Separate Roads I Fought For

"I stared at the Vercetti marriage contract my father pushed across the table.Without hesitation, I wrote my half-sister’s name, Demi, and slid it back.My father froze. Then his eyes lit up with ridiculous excitement, like he’d just won the lottery."How can you give such a perfect chance to your sister?"Last life, my marriage was a joke for everyone around me.I was the red-haired, untamed little witch who dared to climb into the orbit of Cassian Vercetti, heir and leader of the old-blood Vercetti crime family.I was never perfect nor obedient.He loved goddess gowns. I wore mini skirts and danced on tables.He demanded missionary, traditional, orderly intimacy. I wanted to climb on top, ride him, lose myself completely.At a gala, society wives laughing at my hair, my dress, my “wildness.”I thought he would at least pretend to defend me.He didn’t.“Forgive her. She’s not…properly trained.”Trained.Like a dog.I spent my entire last life suffocating under his rules, bending myself bloody to fit the shape he wanted, until the night our house caught fire.When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the moment I learned of the arranged marriage.I looked at the contract in front of me.This time?I think the nightclub boys suits me better.But the moment Cassian realized the bride wasn’t me, he shattered every rule he’d ever lived by."