Prologue
The night air was heavy, almost suffocating, as the grand Hawthorne estate glittered with preparations for tomorrow’s spectacle. Chandeliers blazed, florists hurried through gilded halls, and the world whispered about the marriage that would finally unite two empires.
It was the talk of the town. The high and mighty, the prestige, the elite, everyone would be present. Hotels were fully booked, the roads were jammed because after almost two decades, the feud between the most powerful and influential families will come to an end by the union of two people who fell in love.
However, behind the closed doors of the bridal suite, Denise Hawthorne’s trembling hands clutched the edge of her shorts. Her reflection stared back at her beautiful, composed, but utterly shattered.
A knock had come an hour ago. A single envelope. Inside, only a few pages, pictures and a recording. Just enough to break her heart, to unravel every vow she had prepared to speak.
The man she thought had chosen her against the world. The man who swore he loved her. The man she was ready to fight for, ready to betray her family for.
In that moment, that very man now felt like a stranger to her.
And now, the weight of a secret threatened to crush her chest.
Down the hall, Larry Jenkins stood in his tuxedo, imagining how he’d look as he waited at the end of the hall, before the Priest, ready to say yes to forever to the only woman he has ever been in love with. His phone buzzed with messages he couldn’t bear to read. Just one more day, one more day and it will all be over, this bad dream will be over, but if she discovered the truth, what he had hidden, what he had allowed, he knew he’d lose her forever. And so, as much as it was killing him, he pushed back the negatives, and set before him the only positive, her wonderful face with the prettiest smile he’d ever come across.
Outside, fireworks cracked the sky in rehearsal for tomorrow’s celebrations. To the world, it was the beginning of peace. To Denise and Larry, it would be the beginning of war.
