Chapter 1
14.43
My brother Adrian and I were at war. He believed I caused the car crash that left his beloved Penny comatose, and without hesitat-
ion, he imprisoned me for three years.
After our parents died, we became like unchained mad dogs, taking pleasure in destroying each other. He poisoned my food; I bur-
ned his assets. He once tied me to a helicopter and flew me like a kite; I drugged him and threw him into a wild animal pen.
Our twisted games only stopped when Penny finally “woke up.” The woman he adored for three years slapped disownment papers
in front of me, smiling triumphantly. “Sign this, or I’ll arrange another accident and frame you.”
I laughed sharply, eyes stinging, then stabbed her in the stomach. I called Adrian on speaker, letting him hear her screams. He rag-
ed, “Rosalie, are you trying to get yourself killed?”
I swallowed blood and hummed defiantly. He needn’t have bothered–the doctor had already told me. Terminal brain cancer. Thr days left to live.
When Adrian burst through the door with his men, he found me casually crossing my legs, twirling the blood–slicked blade in my
hand.
Penny lay at my feet, her body wracked with tremors of pain. The moment she saw Adrian, she let out a desperate, piercing cry for
help.
“Adrian, it hurts! She’s trying to kill me!”
The sight of her, covered in blood, turned his eyes
a
furious shade of red.
He took a single step forward, and my stiletto heel pressed down on the wound in her stomach.
Penny couldn’t even scream anymore, just curled into a helpless ball of agony.
“Let her go!” Adrian roared, surging forward.
But with every foot closer he got, I applied more pressure.
Fresh blood seeped out, tracing crimson patterns beneath my shoe. Seeing this, Adrian stopped dead in his tracks, his face a mask
of bitter defeat.
His hands, hanging by his sides, clenched into tight fists. In a strained, hoarse voice, he used a title I hadn’t heard from him in years.
“Sister… name your price. What will it take for you to let Penny go?”
Before I could answer, he rattled off a desperate list of offers. “Forty percent of the company shares? The West End property? All my real estate in the city? Or… my life?”
“Just say the word. It’s all yours.”
A mocking laugh escaped me.
I was about to throw the disownment papers Penny had brought right back in his face when the world suddenly went dark. A high- pitched ringing filled my ears.
Damn it, I cursed internally. Of all the times for this to happen.
Sure enough, by the time my vision cleared, the cold edge of a blade was pressed against my neck.
Another inch, and it would slice through my carotid artery.
2
Chapter 1
I met his cold gaze, a defiant smirk playing on my lips as I deliberately leaned into the knife’s edge.
Adrian’s pupils contracted, a flicker of hesitation–of panic–crossing his face.
And just like that, the tables turned.
With a vicious grin, I snatched the knife from his hand.
14.43
I was about to drive it through his palm when my eyes caught sight of a long, faded scar on his forearm. It stretched for inches, a
pale reminder of our childhood.
I had dragged him to an abandoned amusement park, a place forbidden to us. In the middle of our reckless games, the rusted fra-
me of a roller coaster had groaned and collapsed right above my head.
In that split second, Adrian had thrown himself at me, shoving me out of the way.
