Chapter One
Sofia opened the car door and slid next to her sister, Aurora. Aldo, one of her father’s loyal men, raised one dark eyebrow at Sofia but wisely decided not to comment.
Aurora gave her a quick and assessing look before letting out a musical laugh. Dressed in her ratty pajama top pants and with all her dark curls sticking up, Sofia suddenly felt self-conscious. She combed her fingers through her hair, but the curls refused to be tamed.
Her sister looked sharp in her sensible gray business suit and four-inch heels. Not a strand of Aurora’s pale-gold hair was out of place. Her normally glacial blue eyes held a hint of amusement.
Aurora had taken after their elegant and beautiful mother, while Sofia always felt clumsy by comparison. Their very dead and beautiful mother. Sofia suddenly remembered why she skipped her morning coffee. It wasn’t just to avoid seeing or talking to her father. Sofia’s stomach lurched, thinking about the arrangement their father, Lorenzo Bianchi, made recently. As Don of the Bianchi Familia, his decisions were always final.
Memories Sofia had locked in her head threatened to spill out of their prison. Sofia saw herself kneeling in front of her mother’s corpse, her white dress and hands drenched in her mother’s blood. Aurora putting her hands on Sofia’s thin shoulders, gently whispering in her ear to stand up, to be strong because Father would not want them to appear weak.
Sofia had been eight years old, and Aurora had only been two years older than her. The two of them quickly grew up after that.
“Sofia, don’t tell me you just woke up,” Aurora said.
The car lurched forward. They were on their way to whatever important business Aurora was about to attend.
Even before Aurora received her business degree, their father had already ensured she was entrenched in the family business. She started as an intern and worked her way up the company ladder. Now she was his personal secretary and attended every important meeting he did.
Much to their father’s frustration, Sofia had stubbornly forged her own path. Even from a young age, she had refused to be a pawn in their father’s twisted games. Instead of a sensible business degree, Sofia had picked a degree in digital media. She paid her way through college by working odd jobs. Sofia made it clear to her father and the familia that she didn’t need anyone’s help.
Once Sofia graduated from college, she distanced herself from the familia, but she kept in touch with her sister.
Sofia returned home for a couple of days to dissuade Aurora from making the most terrible mistake of her life.
They had limited time. It only took twenty minutes, thirty, if there was traffic, to reach Bianchi Tower, the familia’s head offices downtown.
Aurora would be in back-to-back meetings all day.
They had to have this conversation now. Lorenzo had already hired someone to make all the wedding arrangements. He wouldn’t ask for the bride’s or groom’s input. He would simply deem it unnecessary. Sofia wouldn’t be surprised if the wedding planner had already found a location for the wedding.
Sofia clasped Aurora’s long and manicured fingers and looked pleadingly into her eyes. While they kept in touch, they weren’t close as they used to be in the past.
“You can’t do this, Aurora. You can’t marry a complete stranger just because Father wants an alliance,” Sofia said.
“The Don has made his decision,” Aldo interjected.
“Stay out of this,” Sofia snapped.
He looked unhappy, but what could he do? Today, Aldo was playing the role of bodyguard. He took out his phone and pretended to be busy. That suited Sofia just fine.
Aurora opened her mouth, about to say something else, but Sofia beat her to the punch. She had plenty of ammunition left.
“He can’t keep doing this,” Sofia argued. “You’re not a puppet on strings.”
Aurora yanked her hand back. Her blue eyes turned cold, and for a second, Sofia feared she had already lost her sister. She worried their father had done a good job of turning Aurora into one of his pawns. Then Aurora’s expression softened.
“I’m not doing this for Father, Sofia, but for the familia. Do you understand the precarious situation the familia is in?” Aurora asked. “Plenty of livelihoods depend on this alliance. Do you have any idea how many people are in our employ?”
Hesitantly, Sofia shook her head. She had been living on her own for two years and relishing the freedom that came with it.
Sofia told herself she was no longer interested in familia politics. Deep down, she knew she couldn’t change the family she was born into.
She and her father might have a complicated relationship, but he still sent men to check on her once a week. That meant he cared in his own way. Then again, if one of her father’s enemies ended up killing Sofia, that would make him appear weak. Appearances were everything to their father.
“I have certain responsibilities,” Aurora said. “I can’t just abandon them.”
“Don’t start with that,” Sofia interrupted.