Chapter 8 - THE SISTER’S BETRAYAL
Before Giovanni could answer, the double doors of the library clicked open.
Marco, a broad-shouldered man in a charcoal tactical suit, stepped inside carrying a secure tablet. "Boss. We have a problem at the ballroom."
Giovanni didn't flinch. "Report."
"Ten minutes after you left, Sarah Hale—the bride—called an emergency press conference in the lobby," Marco reported, glancing briefly at Jessica with a look of cautious sympathy. "She’s claiming Jessica crashed the wedding to steal the spotlight, and that Jessica manipulated you into destroying her husband’s business line."
Jessica felt a sharp, cold blade twist in her stomach. "Sarah?" she whispered. "My own sister?"
"Sarah’s wedding was financed entirely by Vance Capital," Giovanni explained calmly, as if reading a weather report. "Tyler promised her father a seat on their board if the family kept you isolated. Your sister didn't choose you, Jessica. She chose the financing."
Jessica closed her eyes, resting her hand against the marble mantlepiece. The pain wasn't a sudden blow; it was the final, heavy lock clicking shut on her old life. She had spent five years being the reliable, quiet nurse—the one who took the small room, the one who worked the night shifts, the one who smiled at her sister's engagement while her own marriage disintegrated under Tyler’s lies.
And when she finally stood up for herself, her entire bloodline branded her the villain.
"They think you're weak, Jessica," Giovanni said softly, stepping closer until he stood right beside her at the hearth. "They think because you wear a thirty-dollar dress and work eighty hours a week, you have no teeth."
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Jessica opened her eyes. The hurt in her dark brown gaze was slowly hardening into something dark, sharp, and resolute.
"What do you want from me, Giovanni?" she asked, turning to face him fully. "You didn't save me at that ballroom out of kindness. A man like you doesn't do anything without a price."
