That look pierced me like a knife.
Just like three years ago.
When I was acquitted by the Supreme Court of Newport City.
Everyone said I, Victoria, was insane.
That I lived only for my own pleasure.
Three years ago, Adrian was the person I trusted most.
But in high society, there is no such thing as secrets.
The day after rumors spread of Adrian putting high heels on Clara, she had strutted proudly to my door.
“You’re old, but I’m still young.”
“Victoria, all you’ve got is blood on your hands—what can you possibly compare with me?”
She flaunted herself, holding one of my designer gowns, and in the next instant my knife plunged into her shoulder blade.
I yanked her by the hair. “You know, once you’ve stained yourself with blood, a little more doesn’t matter.”
I stabbed Clara eighteen times, each one careful not to be fatal.
She collapsed in a pool of blood, screaming that I had to pay with my life.
But the Hayes family’s reach in Newport City stretched far and wide.
In the end, all I bore was the label of “self-defense.”
Adrian, sitting in the plaintiff’s seat, watched as I walked out of court with my head held high.
His eyes were bloodshot, his fists clenched, and then—he knelt before me.
“…I’m sorry.”
He was my father’s foster son.
Since he was ten, this madman had been my leash.
Countless times, he tore the knife from my hand or pulled the bullets out of my bag.
Anyone who betrayed me had only one ending in my hands—death.
But that day, the rain fell too heavily, too muddied.
And I hesitated.
My father’s final words were:
“Sweetheart, it’s fine if you were crazy before. But from now on, you must treat Adrian as the sharpest knife in your hand.”
The day my father died, it was Adrian who, heedless of his own life, wiped out every rival in a single bloody night.
He elevated me to the rightful throne of the Crime Boss.
The downpour of blood splattered across him as Adrian wiped it from his face, like a demon risen from hell.
Without hesitation, he handed me the Family Crest Medallion that symbolized leadership.
“Coco, what’s yours will always be yours—no one can take it away.”
In Newport City, in the dreaded underworld, within the Hayes family’s territory—
True loyalty was the cheapest, and yet the most precious thing of all.
I ejected the magazine, kicked him into the mud.
Forbade anyone from covering him with an umbrella.
Let the rain drench him pale.
“Come back when you’re clean.”