The night before our wedding, my fiancé, Don Lucian Bellandi, slid a prenuptial agreement across the desk toward me. “Sign it, Alessia.” His voice was perfectly calm. I turned to the last page and discovered that once I signed, control of the three docks my father had left me would pass to him. And every time I wanted to use my own money, I would need Valentina’s approval first. She was my best friend. Yet there she stood beside Lucian, holding my prenup, with even the pages I needed to sign already folded down for me. “I drafted the agreement with the attorney.” She handed me the pen. “After the wedding, North Harbor will be transferred into the Bellandi family trust. Lucian will oversee operations, and I’ll handle the accounts and any emergencies.” I looked up at her. “Why would you be managing my docks?” Valentina gave a quiet laugh. “Because signing your name is the only thing you know how to do. If North Harbor were really left in your hands, someone would take it from you within a month.” Lucian leaned back in his chair and said nothing. I kept reading. The agreement covered more than North Harbor. It included the warehouses, shipping licenses, and two properties my father had left me. Once I signed, Lucian would become the primary trustee. Valentina would be the secondary trustee. And I, the actual owner, would need approval from one of them before spending more than fifty thousand dollars. “Is this a prenup or a guardianship agreement?” The room went quiet for several seconds. Lucian frowned. “Don’t start acting up now.” That line again. For the past six years, that was what he said every time I disagreed with him. When I refused to move into the Bellandi estate, he called it a tantrum. When I objected to his bodyguards following me into dressing rooms, he said I was being childish. When I wanted to inspect the docks my father had left me, he accused me of risking my life for no reason. Valentina sat down beside me. “Alessia, we’re trying to protect you.” She softened her voice as if she were speaking to a child who could not understand. “You know how many people have been watching North Harbor since Don Vescari died.” Valentina patted the back of my hand. “Without the Bellandi family, you wouldn’t even have made it through your father’s funeral, much less held on to his territory.” “So I should be grateful that you’re taking it from me?” “No one is taking anything from you.” Lucian finally lost his patience. “Once we’re married, we’ll be a family.” I looked at the two names in the agreement. Lucian Bellandi. Valentina Rossetti. They were the ones who looked like a family. I suddenly remembered my visit to the lakeside estate an hour earlier—the house where Lucian and I were supposed to live after the wedding. My dresses hung in the walk-in closet of the master suite, but only Lucian’s and Valentina’s fingerprints had been registered for the safe room. Even the south-facing suite on the second floor had been recarpeted in the dark green Valentina liked. The housekeeper told me it was Miss Rossetti’s room. Whenever she worked late, she would stay at the estate. No one asked what I wanted. No one cared whether I was willing to hand over everything my father had left me. Lucian glanced at his watch. “The wedding is tomorrow morning. Sign it and get some rest.” He placed the pen in my hand. Valentina stood beside him, looking down at me. They were both waiting. Waiting for me to do what I always did—to hesitate, to hurt, and then to obey. I closed my fingers around the pen. Then, in front of everyone, I tore the agreement in half. The rip of paper cracked through the room. Lucian’s expression darkened instantly. “Alessia, do you have any idea what you’re doing?” I tossed the torn agreement onto the desk. “I’m not signing it.” “And tomorrow’s wedding is off.”
