Chapter 2

Scarlett Monroe Knight stood before the gilded mirror, veil draped like a noose around her neck. She should have felt like a queen, marrying into Italy’s most powerful dynasty. Instead, she felt like a prisoner being marched to execution.

Her hands trembled as she smoothed the silk gown. The lace was heavy, suffocating. Moretti. The name alone carried centuries of blood and power. Everyone feared them—men who wore Armani suits in daylight and spilled blood in the dark. Her marriage was never about love. It was about an alliance, a pact to keep the American Knights and Italian Morettis tied together in dominance.

But Scarlett had dreams—dreams that couldn’t breathe in a gilded cage. She wasn’t going to bow her head and let Dante Alessio Moretti own her like property. She knew what he was—cruel, relentless, the kind of man who would crush her spirit until she forgot her own name.

Her heart pounded as she slipped out the back, trading diamonds for shadows. Every step away from the cathedral felt like treason. Guilt clawed at her chest—she knew the price her family would pay. But freedom, even if fleeting, was worth more than a lifetime of chains.

By the time the ceremony bells rang, Scarlett was gone.

The Fallout — The Knight Family

When the news reached the Knight mansion in New York, chaos erupted.

Charles Knight — patriarch of the Knight family — slammed his fist against the mahogany desk, veins bulging in his temples. At fifty-eight, he was a towering man, once feared across American territories, but even his might trembled before the Morettis.

His wife, Margaret Monroe Knight, elegant and calculating, was pale with horror. She had raised her daughters to be bold, but never reckless enough to humiliate the Italians.

Scarlett had doomed them.

The Knights were a powerful mafia family in America, old money tied with blood, smuggling empires, and political claws hidden behind polished smiles. But compared to the Morettis? They were children playing with knives while the Italians wielded kingdoms.

And betrayal was the one sin the Morettis never forgave.

The Morettis’ Response

The call from Italy came swiftly. Giancarlo Moretti’s voice was like steel poured over ice.

> “Your daughter has insulted our name. Do you think the world won’t laugh at us? Do you think we will let this humiliation pass?”

War drums echoed in his words. Trade routes would burn, alliances would crumble, blood would run in the streets.

Charles tried to reason, Margaret begged, but Giancarlo’s wrath was unshakable. The Knights knew they were cornered.

The Desperate Bargain

Margaret’s voice broke in the tense silence of the Knight study.

“Scarlett has disgraced us. But… Evelina.”

Charles froze.

Their youngest. Their lamb. The one they’d kept sheltered from the mafia’s filth. Sweet, twenty-year-old Evelina Grace Knight, who still dreamed in poetry and believed kindness was not weakness.

“She can replace Scarlett,” Margaret whispered, though her own heart cracked with the words. “The pact can be fulfilled. The Morettis will still have a bride. And our family… will still stand.”

Charles hesitated, guilt mixing with dread. But he knew the truth—if they didn’t offer Evelina, the Knights would be obliterated.

And so, a new sacrifice was chosen.

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