Chapter 1

1.

Twenty-four hours after Denton Vanderbilt announced our engagement was off in front of the entire Hamptons social scene, I was on a private jet to California.

"Seraphina Rockefeller?" He had said, his arm wrapped around his new flame's tiny waist, his voice dripping with enough scorn to shatter a champagne tower. "She's just a spoiled princess. She'll have her little tantrum and come crawling back in a few days."

He said it while a phone camera was pointed right at his face. The next day, Page Six's headline would read: "VANDERBILT HEIR HUMILIATES ROCKEFELLER HEIRESS: TRUE LOVE CONQUERS ALLIANCE?"

All my "friends" held their breath, waiting for me to tear my dress, smash the champagne tower, and turn this charity gala into the New York society scandal of the year.

But they didn't know―I had already signed another marriage contract.

This flight to San Francisco wasn't for healing. It was for revenge.

The wedding was set for next month.

Before boarding, I packed up every gift Denton had ever given me and shipped them via FedEx back to his Fifth Avenue penthouse.

That included the Van Cleef & Arpels zipper necklace he had fastened around my neck himself.

I once thought it was a promise, locking in our love.

Now I realized it was just a collar for his pet.

As the plane broke through the clouds, I opened my phone for one last look at New York.

The city I once thought would be my forever home was now just a glittering speck below me.

On the terrace of the Hamptons Beach Club, Denton was probably holding his "true love," showing the world how rebellious and brave he was.

A Cinderella story is always more captivating than a predictable union of dynasties.

What he didn't know was this―

The man I was about to marry had a net worth three times that of the entire Vanderbilt clan.

The tech company he founded was disrupting every legacy industry Vanderbilt Capital had ever invested in.

And our wedding guest list? It would include every Silicon Valley titan he was desperately trying to get a meeting with.

"Miss, more champagne?" the flight attendant asked softly.

I took the crystal flute and gazed out the window.

The California sun was waiting for me on the other side of the clouds.

And New York was dying behind me.