Chapter 1

Sienna's POV

I stared at myself in the mirror, my hands gripping the edge of the vanity so hard. Twenty years old today, and I could barely recognize the girl staring back at me.

I should excited for my birthday party but instead looked tired. So damn tired.

Because I've lived this day before.

The memories flooded back. Five years of marriage to Finn Murphy in my past life, five years of lying in bed listening to him stumble home drunk. Every single night he'd collapse next to me, mumbling the same name over and over.

"Isabella... God, Isabella, I'm so sorry..."

In my past life, on my twentieth birthday. The Moretti messenger showed up, dropped the bomb about the ten-year-old engagement, and I completely lost it. I was so desperate to marry Finn, that I rallied the family elders against Dad. Put so much pressure on him that he had no choice but to back down.

So he sent Isabella instead. His illegitimate daughter, the one he'd brought home just two years before that. She went to New York to marry Luca Moretti.

Then six months later, we got word that she died in a shootout.

Finn never forgave me for it. He blamed me for Isabella's death every single day of our marriage. That's why he drank. That's why he could barely look at me. I'd fought so hard to marry him, used every bit of influence I had, and all I got was five years of him hating me for stealing the life Isabella should've had.

I used to cry about it at first. Then I just got numb. What else could I do? Mom wanted me to marry him, made me promise on her deathbed. I married him, and he gave me five years of the coldest, most miserable existence I could imagine.

The worst part was the end. I closed my eyes and I was right back there, gunfire everywhere, Finn throwing himself in front of me. The bullet tore through his chest and he grabbed my hand, blood spreading across his shirt way too fast.

"Sienna..." His voice came out wet and broken. For the first time in five years, "I'm sorry. Next time... just let me go, okay?"

I nodded because what else was I supposed to do? Then the gunman turned to me and everything went black.

Well, I kept my promise, Finn. This time you're free.

I opened my eyes and stared at my mom's photograph on the vanity. She was smiling in the garden, looking so happy and alive. That picture was taken maybe three weeks before she died in the ambush ten years ago. Before everything went to hell.

"You told me to marry him, Mom." My voice came out quieter than I meant it to. "You made me promise I'd marry Finn and be happy."

But she didn't know. How could she? Dad never told her that he'd already promised me to the Morettis, that I was basically payment for losing a war. She died thinking I'd marry for love, that Finn would take care of me.

What a joke that turned out to be.

I picked up the pearl necklace she gave me for my tenth birthday, right before she died. The pearls felt smooth and cool in my palm, and I remembered how excited I'd been when she fastened it around my neck. I'd worn it every day until the funeral.

"I can't do what you wanted this time." I traced each pearl with my finger. "I need to make a different choice, and I know you'd hate it, but I can't go through that again. I just can't."

The Morettis. New York's Italian mafia, the family that destroyed my father in the border wars ten years ago. According to the contract Dad signed back then, I belonged to them now. Specifically to Luca Moretti, their heir.

At least he doesn't know Isabella. At least I won't be anyone's second choice this time.

Someone knocked on my door and I nearly dropped the necklace.

"Miss Sienna? Guests are starting to arrive."

"Give me five minutes." I set the necklace down carefully and stood up. Dad picked this color on purpose because it matched my eyes, wanted to show off his precious daughter to all of Boston's crime families.

Wonder how precious I'll look when everyone finds out he sold me off ten years ago.

The grand hall looked like something out of a movie. O'Connor family members were everywhere, dressed up and mingling with our allied families.

I walked down the main staircase slowly, keeping one hand on the banister. Every head turned to watch me. I'm the O'Connor princess, the future of the family bloodline.

Dad waited at the bottom of the stairs with this tight smile on his face. Patrick O'Connor looked uncomfortable in his expensive suit, which made sense since he married into this family and never really fit in. He decided to change to my mom's surname back then to secure his status, but it didn't actually make him part of our family. Even after twenty years, even as the supposed head of the family, he still looked like an outsider.

"Sienna, you look beautiful." He kissed my cheek but his eyes stayed cold and distant.

You can't wait to ship me off to New York, can you?