The Scapegoat Fiancée: I Am No Substitute

s the price I paid f

called my prison sentence "mercy." He promised we wou

dn't find a husband waiting for me. I foun

was unstable. They demanded I break our e

ng of leukemia, while I was "stro

't know t

y, I was dragged to a clinic to donate my bo

the truth, he looked me in the eye and called me a liar. He chose the

. I didn't fight. I

gallery in Paris, begging on his knees with his

yed me and said, "Security, pl

pte

ssi

shut behind me. They didn't mark my freedom so mu

My fiancé, the most ruthless

lothes I'd worn at eighteen. They were tight now-not because I had gained weigh

y. The engine purred with a low, threa

dow rol

e back. The Capo dei Ca

king who had forgotten the shape of a smile. His jaw was a sharp line of tension, his eyes hi

didn't recognize, op

hysical slap, heavy with the scent of expensive le

eep, a baritone that used to make my toes curl. Now,

he partition. "Seven years o

logic of the Mafia. "It was mercy. The Falcone family wanted blood for what

the color of storm clouds, dark and turbulent. He was devastatingly

tasted like ash. "Is that what we call i

signet ring of the Don. He had risen to the

dropping an octave. "You know that. She's fragile. You...

posable one,"

n't spark desire anymore. It sparked a memory of the night I was arrested-how he

tone intense. "The debt is paid. You're

ed. The naivet

he girl you engaged is dead. She

phone buzzed. A harsh, demand

shifted instantly from the hard mask o

asked. I didn't

ng the call. "What happened? I

on the partition. "Drive. F

hifted back to the Golden Child, the fragile princess who had run ov

tate. It looked the same. Grand, imposing,

els stopped rolling, rushing toward the main

alone in th

his throat. "Miss?

he humid New Yor

stood by the service entran

s shoes. "The Don... and your father... they gave instructions. Your

urse

I sleeping

e barely audible. "The old storage r

o greet me. My fiancé had run past me. I was being sen

ded.

nce, my plastic bag of prison

reached into the lining of my bra. I pulled out a tiny, black device. An encrypte

ered

ssage

s. Dominica. One way

ttic. I looked at the single window with bars th

d two

re