Chapter 1

I'd held on to three freight docks in Gray Harbor for Victor Kane, yet on our wedding day, I couldn't even count on one car to pick me up.

My name is Erin Walker. Everyone in Gray Harbor's shipping business knows I'm sharp at the negotiating table and merciless when it comes to collecting bad debts. Five years ago, I took over the Kane family's mess and turned a freight company on the brink of collapse into one of the most profitable operations at the port.

Back then, Victor spent his nights picking fights at bars, and he couldn't even make payroll for the dockworkers. He held me and said that once the Kane family had its own fleet, he'd give me the grandest wedding in the city.

We had the fleet now, and the wedding was finally here.

But on the day itself, he took a single phone call and then stopped me just as I was about to get into the black wedding car.

"Change of plans." Victor rested his hand on the car door. He sounded as casual as if he were changing our route. "Vivian's stuck at North Port. There was an attack last night, and they've put traffic restrictions in place today. Her cab can't get through the checkpoint. I have to go get her first."

Vivian Dale again.

She was the girl Victor had grown up with, and the Kane family elders had always treated her almost like a daughter. For five years, whenever I celebrated his birthday with him, she said she was sick. When we went on vacation, she said a stranger had broken into her house. When he picked out jewelry for me, he never forgot to choose an extra piece for her.

Today was our wedding, and she still needed my groom to escort her to the venue himself.

One of the uncles standing nearby frowned. "There are plenty of Kane men at North Port. I'll send two guards over. What kind of groom leaves his bride standing at the door?"

"No." Victor didn't even stop to think. "She was terrified last night, and she only trusts me. Your guys drive too rough. She'll get carsick. Erin, you've always been the sensible one. You won't make this hard for me right now, will you?"

I slowly drew back the foot I'd lifted to step into the car.

The night before, I'd left the Kane family's rehearsal dinner and was walking alone through the old warehouse district when a man cornered me in a dark alley. He reeked of alcohol and held a rusty knife, and the first thing out of his mouth was my name.

My arm was cut in the struggle. Blood soaked through my shirt, and I called Victor three times. The first time, no one answered. The second time, he told me to wait. The third time, he snapped that he was taking Vivian home. There was too much to do before tomorrow's wedding, he said, and I should stop bothering him over little things.

In the end, someone else showed up and got me out of that alley.

Victor didn't come back until the early hours of the morning. When he saw me treating my wound, he actually laughed and asked, "Aren't you supposed to be tough? How'd you get hurt this time?"

I'd thought that was the most humiliating answer he could ever give me.

It turned out I was wrong.

I looked down and texted someone I rarely dared to contact without a good reason.

"Come get me within two hours. Do you still want to marry me?"

Once the message went through, the weight I'd carried for five years finally lifted.

"Erin, I'll be right back." Victor took my hand with the easy affection I knew so well. "You go to the venue with Lucy first. I promise I won't hold up the vows."

I pulled my hand back. "Go on. Don't keep her waiting."

He paused for a second, then smiled. "I knew you weren't like other women. The Kane family wouldn't be where it is today without your good sense."

The guests around us chimed in to smooth things over.

"Erin manages hundreds of people. Why would she make a fuss over something like this?"

"Victor's a lucky man, landing a wife this capable."

The more cheerfully they talked, the more ridiculous it seemed to me.

Two years ago, when the Kane family won cargo handling rights on the South Shore for the first time, Victor was so excited he picked me up and spun me around, calling me the best thing that had ever happened to him. But when it came time for the celebration photo, the family adviser sent me to the back row because I wasn't born a Kane. Later, when the photo ran in the newspaper, they cropped me out completely.

That night, Victor held me and comforted me. "Why worry about getting credit? Isn't everything I have yours anyway? Next time, I won't let them treat you like that."

Then it happened again. And again.

Today, I was finally done waiting.

"Victor," I called out just as he was getting into the car. "Our wedding is off. You're not my fiancé anymore."

He turned and waved at me, actually thinking I was just sulking. "Don't be silly, sweetheart. I'll be back in half an hour."

Lucy Bennett was so furious she grabbed the doorman's long umbrella from where it leaned against the wall and nearly swung it at the car. "Half an hour? You said half an hour last night too! Erin almost died in the street, and you were busy with that woman. And now you've got the nerve to make her wait?"

Victor avoided her eyes and started the car.

At the dinner last night, Vivian had pretended to be drunk and leaned against him, her eyes red, insisting he take her home himself. Lucy had warned that someone had been mugging people in the old warehouse district lately, but he'd just laughed. "Erin can make a thug with a knife cry. If she ever runs into trouble, she won't be the one who gets hurt."

The headlights swept past my feet as the black sedan pulled out through the gate, taking with it the groom who was supposed to pick me up.

Lucy turned around, gritting her teeth. "What do we do now?"

A little more blood had seeped through my sleeve, and my wound throbbed. I put my hand on hers. "The wedding goes ahead. Just with a different groom."

"Are you serious?"

"When have I ever joked about something like this?" I looked at my phone and let out a soft breath. "Activate the backup plan."

Victor caught that last line through the car window. He even laughed and praised me for being so prepared, then stepped on the gas and never looked back.

The street corner was quiet for a few minutes. Then a text lit up my phone.

"I'm here. Get in, my bride."

A convoy pulled up at the corner, its cars in tighter formation than the Kane family's had been. The lead car had no flashy decorations, but a man in a black coat opened the door himself. The dockworkers passing by recognized the silver crest on the car and stepped aside.

Someone exclaimed, "That's the Morris family's car! What are they doing here?"

Lucy pulled my shawl snug around me, her eyes filling with tears. "He won't leave you behind this time, will he?"

I got into the car and saw that the back seat was stocked with medicine, clean clothes, and a wedding schedule listing the time and place. He had thought of every detail, but none of it pressured me to say yes.

I texted the convoy's owner back, "Right on time."