The Devil's Fiancée

erena

the moment your li

ked in that heavy gray gloom that always settled over New York before a storm. I was halfway through a plate

set down his wine glass and

e said. "My

ut. He didn't wait f

om for duty. I'd laughed then. I was thirteen and thought love coul

d with oil paintings of dead men who looked like they'd never smiled. Guards flanked

p. My father stood behind his massive desk, pouring himself a glass

it

glance - sharp and assessing, the way he lo

sa

st to break the silence. "In c

n blink. "Thi

it al

the glass down with the kind of fin

getting

ted between us

ed. "Ex

repeated, as if that clarifie

left m

N

gaze didn't

n't be

he mood for g

ry the man who's been trying t

s ov

. "The blood on our front

enough. "This marriage puts an end to a war t

said. "It co

k, slow and deliberate,

want to prove you're more than a spoiled daughter, more th

ts. "You're using

ring your

the

at you want. You're marr

"You can't do

aid, and the roo

ning chip you can to

na. Parties. Education. Choice. And what did you do with it? Broke cu

ked to be p

ot how bl

his smug, power-hungry face. But all I could do was bre

Serena," he said, voice low

-

udy. The next thing I knew, I was back

d as I tore off my earrings, my necklace, the very symbols of the Caprini

Mor

t like acid

is empire like a surgeon - precise, clean, and with no remorse. Whispers said he str

was to be

pr

host

give my father or Luca - or

I packe

A burner p

aly. Maybe nowhere. But I wouldn't l

n the back stairc

tt

bro

arms crossed, watching me with that qu

really runni

fr

ave

"They'll find you.

en maybe I'll le

. "Don't b

g dramatic. I

ena.

supposed to tie myself to him l

ing flickered in his eye

n't

o you know what happened to t

between us

ned?" I ask

No trace. One day she wa

arning me?

ice cracked. "Survive this, Serena. H

and pressed something into

t's

"For when things go ba

-

he storm outside had finally broken - rain lashed

agine Luca Mo

gerous. U

hat I was

out th

the

had to marr

ay to beat him

it kil

d in my mind as I drift

the Devil, Serena