2. Humiliation Marriage

​The pen trembled in Sara’s hand as she signed the contract. That night, under the cold, lethal muzzle of a gun pressed to her father’s head, she had sold her freedom.

Yet, ​she hadn’t expected the promised hell to begin so soon.

​The following day, Sara stood frozen in the grand hall of the Moretti estate. The simple white wedding gown felt like a noose. Her damaged lungs flared up, triggering a familiar tightness in her chest fueled by sheer panic. 

She stood entirely alone at the altar. There were no warm floral arrangements, no music, and most crucially... no groom. ​Damon Moretti hadn’t bothered to show up, proving he had forced this marriage not to claim her, but to trample her dignity from day one.

​The silence in the hall was thick enough to drown in. Sara could hear the erratic thud of her own heart. 

Below the altar, dozens of eyes watched her with contempt, their faces twisted in sneers as hushed, derogatory whispers filled the room. They were members of the Moretti mafia—hard-faced men who viewed her as nothing more than a cheap prisoner serving a sentence, not a bride.

Defiant despite the cruelty, she gripped her bouquet until her knuckles turned white, forcing her legs to hold her upright as she swallowed the crushing weight of public humiliation.

Once the one-side ceremony ended, the guests swept past her without a single glance.

​Then, the silence was shattered by the slow creak of wheels. From a side door, a woman in a lace-trimmed satin dress appeared in a wheelchair. Her face was pale, yet it carried a fragile beauty.

​Sara felt a jolt of recognition. She didn't know this woman, yet she looked hauntingly like Maya. But she quickly told herself it was impossible. Her missing sister couldn't be at the heart of a mafia empire.

​As their eyes locked, tears spilled from the woman's cheeks. She pressed a button on her wheelchair, rolling forward until she stopped right before Sara.

“You must be Sara Sterling, Damon’s wife. Congratulations on your wedding.” Her soft smile clashed with the fresh tears staining her face.

​Sara stared. The facial features, the cadence of her voice... this woman was a mirror image of the sister she had lost all those years ago. A flicker of hope ignited in her chest, whispering that maybe... maybe it was her.

“You—”

Before she could speak, ​Damon suddenly appeared from the same door, cutting Sara off. He was dressed in a formal black suit, looking cold and untouchable. Yet, his expression shifted drastically the moment he reached the wheelchair. ​Those obsidian eyes that had glared at Sara with killing intent the day before now softened, radiating pure devotion toward the woman in the chair. 

The ruthless man knelt on one knee beside the wheelchair, ignoring Sara’s presence entirely, as if she were nothing more than a piece of worthless furniture. His steady hand reached out, his thumb gently wiping away the woman’s tears.

“Why are you here?” His voice, so predatory the day before, was now laced with a rare gentleness. “And tell me, why are you crying, Iris?”

​Iris... not Maya. The woman wasn't her sister. Disappointment slammed into Sara’s chest so hard that she missed the rest of their exchange.

Moments later, ​Damon pushed Iris’s wheelchair out of the hall. They stopped in a long, dim corridor.

“Why ask me to marry your sister if it only brings you to tears?” Damon’s tone was low and fiercely protective.

Unbeknownst to him, ​Sara hadn't been wrong about the resemblance. Iris was her missing sister, living under a new name. But it was a truth she would never know.

​Iris gripped the back of Damon’s hand, squeezing it weakly. She looked up at him, her eyes filled with fragile resignation.

“I’m fine,” she whispered, her voice raspy, as if her soul were being torn apart for the sake of others. “I trust... I trust you will always love me. But I want Sara to be happy, too. I just want you to take care of her. She's so much more perfect than a broken woman like me.”

​At those words, Damon’s jaw tightened. His proposal two days prior had been rejected for that very reason, leaving him trapped in a marriage he didn't want.

​He didn't even spare a glance back at the hall where Sara remained. With firm, careful movements, he wheeled Iris away without another word.

Back at the altar, Sara stood paralyzed, her chest tightening as the chilling reality sank in. In that split second, she realized one thing.

​There was a tangled, twisted truth behind this marriage. The man was devoted to someone else, yet he had locked her away in this agonizing union.