

I married Don Matteo in secret. Every time he fucked his childhood sweetheart, he promised me a real wedding,in front of the Five Families. For five years, Matteo promised me ninety-nine times. And ninety-nine times, he left me at the altar. The first time, Cecilia’s prize-winning show cat died. To comfort her, he postponed the wedding for three months. I stood at the altar alone, eyes red, trying to calm down the family elders. The second time, Cecilia threw a tantrum at a casino and shattered a hundred-million-dollar antique vase. He diverted the private jet meant for their wedding and rushed through the night to clean up her mess. And every time, right before our wedding, his childhood sweetheart would have some kind of emergency. I cried. I screamed. I even held a gun to his head. But Matteo would just pin me against the wall and shut me up with a cold, hard kiss. “She’s just a fuck. You are Mrs. Falcone. Have some goddamn class.” After the ninety-ninth time, I was finally done. I slid the papers across the table. The ink was still wet, the Falcone family seal stamped at the bottom. “Our marriage, our alliance—it’s over.”

On her perfect wedding day, Sarah Anderson wears a sixty-thousand-dollar gown and smiles for three hundred guests. But hidden inside the massive hoop skirt is a man—Jorden, her husband's best friend, a dwarf with a predatory obsession. While the priest reads vows, his hands crawl up her legs, and no one can see. Sarah must stay silent, or ruin her own wedding. But the nightmare doesn't end at the altar. Jorden threatens her, blackmails her, and returns again and again. Worse, Sarah discovers that her own husband, Chad, orchestrated it all—sharing her like a trophy with his friend. Her maid of honor and best friend, Jennifer, isn't a victim either; she's been turned into Jorden's accomplice, helping him trap Sarah at every turn. Broken but not defeated, Sarah stops running. She hides a camera in her hairpin, records every assault, and builds a case that will expose not just one predator, but a conspiracy of betrayal. In a shocking courtroom finale, she names every perpetrator—including the man who vowed to love her. Beneath the Wedding Dress is a harrowing psychological thriller about one woman's journey from silent victim to fierce survivor—and the terrifying truth that the people closest to us can be the most dangerous of all.