Chapter 1
Her Groom Said No in Front of Five Hundred Guests, and the Man Everyone Feared Walked Down the Aisle
Not because he had ever threatened her.
Because he watched too closely.
Like he remembered everything.
He walked down the center aisle.
People shifted away before he reached them.
“Elena,” her father said sharply. “Do not speak to him.”
Vincent heard.
His expression did not change.
He stopped ten feet from the altar.
“Well,” he said.
His voice was quiet, but in the cathedral silence, everyone heard him.
“That was cowardly.”
Elena stared at him.
“This is not the time.”
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“I disagree.”
“Then you and everyone else in this room have something in common.”
A faint smile touched his mouth.
Even humiliated, she still had teeth.
He admired that.
She hated that she noticed.
Vincent climbed the altar steps.
Henry moved toward him.
“You stay away from my daughter.”
Vincent turned his head.
“Your daughter appears to be the only competent person in your family, Henry. I suggest you stop giving orders.”
Henry froze.
Vincent looked back at Elena.
Her eyes were wet but furious.
Good, he thought.
Anger was useful.
Pity was not.
“What do you want?” she asked.
He extended his hand.
“Come with me.”
A whisper swept through the cathedral.
Elena almost laughed.
“Absolutely not.”
Vincent nodded as if she had given a reasonable answer.
“Then I’ll make the offer clearer.”
He turned toward the congregation.
Several hundred wealthy people suddenly looked like children who had been caught listening through a door.
“The groom has withdrawn his proposal.”
Elena’s cheeks burned.
“Vincent.”
He looked directly at her.
“Then she’s mine.”
The cathedral exploded.
Her mother stood.
Henry swore.
Several guests actually rose from their pews.
Elena slapped Vincent Moretti across the face.
The crack echoed beneath the stone ceiling.
Nobody breathed.
Vincent slowly turned his face back toward her.
A red mark appeared along his cheek.
His men near the entrance did not move.
Neither did he.
“Never,” Elena whispered, shaking with rage, “speak about me as if I am property.”
For the first time that afternoon, something honest entered Vincent’s face.
Respect.
“You’re right.”
The answer stunned her.
He lowered his voice.
“I needed everyone in this room to believe you were under my protection before the Vales could make their next move.”
“What next move?”
Vincent reached inside his jacket.
Henry shouted, “Elena, don’t take anything from him.”