The Bride Who Never Said I Do

Tristan Voss was a cold-blooded, ruthless mafia boss. Every woman who got close to him ended up dead or badly hurt.

I was the only exception.

A fortune-teller had told him I was his good-luck charm, and sleeping with me would ward off the bad luck hanging over him.

I'd taken bullets and blades for him. I'd even given him a son.

For years, he'd let everyone believe I was his wife.

But the moment he went legitimate, he moved another woman into the master bedroom and had her name tattooed on his inner thigh.

When I threw away my ring, he had his men pin me outside his bedroom and forced me to listen to what was happening inside all night.

When I slapped Mandy Mercer, he crushed the hand I used to play piano and publicly claimed her as his woman.

Each punishment was worse than the last. I finally stopped resisting when he threatened to cut off my mother's medication.

Satisfied, he pulled me beneath him. Even then, he couldn't stop talking about Mandy.

"Mandy has never felt secure. She hasn't had the years with me that you have."

"Be the bigger person. She's not here to take your place. She's here to become part of this family."

Even my own son took her side.

"Stop making trouble! Mandy's a good person. You're going to upset her!"

But the sweet, innocent Mandy they all adored was the same woman who had pulled the plug on my mother's ventilator and locked me inside a gas chamber.

When Tristan finally found me, all he said was, "Mandy's pregnant. She can't be stressed. She's hungry, so go make her something to eat."

I wiped the dark blood from the corner of my mouth and looked at him calmly.

"Tristan, I'm dying."

Tristan froze for a moment before grabbing me by the throat.

"Celeste! How many times have I warned you to leave Mandy alone?"

"Why can't you ever learn?"

"Using your own death to threaten me? Keep pushing, and I'll have your mother killed first!"

He pulled out his phone and called the hospital.

"Stop giving Elowen Hale her medication."

The doctor hadn't even had time to respond before Tristan hung up.

He shoved me to the floor. Once I could breathe again, I broke into a violent coughing fit. Blood splattered across the floor.

"Do whatever you want. My mother is already dead!"

"Tristan! Your precious Mandy is the one who killed her!"

Tristan's chest heaved with anger. He grabbed my wrist and twisted it until the pain nearly made me black out.

"You're so desperate to frame Mandy that you'd even curse your own mother?"

"Looks like I didn't teach you a lesson the last time I broke that hand."

He drew the dagger I'd once given him.

I'd gone to great lengths to get it from a master bladesmith. It was razor-sharp, and he carried it everywhere.

Once, a man had insulted me. Tristan had used that very blade to slit the man's throat.

Now he pressed it against my wrist.

The blade sliced into my skin. But Tristan didn't stop there.

He slashed again, cutting the tendons in my wrist.

I remembered how it had all started.

When I'd first met Tristan, I was playing piano at a banquet to earn money for my mother's medical bills.

He'd stopped to listen. There had been something unreadable in his eyes.

He told me he loved watching me play.

Now he was the one destroying the very thing I'd loved most.

Only then did I understand. There had never been love in his eyes.

He'd looked at me like a man who'd found something he wanted to own.

Now that he'd left the underworld behind, he no longer needed me as his good-luck charm.

My ten-year-old son, Cedric, stood nearby, watching his father hurt me. Tears filled his eyes, but he made no move to stop him.

A faint sound came from inside the room.

The moment Mandy made a noise, Tristan put away the dagger and walked off without looking back.

"Cedric, your grandmother is gone."

Cedric copied his father's cold expression and glared down at me.

"Mom, when are you going to stop this? Even little kids know not to lie!"

"Mandy's pregnant. Dad says it's bad luck for a pregnant woman to see blood. And you still had to make a scene! Are you doing this on purpose?"

I almost laughed.

This was the son I'd carried for nine months and nearly died bringing into the world.

Back when Tristan was surrounded by enemies, I'd taken Cedric from one safe house to another, constantly on the run.

More than once, I'd put myself between him and danger.

And now he was defending the woman who had killed his own grandmother.

Cedric threw an apron at me.

"Get up and make dinner! Mandy can't go hungry!"

I drew a sharp breath and coughed up another mouthful of dark blood.

When Tristan had finally let me out of the gas chamber, one of the doctors had quietly warned me that the poison had entered my bloodstream.

It would spread through my body, and without immediate treatment, I might not survive more than a few days.

But Tristan was completely focused on Mandy. He hadn't even remembered that I needed to get to a hospital.

It didn't matter anymore. My mother was gone. Who was left to care whether I lived or died?

Tristan helped Mandy out of the room. Cedric immediately hurried over to her.

The three of them stood together like a happy family.

When Mandy noticed the blood on my hands, she suddenly dropped to her knees in front of me.

"Celeste, I'm so sorry! This is all my fault! I didn't know you were in there!"

"I'll leave Tristan if that's what you want. Please, don't hurt my baby!"

Tristan pulled her to her feet.

Then he picked up a cup of boiling water and splashed it all over me.