VEGAS
“I can’t marry you.”
My fiancée’s words echoed in my head. Peering down at the engagement ring he’d given back to me, I tried to pinpoint my emotions—a potent mixture of fury and shock. The ring mocked me where it lay in my palm. Porsche had hardly been able to stand my closeness when he’d uttered those words.
I’d known porsche for as long as I could remember. Long before I’d met him, his name had been whispered reverently among the boys and even the men in our circles.
The regal ice prince's beauty featured in many fantasies.
Like magpies drawn in by a shiny object, many wanted to possess him. When he’d been promised to me at the age of fifteen, I’d reveled in the admiration and jealousy of my fellow Made Men. I’d won the sought-after prize and could call him mine.
For years, I’d counted the days to our wedding.
Everything had seemed to be working in my favor. I had been about to become the youngest Capo of the Thailand with the korn's niece, the ice prince, as my husband. I’d felt invincible.
Many consider arrogance and pride a sin, and I was punished harshly for those qualities.
Days before I was supposed to take over from my father as Capo , my little brother macau was in a car accident. Now, he was trapped in a wheelchair with no future ahead of him. The mafia world wasn’t kind. Boys and women who had obvious flaws were cast aside and deemed unworthy, doomed to a life in the shadows either as spinsters or stuck in a marriage with the first scum who accepted them.
On the day of our wedding, porsche was stolen from me, kidnapped by my cruelest enemy: the kinn fucking theerapanyakul.
When kinn sent him back to me, he wasn’t the same boy I’d known. he was lost to me, broken, and I couldn’t fix him.
My meticulously planned future was in shambles. I was left with a disabled, heartbroken brother and a dying father. Left without a husband.
I closed my eyes after ending the call with my father. He insisted that we needed to demand a bond with minor family. He wanted the connection to the korn, and though I agreed, moving on from porsche so soon after losing him cut me like an acid blade.
Life had to go on, though, and I had to appear strong. I was young. Many expected me to fail at the task of ruling over Thailand. They were waiting for that moment, for my fall from grace. I curled my fingers into a fist around the ring and went in search of my uncle and porsche’s father.
Ten minutes later, porsche’s father peem kittisawat, his brother Arm, and my uncle Korn theerapanyakul met with me in the office of the kittisawat mansion to settle the matter of the broken wedding bond. The matter would cause a riptide of rumors regardless of what we decided today. It was too late for damage control.
I released a sigh. “My father insists that I marry someone from your family,” I said emotionlessly, even as my insides burned with rage and guilt. “A bond between our families is necessary, especially at this time.”
Peem sighed and slumped in his chair. Arm shook his head and glared at me. “porsche won’t marry. he needs time to heal.”
I’d have given him the time he needed like I’d told him, but he didn’t want to marry me anymore.
“There are other options,” Korn drawled.
The rage that burned inside me spilled free. “What options? I won’t accept the daughter of any other Capo . My city is important. I won’t settle for less than was promised!”
More than that, I didn’t want to return to my dying father and already-grieving mother to tell them about yet another blow for our family. We’d gone through enough. They had all gone through enough. It was up to me to protect them.
Korn scowled. “Watch your tone, vegas. I realize this is a difficult situation, but I expect respect nonetheless.”
Arm looked as if he wanted to attack me. “You can’t have porsche!”
“You can’t have porschay, either,” Korn said.
I’d never considered porschay as an option. If I married him, it would only cause me problems. I doubted korn wouldn’t shove his nose into my business if it concerned his offspring. “You need my support in this war. You need a strong family at your back.”
