Chapter 1

The night before we were supposed to get legally married, my fiancé, Dante, looked at me just after I'd gotten out of the shower and suddenly spoke.

"What was it like being Julian's mistress? Exciting?"

My head was ringing. When I answered, my voice didn't sound like mine.

"You know perfectly well I had no idea he was already engaged."

He came over and gently dried my hair. His words sounded innocent, but each one hurt.

"You may not have known you were his mistress, but the story has already made its way through several families."

"As my wife, you'd represent the entire Valenti family."

"Everyone in our world knows about your past. If I marry you, what will they think of me?"

"But don't worry. I can give you everything except the right to call yourself my wife."

Tears welled in my eyes, and I could barely get the words out through the shaking in my voice.

"Why... why all of a sudden? We're supposed to get legally married tomorrow."

He gave a soft laugh and pressed a light kiss to my forehead.

"Elena, you need to understand. In our world, marriage has never been just about two people."

"Being together is one thing. But when it comes to choosing a wife, I need a woman with no scandal attached to her."

Suddenly, I couldn't bear to look at the framed wedding photo on the nightstand.

My fingers trembled as I slipped the pregnancy test results back into my bag before I could show him.

"Dante, let's end this."

He paused for a moment, then let out a quiet laugh.

"Elena, you don't have parents. You don't have a family to fall back on. If you leave me, where exactly do you think you'll go?"

The pain in my chest made it almost impossible to speak. Even drawing a breath hurt.

It took me a long time to force the words out. When I did, my voice was painfully hoarse.

"So... You want me to be your mistress, is that it?"

Dante toyed with my fingers, his gaze still tender.

"Does it matter? Besides, it's not like you haven't done it before."

I yanked my hand away, fury surging through me.

"You know Julian lied to me! He told me he didn't have a fiancée! I was the victim! You know all of that!"

Dante's smile gave nothing away, but he didn't get angry.

"Who cares whether you really knew or not?"

"People in these families believe only what they see."

"Back then, Julian's fiancée chased you with a knife in front of everyone and humiliated you at that party."

"They all saw it with their own eyes."

The love in Dante's eyes still looked too deep to be an act. As though he hadn't just casually told me he couldn't marry me.

I closed my eyes in pain. It felt as if a hole had been torn through my heart and icy wind was rushing straight through it.

Dante spoke again, his voice close to my ear.

"Elena, don't blame me. With a past like that, you can't become the wife of the Valenti Don."

I stared at him.

Suddenly, the face before me seemed to belong to a stranger.

Five years ago, when Julian's fiancée cornered me with a knife, Dante was the one who stepped in and saved me.

By then, he was already the most powerful man in the Valenti family. No one dared defy his orders.

After that, we fell in love naturally.

He had once solemnly sworn to treat me well for the rest of his life and never betray me.

He was also the one who said he would never bring up my past again for as long as he lived, and that he would never let anyone use it to hurt me.

"Elena, if I ever hurt you—if I ever hold your past against you—may I die a horrible death!"

It was a solemn vow, and I believed him for all those years.

But now, the scar from my past had become the blade he was using against me, cutting me open until I bled.

A shrill ringtone suddenly shattered the tense silence.

A girl's sweet, flirtatious voice came through the phone.

"Dante, didn't you say you were coming to see me right away?"

"I even put on that kitty outfit you like. Why aren't you here yet?"

"I'm coming."

Dante smiled indulgently, unable to hide the excitement in his eyes.

I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen him like that.

I couldn't say when it had changed, but the man who had always initiated sex now left it to me to make the first move.

Dante got up and fixed his hair in the mirror. As soon as he mentioned the girl, he couldn't keep himself from smiling.

"Her name is Bianca Romano. She just graduated from college."

"Her father is a powerful figure in the Romano family. Our two families have done business together for years."

"She grew up sheltered by her family. There aren't any ugly rumors about her."

"Grandfather likes her, too. She'll be my wife someday. Don't make things difficult for her."

The door slammed shut, the sound landing like a hard slap across my face.

It was an early-summer evening, yet I felt as though I'd been dropped into an ice-cold cellar. The cold crept up from my feet to my head, and I couldn't stop shaking.

I felt like the biggest fool in the world.

A few years ago, one man had deceived me. Now another one had done the same.

With trembling fingers, I sent a message to someone I hadn't contacted in a long time.

[Claire, you once said that if I ever wanted to leave, you'd take me with you.] [Does that promise still stand?]