Chapter 1

My first life ended with my brother' s hands around my neck.

Ethan Vance, my older brother, the heir to the Vance fortune, was a fool.

He was obsessed with Sophia Hayes, our half-sister.

She was not what she seemed.

Our mother, Catherine, kind and trusting, never saw Sophia' s true nature.

Sophia manipulated Ethan easily.

He controlled Vance Global Security, our family' s private firm.

That night, the Serpent' s Coil gang invaded our home.

Mother was critically injured.

Ethan was gone.

He had taken every single security guard, the entire force, to Long Island.

For Sophia.

He was throwing her a surprise yacht party.

A massive, unauthorized fireworks display lit up the sky over the water, a ridiculous show of extravagance.

My desperate calls finally brought him back.

Too late.

Mother was already permanently damaged.

Sophia then faked a mental breakdown.

She cried, she screamed, she blamed me.

She said I drove her to despair by ruining her special day.

She even claimed I orchestrated the attack to make Ethan look bad.

Ethan believed every word.

He saw Sophia as a fragile victim, and me as a monster.

He dragged me into the library.

He wanted me to sign a confession.

A confession that would give Sophia my share of the family fortune, my public goodwill.

Then he would make my death look like a suicide.

His eyes were cold, filled with a certainty that chilled me more than the fear of death.

He started to squeeze.

The world went dark.