Chapter 1

The diamond tiara had barely been pinned into my hair when Brielle Vaughn reached over and ripped it off.

Pain shot across my scalp. Several strands of my silver-gray hair came loose with the pins and fell across the white skirt of my wedding gown.

Brielle acted as if nothing had happened. She walked straight to the mirror, set the tiara on top of her blond curls, and turned her head from side to side.

"Now this looks right. The woman Callum actually loves should be wearing it. Not some stranger who only got invited to the altar because the older generation arranged it."

The private bridal atelier went silent.

Every stylist lowered her head. No one dared say a word.

I watched Brielle through the mirror.

White dress. Red lipstick. The Sterling family's silver crest pinned over her heart. That crest was supposed to be placed on the bride by the groom on the wedding day.

Yet she was wearing it now.

Standing beside my wedding gown, she did look more like the woman in charge of the wedding than I did.

At least, that was what she believed.

My name is Sloane Mercer.

In three days, I was supposed to marry Callum Sterling.

Our engagement had been arranged by our families. The Mercers controlled most of the land and investment rights for the Hudson Point redevelopment. The Sterlings were responsible for construction and operations.

Everyone in New York said that once the wedding happened, our families would become the strongest business alliance in the city.

There was only one problem.

Callum and I had never met in person.

After my mother died, my grandmother kept my private life tightly protected.

The families had scheduled three video calls so Callum and I could get acquainted.

The first time, he joined from a racetrack. The second time, he was at a private party. The third time, he sent his assistant in his place.

His assistant delivered Callum's exact message: the engagement was already settled, so meeting early would be a waste of time.

The contracts had been reviewed by both families' legal teams. In Callum's mind, whether he met me or not would not change the outcome.

He knew my name, my family, and our wedding date.

He had simply never spent a single minute trying to know the woman he planned to marry.

I held out my hand to Brielle.

"Give it back."

She lifted her chin.

"Come take it."

The atelier manager rushed over, sweat already forming along his forehead.

"Ms. Vaughn, that piece belongs to a private collection. It is not available for fittings."

"A private collection?" Brielle ran a fingertip over the diamonds. "Callum told me I could have anything I wanted from the wedding."

The manager opened his mouth, then hesitated.

"But this tiara did not come from one of the wedding vendors."

"So what?" Brielle turned toward me. "Callum does not even know what you look like, but he trusted me with every detail of the wedding. You cannot honestly think wearing that dress makes you the real future Mrs. Sterling."

My eyes moved to the tiara on her head.

"That belonged to my mother."

My mother, Lenora Mercer, had worn it on her wedding day.

After she died, it stayed locked in the Mercer family vault for sixteen years. I had taken it out for the first time because of this wedding.

An unsigned design sketch hung on the wall behind us. The white roses and arched windows in the drawing had been created by my mother when she was young.

Brielle had not looked at it once when she entered.

She had never bothered to ask whose place she was standing in, or whose memories she was taking.

The words "my mother's" did not change her expression.

She laughed.

"Then your mother had decent taste."

I pulled out my phone and called Callum.

He let it ring six times before answering.

"What?"

"Brielle just ripped my mother's tiara out of my hair."

There was a beat of silence.

Then he asked, "Who is this?"

Those three words hurt more than my scalp.

I tightened my grip on the phone.

"Sloane Mercer. Your fiancée."

He did not sound surprised. He gave a cold laugh instead.

"Brielle already called me. She said some woman overheard the wedding plans, walked into the atelier pretending to be my fiancée, and tried to take the tiara she had chosen."

Of course.

Brielle's favorite move was always to accuse someone else first.

"So she said one sentence, and you decided I was lying?"

"Sloane and I have never met. How am I supposed to know who is on the phone?" There was no apology in his voice.

Our wedding was three days away.

My fiancé did not recognize my voice. He did not know where I was. He could not be bothered to spend one minute confirming my identity.

But he believed every word Brielle said.

I laughed.

"Then remember my voice now, because this is the last call you will ever receive as my fiancé."

I ended the call.

Brielle crossed her arms, looking even more pleased with herself.

"He did not believe you, did he? I told you. To Callum, I matter more than any fiancée ever could."

I ignored her and looked at the manager, whose face had gone pale.

"Call the Sterling estate. Tell them Sloane Mercer has canceled the wedding."

"Ms. Mercer..."

As he said my name, the manager quietly pressed the emergency button beneath the counter. It connected directly to Mercer family security.

After my mother died, I became the family's sole heir. Starting at sixteen, I had been trained in personal security, counter-surveillance, and basic self-defense.

The first thing my grandmother taught me was not how to attack.

It was to make sure I always had an exit before real danger arrived.

For the first time, Brielle's smile slipped.

Before the manager could reach for the phone, the atelier doors flew open.

Callum Sterling strode inside, bringing the cold rain in with him. The Sterling estate's longtime butler and two bodyguards followed close behind.

The butler spotted the white-rose signet ring on the counter.

His expression changed immediately. He stepped to Callum's side.

"Sir, she is Ms. Mercer."

Callum stopped.

He finally turned and looked at me properly for the first time.

Surprise flashed in his eyes for one second. Then it became anger.

Not because he had mistaken me for an impostor.

Because I had dared cancel the wedding in public.

Brielle's eyes filled with tears as she rushed into his arms.

"Callum, she tried to take the tiara from me, and then she shoved me."

Callum did not ask me what had happened.

He walked to Brielle and removed the tiara from her head.

For one ridiculous second, I thought he was finally going to return it to its owner.

Instead, he checked it for damage and carefully placed it back on Brielle's hair.

"If she likes it, let her wear it for now."

Whatever hope I still had disappeared.

The manager could no longer stay quiet.

"Mr. Sterling, the tiara is registered to Ms. Mercer, and—"

"Enough." Callum cut him off.

Then he turned to me and looked down at the floor in front of my feet.

"Kneel and apologize to Brielle."