HIS BRIDE; HIS BED; HIS RULES.
All her life, Evangeline knew only one thing: pain.
Born from her father’s affair, a living reminder of a mistake, she grew up as a ghost in her own house.
Unwanted. Useful only when the cameras were on. Never when love was needed.
Then one morning, everything shifted.
“Roman De Luca wants to marry your sister. He is too dangerous for her. So you will take her place.”
A decision, not a question.
And in that moment, Eva finally understood: this wasn’t about protecting her sister.
It was the easiest way to erase her.
On the day of the wedding, she is pushed forward like someone disposable.
A stand-in.
Roman De Luca, the feared mafia heir, was known for rage, for cold judgment, for destroying anyone who lied to him.
So Eva walks down the aisle with trembling hands, waiting for the moment he exposes her and ends her.
But when he lifts her veil, he doesn’t look furious.
He looks like a man finally breathing.
“I always knew it would be you,” he whispers, his voice breaking. “This was the only way I could have you.”
Eva shakes, stunned. “I thought you wanted my sister.”
He touches her like she’s something fragile, something rare.
“You said it yourself,” he murmurs. “Whatever you have, your sister gets snatched from you. And whatever your sister hates gets dumped on you.”
His thumb brushes her cheek, slow, reverent.
“So to have you, my queen, I willingly let myself get dumped.”