Chapter 1 The night before my wedding, I was thrown into a warehouse and beaten like I was nothing. Three hours of fists, boots, and broken bones. By my father’s orders. All so my half-sister could walk down the aisle in my place. And when I was dumped in a clinic, half-dead, Matteo Rossi; my father, the almighty mafia don, stood outside my hospital room and said, “I didn’t expect them to go that far. But it works. Rupert won’t want a ruined bride.” That’s what I am to them. Ruined. Disposable.

Chapter 1 On the day of our fifth wedding anniversary, my husband's friend leaned toward him with a grin and asked in French, "How does your little assistant taste?" My husband, ever the considerate man in public, handed me a slice of my favorite cantaloupe before replying just as casually in the same language, "Very young. Very tender." "Remember to keep this a secret from my wife. If she ever found out, she'd surely leave me." The group erupted in laughter, each of them swearing they'd keep hi