Chapter 1

In the nightclub's hall, my heavily pregnant younger sister, Grace Costello, was pushed onto the stage against her will. The men below the stage argued red-faced over the baby in her belly. "It's definitely mine! I went the hardest that night!" one of the men shouted. "Bullshit! I did it more times—I have better odds!" another yelled. Grace's face was deathly pale. With tears in her eyes, she asked the man beside her, "Bruce, you're my fiance. How could you do this to me?" Bruce Dixon held a delicate-looking woman in his arms and sneered. "You don't even know who the father is, and you have the nerve to ask me that?" The woman in his arms, Bonnie Lynch, covered her mouth as she giggled shyly, but her eyes held nothing but smugness as she looked at Grace. As I sat below the stage, my gaze turned icy. I had only been gone for a few years, and these people already had the nerve to mess with my family, the Costellos! My assistant, Victor Frost, bent down and asked quietly, "Should I bring in Arnold Tucker, the owner of this club, and have him explain himself to you?" I scoffed, "What's the point of calling him? Have all our people on standby!" "Yes, ma'am." Victor quickly stepped back. How dare they touch my sister? No one would be leaving in one piece tonight! Grace's voice trembled as she spoke. "You were the only one I spent the night with! How could I be pregnant with someone else's child?" Bonnie, still in Bruce's arms, laughed sweetly and said, "Grace, you were drunk and kept yelling that one guy wasn't enough. You even dragged several men into the room. Don't you remember?" Grace went pale. "That's impossible! Bruce was the only one in the room—" She froze mid-sentence and glared at Bruce. "It was you. That glass of wine… You drugged me?" Grace yelled in disbelief. Bruce didn't answer or even look at her. He pulled out a stack of photos from his pocket and scattered them across the stage. "Come and place your bets! Whoever guesses right, I'll throw in the hottest video from that night!" Bruce said. The crowd below burst into cheers. One man exclaimed, "Damn, that's really something! She had nothing on at all, and you can see everything!" "That's even hotter than an adult movie cover. Just one look, and I'm getting all worked up!" Another leered. Bonnie picked up a photo, glanced at it with disgust, then tossed it away. The photo landed in front of me, and I picked it up. Just one look made my vision go dark with anger. These people were insane! Soon, they would find out what happens when they mess with the Costellos! The men below the stage scrambled for Grace's photos like a pack of madmen. The loud sound of cash hitting the poker table rang out as they threw down their bets, eyes bloodshot. It was like an auction, and Grace was nothing but merchandise to them. I sat in the shadows. Swirling my glass of wine, I watched the absurd gamble with a cold glare. Victor still hadn't returned, so I had to wait a little longer. "All bets are final!" The dealer, Mike Brown, raised his voice above the din of the crowd. "Now, let's bring out the experts to reveal the truth behind this bet!" Several people in lab coats rushed onto the stage carrying medical equipment. Without a word, they grabbed Grace's arm. A needle gleamed as it was about to pierce her skin. "Get off me!" Grace, who had seemed weak until now, suddenly snapped. She broke free and scratched one of them deeply across the face with her nails. "Where's Arnold? Tell him to come out here! If I get so much as a scratch tonight, this place will be shut down by tomorrow!" Grace screamed at the top of her lungs, and everyone burst into laughter. Bonnie covered her mouth, laughing so hard she was shaking. "Oh wow, is Ms. Costello still dreaming?" She suddenly yanked Grace's hair and leaned in to whisper in the latter's ear, "You seem to have forgotten that Arnold is my older brother. He already bankrupted the Costellos long ago, so where did you get the nerve to shout like that?" I was already at the foot of the stage, ready to rescue Grace at any moment, when Bonnie's words left me in shock. Bonnie was Arnold's sister? The Costellos were bankrupt? How had I not known any of this? Bruce pulled Bonnie into his arms again and said, "Why waste time talking to her?" He turned to the men in lab coats and ordered, "Hurry up and don't waste time!" Just as the needle touched Grace's skin, the dealer next to her suddenly panicked and shouted, "Stop!"