Chapter 1

The night before our wedding, my fiancé, Don Lucian Bellandi, slid a prenuptial agreement across the desk toward me.

“Sign it, Alessia.”

His voice was perfectly calm.

I turned to the last page and discovered that once I signed, control of the three docks my father had left me would pass to him.

And every time I wanted to use my own money, I would need Valentina’s approval first.

She was my best friend.

Yet there she stood beside Lucian, holding my prenup, with even the pages I needed to sign already folded down for me.

“I drafted the agreement with the attorney.”

She handed me the pen.

“After the wedding, North Harbor will be transferred into the Bellandi family trust. Lucian will oversee operations, and I’ll handle the accounts and any emergencies.”

I looked up at her.

“Why would you be managing my docks?”

Valentina gave a quiet laugh. “Because signing your name is the only thing you know how to do. If North Harbor were really left in your hands, someone would take it from you within a month.”

Lucian leaned back in his chair and said nothing.

I kept reading.

The agreement covered more than North Harbor. It included the warehouses, shipping licenses, and two properties my father had left me.

Once I signed, Lucian would become the primary trustee. Valentina would be the secondary trustee.

And I, the actual owner, would need approval from one of them before spending more than fifty thousand dollars.

“Is this a prenup or a guardianship agreement?”

The room went quiet for several seconds.

Lucian frowned.

“Don’t start acting up now.”

That line again.

For the past six years, that was what he said every time I disagreed with him.

When I refused to move into the Bellandi estate, he called it a tantrum.

When I objected to his bodyguards following me into dressing rooms, he said I was being childish.

When I wanted to inspect the docks my father had left me, he accused me of risking my life for no reason.

Valentina sat down beside me.

“Alessia, we’re trying to protect you.”

She softened her voice as if she were speaking to a child who could not understand.

“You know how many people have been watching North Harbor since Don Vescari died.” Valentina patted the back of my hand. “Without the Bellandi family, you wouldn’t even have made it through your father’s funeral, much less held on to his territory.”

“So I should be grateful that you’re taking it from me?”

“No one is taking anything from you.” Lucian finally lost his patience. “Once we’re married, we’ll be a family.”

I looked at the two names in the agreement.

Lucian Bellandi.

Valentina Rossetti.

They were the ones who looked like a family.

I suddenly remembered my visit to the lakeside estate an hour earlier—the house where Lucian and I were supposed to live after the wedding.

My dresses hung in the walk-in closet of the master suite, but only Lucian’s and Valentina’s fingerprints had been registered for the safe room.

Even the south-facing suite on the second floor had been recarpeted in the dark green Valentina liked.

The housekeeper told me it was Miss Rossetti’s room.

Whenever she worked late, she would stay at the estate.

No one asked what I wanted.

No one cared whether I was willing to hand over everything my father had left me.

Lucian glanced at his watch.

“The wedding is tomorrow morning. Sign it and get some rest.”

He placed the pen in my hand.

Valentina stood beside him, looking down at me.

They were both waiting. Waiting for me to do what I always did—to hesitate, to hurt, and then to obey.

I closed my fingers around the pen. Then, in front of everyone, I tore the agreement in half.

The rip of paper cracked through the room.

Lucian’s expression darkened instantly.

“Alessia, do you have any idea what you’re doing?”

I tossed the torn agreement onto the desk.

“I’m not signing it.”

“And tomorrow’s wedding is off.”