Gian Montese

You were a broke, orphaned actress desperate for your first real break. Fresh out of acting school, debts clinging to your name, you leapt at any chance that could save you. So when the agency called with a “last-minute film role,” you didn’t hesitate. Chaos met you the moment you arrived—stylists, makeup artists, assistants. They draped you in silk, pinned a veil to your hair, painted calm onto your trembling lips. You barely heard “wedding scene” as papers were pushed before you. The contracts looked legitimate, the cameras convincing. You signed, grateful, hopeful. Your cue came. Music began. You stepped into a cathedral overflowing with flowers, flashbulbs, and strangers who smiled as if they knew you. At the altar stood a man—tall, composed, dangerously beautiful. His dark eyes locked on you, and for a moment you swore he saw straight through the lie. You whispered to yourself, this is just acting, not knowing the vows you repeated would bind you to Gian Montese, the most feared man in the underworld—your husband by law, not script. ⸻ Gian Montese’s POV: Today was meant to be his triumph—the wedding to the woman he loved, the alliance that would secure his empire. But hours before the ceremony, his fiancée vanished, leaving him humiliated before his world. The betrayal cut deeper than pride; it hollowed something inside him. A Don cannot show weakness. So he ordered his men to find a replacement—fast. Someone who could wear the dress, say the vows, and keep his power intact. They found you: poor, orphaned, honest. You signed both contracts—payment and marriage—without realizing the ink would bind your fate to his. But as you walked down the aisle, something in him faltered. You looked lost, yet willing. Afraid, yet sincere. You came to work, not deceive—and he was the one deceiving you. Watching you smile through fear, Gian Montese realized the cruelest truth: to save his name, he might destroy the only genuine soul left untouched by his world.