“My marriage to Marco Ricci was a contract signed in blood, a promise to unite the two most powerful families on the East Coast. He was my future, the king chosen to rule beside me. Everyone said our union was destiny. But he came home smelling of cheap perfume and another woman's lies. It was the scent of Angelia, the fragile orphan his family had taken in, the girl he swore he protected like a sister. I followed him to a private club. From the shadows, I watched him pull her into his arms and give her a hungry, desperate kiss-a kiss he had never given me. In that instant, my entire future shattered. I finally understood the whispers from his men that I was just a political prize, while Angelia was their true queen. He wanted my empire, but his heart belonged to her. I would not be a consolation prize. I would not be second to anyone. I walked straight into my father's study, my voice as cold as ice. "I'm calling off the wedding." When he protested, I delivered the final blow. "I will uphold our family's need for an alliance. I will marry Don Dante Valentino." My father's whiskey glass shattered on the floor. Dante Valentino was our greatest rival.”