The Don's Contract Bride

Three months later, the corporate landscape of Manhattan had completely reorganized itself.

The ruins of Montgomery & Hayes had been bought out at pennies on the dollar by Vanguard Capital. The municipal harbor project—once the crown jewel of Victoria Sterling’s real estate portfolio—was now being redesigned under the direct supervision of Elena Moretti’s engineering firm, which she now ran as an independent subsidiary of the Moretti syndicate.

Inside the top-floor office of the Vanguard building, Elena sat behind her glass desk, reviewing the final structural blueprints for the new harbor suspension bridge.

The door opened quietly, and Marcus Thorne walked in, holding a final dossier.

"Everything is settled, Mrs. Moretti," Marcus reported professionally. "Julian Montgomery filed for personal bankruptcy in Delaware yesterday. He’s officially left the state, working a low-level administrative job in a small firm out West. The Sterling family has legally disowned him, and Victoria has filed for an annulment."

Elena didn't look up from her blueprints. She simply signed her name across the final approval line with a steady, confident stroke.

"Let him go, Marcus," Elena said calmly. "He’s not worth another thought."

"Yes, ma'am," Marcus nodded, turning to leave before pausing at the door. "Oh—Mr. Moretti asked me to remind you that he’s waiting for you downstairs in the car. You have a private flight to catch to the Mediterranean for your honeymoon."

Elena smiled, closing the dossier. "Tell him I'll be down in two minutes."

She stood up, walking over to the floor-to-ceiling window to look out over the sprawling Manhattan skyline. The city that had once tried to crush her—the city where she had been abandoned in a ruined wedding dress—was now a kingdom she helped govern.