Chapter 1 - The Altar of Debts
On my wedding day, my entire life shattered in less than twenty minutes. Standing outside the bridal suite in my lace gown, I pushed the door open to find my fiancé, Daniel, intimately pressed against my best friend, Rebecca. When I demanded an explanation, Rebecca offered only cruel deflection, leaving Daniel to reveal his true face: a terrified, desperate stranger. With no living parents, no siblings, and only modest savings from my years as a kindergarten teacher, Daniel believed I had no choice but to obey him. He grabbed my wrist, leaving red welts, demanding that I walk down the aisle and smile.
Before I could escape, the heavy church doors swung open. Nico Romano stepped inside, flanked by men in dark suits. Nico was a feared titan across New York, known for ruthless legitimate enterprises and whisper-network criminal power. Daniel owed him two million dollars—a debt that had reached its final deadline. Paralyzed by fear, Daniel committed the unthinkable: he pointed at me, boasting of my clean background and skill with children, offering me to Nico to erase his debt.
I shoved Daniel away, refusing to be treated like livestock, but Nico’s eyes had already shifted from disgust at Daniel to calculating appraisal of me. Noting the bruises on my wrist, Nico agreed to the terms: two million dollars cleared in exchange for me. Ignoring my protests that I was a human being, Nico turned coldly toward the altar and commanded the priest to continue the ceremony. The veil was lowered, the vows were rewritten in blood and ink, and I found myself bound to a man feared by the entire city.
