Chapter 1

The CEO of International Financial gripped my hand tightly, his eyes crinkling with delight.

“With you back on the team, I'd bet good money our numbers climb another tier this year.”

He paused, his gaze drifting to my bare ring finger, and his tone went careful.

“The Carraso family—they've signed off on this decision of yours?”

I followed his eyes down to my own left hand.

There was a faint indentation around the base of my finger, a small footnote left by the years.

Raymond had slipped that ring on three years ago.

Back then, he'd held it like a promise that would never fade.

“Delores.”

His eyes couldn't hide a thing back then; the moment my name left his lips, the tenderness just poured out of him.

“We'll get engaged first. Once the family's fully clean and legitimate, I'll marry you properly.”

His eyes had been deep as the ocean, and I'd drowned in them completely.

I'd quit my position as one of the top fifty hedge fund managers in the world to manage the Carraso family's funds full-time.

The first year, he told me his brother's death had been too brutal; the whole family was in mourning, and the wedding had to be delayed.

The second year, he told me the feds were sniffing around the eighty-million dirty pile, and getting married now would expose me.

I spent six months laundering it clean for him through dozens of offshore accounts.

After that, he poured a fortune into an estate, promising it would be our home after the wedding.

He planted roses for me in the garden, and the love in his eyes was like those roses, romantic and burning.

I waited without complaint, right up until I got pregnant.

I told him gravely, “I can wait, but the baby can't. Your heir can't come into the world labeled illegitimate.”

He was quiet for a long time before he finally said, “There's one last shipment to handle at the East Coast compound. Before the baby's born, I swear I'll give you what you're owed. Just trust me one more time.”

Until today, when I heard it with my own ears: the men at the compound calling Raffina Donna. And I finally understood that every reason he'd ever given me, every single one, had been just an excuse.

When the fog of lies cleared, what stood underneath was uglier than I'd been ready for.

Raffina was the widow of Marco, the brother Raymond had buried.

Marco had died three years ago, and afterward Raffina had moved into the estate.

At the time, Raymond had held my hand and explained it carefully. “Raffina was Marco's whole world. I promised him I'd take care of her, so from today on, she's family.”

Marco had spent three years undercover in a rival family. When his cover was blown, they shot him fifty-two times and let him bleed out, then dumped him in an alley for the rats.

Raymond had brought home Marco's body, and Raffina along with it.

To make it up to Marco, he made Rafina his blood sister. She gained lifelong protection from the family and free movement across all Carraso territory.

I understood him. Sicilian men bled their whole lives for one reason, and that was to take care of family.

Marco had bled for the family, and Raymond was taking care of his woman. That was fair.

So I'd treated Raffina like family too, sharing everything I had with her.

When she was sad I listened, and when she was sick I took care of her.

She wove herself into our lives.

But the way she looked at Raymond kept growing softer, closer, and the way she addressed him had shifted too. She'd stopped calling him Don. Now it was always Ray, light and familiar.

I'd noticed something was off, but Raymond had brushed it aside with a wave.

“Del, you're overthinking it. She's looking for the closest thing she has to family, for Marco's sake.”

He saw I wasn't happy and tapped the tip of my nose lightly. “Silly girl. I love you, only you, from the beginning.”

I'd nodded and let it go.

I'd told myself the world had stripped her of everything, and she just wanted a little more comfort from Raymond.

I hadn't realized that comfort had migrated into his bed.

The pain hit some kind of threshold inside me, and I made a decision. Raymond was going to be locked out of my world.

Once a heart betrayed me, I was done with it. No exceptions.

I squeezed the CEO's hand firmly and gave him a clean smile, my voice crisp.

“No need for Raymond's approval. He doesn't speak for me, and the decision is already made.”