Chapter 1: The Wedding I Never Wanted
The rain poured like shattered glass from the dark sky, drenching the city skyline behind me. Beneath my feet, the marble floor of the rooftop felt cold, but not colder than the hollow inside my chest.
I was standing in a wedding dress.
Not just any dress—but the dress meant for the happiest day of a woman's life.
Except this wasn't happiness.
This was punishment.
My fingers trembled as I held the bouquet of white roses. Petals drooped under the weight of raindrops, much like my heart beneath the weight of this marriage.
Standing across from me was the man I had just married.
Arsen Levander.
Billionaire. Ruthless CEO. And my ex-boyfriend's older brother.
I wasn't supposed to marry him. I was supposed to marry Adrian, his younger brother. My first love. My worst heartbreak. My everything.
But life never gives you what you want.
It gives you what you fear.
And right now, I feared him—Arsen. Not because he was cruel. Not because he was a monster. But because he was kind in ways that made me feel like I was the one at fault.
"Smile," Arsen whispered next to me, his voice deep and commanding. "Everyone's watching."
His hand slid over mine, fingers tightening as if he could physically hold me together while I was falling apart.
Flash.
A camera clicked, another immortalization of a lie.
I smiled. For them. For the reporters. For the people whispering about her marrying her ex's brother. For the scandal. For the money that my father owed his family. For the sins of others that I now had to carry like an invisible veil heavier than the lace on my dress.
I hated it.
I hated this dress. I hated this day. But most of all—I hated that even now, as I stood beside Arsen Levander, my traitorous heart still beat for another man.
His brother.
It hadn't always been this way.
A year ago, Adrian had promised to marry me. To love me. To build a future with me.
A year ago, I thought love was enough.
Then came the betrayal.
I found him, on what was supposed to be our engagement night, in bed with my best friend.
Not just betrayal of the heart.
Betrayal of my entire existence.
I ran. I left everything behind.
But fate didn't let me escape.
My father's debts surfaced like ghosts I couldn't exorcise, and the one willing to save me was the man I should have feared most.
Arsen.
"Marry me, and I'll erase every debt with my name," he had said, standing tall in his dark tailored suit, the city lights behind him making him look like both a savior and a devil.
"Why?" I had whispered then, my voice cracking with both defiance and despair.
His answer was simple. Cold. Honest.
"Because you deserve better than being thrown away by someone who didn't know your worth. And because it would piss him off."
Revenge.
My marriage was built on revenge, spite, and broken promises.
And the worst part?
A tiny part of me wanted it, too.
Not for the money.
Not for my father.
But because if Adrian could move on that easily, why couldn't I?
The reception hall buzzed with congratulations and lies.
Arsen kept me close, always aware of every gaze directed at us. He looked like the perfect husband—tall, composed, powerful.
But beneath his mask, I wondered what he really wanted.
Did he want me as a pawn? Did he want revenge against his own brother? Or—God help me—did he want something more?
I didn't know what scared me more: the possibility of being used, or the possibility of falling for him.
Because falling for him meant betraying myself.
And hadn't I had enough betrayal for a lifetime?
His hand brushed the small of my back as we walked toward the waiting car, another flash capturing the moment like we were royalty.
I glanced up at him, at those eyes so different from Adrian's. Adrian had warmth. Arsen had storms.
"We're married now," he murmured without looking at me, his voice laced with something dangerous I couldn't yet name.
I swallowed, the lump in my throat nearly choking me.
"But you don't have to love me."
That was the deal.
Marriage without love.
But as I stared at the reflection of the two of us in the black-tinted car window, I realized something far worse:
I was already starting to.