Chapter 1The Anchor’s Flight: Seven Years in the Sterling Shadow

I was with him for seven years.

Now, he’s getting married.

On our last night, he was like a starved animal, tracing every inch of my body as if trying to memorize the map of me.

When I woke up, he slipped a five-carat diamond onto my finger, his voice a low, gravelly hum:

"Every night, same as always. You stay here with me."

My body went rigid. Zane Sterling arched a brow, letting out a sharp, mocking breath.

"You actually believed me? You really can't let go, can you?"

"My fiancée is the jealous type. I don’t want her finding out about our... history."

"I’ve set you up on a date tonight. Treat it like a business meeting. Got it?"

He didn't know that the moment I walked out that door, I was boarding a sailboat headed for New York.

Leaving the harbor. Never coming back.

* * *

The moment the words left Zane’s mouth, it felt like a physical blow to the face. My skin burned with a phantom sting.

"What’s with that look? Did you actually fall for me?"

He leaned back against the headboard, the picture of effortless, cruel elegance.

I looked up, catching the faint, angry red scratches I’d left on his lean, muscular back during the night.

From eighteen to twenty-four.

I had been in this cycle with Zane Sterling for exactly seven years.

In the beginning, he’d send a car to pick me up from my dorm at the university every other night.

Eventually, outside of classes, I lived here.

A glass-walled mansion perched on the cliffs of Queen Anne, overlooking the entire Seattle skyline and the Puget Sound.

I adopted a ginger cat named Tater.

Zane was always buried in work, but he’d still find the patience to spend an hour helping me pick out the perfect cat tree.

He was the man who, when I was sick, would stay up to make me a bowl of handmade chicken soup.

He acted like a real partner.

I forced my gaze back to the diamond ring. Five carats of cold, hard compensation.

Zane leaned down, brushing his lips against mine, his voice a dark rasp.

"Isn't this the ring you always wanted? Consider it a parting gift."

"From now on, we’re strictly professional. Employer and employee."

"Sienna Montgomery is the nation's sweetheart. You’re Seattle’s top news anchor. Don’t let resentment turn you into a tabloid headline. Don’t leak her secrets."

"I protect what's mine, Mila."

It was a warning. A threat wrapped in silk.

The bitterness burned the back of my throat.

I opened my mouth to speak, but my stomach suddenly lurched. I bolted for the bathroom.