Chapter 1
The ballroom glittered with chandeliers and lies.
Every man here wore power like a crown, every woman like me dressed as though her body were currency. Diamonds sparkled, champagne flowed, and the weight of centuries-old blood feuds hung in the air like perfume.
I stood near the edge of it all, my glass untouched in my hand, watching the vultures circle. Tonight was supposed to be a celebration — my engagement, a peace treaty sealed with a diamond ring. My family’s way of chaining me to a man I barely knew, so our bloodline could remain safe.
Safe. The word felt like poison.
My fiancé — Marco DeLuca — was charming enough. Golden smile, sharp jaw, polite laughter at all the right times. But his touch felt like frost against my skin, cold and calculated. When he pressed a hand to my back, I resisted the urge to flinch.
And then I saw him.
He leaned against the bar like he owned the world. Black suit, open collar, a silver watch glinting beneath the low light. His dark eyes cut through the crowd and landed on me — not as if I were a stranger, but as if I already belonged to him.
The air shifted, heavy and electric.
Someone whispered his name near me, like a curse.
Adrian Moretti.
The rival. The man my family swore to keep me away from. The devil in silk.
He didn’t look away when I met his gaze. He smiled, slow and devastating, like a predator toying with prey. My heart shouldn’t have stuttered the way it did. I shouldn’t have felt my pulse quicken beneath my skin, shouldn’t have wanted to know how his hand would feel wrapped around my throat — gentle or merciless.
I tore my gaze away, forcing my lips into a polite smile for Marco. But even as he spoke to his associates, I felt Adrian’s stare burning into me, tethering me with invisible chains.
When I dared to glance back again, he raised his glass in my direction, a silent toast across the room. A promise. A threat.
I knew, in that moment, that my life wasn’t mine anymore.
