Chapter 1

~HAILEY POV~

The chandelier above our dining table was too bright. It always was. It had hundreds of little lights and glass pieces that made everything shine. 

My father liked it that way. He said light showed power. But all it did was make my head hurt and remind me that nothing in this house was really mine.

The table was full of silver forks and knives, polished so much I could see my face in them. Plates with gold edges, glasses that sparkled. 

My father loved order, perfection, and control. He thought life should be clean like the table. No mistakes, no mess. Just rules.

I sat at the far end, the black leather chair too big, the mood too serious. My plate had food on it steak, potatoes, something greenbut my stomach felt tight and hard. 

I didn’t want to eat. I couldn’t.

Then my father spoke, calm and cold like always, and my life cracked open.

“You will be married in three weeks.”

The words fell into the room like stones dropping into water knocking my breath off. I froze. My fork slipped from my hand and hit the plate with a loud clatter. 

I stared at him, thinking maybe I heard wrong.

“What?” I said my voice loud and shaky.

He didn’t even flinch. His gray eyes that were similar to mine, always harsh and hard, looked straight into mine. He spoke again, slower this time.

“You will marry Santino Blackwood. The contract has already been signed.”

My stomach twisted. My skin went cold. Santino Blackwood. The name was like a shadow people whispered about. Everyone in the city knew him. 

The billionaire no one could beat. 

They said he was smart but ruthless. Handsome but heartless. A man who smiled only when someone lost to him. A man who could ruin families with one phone call.

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “No, I can’t. I won’t.”

My father’s hand slammed against the table. The glasses rattled, the plates shook. My mother jumped beside him, but she said nothing. She never did.

“Enough!” he shouted. “This is not up for debate. You will do as you’re told.”

My chest hurt. I wanted to scream. “You can’t just sell me! I’m not one of your business deals!”

His eyes narrowed. 

His face looked carved from stone. “That is exactly what you are. This family owes everything to alliances. Do you think our name, our money, our status came from love? No. They came from power, and power comes from deals. This marriage is the biggest deal of your life. And you will honor it.”

My hands shook under the table. My mother reached for me, her fingers brushing mine gently. “Hailey,” she whispered, her voice small, “please…”

I pulled my hand back. I didn’t want her pity. I wanted her to fight for me. But she never did. She lived like a ghost beside my father, beautiful and silent, never loud enough to matter.

Tears stung my eyes, but I blinked hard, refusing to let them fall. 

“What about what I want?” I said, my throat tight. “What about love?”

My father leaned back in his chair. He smirked like the word was a joke. “Love is weakness. You’ll understand that one day.”

I felt something snap inside me. 

My heart pounded, my nails digging into my palms. “Then I’ll never forgive you,” I said.

His eyes sharpened. “Tomorrow night you will meet Santino. Dinner has been arranged. Wear something suitable.”

I stood so fast the chair scraped the marble floor. “I won’t do it.”

He dropped his fork. The sound echoed. “Then you are no longer my daughter.”

The words stabbed into me. For a second, I couldn’t breathe. My chest burned, my legs weak. But I forced myself to stand tall, even though my voice shook.

“Then maybe I never was,” I said.

And I walked out, slamming the heavy doors behind me.

***************************

That night, I lay awake in my room, staring at the ceiling. The chandelier here was smaller, but it still burned too bright. I hated it. 

I hated this house, these rules, this life. My father had chosen my future like I was a chess piece he could move.

I thought of Santino Blackwood. I had never met him, but I had seen him once from afar at a charity ball. He stood surrounded by men in suits, tall and broad, dark hair and a face too sharp to be soft. 

He never smiled. Not once. People whispered about him like he was both a god and a monster.

And now he was supposed to be my husband.

I turned on my side, pressing my face into the pillow. I wanted to run away, but where would I go? My father would find me. He always did.

The night was long, but morning came anyway.

The next evening, my mother came into my room. She carried a black silk dress and laid it on the bed. “Please wear this,” she said softly.

I stared at the dress. Elegant, smooth, expensive. Something a doll would wear. “Why him? Why me?”

She sighed, her shoulders heavy. “Because your father has decided.”

Always his decision. Always his rules.

I didn’t argue. I didn’t have the energy. I let her help me into the dress, let her pull my hair back and paint my lips red. When I looked in the mirror, I almost didn’t know myself. I looked older, colder. 

Not Hailey. Just some stranger in silk.

Sophia, my best friend, had once told me that SantinoBlackwood could kill someone with just a look. I had laughed then. But now, as the car drove through the city toward his mansion, I wasn’t laughing.

The ride was quiet. My father sat beside me, proud, powerful, like a king about to seal a treaty. My mother looked out the window, her hands clenched tight.

When the car rolled up to the Blackwood estate, my breath caught. The gates were tall, black iron with sharp points. Guards stood at every corner, serious and stiff. 

The mansion itself was huge, stone walls and tall windows glowing with golden light. It didn’t look like a home. It looked like a fortress.

Inside, the air smelled of leather and smoke. The butler, dressed in black, led us down a hallway with paintings that looked older than the country. 

My heels clicked against the marble floor, each step echoing in my chest.

And then I saw him.

Santino Blackwood.

He stood near the fireplace, the flames lighting his face. He was taller than I imagined, his shoulders broad under a perfectly tailored black suit.

His hair was dark, his jaw sharp, his cheekbones cutting. But it was his eyes that froze me. Cold. Stormy. Like they could see through my skin and into my bones.

Those eyes landed on me instantly. They didn’t move away.

For a second, I forgot how to breathe.

He didn’t smile. He didn’t even walk forward. He just looked at me, like he was measuring me, like I was something he hadn’t asked for but would still take because it was offered.

“So,” he said, his voice low and deep, “this is the girl.”

The way he said girl made my stomach twist. Like I was small. Like I was nothing.

Heat rushed to my face. I lifted my chin. “And you’re the man who thinks money can buy everything.”

The room went silent. I could almost feel my father’s face turn red. My mother gasped. His eyes pinned me, unblinking. My father shifted beside me, proud like he’d won.

For a second, I thought Santino would dismiss me. Instead, the corner of his mouth curved into a smirk, slow and merciless.

“This will be interesting,” he murmured. Then he turned to my father, his voice like a verdict.

“She’ll do.” The room went silent. My pulse roared in my ears.

And just like that, my future was sealed.