The Don's Betrayal, My Unstoppable Rise

Chicago's most powerful family. Our marriage was a contract, a piece of pape

she ca

, creating a world that had no room for me; they would emerge from these stolen moments with a new, unspoken und

is, Dante, just like her

ty detail escort me to my rooms-a gilded cage where I was to remain. He knew it was a fabricatio

as just a placeholder, a temporary keeper of hi

or. I would compete against Dante for the city's biggest contract, using the very architectural designs he had once dismissed, on

pte

phin

marriage that was never truly alive. The dissolution clause was n

d with a life from which I was excluded. Crystal chandeliers threw fractured rainbows across the faces of Chicago's elite, the air thick with the scent of expensive p

rast to the glittering, jewel-encrusted dresses of the ot

Look what w

rough the noise. She glided toward me, flanked by two women

hina. I assumed you'd be... over

irling amber liquid in a glass a

g up?" one of her friends chimed in, looking me up and

ce as cold and flat as I could make it. "As hi

nal. You were a temporary fix. A quaint little story everyone tells about the time the head of the De

sweet. Her whisper was for my ears only, a

pe she's keeping well. It must be so dif

fragile surface I had maintained for sev

e on a nearby table. The sharp sound of it shattering on the marble

w and dangerous, a tone I hadn't used since I was a te

ontorted with rag

cal motion, she emptied it down the front of my dress, the red liquid blooming l

blood. I didn't move. I just star

oug

ws, but it cut through the ballroom lik

nt

reputation. He was Dante De Luca, the undisputed head of a formidable Chicago dynasty, a man who had inherited an empire at twenty-

from her. His fury was a palpable thing, a cold

his voice chillingly quiet but carryi

tim. Her eyes filled with tears. "Dante, she threatene

ciless, a public dism

wait fo

nd unforgiving. Without another word, he pulled me through the stunned crowd a

ed out the window at the blurred city lights, acutely aware of the ti

The tension in his shoulders seemed to ease, but only marginally. When he finally s

niversary

look at him. "I

es." He cleared his throat, the gesture hollow. "I'll make it up to you. I'll r

buzzed on the seat between us.

bel

e, a seductive, cooing pu

sorry. I'm all alone.