Chapter 1

I always knew playing normal would blow up in my face. I just didn't expect it to involve vanilla buttercream.

At our rehearsal dinner, just as I raised the microphone to read my vows, my fiancé grabbed a chunk of our tiered cake and smashed it into my face.

"Cut! That’s a wrap!"

The ballroom erupted in cruel, coordinated laughter. I stood frozen, frosting ruining my silk gown, staring at the three people I trusted most.

Julian—the CEO I’d loved since childhood—sauntered over with an arrogant smirk. "When you threw that fit and dumped me two years ago, Sienna, I thought you’d grown a spine. We played one more game tonight. Can’t believe you actually fell for it."

Beside him, Valerie—my supposed best friend—was laughing uncontrollably. "Just like when Julian 'proposed' back then! We lay in bed together just to mess with you, and you instantly sobbed and broke up with him. Then Christian deliberately stepped in to keep the joke going... and you took him seriously too!"

I turned to Christian. My fiancé. The man who had worshipped me for a year. He leaned against the bar, swirling his whiskey, looking utterly bored.

"Don’t look at me like that, amore," he drawled. "Nobody betrayed you. You’re just too damn easy to fool."

They waited for me to break down. Instead, the heartbreak evaporated, replaced by cold, absolute clarity.

I pulled out my phone and sent the text I’d avoided for three years.

"Papa, I agree to the arranged marriage. Send your men."

It was time to go home.

...

I calmly reached up and unpinned the ruined veil from my hair.

I let it drop to the floor and turned away.

Valerie’s laughter abruptly stopped.

"Oh look, Sienna’s throwing another tantrum," she mocked. "Who’s on coaxing duty this time?"

The three of them exchanged amused glances. Like I was a stray dog they were tired of feeding.

Julian smirked. "You girls know how to talk to each other. You do it, Val."

Valerie immediately shook her head, feigning innocence.

"No way. She’s furious right now. If I go, she’ll just accuse me of bullying her again." She playfully swatted Christian’s chest. "She’s technically your fiancé, Christian. You go."

Christian didn't even blink. He took a slow sip of his whiskey.

"You two provoked her. Why the hell should I deal with the fallout?" He jerked his chin toward Julian. "She’s your pathetic little childhood shadow, Jules. Your problem."

Julian let out a dramatic sigh. He walked over with that entitled swagger and reached out to ruffle my hair.

"Alright, enough drama, Sienna. The joke is over, the air is cleared." He smiled down at me. "Next week is our real wedding. Haven't you always wanted to be my wife?"

I looked at him. My eyes were dead and hollow.

I didn’t say a single word.

The silence stretched, heavy and suffocating.

Julian frowned. He genuinely expected me to drop to my knees in gratitude just for the chance to finally wear his ring.

But he didn't know the truth.

I had stopped loving him the day I walked out of that bedroom two years ago.

Valerie let out a soft, mocking sigh and stepped right into my personal space.

"Don't tell me you're still hung up on what happened two years ago, Sienna."

She crossed her arms. "When Julian planned that surprise proposal, he hid the ring and the roses under the duvet. We were just laying in bed together to scare you. But you ran off crying before anyone could explain."

She raised her left hand, deliberately flashing a massive diamond ring.

"Since you were so dramatic about it..." She smirked. "He had no choice but to just give the ring to me."

I stared at her.

From middle school until now, she had always masked her cruelty as harmless pranks.

"You sold out your best friend for a diamond, Val?" I asked, my voice eerily quiet. "You really have absolutely no baseline for loyalty, do you?"

Valerie’s smirk vanished. Her eyes immediately welled with fake, victimized tears.

Julian’s face darkened instantly.

"Valerie is nice enough to explain a two-year-old misunderstanding, and you insult her? You’re acting like a hysterical bitch, Sienna!"

I turned my cold gaze to him.

"So an explanation automatically demands my forgiveness? Tell me, Julian—what kind of woman with a decent baseline willingly gets into bed with her best friend's man?"

Julian faltered. He wasn't used to me speaking to him with such venom.

From the bar, Christian let out a dark, cruel scoff.

"Don't act so high and mighty, Sienna," he sneered. "I knew you for barely two months and you spread your legs for me. Your 'baseline' isn't exactly top-tier either, sweetheart."

The words felt like a physical blow to my ribs.

Hearing the man I had slept next to for a year reduce me to a cheap punchline made my chest tight.

By the time the three of them rolled their eyes and walked out to "give me time to cool off," my fingertips were completely numb.

My phone buzzed. An encrypted message from my father, the Don of the Syndicate.

The extraction team is on standby. If you leave tonight, our protection and blood money leave Julian's company by dawn. Are you absolutely certain?

I didn’t hesitate. I typed back instantly.

I’m certain.