Chapter 1
William Vance was the most ruthless Don the mafia had ever seen. In just one year at the top, he opened up nearly 20 new shipping lanes, and that same hunger for business pushed our wedding back 20 times over.
The other families laughed at me behind my back, and he acted like he never heard a word of it.
Even when my father, on his deathbed, begged him to marry me while there was still time, William gave the same answer he always did. "Right now, family business comes before everything else. Annie will just have to hold on a little longer."
In the end, my father died with that regret still hanging over him. It was only at the funeral, when William finally remembered how my family had backed his rise to power, that he finally softened and agreed to the wedding.
But on the day itself, when I showed up in my wedding dress, his men blocked me at the door.
"Miss Ashford, the Don is marrying his childhood sweetheart. Don't flatter yourself. It's not like he'd marry you."
While I refused to accept it and tried to force my way inside, William called the police and had me hauled off to a cell.
The next morning, a photo of me being dragged away, disheveled and wild-eyed, ran across every tabloid. All of a sudden, I became the running joke of everyone we knew.
A week later, as I walked out of jail, William was waiting for me at the gate. "Her birthday wish was a wedding, so I gave her one. You're still the woman I think of as my real wife. There's no reason to blow this up, is there?"
I heard him out, and I nodded.
If he couldn't give me a wedding, then I didn't want one at all.
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"You know Julie's been in a bad place lately. Stop pushing so hard and just let it go," William Vance said.
He then reached over and switched on the TV.
The screen happened to be playing the footage of the police leading me away.
The headline beneath it had been made deliberately eye-catching.
"Ashford Heiress Crashes Wedding After Botched Marriage Demand, Jailed at Her Ex's Request."
Watching myself on that screen now, screaming at William like my heart was being torn in two, I could hardly recognize myself. That was basically a madwoman there.
The custom gown I'd paid a fortune for had ripped apart during the arrest, and I looked like a complete wreck.
That day, every socialite in the room stood off to the side, watching me with cold eyes and trading jabs at my expense.
But none of it touched me anymore. I couldn't accept that the wedding I'd waited so long for had become someone else's.
The play continued. When William finally showed up, I demanded an answer through my tears. "What did I do wrong? Why would you give my wedding to someone else?"
William didn't answer. He just called the police.
It was only when the cell door shut behind me that something in me finally went cold for good.
After my release, I watched the story of my humiliating arrest play on every screen in the city, and I turned to William beside me. "Why won't you have it taken down?"
William reached out and cupped my face. "Because you didn't behave. I want the punishment to stick, and I want you to remember that my orders are not something you get to defy."
Back at the estate, Julie Marsh caught my hand, her eyes red. "Annie, the Don only did it to make my birthday wish come true. I know it was greedy of me. It's all my fault. Please, just stop sulking with him, okay?"
I'd heard excuses like that more than enough over the years.
Every year, Julie made a wish like this one on her birthday.
This year, it was a wedding. Last year, it was my engagement ring.
The year before, it was a piece of jewelry I'd had my eye on for months.
I'd had enough.
I looked at Julie, tucked behind William with a challenge shining in her eyes, and I let out a small laugh. "You two are married now. What's left for you to explain to me? I didn't even get the chance to wish you a happy marriage."
Julie shot William a shy glance. Julie's face went red when she noticed he didn't react at all. She rounded on me. "I've already explained myself. Why are you still throwing these snide little remarks at me just to humiliate me?"
Then she snatched the pistol straight off William's holster and turned it on herself. "If you won't forgive me, then I'll just have to make up for it with my life. Are you satisfied?"
I watched her coldly. I knew she'd never actually hurt herself.
William, though, took her at her word, and he turned on me at once with a cold voice. "Julie has already humbled herself this far. That's enough out of you."
Silently, I stepped toward Julie. But the second my fingers brushed the pistol in her hand, William shoved me hard away from her.
"Annie, what do you think you're doing?"
The shove caught me off guard and sent me sprawling. For a while, the pain kept me from getting back up.
Instinctively, William reached to help me up, but his hands pulled back the moment Julie's crying reached his ears.
He looked down at me. "Annie, I'm afraid I've spoiled you far too much all this time. Spend the next few days thinking hard about that."
With that, he took Julie and walked out.
No tears. No scene. I braced my weight and lurched to my feet, then staggered down the hall to my room.
In the days that followed, I saw to my father's funeral arrangements and booked myself a flight abroad.
