Chapter 1 - THE BRIDE MY FATHER SOLD
My father sold me to a ruthless New York mafia boss to save his own life, and on our wedding night, my new husband ordered me to undress so he could begin the revenge he had promised. But the moment Nico saw the scars covering my body, the hatred in his eyes changed into something far more dangerous—and when my father suddenly appeared downstairs demanding me back, I knew exactly why he had returned.
My name is Nora Ashford, and the night my father learned he might die was the same night I learned I was being married to a stranger.
Nico Ferrara was thirty-four and powerful enough that his name could silence a room.
His younger brother, Marco, had recently been forced off a road near the East River. Police called it a robbery gone wrong.
Nico didn’t believe them.
Within forty-eight hours, his men traced the money behind the attack to my father, Edmund Ashford.
My father was a wealthy hedge fund manager who had borrowed eight million dollars from the Ferrara family.
Money he couldn’t repay.
Nico’s men dragged him into a private club.
“You took my blood,” Nico told him.
My father begged.
Promised money.
Offered excuses.
Then, when he realized none of it would save him, he offered me.
“Take Nora,” he whispered. “Marry my daughter. She’s worth something.”
That was how easily my father sold me.
Before sunrise, armed men arrived at our mansion.
Hours later, I stood inside a private chapel wearing a wedding gown someone else had chosen.
My father wouldn’t look at me.
Nico stood across from me dressed entirely in black.
When the priest pronounced us husband and wife, he didn’t kiss me.
He leaned close.
“Your father took something from me.”
His voice was barely a whisper.
“Now he gets to watch me take you.”
That night, I sat on the edge of Nico’s enormous bed with my hands clasped together.
The door clicked shut.
Nico removed his jacket.
“Stand up.”
I obeyed.
“Take off your dress.”
My heart pounded.
I didn’t move.
“Don’t make me repeat myself, Nora.”
My fingers found the zipper.
Slowly, I pulled it down.
The white fabric slipped from my shoulders and fell around my feet.
Then Nico froze.
His eyes moved across my ribs.
My back.
My hips.
Across scars I had spent years hiding beneath expensive dresses.
His expression changed completely.
“Who did this to you?”
I couldn’t answer.
Silence had kept me safe for too long.
Nico stepped closer, but the anger in his face was no longer directed at me.
“Nora.”
His voice softened.
“Was it your father?”
My eyes filled before I could stop them.
I didn’t need to answer.
Nico understood.
Then someone pounded on the bedroom door.
“Boss!”
A man shouted from the hallway.
“Ashford’s downstairs. Says he wants his daughter back.”
Every bit of warmth left my body.
Nico looked toward the door.
Then back at my scars.
“Your father sold you to me six hours ago.”
His voice became dangerously calm.
“Why would he come back now?”
Downstairs, I heard my father screaming.
“Nora!”
I grabbed my dress.
Nico noticed my reaction.
Not surprise.
Terror.
“You know why he’s here,” he said.
I couldn’t look at him.
“Nora, tell me.”
My father shouted my name again.
And suddenly I was twelve years old, standing outside his locked study after seeing something I was never supposed to see.
Something my father had spent years making sure I would never tell anyone.
I looked at Nico.
“He didn’t come back because he wants me.”
Nico’s eyes narrowed.
“Then why?”
Footsteps thundered downstairs.
My hands began shaking.
“Because he realized I’m finally somewhere he can’t control what I say.”
Nico went completely still.
And for the first time that night, I understood something terrifying.
My father hadn’t sold me because I was valuable.
He had made a mistake.
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He had handed the one person who knew his darkest secret to the most dangerous man in New York.
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