Swapping Fiancés：I Married the Ruthless Don novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: The Wrong Sister
Cami boards a private jet past her furious mother, lands in New York and writes her own name in the Don's bride slot; Rocco says: meet my wife.
My mother caught me at the private hangar ten minutes before the jet left for New York.
She pointed her finger at my face in front of the pilots and the whole ground crew.
"Are you out of your mind, Camilla?"
"You have a perfect match waiting in Miami. A tech mogul. And you are throwing him away for a gangster?"
"Elliot Copeland is a good man, Mom," I said. "He just isn't mine."
"Livia marries the Don on Saturday! It is signed! The families shook hands!"
"Livia marries Elliot on Saturday. I'm marrying the Don."
My mother stared at me with her mouth open.
Then she grabbed my sleeve, and I pulled my arm free.
I did not say sorry.
I picked up my bag and climbed the steps of the jet.
When the door closed, I looked out the window at her small figure on the tarmac, still pointing.
Then the plane lifted, and I made myself a promise.
This time I would live my life on my own terms.
In my last life, Livia married the Don, Rocco Ferrante, and died in his house two years later.
Then I woke up yesterday morning, two days before the weddings, with my whole life still in my head.
I went straight to Livia's room.
"We're switching fiancés," I told her.
Her eyes went wide. "Cami, Rocco Ferrante runs the New York mob. He is dangerous."
"I can handle him."
"You don't even love him."
"I need the Ferrante name behind my security firm, and Elliot will give you the quiet life you want."
Livia cried and said she did not want me to sacrifice myself.
I told her it was not a sacrifice.
It was a solution.
By midnight she had agreed, with her suitcase half packed for the wrong wedding.
We kept it from our parents, who would never have allowed it.
The original marriage contract between our families had a blank line for the bride's name, to be filled in at the signing.
I had it in my bag.
An hour later the jet landed in New York.
I was pale from the motion sickness, but my head was clear.
A black Rolls-Royce was already waiting on the runway, engine running, though we had not told anyone our landing time.
The butler held the door.
"Miss Brandolini. Mr. Ferrante said to expect the elder one."
My mother must have phoned the house, I thought.
I got in.
The Ferrante estate was bigger than I remembered from my last life.
The butler led me into a living room full of dark wood and old money, which was cold and heavy and meant to scare visitors.
He put a glass of cold blood-orange soda with a lemon wedge on the table by my chair.
It was exactly what I drink.
A lucky guess, I thought, and drank half of it.
"You must be exhausted," a woman said from the doorway. "The flight in from Miami is awful. I'll have them bring you a blanket."
I turned.
She was small and pale, in a cream Chanel suit, and she looked so delicate that a breeze could have knocked her down.
She came across the carpet with both hands out.
"I'm Bianca. I grew up in this house, so I know how overwhelming it is. Please sit. I'll find you a warm drink."
I took her hand.
"No, thank you."
"That's a lovely perfume," she said. "What is it?"
"A department store one."
"Lovely," she said, and smiled.
I knew that smile.
In my last life, I had stood at my sister's funeral and watched it wipe away tears.
Bianca had made Livia's life hell, and I was not going to forget it.
A heavy step sounded in the hall, and the woman's eyes went to the door.
The man who stopped in the doorway was tall and stone-faced, in a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
A scar split his left eyebrow.
Rocco Ferrante did not look at me first.
He looked at the empty doorway behind me.
"Where is Livia?"
"At home," I said. "She marries Elliot Copeland on Saturday."
His face did not change.
"I am the Brandolini bride you are getting, Mr. Ferrante."
"Oh, Camilla," Bianca said gently, "I think there has been a mix-up. Let me help sort it out."
I took the contract out of my bag and laid it on the table.
I uncapped a pen, and in the blank line for the bride's name I wrote Camilla Brandolini.
Bianca's hand closed around the little gold key on her wrist until her knuckles went white.
Rocco crossed the room and read the line.
He read it twice.
He took a long time to look up at me.
Then he turned to Bianca, who was still smiling at him, and spoke without taking his eyes off my face.
"Meet my wife."
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend