A Substitute for Love

Synopsis

Vera overheard her fiancé Julian planning her destruction. He was sleeping with her stepsister Isabella. He was going to swap her at the altar and send her to Lorenzo, a crippled tyrant who collected broken things. Vera did not cry. She dropped her engagement ring into acid. Then she made a deal: she would marry Lorenzo herself, on one condition—no one would know. She walked into the Harrington estate and met the monster everyone feared. On their wedding night, Lorenzo's nerve pain nearly destroyed him. Vera used her own formula to stop it. She became the only person who could calm him. He became the only person who saw her. Julian grew jealous. He tried to kill Lorenzo. Lorenzo was ready. The trap killed Julian's men. Julian ended up in Vera's basement, a test subject for her experiments. The Carter family fell. Lorenzo took back the underworld. Vera stood beside him, his black rose, his equal, his cure.