Chapter 2

At St. Jude's Prep, Alvin never fit in.

He was the poor scholarship kid—the brilliant outsider forcing his way into a world of old money and privilege.

When those assholes whispered about me behind my back in the locker room, he was the one who shut them down and took every ugly rumor head-on.

I had fallen for that honesty of his—cheap in everything but character, and painfully real.

At a party, I faked a cramp and let myself fall into the deep end of the pool.

He jumped in after me without a second thought and nearly drowned saving me.

Later, in a cramped ER room, on a narrow hospital bed, I kissed him.

That was how our secret relationship began.

But my family's crisis destroyed everything.

I was barely holding myself together under the weight of it all.

And he was drowning too, buried in student loans he had no way to escape.

So I dumped him.

"I'm not about to spend the rest of my life with you in some shitty Brooklyn basement, living one hopeless broke day after another."

That was the last thing I ever said to the only man besides my father who had truly loved me.

Then I walked away without looking back and threw myself into Vic's arms, hoping a marriage alliance could save my family.

At the memory, my breathing turned ragged.

Bang!

Vic kicked the chair out from under me without warning, and I crashed to the floor with it. "Wipe that disgusting look off your face, Eve. Don't think hearing a familiar name means you get to start scheming!"

Pain shot through my body. I instinctively tried to argue, but the second a cry slipped out, Chloe came storming over in her heels.

Smack! Another sharp slap landed across my face.

"You'd better learn your place, slut!" Chloe snarled. She grabbed a roll of tape and slapped it roughly over my mouth, her nails scraping hard enough to cut my cheek.

A wave of bitter despair rose in me.

So what if I ran into Alvin here? Would I beg him to save me?

No. He would never help me.

I had taken what little dignity he had and ground it into the dirt. Now he stood at the top, a Wall Street titan with capital in his hands. If he saw me like this, he would probably think I deserved every second of it.

Just then, Vic drew in a breath, put on a completely different face, and dialed the number.

"Good evening, Mr. Vance! To show my sincerity regarding the international shipping route, I've prepared an absolutely private dinner for you tonight at Elysium. Every beauty in the club is yours to choose from, and tonight, we also have a very special dessert." He lowered his voice. "A fallen Upper East Side heiress. She's nothing like the usual airheads. I'm sure you'd be interested in breaking her wings yourself."

"Is that so?" Alvin's voice was ice-cold. "Vic, your background research must be complete garbage. The women I can't stand most in this world are spoiled rich girls who think they're above everyone else."

Vic's smile froze. Sweat instantly broke out across his forehead. "M-Mr. Vance, if you'd just let me explain—"

"You managed to hit my exact trigger point." Alvin cut him off coldly. "That alone tells me your company lacks even the most basic professionalism. Our negotiations are over."

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The call was disconnected.

Vic stared at his phone in disbelief. Just as he was about to call back, the screen lit up again. This time it was an emergency line from one of his executives.

He fumbled to answer it.

"Boss! Something terrible's happened!" The voice on the other end was frantic. "Vance Capital just cut off every negotiation channel we had! Without their route approval, our five cargo ships stranded in international waters can't enter port at all! If we can't deliver by tomorrow morning, the penalties alone will bankrupt us on the spot!"

It was like all the blood drained from Vic's body at once. His phone slipped from his hand.

"Oh my God, Vic..." Chloe immediately piled on, jabbing a finger at me as she screamed, "It's her! Eve is bad luck! She brought down old Mr. Rockwood, destroyed her own family, and now she's going to destroy you too! Kill her now and dump her in the ocean for the sharks!"

That was the final straw.

"You fucking bitch!"

Vic lunged at me, yanked both me and the chair upright, and clamped his hands around my throat.

"Die! Just die! Give me back my shipping route! Give me back my empire!"

I kicked and thrashed in agony as the edges of my vision started going black.

No... I couldn't die... Not before I dragged them into hell with me.

Using the last ounce of strength in my body, I braced both hands against the chair and threw my head back hard. Sweat and tears blurred together, and in the struggle, the tape over my mouth finally peeled loose on one side.

"Cough... cough..." I choked out the words. "Let me go... I can fix this for you!"

"If... if you can't get Alvin to approve the route..." I forced out each word through gritted teeth. "Then let me handle it. If I fail, you put that electronic shackle on me yourself. I have nowhere to run. When that happens, you can kill me however you want."