Chapter 1 The Betrayal

BOOM!

And then the gavel hit the judge's desk, sealing her fate.

Valeria Montoya froze in the center of the sprawling courtroom, her heart pounding against her rib cage as the words rang in her ears.

"For crimes against the Montoya Corporation, Ms. Valeria Montoya is sentenced to two years in federal prison."

Gurgles of horror spread through the audience, but the reaction that knifed home was the monied grin creasing the mouth of the woman sitting next to Valeria's father.

Catalina.

Her younger sister. Her own flesh and blood.

Wearing a sleek black gown that hugged her shape, Catalina leaned against Alonso, Valeria's would-be fiancé. Alonso gave her a side-eye and placed a chaste kiss on Catalina's forehead, intertwining his fingers between her own.

Valeria's stomach turned inside out.

This wasn't happening.

"Father," she choked out, turning to the man she had always admired, hoping - praying - that he would stand up for her.

But Don Hector Montoya - one of the most powerful men in Mexico - merely pulled at his cufflinks and stared at her coolly, without emotion.

"You let me down, Valeria." His voice was cutting, like a knife. "You deserve this."

No. No, no, no.

"I didn't do this!" Valeria shouted, turning to the judge. "I was framed! I would never steal from the company!"

The guards were already coming her way.

"You have to believe me!" she wept, scanning the room for a friendly face. There was none.

"Take her away," the judge ordered.

Arms, clamped and hauling her back.

"No! Let me go!" She fought it, her eyes stinging with unshed tears. "Alonso, tell 'em the truth!"

Her former fiancé didn't so much as glance at her. He simply loomed next to Catalina with his arm protectively slung around her waist.

That was when it hit her.

They had planned this.

Her own sister had snatched away her fiancé, framed her, and ultimately made sure that she was deleted from the Montoya clan.

As the guards pulled her from the courtroom, Valeria would lock eyes once more with Catalina.

The woman she had once known - the sister she had once loved - smiled.

And then, in the coldest, most bone-chilling voice, Catalina said:

"Stay in prison, dear sister. It suits you."

Prison: Two Years Later

The cell was damp. Cold. Suffocating.

For two years, Valeria had resided in this hellhole, suffering mocking, abuse and the daily reminder that her family had forsaken her.

They never visited.

They never sent letters.

In their eyes, she was already dead.

As she lay staring at the ceiling, facing cracks for the hundredth time, her fingers curled into fists.

Then she heard the sound of heavy boots clumping down the hallway.

A guard came and unlocked the cell. "Get up, Montoya. Time to go."

Go?

Her heart leaped. Was she being released?

Weak from malnutrition, she stood and followed the guard down a dimly lit hall.

When he opened the door, she thought, her father would be standing there, arms wide with the ultimate realization that he had been wrong.

But instead...

She saw strangers.

Next to a sleek dark car were three men dressed in black suits. One of them - a muscly guy with a scar down the side of his face - walked over to her, holding a folded piece of paper.

"Sign this," he ordered.

She glanced at the paper. It was a contract.

A marriage contract.

Her blood ran cold. "What is this?"

The man's dark eyes glinted. "Your father sold you."

Valeria's throat constricted with unexpected breath.

No. No, he wouldn't...

Would he?

The man leaned closer, lowered his voice to a whisper. "You belong to Rafael DeLuca now."

Her pulse stopped.

Mexico's most dangerous mafia boss.

The man who had set whole empires on fire.

Her new husband.

And she suddenly understood - prison had merely opened the door to her nightmare.

Who is Rafael DeLuca, and why did he purchase Valeria?