Chapter 1

At the end of the year, I turned down a lucrative contract to work backstage at an exclusive fashion show in Milan and flew back to New York for one reason: to do the bridal makeup for my brother's new wife before their wedding joined our family to another powerful Mafia house.

But the moment I arrived at the estate, my future sister-in-law looked me over and casually asked if I was still a virgin.

My eyes dropped to her visibly pregnant belly.

Assuming she was worried I might mock her for carrying my brother's child before the wedding vows were even exchanged, I answered without embarrassment.

"No."

Her expression changed instantly.

Before I could react, she swept every makeup product from the vanity onto the marble floor.

Lipsticks, palettes, brushes, and glass bottles scattered at my feet.

"Do you have any idea what today is?" she snapped. "This is my wedding day. How dare a filthy woman like you put your hands on me?"

I stared at her.

She pointed toward the door, her face twisted with disgust.

"Go find me someone pure to do my makeup. I won't have a woman like you bringing bad luck into my marriage. If something goes wrong with this wedding because of you, your brother won't forgive you."

Then she glanced down at the cosmetics scattered across the floor.

"And take all that trash with you. I don't want anything that's been used by someone as unclean as you."

My gaze slowly returned to her swollen belly.

For several seconds, I genuinely couldn't understand how a woman carrying my brother's child before she'd even taken his name could stand there and lecture me about purity.

But I didn't argue.

I crouched down and calmly gathered my makeup products one by one.

Then I stepped into the corridor, pulled out my phone, and called my brother.

He answered almost immediately.

"What is it?"

"Your bride thinks I'm filthy," I said calmly. "So I won't be doing her makeup."

There was a brief silence on the other end.

Before he could respond, I continued.

"And tell your men to leave the Maserati where it is."

My voice remained perfectly even.

"I'm taking it back."

"That was your wedding gift," he said sharply.

"I know."

I glanced through the tall windows toward the black Maserati parked in the courtyard, the one I'd personally bought for him when he became a capo.

"But apparently everything that comes from me carries bad luck."

I picked up my makeup case.

"So I'm sure your bride won't want the car either."

……

My words clearly rattled my brother.

"There must be some misunderstanding. Eliza, she..."

Before he could finish, Eliza snatched the phone from my hand and hurled it onto the marble floor.

"Who gave you permission to make calls in my dressing room?"

She glared at me with open disgust.

"What? Planning to summon all those men you've slept with to come defend you?"

Her voice rose sharply.

"My wedding was supposed to be perfect. You've ruined everything!"

The commotion drew several bridesmaids into the room. The moment they saw the shattered phone and makeup scattered across the floor, they stopped short.

Eliza immediately pointed at me.

"Who arranged this? Whose brilliant idea was it to let an unchaste woman do my bridal makeup?"

She looked at the cosmetics around my feet as if they were contaminated.

"Disgusting. Nothing but bad luck."

The bridesmaids quickly understood which side they were expected to take.

One of them wrinkled her nose.

"No wonder something smelled wrong when I walked in. Turns out there was a whore in the room."

Another looked me up and down.

"Why are you still standing here? Get out."

"Exactly. Eliza is the Campbell Family's long-lost daughter. They only just brought her back, and since then, the Campbells have secured new territory, new routes, and more business than they've had in years."

She gave me a contemptuous smile.

"Cross her, and you won't last long in New York."

I quietly bent down and picked up my phone, a cold smile touching my lips.

The Campbell Family?

They really thought their sudden rise was because of Eliza?

The only reason their organization had expanded so quickly was because I'd learned ahead of time that my brother intended to marry a Campbell.

For his sake, I'd called in several favors overseas, opened a few European channels to the Campbells, and made sure certain people stopped standing in their way.

I had simply never expected Eliza to mistake borrowed influence for her own power.

She had no idea that if I could open those doors for the Campbell Family, I could close them just as easily.

I picked up a shattered palette from the floor and looked at her.

"Instead of worrying about my private life, you should start thinking about how you're going to compensate me for this."

Every product scattered across the marble had come from private luxury collections, custom houses, or professional lines unavailable to the public.

Together, they were worth well over a million dollars.

Eliza stared at me for a second before bursting into mocking laughter.

"There it is. A gold digger will always be a gold digger."

She folded her arms.

"The second everyone finds out you're not some innocent little virgin, you start demanding money?"

Her bridesmaids immediately joined in.

"Look at this garbage. I've never even heard of half these brands."

"Probably cheap knockoffs with fancy labels."

"Thank God Eliza caught it before that stuff touched her face. Imagine what it could've done to her skin."

Another woman kicked one of the broken compacts farther across the floor.

"And who knows what kind of diseases a woman like her carries? I wouldn't touch anything she's used."

I ignored them.

Instead, I calmly took out my phone and photographed every damaged case, shattered bottle, and ruined palette.

More than a million dollars in losses.

Even among Mafia families, destroying property of that value wasn't something that could simply be laughed away. There were rules for debts like this, and people far more dangerous than Eliza who enforced them.

"What?"

Eliza's smile widened when I didn't respond.

"Nothing to say now?"