Chapter 2
‘What’s this?”
Ember picked up a woven bracelet from beside the counter.
It was made of green cord, the knot stiffened by dried blood, and a tiny spent bullet casing dangled from it
I lifted my gaze and recognized it immediately. It was the “lucky charm’ I had given Dominic years ago.
Back then he had not been the esteemed mayor of New York City. He had been a teenage boy abandoned in an alley
after his father’s corruption scandal. left to freeze or die
I found him under a streetlamp on a winter night. He was curled in a pile of snow, bruised all over, and suddenly
reached out to clutch the hem of my coat.
Over the sharp, calculated protests of my mother and brother. I brought him home
I spent my allowance to hire a doctor and wrestled him back from the brink of a delirium that smelled of cheap gin and
copper.
That was how sixteen-year-old Dominic stayed with the Ravello family and became my shadow.
I jumped the wall to skip class and he waited on the other side to catch me.
When I was grounded, he sat through the long hours with me so I would not be bored. When I was bullied, he stood up
first, taking blow after blow just to shield me.
As we grew older, feelings deepened. We hid in the camellia garden of the estate and kissed against the flowered wall.
Then, when he turned nineteen, he insisted on joining my father’s mafia gang in Boston.
Wait for me. Amelia. A crown is nothing if you aren’t the one wearing it beside me. When I make my name and clear
my father’s, I will come back and marry you properly.”
He pressed me against the penthouse window glass and kissed my hair again and again. ‘I will come back. I only want
you for the rest of my life.”
I cried while baking his favorite cheesecake through the night. I braided that bracelet and tucked it into his suitcase
Mother and Vincent never liked him, yet they yielded to my tears. In the end they used the Ravello family’s connections
to lay his first path in Boston.
Within two years Dominic’s name began appearing in intelligence reports.
He earned merit after merit for the family’s organization, climbing higher and higher with a reputation that grew with
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every job he pulled off.
The day he transferred back to New York, my hands shook with excitement. But on that same day, my true origins were
exposed
I had never been the Ravello family’s Principessa. I was not their biological daughter I was a child switched at birth by a
malicious nanny.
My real parents were laborers working on construction sites. The true Principessa, Rhea, returned home, and my mother
held my hand with a soft, trembling promise
“Even if Rhea is back, you are still our daughter. You are still the Ravello family’s Principessa.”
Vincent ruffled my hair with the same carefree smile. “It’s just another chair at the Ravello table. Amelia. Nothing will
change.
Dominic did not even attend the welcome party my father threw for him. Instead, he rushed straight to me. pulling me
into a fierce embrace.
‘I can protect you now. Even if the Ravello family does not want you. I want you.”
The leaden weight in my chest finally loosened its grip.
Out of guilt, I put Rhea first in everything. I took her shopping, taught her etiquette. let her choose anything good before
I did, terrified she might feel even a trace of discomfort.
Rhea always clung to my arm, calling me sister in that sugary sweet voice. She joined my sleepovers and movie nights.
I had truly believed I had found the world’s best family and the world’s best lover.
Even on my dates with Dominic, I brought Rhea along.
At first Dominic protested, convinced she was ruining our time alone. Rhea’s face went bright red as she accused him of
having impure motives.
I stood between them constantly, smoothing things over until the tension eased and they maintained a fragile peace
Little by little, without my noticing. Dominic began remembering Rhea’s preferences, her cycle, her clothing sizes.
And Rhea was always asking about Dominic’s childhood, begging me to tell her every story
Then came the car crash on New Year’s Eve
The moment the vehicle spun out and slammed into the guardrail. I watched Dominic turn instantly to shield Rhea
with his body
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My forehead struck the seat in front of me, and warm blood streamed down my lashes.
At the hospital he held my hand and said. “Amelia, I thought Rhea was you in that moment. You understand that, don’t
you?”
I said nothing. My heart had sunk into ice.
Something enormous and invisible had already slipped out of my control.
The day my stitches were removed, I was discharged early.
Walking through the camellia garden. I saw two silhouettes pressed together against the wall of flowers.
Dominic’s fingers were tangled in Rhea’s hair.
His other hand cupped her backside as he kissed her with slow, consuming devotion.
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