Dedication

To my readers on Wattpad,

I could not have imagined in a million years, finishing this book without all of you. Your support is everything to me! Thank you so much for being here, for all your supportive comments and for being all the encouragement a girl could ever need. Thank you for being my 'unofficial' editors. You never failed to point out all the typos and horrid use of grammar. For your kind and gentle corrections, for pushing me to write, in a few weeks, what would have ordinarily taken months to write. My greatest fear is trying to write down all your names, because if I do, I will fail miserably to do so without leaving a lot of people out. This book is dedicated to you all.

To Rawan Ameer, Siri and Nosyuu, thank you so much for your support.

To my family; my parents, my brother Emmanuel and my sister, Sharon, thanks for being a supportive family.

To my Heavenly father,

Without whom there will certainly be no me, thank you.

Prologue

New York, 1901

“I do apologize, Matt, but I just can't picture a life with you. While you do have a lot of money to your name, I'm afraid it's not enough.”

Her own words echoed in her ears –a mistake from her past coming back to haunt her several months later as the image of Matthew on his knees, holding up an engagement ring to her, flashed before her eyes. She watched as her rejection sank into him, helping to extinguish the fire that once burned in his hazel eyes. She watched the blood drain from his face, the weight of her words settling on his shoulders until his fingers could no longer maintain their grip on the ring. She watched the love of her life fall apart before her, but rather than go to him, she had turned her back on him and it had turned out to be the worst decision of her life.

She knew, as she stood on the dock with her gaze fixed on the ship ahead, that that one decision, inspired by greed and ignorance, had stirred her life in a completely different direction, forcing her to leave everything she ever loved behind and embark on a journey to a country she knew nothing about.

Straightening, she let out a breath as the cool evening breeze caressed her face –she feared she was making the wrong decision by choosing to leave. The part of her that longed desperately to hold on to the past seemed to keep her feet glued to its position on the dock. Yet, the part of her that knew the past was broken, urged her on. She couldn’t turn back because Matthew hadn’t just moved on by marrying another woman, but her own family had become bankrupt. Moving to London and accepting a job with a dressmaker was the only option she had.