I asked a complete stranger to kiss me in the middle of a black-tie charity gala
, expecting nothing more than a desperate act of revenge. Instead, the moment my cheating fiancé looked at the man beside me, the color drained from his face, and I realized I had just stepped into a nightmare far bigger than betrayal. Whatever secret stood between those two men was powerful enough to make a man who feared nothing suddenly look terrified.
"Can you kiss me?"
The words escaped my lips before I even got a good look at him.
All I knew was that my fiancé, Nathan Wexler, was standing across the ballroom with his hand resting far too comfortably on my younger sister Emily's waist. If I stood there another second, everyone inside that elegant New York ballroom would watch my heart break right in front of them.
So I grabbed the sleeve of the nearest man wearing a perfectly tailored black tuxedo.
"Please," I whispered, struggling to keep my voice from shaking. "Kiss me. I want to make him jealous."
He didn't answer.
Around us, the Grand Sterling Hotel shimmered beneath crystal chandeliers. White roses decorated every table, champagne flowed endlessly, and a live string quartet filled the room with beautiful music. Hundreds of investors, politicians, and some of the wealthiest families in the country gathered for the Blake-Wexler Foundation Gala—an event I had spent months organizing.
I chose every decoration.
I approved every menu.
I even wrote the speech Nathan was supposed to deliver later that evening.
He should have been standing beside me.
Instead, only eighteen minutes earlier, I'd opened the door to a private service hallway and found him kissing my own sister. His hands were tangled in Emily's hair while she smiled against his lips as if they had absolutely nothing to hide.
Now they stood together, laughing with guests as though nothing had happened.
The engagement ring Nathan had slipped onto my finger still sparkled beneath the ballroom lights, making me feel even more humiliated.
Finally, the stranger turned toward me.
My breath caught.
He looked to be around sixty years old, tall and broad-shouldered, with silver hair at his temples and a thin scar cutting through one eyebrow. His face remained calm, yet he carried the kind of quiet authority that made powerful people instinctively step aside without realizing they were doing it.
His eyes lowered to my hand gripping his sleeve.
"I'm... I'm sorry," I stammered, unable to let go. "I know I sound completely insane. But the man over there has been cheating on me with my sister for eight months, and I refuse to let him enjoy watching me fall apart."
Without even looking directly at Nathan, he asked quietly, "The man beside the marble arch?"
"Yes."
"He noticed me before he noticed you."
A cold chill raced down my spine.
"What does that mean?"
His expression never changed.
"It means he isn't jealous."
Only then did he raise his eyes to meet mine.
"He's afraid."
I slowly turned toward Nathan.
He wasn't looking at Emily anymore.
His confident smile—the one that always charmed investors and donors—had completely disappeared. His face had gone ghost white, and his eyes were locked on the man standing beside me as though he'd just seen a ghost.
"Who are you?" I whispered.
The stranger studied me for a long, silent moment.
"My name is Dominic Bellardi."
The effect was immediate.
Conversations around us faded into silence. A man standing beside the champagne tower slowly lowered his glass. Several executives suddenly found somewhere else to look, and even Nathan's business partners wore expressions that bordered on panic.
I knew that name.
Everyone did.
Dominic Bellardi was the billionaire real estate tycoon whispered about in newspapers and business circles alike—the man rumored to have once ruled an empire far more dangerous than anyone dared discuss out loud. Officially, he was called a retired crime boss.
Nobody actually believed someone like him ever retired.
Mortified, I started pulling my hand away.
Instead, he gently took it and rested it on his arm as though we had arrived together.
"Walk with me," he said calmly.
"I asked you to kiss me."
"I heard you."
"You never answered."
The faintest smile touched the corner of his mouth.
"I never said no."
His hand rested lightly against my back as he guided me directly toward Nathan and Emily.
My heart pounded so hard I could barely breathe.
"What are you doing?" I whispered.
Dominic never looked away from my horrified fiancé.
Then, without slowing his pace, he leaned slightly closer and quietly said something that made every drop of blood drain from my face...
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