PROLOGUE
I don’t know why I thought seeing her in a wedding dress would be easy. But as the bridal song began to play and everyone stood in unison, waiting for her to walk down the aisle, the knife in my chest twisted a little deeper. Somehow, I kept my eyes on the groom — a wealthy nobleman. I didn’t care about his useless pretentious title or what his bank account looked like. I’d made it my business to find out everything about Adriano Salvati. He lived in his father’s shadow. He didn’t like getting his hands dirty, but they were filthy nonetheless. He threw orgies in Milan and New York when he was in town. He liked to dominate sex workers to make them bend to his will. The fact that he hurt people who were just trying to make a living pissed me the fuck off. Of course, none of them dared speak against him. Not publicly, anyway. His serious girlfriend, who would soon become his side piece, had penthouses that he paid for. He didn’t physically hurt her, as far as I knew. She was seeing Adriano’s cousin behind his back, though she seemed genuinely in love with the guy. The devil works hard, but karma works harder. Right now, both were working against me, and no doubt, making me pay for every fucking wrong I’d committed. I would get down on my knees this instant, if it meant she didn’t have to go through with this.
The heavy wooden doors opened, and the mics the guys were wearing picked up a few gasps. I glanced at my watch and checked the time. Two minutes. We had a two-minute window to get this done. I looked for the others one last time — Petra standing outside on the roof and Michael wandering down the block, waiting for his cue to get any innocent bystanders out; Gil and Lorenzo pacing their marks in the pews; Rosalyn and Emma observing from the altar. . . across from two Salvati men. Dominic was sitting in the first pew. When I looked at the aisle again, my heart stopped beating.
She looked virginal, but I knew better; I had already defiled every hole in her body. I would have laughed if I could find it in me to be amused. Even if I were, the amusement would’ve died when I saw her face. Her dark eyes, bloodshot and pained, seared into me, despite their inability to meet mine. She wouldn’t know where to look even if she wanted to. Her father looked around, though. Of course, he did; his paranoia had been heightened. I turned to her groom again, who was waiting for her with a stoic look, though his eyes gleamed with excitement. I couldn't be sure whether it was the idea of finally having her or whether it was the large chunk of De Luca empire he'd be inheriting.
She made it to the third pew and stopped walking. For a brief moment, she let go of her father and fixed the bottom of her gown, and her heel stuck at the edge. Her father gave her an impatient look and turned to smile at the audience. I could practically feel my mother’s ghost judging me for what I was about to do. I closed my eyes for a split second, habitually asking God for forgiveness in silent prayer. I was one of those people. The ones who avoided church and talking about God but were willing to get on my knees when my life was falling apart. He was always my last resort. I tapped the side of my weapon once, twice – another habit. I took a breath, then another, and held it as I pulled the trigger.
1
LENORA
I’d always known I’d be a young and inexperienced bride. It was what I was bred for, like a prized horse whose only job is to win races. It was why I felt such kinship with my Clydesdale. With animals, in general, but Aanya was special. She had been through everything with me – fights with my parents, tears over fake friends, and boys who wouldn’t give me the time of day because of who my father was. Saying goodbye to her was killing me.
“I’ll never forget you.” I grabbed the sides of her face and pressed my forehead against hers.
I didn’t bother holding back tears. I didn’t bother explaining that I wasn’t sure when I’d see her again. She knew. Aanya always knew. She nudged my face with her muzzle and snapped me out of my sadness. I kissed her one last time, pulled away to dry my tears, and took a breath before walking away.
Walking away had never been difficult for me. I’d attended boarding schools and summer camps all over the world. My entire life consisted of walking away from people, but this was different. I couldn’t just pick up the phone and FaceTime Aanya whenever I missed seeing her face the way I did with my friends. Not that I did that often. I had two friends, both a few years older than me. One was married and pregnant, and the other was making a name for herself in tech. Neither had much time to talk to me these days. To be fair, they thought I was busy as well. After all, I had a wedding to plan — an arranged marriage to a duke, no less. Adriano Salvati was my perfect match, according to my father, who didn’t know a thing about me.
To think, I was once considered a daddy’s girl. These days, I didn’t speak to him at all. He saw it as a sign of rebellion. I saw it as an act of defiance. There was a slight difference.
Nevertheless, I ran out of time and had to devise a plan today. I’d met Adriano several times over the years, and even though he’d been nice, I felt no attraction to him. I said as much to my mother, but of course, she told me I was being ridiculous. “Attraction has very little to do with this arrangement, Lenora,” she’d said. Of course, it was easy for her to say such things. Her marriage to my father wasn’t arranged, per se, but it might as well have been. She caught my father’s attention during a visit to the Dominican Republic, and my grandfather, being the businessman he was, insisted that it was a great match. After all, not many men had enough money to marry her, an heiress to a billion-dollar empire.
Even though we were extremely well off, Dad was nowhere near a billionaire. Knowing my mother would be one someday was the icing for him. So, yeah, I should be used to the idea that I would one day be sold off like cattle in the 1800s, but I wasn’t. I've read too much, watched too many programs, and dreamt of a life free of all this. I took off my boots and walked into my parents’ Connecticut home. Instead of going to the kitchen or to my room to pack for my trip to New York, I quietly walked toward my father’s office. I needed something, anything, that I could use to delay this. The fact that I was resorting to blackmail proved that I was a De Luca. My last name had never bothered me. Most of the boys stayed away from me in school because of the stories they’d heard about my older brother, Dominic. They stayed away from me in Italy because of what they’d heard about my father. It annoyed me, but I knew nothing I could do about it, so I adjusted. I always focused on boys who didn’t go to school with me. Once in college, where no one knew who I was, I was free to see whomever I wanted, even if it was in secret.
After an exhaustive search of the office, I seated myself in the chair behind the desk with a defeated sigh. I needed something more useful for me here. I scanned the room, and my eyes came to rest on the monitor. I clicked on the keyboard to power it up, but I couldn’t access it without a password. I tried several times to no avail. As I let out an exasperated groan, I sunk further into the chair, giving into its embrace. I looked up and found myself staring directly at the security camera in the corner of the room.
I wanted him to know I'd been here without confronting him. I didn’t have the courage for that. I lowered myself to the floor and scoured his desk for something that could give me an advantage. After a few minutes of searching, a small black box caught my eye. When I opened it, a tiny gold key fell out. Relief washed over me as I picked up the key, tried it in the lock, and finally pulled the drawer open.