He Shoved Cake in My Face. I Destroyed His Empire! novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: The Cake
Allegra's friends bet on her at her own engagement party, her fiancé shoves cake in her face, and she lays her ring on a tray and walks out.
My best friend tapped her fork against her glass, and three hundred guests turned to look at me.
I was standing at the front of a ballroom with a champagne flute in my hand.
I had practiced my toast all week.
The party was for two engagements.
Colette was marrying Dominic, the man I had loved for ten years.
I was marrying Tobias, who ran a company with Dominic.
Ten minutes earlier, Tobias had put his mouth to my ear.
"Whatever those two have planned, I'm standing next to you."
Right after that, Dominic had slid a folder across the bar.
Tobias signed it without looking down, because he was looking at me.
Now Colette smiled at the whole room.
"Before Allegra speaks, let's find out if our princess has her fiancé trained."
Somebody near the front started chanting for cake.
A waiter wheeled out the engagement cake, three tiers of white buttercream.
Someone put a plate with a thick slice into Tobias's hand.
The chanting got louder.
Tobias looked at the plate and didn't move.
For one second I thought he would set it down and take my hand.
"Come on, Tobias," Dominic called. "Are you whipped already? You haven't even married her yet."
Tobias's jaw locked.
He looked at Dominic, then at the phones held up all around us.
Then he shoved the cake into my face.
Buttercream filled my eyes and my nose.
The ballroom roared with laughter, and I heard it through a layer of frosting.
Colette hooked her arm through mine and tucked herself against my side.
Dominic stepped close and spoke low, right at my ear.
"Tobias only came after you because the three of us made a bet. He won my sailboat."
I stood very still.
They were waiting for me to cry.
They wanted me to demand answers, so they could explain my own feelings back to me.
I wiped my eyes with a napkin and took my phone out of my clutch.
I sent one text to my mother in Milan: Mamma, tell the family I'm ready to come home.
Colette laughed into Dominic's shoulder.
"She's actually angry this time. Who's going to talk her down?"
"Her fiancé, obviously." Dominic lifted his whiskey toward Tobias. "St. Patrick's, Saturday. She'll get used to it."
Tobias took his time crossing the floor.
He wiped his fingers on a monogrammed handkerchief while the phones kept recording.
"All right, sweetheart," he said. "That's enough."
He said it to me, and he made it my fault.
"Enough of what?" I asked. "Your game, or me reacting to it?"
His face twitched, but Dominic got in first.
"Don't turn this into something it isn't. Would Tobias plan a six-month wedding if he didn't love you?"
"Exactly." Colette rested her cheek on his arm. "He came for a bet and he fell for you. You got the happy ending. Why keep picking at the start?"
The emerald on her left hand caught the chandelier light.
Four years ago I had opened Dominic's bedroom door and found her in his bed, holding a camera.
They had wanted to film how cute I looked when I got jealous.
Afterward Colette told everyone I couldn't take a joke, and Dominic said I was too sensitive.
Somehow I ended up apologizing.
"Does saying you didn't mean it make it not count?" I asked her.
Her smile slipped. "I've always treated you like family. How can you think I'm that awful?"
"She's trying to explain," Dominic said, "and you're putting her on trial in front of everyone."
Tobias frowned at me.
"Allegra, don't turn our engagement party into a circus."
I almost laughed.
Ten minutes ago he had made me the entertainment, and now the circus was my fault.
Around us, bankers, heirs and old family friends studied their glasses.
A few looked uneasy, but nobody put a phone down.
That was the part I could not get past.
Tobias had flown to Milan on six hours' notice when my father died.
He still carried the Saint Christopher medal my grandmother had pressed into his hand.
But when Dominic poked at his pride, he picked the room over me.
So I stepped out.
I pulled my engagement ring off and laid it on a silver tray beside my dirty napkin.
Tobias caught my elbow.
When I looked at his hand, he let go.
"Where are you going?"
"Home."
He lowered his voice. "Fine. Go cool off. The wedding isn't canceled. My driver will pick you up Saturday morning."
He waited a moment.
"I'm still marrying you. What more do you want?"
He thought marriage was a blank check, and that as long as he signed it I would be grateful.
My mother had raised me to believe a marriage was an alliance, with loyalty owed both ways.
Without respect, it was only a contract waiting to be torn up.
Tobias knew almost nothing about my family in Milan.
He had no idea how much of the money behind his company had come through a fund in my name.
Outside, rain made Fifth Avenue shine.
A doorman put me in a black town car, and I finally read my mother's answer.
If you leave him, the Bellandi money behind DePeyster Harbor leaves with you. Are you sure?
I typed back before the car pulled away.
I'm sure. I'm leaving.
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