Chapter 2

Sloane lifted the hem of her couture gown and hurried down the stone steps, her custom heels clicking rapidly until she planted herself directly in front of the open SUV door.

A fine diamond cross necklace glinted against her collarbone in the sunlight. She wore her signature gentle smile, though triumph gleamed in her eyes. Placing her left hand flat against the edge of the car door, she angled her ring finger so the massive diamond engagement ring from Darren sat right in Reyna's line of sight.

Reyna sat in the back seat, her gray-green eyes fixed coldly on the woman who had stolen her research credits and her fiancé. She said nothing, nor did she signal the driver to pull away.

Seeing Reyna remain silent, Sloane's smile deepened.

"Reyna, are you really leaving before the toast? I just wanted to make sure you have a safe trip up to the Vaughn estate."

Sloane raised her voice so it carried across the courtyard.

"Everyone knows how terrible Uncle Conrad's plane crash was three years ago. Half his face was burned off, and his legs are completely dead. The doctors say he barely recognizes anyone anymore."

Several servants carrying flower baskets stopped along the driveway, exchanging amused glances as they waited to watch the disgraced older daughter break down.

Sloane leaned closer to the open window, dropping her voice to a sharp hiss.

"An ex-con marrying a rotting cripple in a wheelchair. That's the only way you can beg for scraps now, isn't it? If your dead mother saw you crawling into a monster's bed today, she'd regret ever founding Caldwell Pharmaceuticals."

Inside the cabin, Reyna rubbed her thumb once across her index knuckle. Her eyes narrowed to a razor edge.

Before Sloane could pull back, Reyna shoved the heavy armored door open with full force. The steel edge slammed straight into Sloane's shoulder.

Sloane let out a piercing scream and stumbled backward several steps, her heels twisting on the rose petals scattered across the stones.

Reyna stepped out of the SUV. Standing tall in her dark coat, she walked straight toward Sloane, her leather boots striking the pavement in a steady, heavy rhythm.

Sloane scrambled to regain her footing, her face draining of color.

"What do you think you're doing? This is my engagement day!"

Reyna did not answer. Her hand shot out and clamped onto the back of Sloane's neck. Her fingernails scored the skin just deeply enough to open a web of microscopic abrasions. As her grip tightened, a trace of colorless, slow-acting allergenic extract concealed beneath one nail spread across the damaged epidermal barrier, where the warmth and moisture of Sloane's skin would accelerate its absorption.

With a sharp downward shove, Reyna forced Sloane toward the ground. Sloane clawed at Reyna's wrist, but her pampered hands could not budge the grip Reyna had honed through years of brutal training in Europe.

Sloane's knees hit the stone driveway with a loud crack. Dust and crushed petals smeared across the skirt of her couture gown.

The servants by the lawn sucked in a collective breath. A flower basket dropped to the grass as they stared at the scene in shock.

Tears spilled down Sloane's cheeks, ruining her makeup as she braced her palms against the stones and tried to push herself up. Reyna pressed down harder until her knuckles turned white.

"Apologize to my mother," Reyna said, her voice flat and icy.

Sloane gritted her teeth, trembling with humiliation under the stares of the household staff, and glared up without making a sound.

Reyna reached down with her free hand, seized Sloane's left ring finger right above Darren's diamond ring, and bent the joint back.

Sloane shrieked as sharp pain shot up her arm.

Reyna leaned down until her lips were an inch from Sloane's ear.

"Say it now, or I snap the finger wearing that ring right off your hand."

Looking into Reyna's cold, unblinking eyes, Sloane's chest heaved in panic. Her voice broke into a sob.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Reyna released her grip as if dropping trash. She pulled an alcohol wipe from her pocket and methodically wiped each of her fingers clean.

"Keep the ring polished, Sloane. I want it shining when I take back every last thing you stole—my name, my inheritance, my mother's company, and the future you thought that diamond guaranteed."

Reyna looked down at her with the clinical contempt of a scientist observing a failed specimen.

*A good toxin doesn't destroy everything at once. It shuts the body down system by system. That's how I'm going to dismantle your life. And when there's nothing left, I'll make sure you stay conscious long enough to understand the diagnosis.*

Sloane clutched the reddened skin at the back of her neck, shivering as she stared up at a sister she no longer recognized.

Reyna tossed the used wipe onto the dirty hem of Sloane's dress, turned around, and climbed back into the SUV. She pulled the door shut with a heavy thud. The vehicle rolled forward, its tires crushing a fallen white rose into the stone pavement as it drove out the gates.

Up on the second floor of the villa, Gordon Caldwell stood behind a parted curtain, his eyes dark and cold as he watched the black SUV disappear down the road.