Chapter 1- The Unwanted Daughter
There were two kinds of people in the world.
Those who were born into power.
And those who were born beneath it.
Alice Smith belonged to the second kind.
At least, that was what her family had made her believe.
She stood silently in front of the enormous mirror in her bedroom, fixing the collar of her school uniform.
The room was beautiful.
Too beautiful.
A huge chandelier hung from the ceiling. Expensive paintings covered the walls. A balcony overlooked the gardens surrounding the mansion.
Everything looked perfect.
Everything except her.
Alice looked at her reflection.
Her eyes were tired.
She hadn’t slept much.
Again.
A quiet knock came from the door.
Alice immediately knew who it was.
“Come in.”
The door opened just enough for a girl to slip inside.
Sofia.
Alice’s best friend.
Her only best friend.
Sofia quickly closed the door behind her and looked at Alice.
“You look sick.”
Alice smiled faintly.
“I’m fine.”
Sofia sighed.
“You always say that.”
Alice didn’t answer.
Instead, she looked down.
Sofia walked toward her and placed a small paper bag on the table.
“I brought you breakfast.”
Alice stared at it.
“You shouldn’t have.”
“I know.”
Sofia smiled.
“That’s why I did it.”
Alice couldn’t stop herself from smiling back.
For a few seconds, everything felt normal.
Like she was just another girl getting ready for school with her best friend.
But Alice knew better.
Normal never lasted long in the Smith mansion.
A loud voice suddenly came from the hallway.
“Alice!”
Her smile disappeared.
Her mother’s voice.
Mrs. Smith.
Sofia immediately looked toward the door.
“Go.”
“I can stay.”
“Sofia.”
Alice’s voice became quieter.
“Please.”
Sofia hesitated before walking toward the bookshelf.
She pushed one of the books aside.
A hidden mechanism clicked.
The bookshelf moved.
Behind it was a narrow passage that almost nobody knew existed.
Sofia had discovered it years ago.
It was the only way she could visit Alice without being noticed.
Before disappearing, Sofia turned around.
“Promise me you’ll call me if something happens.”
Alice nodded.
“I promise.”
The bookshelf closed.
Seconds later, the bedroom door opened.
Mrs. Smith stood there.
Her expression was cold.
“Why aren’t you downstairs?”
“I’m getting ready for school.”
“You have five minutes.”
Alice lowered her head.
“Okay, Mom.”
Mrs. Smith turned around.
Then stopped.
“And Alice?”
Alice looked up.
“Yes?”
“Don’t embarrass this family.”
The door slammed.
Alice stood frozen.
She looked back at the mirror.
For a moment, she wondered what exactly she had done to deserve this.
Nothing.
That was the answer.
She had done nothing.
She was simply born different.
Alice was human.
Her entire family wasn’t.
Her mother was a vampire.
Her sister, Ally, was a vampire.
Almost everyone around her belonged to a world Alice could never completely enter.
Her father had been human too.
A wealthy businessman.
Brilliant.
Kind.
And, according to the few memories Alice had left of him, the only person in the family who had ever truly loved her.
He had died from cancer years ago.
After his death, her mother changed.
She remarried.
The Smith family became even more powerful.
And Alice became the reminder of a past Mrs. Smith wanted forgotten.
Ally, meanwhile, was everything their mother wanted in a daughter.
Beautiful.
Powerful.
Confident.
A vampire.
Everyone at school knew her.
Everyone liked her.
Teachers praised her.
Students wanted to be her friends.
Alice?
She was the strange human girl everyone whispered about.
The girl who didn’t belong.
The girl who was easy to blame.
Alice picked up her school bag and walked downstairs.
The dining room was already full.
Ally sat comfortably at the table, talking with her mother.
Alice quietly took a seat at the far end.
Nobody looked at her.
She stared at the empty plate in front of her.
She wasn’t surprised.
Breakfast wasn’t always given to her.
Sometimes it depended on whether she had made a mistake the day before.
Today, apparently, she had.
Ally glanced toward her.
“Why is she sitting here?”
Mrs. Smith didn’t even look at Alice.
“Let her.”
Alice remained silent.
She had learned that speaking usually made things worse.
She lowered her eyes.
Her fingers tightened around the edge of the table.
Then Ally laughed softly.
“You know, Mom, sometimes I wonder why she even goes to school.”
Alice looked at her.
Ally smiled.
“Nobody there likes her.”
Alice said nothing.
Because arguing wouldn’t change anything.
She stood up.
“I’m going to school.”
Mrs. Smith finally looked at her.
“Good.”
Alice walked away.
She didn’t look back.
Outside the mansion, she took a deep breath.
For the first time that morning, she felt like she could breathe.
Her phone vibrated.
Sofia: I'm waiting for you.
Alice smiled.
Alice: Coming
She walked toward the car.
She didn’t know that this would be one of the last mornings of her life that felt ordinary.
Because while Alice was worrying about surviving another day at school...
Someone else was preparing to change her entire future.
Across the city stood a mansion far larger and darker than the Smith estate.
The Black mansion.
A name feared by powerful families across the world.
The most influential vampire mafia family.
And at the center of that family stood one man.
Cobb Black.
Powerful.
Rich.
Feared.
Untouchable.
And completely unaware that his name was about to become connected to Alice Smith.
That afternoon, Mrs. Smith would enter a meeting.
A meeting that would lead to a deal.
A deal involving money.
Power.
Protection.
And one simple condition.
Cobb Black would have to choose Alice.
But Alice didn’t know any of this.
She didn’t know that someone had already decided her future.
She didn’t know that her own mother was about to make a deal that could cost her life.
And most importantly...
She didn’t know that the man she would soon call her fiancé had never intended to love her.
He had been chosen to become her husband.
But Alice?
Alice had been chosen to die.
