Chapter 1

On my wedding day, the little secretary who always fought me for the front passenger seat didn't fight anymore.

Elena pointed to the seat beside the groom in the back of the wedding car. "I want to sit here."

"Sister, didn't you say you get severe carsickness and throw up in the back?"

"Today, for your wedding's sake, I'll let you have the front seat. I'll sit next to Salvatore and suffer for once."

I stood in front of the wedding car. Relatives murmured all around. My parents couldn't lift their heads.

"Tell her to get out." My face was cold.

Salvatore shook his head and looked at me helplessly. "Elena is voluntarily giving you the front seat this time. You're still going to make a scene? Are you getting in or not?"

"If you're not getting in, then don't. Walk there yourself."

"Fine. I'll walk."

I turned without hesitation and headed toward the car parked at the back of the wedding convoy.

"Didn't you say you'd always wait for me right here? Marry me now."

The wedding convoy was parked in front of my house. Elena had been sitting in the car for three hours and refused to get out.

"Only the bride can sit next to the groom. Is it you marrying Victoria today, or Elena?"

"The wedding has been delayed three hours already. We're going to miss it. Get her out."

Even the family elders couldn't stand it anymore and stepped in.

My mother stood by the car door and pulled out a thick stack of cash.

"Miss, Auntie will give you a red envelope. Please get out. Don't make things hard for our Victoria."

But before my mother's hand could touch Elena, Salvatore's face went black.

"Don't touch her!"

His roar froze my mother in place.

Her hand trembled. She'd been frugal her whole life. The money fell to the ground and she forgot to pick it up.

This was the only sentence Salvatore had said to my mother since he arrived to pick up the bride.

The wedding car was an hour late.

Salvatore didn't answer his phone. No one could reach him.

My father thought something happened on the road. He waited at the entrance to the family territory for half an hour.

When no one came, he pushed his old bicycle and rode ten kilometers along the planned route before he found the wedding car.

My father rode ten kilometers back.

The wedding car was empty. My father's bicycle could have folded into the trunk.

After the wedding car arrived home, my father rode another twenty minutes to get back.

His coat was covered in dust. Before entering the house, he hid in the woods behind and brushed himself clean.

Watching him be so careful, my heart ached like it was being squeezed.

All the pickup rituals were skipped. Salvatore didn't even get out of the car.

And about why he was late, he only said one thing.

"Sorry. I drank too much last night."

He didn't need to explain. The lipstick mark on his collar was plain for everyone to see.

"Sister-in-law, you know there's nothing between me and Salvatore. On your wedding day, in front of so many people, not giving him a way out—that's on you."

"Salvatore gives face to smooth-talking family bosses during negotiations. And you're supposed to be his bride."

Elena dumped the dirty water on me in three sentences.

She sat in the back seat, wearing the shirt I'd custom-ordered for Salvatore for the wedding.

His name was embroidered on the chest.

Today, Salvatore was wearing yesterday's shirt, reeking of alcohol.

"Elena drank too much last night too. She had nothing clean to change into. This shirt was the only clean one. I let her wear it."

Each word was a needle in the softest part of my heart.

"Salvatore, let's not do this wedding."

I forced the words out past everything I was feeling.

Salvatore glanced at his watch, impatience flickering across his face.

"Victoria, I'm begging you. Can you stop?"

"Give me a straight answer. If you can't sit in the back seat, you won't go through with this?"

"Yes." I cut him off before he finished.

Salvatore's eyes landed on me. He nodded. "Fine. I'll let you sit."

Then he took Elena's hand, and they both got out and climbed into the back seat of the car behind.

"Victoria, the back seat has two spots, plus the front. Sit wherever you want."