Chapter 1 The Pain of Betrayal

Alexandra smiled as she warmly greeted all the guests at her wedding. There were more than five hundred people, almost all of them celebrities or major players in the global chocolate industry. And in her own way, Alexandra Kingsley was a celebrity too.

She was a wealthy heiress from California, and despite losing her parents at the age of fourteen, she had grown into a strong, hardworking woman. At twenty-two, she was successfully running her family's company and had just married the man she loved.

She had everything. Her life was perfect. But as she went looking for her husband, Albert Blackwell, she had no idea how fast that happiness was about to crumble.

Alexandra searched throughout the mansion, but she froze in place when she passed by her cousin Claudia's room. Inside, she could hear the unmistakable moans and gasps of two people having sex. Then, all of a sudden, Claudia said a name that knocked the air out of her lungs, "Albert! Yes! Don't stop… More! More! Yes! Ahhh!!! Oh Albert…"

It felt like she'd been shot straight in the stomach. Every sound coming from that room was obscene. She couldn't believe Albert had been cheating on her—with her own cousin Claudia—and on their wedding day, no less.

She had to get out of there, but her body wouldn't move. She was frozen in place, paralyzed by pain. Claudia was the person she trusted most after her husband, and both of them had betrayed her in the worst possible way.

She didn't know if she should confront them or run, but then Claudia's shaky voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Have you decided what you're going to do about Alexandra?" she asked after their dramatic finish.

"There's not much to decide, we already talked about this—Alexandra has to disappear," Albert said, and it felt like someone was ripping her heart out.

"Are you sure that guy's offer is solid?" Claudia pressed. Despite the tears streaming down her cheeks, Alexandra leaned in, as if she needed to understand why they were doing this to her.

"Yeah, there's no turning back now. And Scott Hamilton isn't just some guy, he's the guy. The biggest tech mogul in Europe, and he's expanding. He made me an offer I can't refuse," Albert said. "A partnership. It's a ton of money—easy money. But I need to put up a big initial investment…"

"You know Alexandra won't give it to you," Claudia sneered. "She loves being the CEO, the rich one, the powerful one. She'll never let you grow. She just wants to keep you as her pet, show you off, but she'll never let you be more powerful than her. So I guess you've already made your decision."

Alexandra's heart sank. And before Albert even opened his mouth again, she already knew what he was planning.

"That's exactly why she has to die," Albert hissed through clenched teeth. "I need to be a widower as soon as possible!"

"And how are you going to do it?" Claudia asked, full of sick curiosity.

"She'll get a call soon about a problem at the factory. I arranged that. And she won't ignore it, not even today—it's our wedding, but she won't miss it, I know her. So I cut the brakes on her car. That Ferrari's going to be her end."

"Perfect. That way, Alexandra will be out of our lives for good," Claudia laughed. "Then all you have to do is inherit everything and close the deal with Mr. Hamilton. We're finally going to have everything we ever wanted—power, money, and a problem-free life!"

Alexandra dropped to her knees, covering her mouth to keep from screaming. Her husband-to-be was planning to send her to her death. She couldn't believe he'd been with another woman, much less that he was planning to kill her.

But he was.

"Hey, are you sure she's really going to die?" Claudia asked suddenly.

"Absolutely sure! And if your bitch of a cousin doesn't die this time, I'll find another way to kill her. But I swear, she won't make it past this week!"

Slowly, Alexandra regained feeling in her legs and walked to her bedroom, where she collapsed onto the bed, sobbing. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. How could Albert do something like this to her? And Claudia? The cousin she trusted the most…

The room spun around her. She needed to get out of there. But just a few minutes later, someone knocked on her door—her uncle Milton stepped inside.

"Sweetheart, they just called—there's an urgent issue at the factory…" He stopped when he saw her tear-streaked face. "Are you okay?"

Before Alexandra could answer, Albert, Claudia, and her aunt Leticia walked in too.

"Alex, what's wrong?" her husband asked, faking concern so well it made her stomach turn.

Alexandra looked at them all, but after what she'd just overheard, she couldn't trust anyone. What if her aunt and uncle were in on it too? After all, they were Claudia's parents.

"It's nothing, I was just… thinking about my parents. I miss them a lot on a day like today," she lied, stepping away from them. "What's going on at the factory?"

"Seems like some animal got in and fell into one of the chocolate tanks," her uncle explained.

"Each of those tanks costs twenty thousand dollars!" Claudia gasped. "How could they be so careless?! What a bunch of useless idiots!"

"Alright, enough. What we need is to fix the problem," Albert cut her off, turning to Alexandra. "You're going to the factory, right?"

Alexandra stared at her husband for a long moment.

"Are you coming with me?" she asked.

He shook his head with the fakest smile she'd ever seen.

"I shouldn't, Alex. Someone has to stay and entertain the guests. It wouldn't be right for both bride and groom to disappear," he replied, and her hands began to tremble.

She could confront him, but his words echoed in her mind: "If your bitch of a cousin doesn't die this time, I'll find another way to kill her."

Albert, the man she loved, was determined to end her life.

Without another word, she walked out of the room and didn't stop until she reached the mansion's parking lot.

"Take this one," Albert said, tossing her the keys to the Ferrari.

Alexandra caught them with a shiver and climbed into the car, driving off the estate immediately.

She cried uncontrollably as she drove, going as slow as she could. Her mind drifted back to the day she had met Albert. It had been at a party—she was twenty, he was twenty-eight. Albert was a friend of Claudia's and worked as a lawyer at her uncle Milton's firm. It had been her aunt Leticia who introduced them, practically pushing them together, saying they were meant to be.

How had she ended up in this situation? How had she been so stupid to believe these people actually cared about her?

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she looked at the winding road ahead. Her life was in danger, but she had no way out of so much cruelty. Her heart was shattered, and she felt like she was drowning. So she did something she never thought she would do:

She slammed her foot down on the gas and aimed straight for the next curve.

Albert couldn't kill her if she did it first.

The Ferrari hit the turn too fast and flew off the road. Everything around Alexandra moved in slow motion. The car flipped through the air, then sailed over the edge of a cliff. It crashed 50 feet below, crumpling completely before the gas tank exploded in a massive fireball.

As the flames consumed everything, Alexandra's final thoughts were of her family—and of Albert, the man she had loved, and the one who had destroyed her.

An hour later, a police patrol arrived at the crash site. There were no survivors from the wreck, and after identifying the Ferrari's license plate, they drove to the Kingsley estate to inform Albert that Alexandra was dead. Sadly, nothing of her body had been recovered from the explosion.

Five hundred wedding guests watched Albert cry, curse, and writhe in agony over the death of his beloved wife—and they cried with him. None of them suspected that killing Alexandra Kingsley had been his idea all along. All because he wanted to steal her inheritance and build his own empire.

But what Albert Blackwell never imagined was that Alexandra Kingsley wasn't the kind of woman who forgave.

Not in this life, and not in the next.