He Chose A Fake Heiress Over His True Queen

I waited seven years for Jax Vetti, the youngest Capo in New York, to finally claim me. Instead, five minutes before our scheduled engagement, he called me a burden behind a velvet curtain.

Standing on the center stage of the Gala, he didn't reach for my hand. He took the hand of Chloe Davenport, his rival’s daughter, and announced to the underworld that she was carrying his heir.

When the explosion tore through the ballroom moments later, Jax didn't hesitate. He threw his body over Chloe, shielding her completely, and dragged her to the safe room.

I was left behind, exposed and helpless, until a massive crystal chandelier crashed down, crushing my legs and slicing my throat.

While I lay bleeding out on the cold floor, Jax returned. He looked at my shattered body not with horror, but with disgust.

"You're a liability, Savvy," he sneered, ordering his guards to dump me in the courtyard like trash so I wouldn't upset his pregnant fiancée.

I clutched the bullet casing he gave me years ago—a blood oath he swore would bind us forever. He had promised to protect me, but tonight, he stepped over my broken body to comfort the woman who was secretly plotting his demise.

His second-in-command found me before the cold took me.

"He's lost his mind," Ben whispered, scooping me up and driving me to a private jet bound for Sicily.

I didn't die that night. But the girl who loved Jax Vetti did.

Six months later, I returned from the dead. Not as his victim, but as the woman who would turn his wedding into a funeral.

Chapter 1

He called me a burden exactly five minutes before he was scheduled to put a ring on my finger.

I stood frozen behind the heavy velvet curtain of the smoking room, my hand hovering over the cold brass handle.

Inside, the air smelled of expensive cigars and the sharp, metallic tang of betrayal.

"She's a child, Ben." Jax's voice was low, a rumble that usually made my stomach flip with excitement. Now, it just curdled the champagne in my gut.

"Savvy is a relic of a past I'm trying to outgrow. She's sweet, sure. But sweet doesn't secure the southern territories."

"She worships you, Jax." Ben's voice was tighter, hesitant. "She's waited four years. You gave her your word."

"I gave her a soft 'maybe' to keep her docile," Jax scoffed. The sound of ice hitting glass echoed in the silence that followed. "I need the Davenport ports. Chloe brings me power. Savvy brings me... what? Blind loyalty? I have dogs for that."

My breath hitched in my throat.

I wasn't supposed to be here.

I was supposed to be in the ballroom, fixing my lipstick, preparing for the moment Jax Vetti, the youngest Capo in the history of the New York families, would finally claim me.

Jax was a god in this city.

He'd killed his first man at sixteen.

By twenty-five, he controlled the docks,