A hard slap landed on Liliana's face, causing her to stumble and crash to the floor. The tray she had been holding slipped from her grasp, and the delicate crockery shattered into pieces upon contact with the cold, hard tiles.

"Ahhh!" Liliana cried out in sharp pain as her stepbrother's fiancée, Cara, yanked her up by her hair. "Bitch! You've damaged my dress. Didn't I tell you to iron it properly?" Cara screamed. With a shove, she sent Liliana sprawling back to the floor.

Desperately, Liliana's hands scrambled for support, but instead, they met the shards of the broken crockery which embedded themselves into her skin.

"Cara, why do you do all this drama in the morning?" Rowan muttered as he took a seat on the central couch of the living room.

Liliana looked at her stepbrother with tears in her ears. She had hoped that he would at least look at her wounded hands and show the tiny bit of care. But she was wrong.

"Don't look at me with those pathetic eyes. Go to your room and get changed. I have something important to tell you," Rowan told his stepsister while taking the file from his secretary.

Liliana managed her strength to stand up when Cara told her to clean the floor.

"Someone else will do it!" Rowan stated and gestured to Liliana to leave.

Liliana dragged her feet to her room while tears streamed down her cheeks. Today was her 22nd birthday, but her stepbrother didn't even remember it. Ever since her father and stepmother passed away in a terrible accident, her life became miserable.

Rowan became the sole heir of the family business, neglecting her completely. She always though her stepbrother always loved her. But she was wrong. She had become worse than a slave in her own house. Rowan and his girlfriend always tortured her, not caring she was a human too.

Closing the room of the door, she first removed the shards from her palm and then, bandaged her hand. She then quickly changed into another pair of clothes. Because if she wouldn't make a haste, Rowan would punish her.

Reaching the living room, she sat across from Rowan, who signed the papers in the file. She wondered if they were the inheritance papers of their late grandfather, which were supposed to be open when Liliana would turn 22.

Liliana finally hoped that she would be free of this torment as she would also get some of the inheritance. She had planned to start her life elsewhere in the country with that money.

But Rowan had others plans for her.

"Liliana, you need to get married today," Rowan pronounced.

"What?" Liliana couldn't believe her ears. Her brother must be joking to her. "No, I won't get married," she protested.

"Shut up! I didn't ask your opinion!" Rowan barked at her and she trembled in fear. He stood up and walked to his stepsister. Pulling her up by holding her arm firmly, he said, "I don't want a burden like you in my house. At least, do one good thing to pay tribute to our late parents. You killed them that night."

Tears streamed down Liliana's cheeks. For two years, Rowan had blamed her for their parents demise because she didn't die in that car accident. He always treated her as the jinx from that day onwards.

"Why don't you let me go?" Liliana finally requested him.

"No. You need to pay for what you've done to me," Rowan stated with a hateful gaze. He let go of her arm and asked her to follow him outside.

Liliana didn't budge from her place when a bodyguard and dragged her out of the house. She was shoved into the car's backseat and they left for the wedding hall.

Liliana attempted to run, but her hands and feet were tied upon Rowan's instructions. She was pushed into the backseat. Rowan put a seatbelt around her and said, "Sister, why don't you stay quiet? I don't want to use violence on you. Your face should look clean, at least, on the wedding day!"

The next second, he sat beside her and the car drove to its destination.

Liliana was taken to the dressing room, where the attendants helped her in dressing up. There was no way she could escape because Rowan had made tight security arrangements.

"Ma'am, your makeup will ruin if you cry again," said the make-up artist.

Liliana sniffled and wiped the tears using the handkerchief. The makeup artist did the final touchup and then helped Liliana stand up.

"You look beautiful, Miss Everhart," she said.

Liliana looked at herself in the mirror in disbelief. In just a few minutes, she would be married off to a man she had never met. Her stepbrother had forced her into this marriage with an unknown groom, and there was no escaping it.

With a heavy heart, Liliana made her way to the hall, her face concealed beneath a delicate veil. She gripped the bouquet tightly, her knuckles turning white, as her stepbrother seized her hand with a firm grip.

She walked down the aisle, her steps slow and reluctant. As she neared the altar, Liliana finally lifted her gaze, desperate to see the man she was about to marry.

From her vantage point, she could only see his back, his identity still shrouded in mystery.

Finally, the groom turned around, and Liliana's breath hitched in her throat. She came to an abrupt halt, causing Rowan, her stepbrother, to stop as well. Her eyes were wide, unblinking, as she took in the sight of her groom.

Standing before her was the most eligible bachelor in the country, Valerian D'Amato. His reputation preceded him, and she knew his face all too well. He was as handsome as a Greek god, his chiseled features and athletic build capable of drawing any woman to him. His ocean-blue eyes seemed to have the power to pull anyone into their depths, but there was an unsettling coldness in them.

Valerian D'Amato was not a man of romantic fantasies or fairy-tale endings. He was the most feared and ruthless mafia boss in the country.

His name meant terror. He was a man who lived and breathed hatred, whose hands were stained with blood, and who thought nothing of ending a life. Kindness and love were foreign concepts to him, banished from his world by his own cruelty and relentless pursuit of power.

As Liliana stood frozen, facing the man she was about to marry, a chill ran down her spine. She realized that her life was about to change in ways she could never have imagined. She was about to become the bride of Valerian D'Amato.