No one spoke. Valentina recovered first. “You’re just overwhelmed.” She bent down to gather the torn pages, even managing a small smile. “A lot of brides lose control before their weddings. Go back to your room. We can talk about this tomorrow.” She reached for my arm. I moved out of her reach. “What gives you the right to send me to my room, Valentina?” Her hand froze in midair. Lucian stood. “Enough.” He told the attorney and the witnesses to leave. When the door closed, he walked over to me. “Tell me what you’re so upset about.” I nearly laughed. Every page of that agreement stripped away one of my rights. Yet he was asking why I was upset. “Where were you this afternoon?” Something shifted in Lucian’s eyes. “At a family meeting.” “Which one?” “Alessia.” His voice turned cold. It was a warning. In the past, that tone would have silenced me immediately. But today, I took out my phone and opened a photograph. In it, Valentina held a cigarette between her lips while Lucian shielded the flame with one hand and lit it with the other. They stood so close they looked as if they were kissing. And in Valentina’s hand were the plans to my family’s warehouse. Two Bellandi capos stood behind them, as if Lucian and Valentina were the true master and mistress of North Harbor. The photo had been taken three hours earlier. At the time, Lucian had told me he would come home for dinner as soon as his meeting ended. “What were you doing at my docks?” Lucian stared at the photograph for a moment. “Warehouse Seven needs to be renovated after the wedding.” “Who approved that?” “It’s necessary.” “Who approved it?” I asked again. Valentina frowned. “Security at North Harbor is inadequate. Lucian plans to move some of the family’s cargo there. We were only inspecting the site in advance.” “What kind of cargo?” She fell silent. North Harbor operated under legitimate shipping licenses. My father had set one absolute rule while he was alive: the Bellandi family could use two of our routes, but drugs and human trafficking would never pass through Vescari docks. Lucian had promised me he would honor that rule. Now he was preparing to renovate Warehouse Seven without even speaking to me. “So the two of you decided everything a long time ago.” I pushed the phone toward Lucian. I watched Lucian, refusing to miss the slightest change in his expression. “After the wedding, I hand over North Harbor and Valentina manages it for you. The two of you ship in whatever you want, while I stay locked away at the estate and sign whatever papers you put in front of me.” I finished the plan they had not said aloud. “I won’t let danger come near you.” Lucian caught my wrist. “You don’t need to know what’s in every shipment, and you don’t need to deal with those people. You only need to be my wife.” Six years ago, my father died in a fire at the docks. Lucian was the one who carried me out of the burning warehouse. My face had been covered in soot, and I had clutched the necklace my father gave me so tightly it cut into my palm. Lucian wrapped me in his coat. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “You have me now.” I was twenty-one. I had lost my father and every source of security I had ever known. For six years, I held on to those words like a lifeline. Only later did I realize it had never been a lifeline. It was a collar locked around my neck. I pulled my hand free. “North Harbor is the inheritance my father left me. It isn’t a dowry I have to hand over when I marry you.” Lucian’s jaw tightened. “Your father is dead. He can’t protect you, and he can’t protect North Harbor.” The moment the words left his mouth, even he went still. My fingers slowly turned cold. Valentina spoke at once. “He didn’t mean it that way.” She always explained him for me. She arranged his meetings, tended his wounds, and remembered every capo’s preferences. She even had to tell me, on his behalf, that he loved me. I stared at him, the words cutting straight through my chest. “You’re right.” “My father is dead, so the two of you decided you were entitled to everything the Vescari family had left.” “But I’m his daughter. Even if I can’t hold North Harbor, neither of you has the right to use this marriage to rip it out of my hands.”
Valentina followed me out of the study. “Do you have to humiliate everyone the night before your wedding?” Downstairs, the staff were still arranging flowers in the ballroom. The entire Bellandi estate already knew something had gone wrong with the wedding. Her gaze passed over me and went first to the closed study door. She was supposed to be my best friend, but she was not worried about what I had just endured. She was worried that I had embarrassed Lucian on the other side of that door. She cared about Lucian’s pride and whether the Bellandi family could take control of North Harbor as planned tomorrow. She did not care that I had nearly lost everything my father left me with a single signature. “Step aside.” I headed for the stairs. Valentina grabbed my arm. “Lucian rejected the marriage the Commission arranged for him because he wanted to marry you. Do you have any idea how much pressure he took on for your sake?” “So I’m supposed to give him everything my father left me to repay him for being