Chapter 1 - THE TWO PHOTOGRAPHS
The two photographs landed face down on the black marble table.
Evelyn Sterling stared at them.
Across from her, her younger half-sister Vivian sat perfectly composed, dressed in a white silk gown.
Their father, Richard Sterling, stood at the head of the table.
“Tonight,” he said, “one of you will choose your husband.”
Evelyn's fingers tightened.
She knew what this meant.
The Sterling family had been negotiating with the Moretti organization for months.
The Morettis controlled the largest criminal empire in America.
The Sterlings controlled banks, shipping companies, energy firms, and enough political influence to make judges nervous.
Together, they would become nearly untouchable.
Richard pointed at the photographs.
“Choose one.”
Vivian reached first.
She turned over the first photograph.
Dante Moretti.
The mafia king.
Thirty-four.
Handsome.
Cold.
Ruthless.
And Evelyn's secret lover.
For two years, she had believed there was something real between them.
Then Vivian turned over the second photograph.
Julian Sterling.
Her older brother.
Seven months earlier, Julian had been involved in a catastrophic car accident.
He had survived.
But he had never awakened.
Vivian's face turned white.
“No.”
Richard's expression hardened.
“Vivian.”
“I won't marry him.”
“You will.”
“I'd rather die.”
She grabbed a knife.
“If you force me, I'll kill myself.”
Richard immediately changed his tone.
“Put it down.”
Evelyn watched silently.
Then she looked at Dante's photograph.
Something inside her broke.
If Vivian wanted Dante…
Evelyn would give him to her.
That night, she went to Dante's penthouse.
He kissed her without asking what was wrong.
Then he reached for the black silk ribbon he always used.
“Close your eyes.”
She obeyed.
But the ribbon slipped.
Evelyn opened her eyes.
Dante didn't notice.
He was staring at a photograph.
Vivian.
His fingers gently traced her face.
Evelyn felt the world disappear beneath her.
“You love her.”
Dante froze.
“Evelyn…”
“You've been imagining her every time you touched me.”
He said nothing.
That silence was enough.
Dante finally spoke.
“When I was seventeen, a girl saved my life.”
He showed Evelyn an old silver bracelet.
“She wore this.”
Evelyn recognized it.
Her bracelet.
Her mother's.
Dante looked at Vivian's photograph.
“I found her.”
Evelyn stared at him.
He had spent seventeen years searching for her.
But he had found the wrong sister.
She smiled through her tears.
“Then you should marry her.”
The next morning, Evelyn offered Vivian a deal.
Two hundred million dollars.
Evelyn would give Vivian Dante.
No one would ever know they had exchanged places.
Vivian signed.
Evelyn signed.
Then she left New York.
She thought she had finally escaped.
She was wrong.
Because that same night, in a private hospital room…
Julian Sterling opened his eyes.
His first word was:
“Evelyn.”
May you like
Then he whispered:
“Where is my wife?”
