Chapter 1

Roksana POV

“Roksana!”

Mom’s voice pierced the air, sharp and hysterical, as she crossed the threshold.

She didn't pause.

Her eyes raked the room, darting toward the washroom, wrenching the door open, checking every shadow as if hunting a ghost.

A cold knot formed in my stomach. Mom never stepped foot in my room. The only time she crossed this boundary was to find Allison, or to demand I track Allison down.

“What’s going on?” I pushed myself off the bed, letting the novel slip from my fingers.

She ignored me, spinning back around. “She’s not here. She didn’t tell you where she was going?”

Where she was going?

A nervous, breathless irritation flickered through me. “She’s not home?”

“Stop acting as if you don’t know anything! I’m very sure she told you!” Mom shrieked, freezing mid-stride.

She muttered a frantic curse under her breath, then whipped her glare back to me, venom dripping from her eyes. “Allison told you, didn’t she?”

“Told me what?” I stared at her, utterly blind to the panic suffocating the room.

“Now you’re playing clueless? Aren’t you sisters? Why wouldn't you know where she is?” She shot me a look of pure, unadulterated suspicion.

Okay, what is happening?

“Is Allison not home right now?” My voice dropped to a defensive whisper, my lips pressing into a thin line. “And if she isn’t, she didn’t say a single word to me.”

Mom assessed me, her gaze cold and searching, before spinning on her heel and storming out.

The second the door slammed shut, my heart hammered against my ribs. I lunged for my bed, snatched up my phone, and dialed Allison’s line. 

Voicemail.

Before I could exhale, my screen flashed. 

Unknown Caller.

I swiped green, pressing the phone to my ear, my voice trembling. “Allison? Is that you?”

Silence stretched, heavy and electric, before a ragged, desperate gasp broke through the receiver. 

“Ana, I can’t. I can’t marry that old man.”

Panic flared, hot and sharp in my chest. “Lis, what is going on? Where are you?”

She choked back a sob, her words tumbling out in a frantic rush. “I ran. I just... I can’t put a pause on my entire life to marry a man in his forties. It’s too much… I can’t do it!”

“Then who would?” Anger flared to match my fear, overriding my common sense. “You should have told them you couldn’t do it, Allison! Who is going to clean up this mess now that you’re gone? You know how Mom and Dad are!”

She ran away on the morning of her own wedding I could practically picture Tiago—or whatever ancient, wealthy groom they’d tied her to, waiting downstairs, entirely unaware that his bride had vanished.

“I’m sorry, I can’t do it,” she wept over the line.

I sucked in a shaky breath, fighting the dizziness closing in on me. “Running won’t fix this, Allison. The Castillo name—our family—it’s going to be dragged through the dirt if—”

“Roksana, do you even understand what I’m saying?” she cut me off, her voice cracking with fury and terror. “I am just twenty-six. I am not writing my life away for a fossil. It makes no sense!”

I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. The sheer weight of her rebellion terrified me.

“So?” I swallowed hard. “Where are you right now?”

“On my way to Greece—”

“Wait. Greece? Same Greece? A six-hour flight away?” My voice pitched up into a desperate squeak.

Was she out of her mind?

“It’s—”

The door burst open. “Who are you talking to?”

A sharp, booming voice filled the room, and Allison’s line went dead with a harsh click.

I froze, the phone slipping slightly in my sweaty palm. My gaze locked onto Dad. My mouth opened, but my throat felt like it had been stuffed with ash. 

How do you tell a man like him that his prized possession has just flown the coop?

“It was Allison, wasn't it?” Dad barked, closing the distance between us in two strides.

Before I could flinch, he snatched the phone from my hand, his thumb jabbing blindly at the screen as he tried to call her back.

Naturally, it went straight to voicemail.

“Allison contacted you, and you didn't even have the decency to make her come back?” He roared, his face purpling with rage.

He whipped his arm back and hurled the phone straight at my chest. The sharp impact knocked the wind out of me, and I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the blow that always followed his fury.

“What’s wrong with you two? You’re shouting! They might hear you from downstairs!” Mom’s voice snapped from the doorway as she rushed back in.

I peeled my eyes open, biting my lower lip until it stung.

“Allison called her,” Dad snarled, stabbing a finger in my direction, a deep scowl twisting his features.

Mom’s eyes widened. In a fraction of a second, her shock morphed into something dark, and terrifying. Hatred, pure and simple.

“What did she say to you?” She demanded, stepping closer.

I kept my lips sealed. What was I supposed to say Even if I told them everything, it wouldn't matter.

A sharp knock broke the tension. A maid slipped into the room, whispering something urgently into Mom’s ear.

Mom’s eyes widened, panic surging through her posture—before her gaze snapped back to me. She stared at me the way a wolf stares at a trapped rabbit.

Before I could move, her hand shot out, grabbing my arm and hauling me violently off the bed. Her eyes raked over my frame, burning with a sickening calculation.

A cold shudder of dread crawled down my spine. I tried to wrench my arm away, desperate to escape from her grip.

“You,” Mom whispered, a realization dawning on her face. “You have the exact same build as her.”

My brow furrowed in sheer confusion, my voice shaking. “So?”

She didn’t answer. She just stared a second longer, a wicked, desperate resolve settling into her features, before she turned and bolted out of the room. I threw a helpless, panicked look at Dad, but he only stared back, equally blank.

Seconds later, she returned, holding a cascading cloud of heavy, ivory silk. A wedding dress. She shoved it against my chest, her voice dead, cold, and final.

“Get dressed. You are marrying De-Luca.”