willing to marry me?” “Those docks will get you killed if they stay in your hands!” Her voice finally rose. “You can’t even fire a gun. You shake at the sight of blood. You don’t know how to command men or negotiate with the Commission. The Vescari family scattered years ago. Without Lucian, who would still address you as Miss Vescari?” I looked at her. “So that’s what you’ve always thought of me.” Valentina pressed her lips together. Within moments, she had recovered her composure. “I’m trying to help you.” “You can keep telling yourself that.” I returned to my bedroom. My wedding dress hung by the window. Fifteen seamstresses had spent three months embroidering its train. The sapphire necklace Lucian had sent me lay on the bed. Everything was beautiful. And expensive. But there was not a single thing in that room I had chosen for myself. I took off my formal dress and changed into a black one. I packed one suitcase. Over six years, Lucian had given me jewelry, cars, and property. I took none of it. All I packed were a few clothes, my father’s old pocket watch, and a leather-bound ledger. When I opened the door, Lucian was standing outside. His expression changed when he saw the suitcase. “Where are you going?” “Back to the old Vescari house.” “It’s been empty for five years.” “It’s still my home.” He blocked the doorway. “At least three families have people watching you tonight. You won’t make it out of Bellandi territory.” “Are you protecting me or holding me prisoner?” “Don’t force me to use stronger measures on you tonight.” I stared at him. He seemed to realize how harsh that sounded and reached for my face. “Alessia, I don’t want to fight with you. Go through with the wedding tomorrow. We can discuss the agreement afterward.” I turned my face away. “There won’t be a wedding.” “That isn’t your decision.” He did not raise his voice. But those words finally made everything clear. He had always been like this. He opened car doors for me gently. He draped coats around my shoulders gently. And then, just as gently, he decided where I was allowed to go. Lucian took the suitcase from me and handed it to a guard. “Take the luggage back.” He looked at me and added, “She is not to leave the estate until the wedding is over.” Two guards approached me. They had once served my father and protected me for years. But now they answered to Lucian. I did not resist. I simply walked back into the bedroom and closed the door. Ten minutes later, Valentina brought me a glass of warm milk. She set it on the table. “Get some sleep. When you wake up tomorrow, you’ll be grateful Lucian didn’t indulge this little tantrum.” I glanced at the milk without touching it. “Are you looking forward to tomorrow’s wedding?” She paused. Valentina picked up the milk and held it out to me. “Of course. Without me overseeing security, the accounts, and the staff for you, you wouldn’t even know which door to use for your own wedding tomorrow.” I did not take it. Instead, I opened the digital access log the housekeeper had sent me that afternoon. “Then why have you stayed overnight at this estate forty-seven times in the past six months? I wasn’t even here for twelve of them.” She glanced at the log. “I often stay late handling family business for Lucian. There’s nothing unusual about spending the night when work runs late.” “Then why do you have fingerprint access to the safe room in the master suite? And why have you entered it six times?” “Lucian keeps his documents there. He gave me permission.” I turned to the final page and pointed to the order of authority. “Why did you draft my prenup? Why do the estate staff, the safe room, and the harbor accounts all answer to you before they answer to me?” Valentina’s expression finally hardened. “Because before you moved in, I was the one managing this estate, Lucian’s business, and even his escape routes whenever someone tried to kill him.” She stared at me. “For the past six years, I was the one who went with Lucian to meet the Commission. I dug bullets out of him when he was shot. I kept the capos who opposed your marriage under control.” “Alessia, once you marry him, all you have to do is put on your wedding dress and sit beside Lucian. I’ll still be the one deciding how this household is run.” She looked at me as if it were the most reasonable thing in the world. “I’ve taken on every responsibility that should have belonged to the future Donna. What could you possibly be unhappy about?” I tightened my grip on my phone until its cold edge dug painfully into my palm. Only then did I understand. It was not that she had no sense of boundaries. She had long considered herself the future Donna of the Bellandi family. To her, my marriage was merely a ceremony that would deliver North Harbor to Lucian. My role was to wear the wedding dress. Afterward, she would remain at Lucian’s side and live the life that should have been mine. “Since you’ve worked so hard, why don’t you take my place as the bride tomorrow?” The color drained from Valentina’s face.
Watch👉 https://cps-front.novelix.live/app-api/ext/new/202608119UUzDdtQX2 🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “Novelix” app 🔍 search for “ni419433”, and watch the full series ✨! #Novelix
Leave a Reply