Chapter 2

Beth's bodyguards swarmed in.

They surrounded Colton, fists raining down on his back.

Colton was usually slow and sluggish, but today he moved fast, wrapping his arms tight around me and shielding me with his body.

I could feel him absorbing every blow.

A bodyguard kicked him hard in the head.

"How dare you!" I screamed.

It did nothing. It only made Beth shout her orders louder.

I broke out in a sweat. My heart ached with every beat.

"Colton, let go of me. You're not well enough for this. Your body can't take it."

I begged him to let go. I would rather take the beating myself than let something happen to him because of me.

Colton acted as if he couldn't hear me.

He kept shielding me anyway, his lips turning white, his breathing growing faint.

"Stop!" I broke down sobbing.

I shoved him away with every ounce of strength I had, grabbed a bottle from the table, and smashed it over one bodyguard's head.

The bottle shattered. I aimed the jagged edge at Beth and glared at her.

"This is my banquet. Start trouble here, and I'll make sure you die tonight."

As the youngest princess of the Family, I'd grown up under Dominic's fierce protection so our enemies couldn't target me.

I never showed my face at any public event.

Every mafia family in all of Sicily knew my name.

But no one had ever seen my face, or Colton's.

Even our wedding had been attended only by people within the Turner Family.

The bodyguards paused, hands half-raised, waiting for Beth's next order.

Beth blinked, studying my eyes, and frowned.

Something about my reaction had clearly shaken her.

"You..." She scoffed, her tone relaxed. "You've got a lot of nerve for a nobody. What can a mistress like you possibly do about it?"

"Your banquet? Do you even hear yourself?"

Beth doubled over laughing.

Even the bodyguards joined in.

I felt like a clown standing in the middle of the room.

"When Miss Turner gets here, she'll make you suffer even more before you die. After all, she just got married. Who'd want a mistress hanging around?"

I propped up Colton, who was barely hanging on, and focused entirely on checking his injuries. I had no time to deal with Beth.

The crowd of onlookers was growing.

Someone pulled out a phone and started recording.

Then someone spoke up. "I think Miss Turner is wearing the same dress tonight."

"I saw her stylist post a photo of the gown."

People around me began looking me up and down, comparing my outfit to the photo.

A thin layer of sweat formed on Beth's forehead.

Her bodyguards didn't dare make another move either. One of them whispered, "Should we get that guy to a hospital? He looks seriously ill."

"Someone could die."

Beth hesitated.

She snatched someone's phone and started comparing my dress with the photo. Every diamond on the bodice matched perfectly.

By contrast, the dress worn by the woman in Beth's photo had no embellishments at all.

It was just a simple white evening gown.

Beth clutched the phone, panic creeping in.

After a few seconds, she glared at the people around her.

"Impossible! A mistress like her can't be Miss Turner. Miss Turner would arrive with the Don."

"There's no way she'd show up here alone!"

The crowd's doubts dissolved.

She was right. Colton and I were supposed to arrive with Dominic, but our brothers and sisters had said they needed to prepare a few things for us.

They told us to wait at home.

Colton and I hadn't listened. We came early, wanting to have some fun first.

Beth's gaze turned sharp.

She quickly regained her composure, pulled out her phone, and played a video.

"Don't be fooled. She's nothing but a mistress who gets pregnant by married men so she can claw her way to the top."

She held up the video.

In it, a woman who looked strikingly like me sat in a rocking chair at the estate, her back to the camera, telling a child a story.

Her voice was affectionate, and her tone was strikingly similar to mine.

At first, even I was startled.

But if you listened closely, you could tell the difference. My voice was naturally light, while hers sounded pinched and forced, and she had an accent. She pronounced some words differently from me.

There were still differences.

But no one in the room bothered to examine it that closely.

With the video as evidence, everyone looked at me with disgust.

"So that's the kind of woman she is."

"That poor child was born out of wedlock."

"There are so many women like her these days, trying to steal someone else's husband."

Beth was emboldened. She pointed at Colton and barked, "Throw them both into the sea right now!"

"Whatever happens, I'll take responsibility. I'm the daughter of the Garry Family Don. I can handle anything!"

She was dead certain.

The bodyguards didn't dare argue. They pulled out rope and began tying Colton and me up.