Chapter 1

The second slap was coming, but my father caught her wrist.

"Enough, Isabella," Marco growled. "The charity gala is in two days. Every Don on the East Coast will be there. How do I explain a bruised bride to the guests?"

Isabella scoffed and pulled her hand back.

I slumped onto the rug, gasping for air.

I looked past Marco's tailored suit. Into the corner of the sofa.

Julian, my fiancé, sat there. Three buttons undone. No tie.

My sister Sofia cowered behind him, head down, frantically pulling a slipped strap back over her shoulder.

"You all saw it." I pushed myself off the floor. "On the yacht. They were naked. All over each other. And now, you want me to apologize?"

Isabella walked over, took off her cashmere shawl, and draped it over Sofia. She turned to me, frowning.

"Rory, temper. The Vitali and Marchetti alliance secures our East Coast ports. If this scandal leaks, what will The Commission think?"

"They're the ones who caused the scandal!" I fired back.

Nico closed the distance and gripped my shoulders.

"Control yourself, Aurora," my brother hissed. His eyes held a warning. "Mother is fixing this. Stop making it worse."

I slapped Nico's hands away and glared at Marco.

"Father, you sent me to the yacht with those files. You knew they were there. Didn't you?"

Marco looked away. He took a sip of his whiskey. He didn't deny it.

Sofia stood up from the sofa and buried her face in her hands, sobbing.

"Rory, I'm sorry. It's my fault." Her shoulders shook. "I was drunk. The thunder scared me. I hugged him first... please forgive us."

Julian immediately wrapped an arm around her waist. He looked at me.

"Aurora, take it out on me. Sofia knows she messed up. She's been crying all night. How much more can you push her?"

I stared at the face I had loved for three years. I felt sick to my stomach.

"The engagement is done," I said, my voice deadly quiet. "Tomorrow morning, I'm releasing a statement to the press."

"No." Isabella cut me off. She walked to the center of the room. "The marriage happens. Sofia will take your place. We'll release a statement to the press. Cite health issues. Aurora has been managing the family business for years. The pressure broke her. She's mentally unstable. The day after tomorrow, a car takes her to a private sanitarium in Switzerland."

Marco put his glass down. "It saves the business. Done."

Mentally unstable? A Swiss sanitarium?

To cover up their mess. They were locking me in a psych ward.

I walked up to Julian and blocked his path. "Julian. If you have any spine left at all, you stand up at that press conference tomorrow and tell everyone the real reason this is over."

"Julian..." Sofia tugged his sleeve, trembling.

Julian shielded Sofia behind him.

"Aurora, do we really have to get ugly?" He frowned. "You're the eldest Vitali daughter. Smart. Beautiful. You'll find someone better. Do you really have to ruin your own sister's reputation?"

I raised my hand and slapped him. Hard.

The slap echoed through the room. Blood pooled at the corner of Julian's mouth.

"Aurora!"

Nico roared. He charged at me and shoved me back. "Have you lost your mind?!"

I lost my balance. I fell backward, my head slamming into the edge of the fireplace.

The room spun. Warm liquid dripped down my forehead and into my left eye. Everything went red.

The side table crashed down. The family voting chips scattered across the rug.

Hilarious. Right now, every single one of them landed crest-side up.

Isabella walked over. She crouched and picked up the chips, dropping them back into the box one by one.

"Violent. Manic." She stood up, staring at the blood on my face. "You really are sick. Unfit to marry for the family."

I grabbed the fireplace, dragging myself up. Blood dripped onto the rug.

"I'm sick?" I pointed at the cheating pair. "They betray me, you do nothing. I get hit, and I’m the one going to a psych ward?"

Isabella didn't answer. She looked down at the wooden box and pulled out my chip. The side with the family crest.

She pinched the chip, walked to the open French doors, and flicked her wrist. Tossing it out into the pitch-black night.

"Listen closely." Isabella turned around. "The whole family says you're wrong. Your little defense changes nothing."