

Every April Fools’ Day, Wilson Hale and Chloe Mercer turned our anniversary into a joke. A fake proposal. A trick ring. A room full of laughter. And every year, Wilson was sure I loved him too much to leave. This year, cake cream slid down my face, my ring hit the marble floor, and he still smiled like I would forgive him by morning. He forgot one thing. I was not Vivian Gray, the lonely girl with nowhere to go. I was Vivian Vescari, daughter of the most feared mafia family on the East Coast. I had left that world because I wanted to be loved before anyone knew my name. For six years, I thought Wilson was that man. Then I learned even his first confession had been an April Fools’ bet. So I stopped being the joke. I went home.

Phoebe, heiress of Caelon's wealthiest family, teaches in a mountain village. During a patriotic lesson, a video of the Jovian invasion terrifies Vivian Smith—her father's fiancée—and her son, born to a Jovian spy. Seeing him cry, Vivian, blinded by anger and guilt, humiliates Phoebe. Only when she realizes that Phoebe is Alfred Green's daughter does regret hit.