Chapter 1

It was the eighteenth time the Castellanos and the Marchettis tried to put me and Dante at the altar, and once again every made man in the ballroom walked out behind my adopted sister.

My mother called. Impatient. Not even pretending to care.

"Mirella's stomach is acting up again. We're flying the Family doctor in. Just cancel, you've done it enough times, you know what to say to the room."

Then Gianna, my maid of honor, my blood sister since we were six, clicked her tongue at me through the phone.

"You serious right now, Aria? Your ceremony matters more than Mirella nearly hitting the floor? When did you get this cold?"

And Dante? My fiancé, the Don of the Castellano Family, didn't even bother dialing.

Just a text. Six words.

Ceremony's off. We'll talk later.

I read those six words over and over.

He'd used that same line on me eighteen times.

A cold laugh slipped out before I could stop it. And just like that, I felt nothing.

Eighteen times. Enough.

I walked out of the bridal suite, straight past the wall of amethyst violets. Mirella's favorite flower. Never mine. The whole hallway reeked of her.

The family chapel was at the end of the hall. I went inside and shut the door behind me.

I dropped to my knees in front of the cross.

Three days, I whispered. That's all I want. Three days to cut every one of them off, and let them lose every damn thing they got because of me.

The candles flickered once.

Somewhere far away, I swear something answered back.

I picked up the microphone and walked onto the engagement stage. Every inch of it draped in amethyst violets. Mirella's favorite. Funny how that always worked out.

"My apologies, everyone. Tonight's ceremony is canceled."

The room of capos, consiglieres, and Family wives traded looks. Not one of them looked surprised.

"Knew it. Eighteen ceremonies and not one's gone through. If I were her, I'd have stopped showing my face years ago."

"The whole Marchetti house has bent the knee to that little sister for years. If I were Aria, I'd have stepped aside, kissed Dante goodbye, and at least walked out with my name still meaning something."

"Oh, honey. You don't get it. Every time Don Dante's tried to walk away from her, something happens. Last spring the Family lost three container ships off the coast of Naples. Two billion in product, gone overnight. The spring before that, the Atlantic City casino burned to the ground. He's tested it more than once. That's the only reason he hasn't put her on a plane back to Sicily for good."

"So she's, what, some kind of charm?"

"Call her whatever you want. The man is stuck with her, and the whole East Coast knows it."

I walked off the stage with their stares on my back.

I heard every word. The corner of my mouth ticked up.

This time, a few burned ships were going to be the smallest of their problems.

I changed out of the gown and drove back to the Marchetti estate to grab my things and disappear before sunrise.

But the second I stepped into the foyer, the front gates opened and the whole convoy came rolling in.

Three black SUVs, a dozen Family soldiers, and Mirella in the middle of all of them, leaning on Dante's arm like she'd just walked out of a hospital instead of brunch.

The moment they saw me, every smile in the foyer dropped.

Dante's eyes went black.

"Aria. You canceled and didn't give the room a single reason. Now every Family from here to Sicily is going to be whispering it was Mirella again. Do you understand what that does to my name?"

My father scoffed. Didn't even look up.

"You really screwed up this time, Aria. Every other cancellation, you cleaned it up yourself. I never had to lift a finger. Get on the phone. Call the columnists, call the wives, call every gossip we own, and tell them the truth. Tell them you were being a brat."

Gianna already had her phone out.

"I'll start working the wives. By morning every Family on the coast will be saying Aria threw a tantrum and walked out. Nobody will be saying Mirella's name."

I didn't say a word.

I just stood there and watched them.

Two more nights. That's all I needed.

"Aria. Are you listening? I'm telling you straight. If you don't fix this, I can't promise when the next ceremony happens. Or if it happens at all."

Dante stopped right in front of me. Voice sharp. Done with me.

And then Mirella finally opened her mouth, voice soft as silk.

"It's all my fault. I came between Dante and my sister. Blame me for everything."

"There are still a few good dates left this month. Please. Don't push the ceremony back any further."

She didn't even finish before she started coughing.

Dante crossed the foyer and rubbed her back like she was made of glass.

"It's not your fault, sweetheart. Don't even think about it. Your sister can't live without me. We could put this off another year and nothing would change."

"Then you're the one who doesn't get it."

That was the first thing I said since I walked in.

Every head in the room snapped toward me.

I lifted the bag in my hand. "I'm leaving."

The words barely left my mouth.

The next second, a sharp crack split the air.

The slap echoed through the whole foyer.