathered every document I would need and packed the rest of my things.

By dawn, I would be gone.