I didn’t want to get in the car. I might have ruined his seat with my wet clothes. So I kept walking in the rain, pretending I didn’t hear him. The only sound I wanted was my shoes slapping against the pavement.
“If you don’t get in,” Gio said behind me, “I’ll drag you in myself. Choose.”
I froze. The car door clicked open. I didn’t want to fight. I slid inside, water dripping from my hair onto the leather seat. I curled into a corner, hugging my knees, trembling.
He glanced at me and scoffed. “You really are pathetic. Even your own parents kicked you out. Guess they finally saw what kind of person you are.”
I didn’t answer. I just stared out the window. Rain streaked the glass like veins, spreading everywhere, bleeding light.
We didn’t go home. Instead, the car stopped in front of some fancy club.
“Why are we here?” My throat tightened.
He smirked and opened my door. “Come on. Let’s play.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Didn’t ask.” He grabbed my arm. “Don’t act scared now.”
Inside, the lights were dim, the music deafening. Isolde sat in the middle, in her usual white dress, smiling like she owned the room.
“There you are!” she cried when she saw Gio. “We’ve been waiting forever. Let’s play some games!”
Her friends screamed, half-drunk, “Losers get punished!”
The game began—truth or dare, or some twisted variation. Gio and Isolde “accidentally” lost the first round.
“Make them drink the wedding cup!” someone shouted.
Isolde’s cheeks flushed pink from wine. Gio smiled at me, waiting for me to break, and raised his glass.
They lost again. This time, the girls drew a card. “Five-minute kiss. Deep. No cheating.”
The room erupted with cheers.
Before I could even blink, Gio’s hand was at the back of Isolde’s head, and he kissed her like the world wasn’t watching.
I sat frozen, hands trembling under the table. My stomach burned even though all I had was water.
The last punishment was worse. They made him lift Isolde and spin her like a princess. Her laugh filled the room—loud, sweet, triumphant, as if she knew I was watching. And Gio kept glancing at me, waiting for a reaction, waiting for me to scream or run.
I didn’t. I sipped my water, stood, and muttered, “Bathroom.” The hem of my dress brushed his knee as I passed.
Inside the bathroom, cold water splashed across my face. The reflection staring back at me looked dead—pale lips, empty eyes.
When I opened the door, Isolde blocked my path, twirling a strand of hair.
“Still pretending to be calm?” she sneered. “Gio said he was going to make you lose face tonight.”
I tried to sidestep her. “Move.”
She grabbed my wrist. “You think you’re still Mrs. Ramirez? He only married you for revenge. You’re just a placeholder.”
I stepped closer, voice low and steady. “He can hurt me all he wants. But you? You’re a stand-in for a dead woman. You really think that’s something to be proud of?”
Her smile twitched, then sharpened. “At least I’m alive. You won’t be, not for long.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What did you say?”
She leaned close, whispering like a serpent. “You really think your pancreatic cancer was bad luck? Those vitamins you took every morning? I switched them months ago. Same brand, same bottle… mine had a little something extra. A toxin. Slow poison. It burns your pancreas from the inside out.”
My stomach turned cold.
Her eyes glinted with triumph. “I wanted to watch you rot from the inside. And guess what? It worked.”
“How dare you!”
“Yes. How dare me.”
She grabbed my collar, hand raised, ready to strike—but then her eyes flicked over my shoulder. She froze.
Gio.
Her face shifted instantly from venom to panic. She shoved backward, screaming. “Ahhh!”
She hit the floor, clutching her forehead, blood spilling between her fingers.
Gio rushed over, fury shaking his voice. “Liora! You killed your sister, and now you want to kill her too? Do you even know she’s the closest I could find to Sabrina?”
He scooped Isolde up, holding her like fragile glass. The siren of an ambulance wailed in the distance.
Before getting into the car, he turned, eyes like ice. “If she dies, Liora, I’ll make sure you live wishing you didn’t.”
When the car drove off, I stood on the steps, rain hammering down, soaking me through. I laughed bitterly. Gio hated me. His mistress had poisoned me… What was left?
“Life worse than death,” I whispered. “You think I haven’t been living it already?”
I walked home alone. Gio didn’t call. Didn’t show up. But I knew he would. He always did.
At three in the morning, the front door slammed open, jolting me awake. Gio was already beside the bed, eyes colder than ice. He yanked the blanket off and grabbed my wrist.
“Get up,” he ordered. His voice cut through me like a knife. “You’re going to the hospital.”
“Why?” I asked, half-asleep, confused.
He didn’t answer. He pulled harder.
“Gio, stop! You’re hurting me!”
“Isolde needs blood. You have the same type. You’re coming with me.”
My stomach twisted. “It wasn’t me—”
“Shut up.” He shoved me toward the door. “You’ll do what you’re told.”
The ride was silent. Rain streaked the windows, and I counted each drop to keep from crying.
At the hospital, the fluorescent lights stabbed at me. Gio dragged me straight to a small room where a nurse waited.
She looked at me, hesitation flickering in her eyes. “Sir… she’s too pale. We can’t draw blood right now.”
“Why not?” Gio snapped.
The nurse flipped through my chart, frowning. “She has a serious medical condition… late-stage cancer.”
“What?”
