Forbidden to Love

Rachel Johnson once ruled New York's elite circles, until her family's bankruptcy stripped her of everything. Now she delivers takeout in the pouring rain, scraping together money for her mother's dialysis, while a dormant system in her head lies in wait.

At 3 AM, an order sends her to the city's most exclusive private club, where the penthouse door stands open and Xavier Cole is waiting — the man she once forced to kneel in the snow and slapped before walking away. Now one of New York's new rich, he grinds his shoe into her delivery box and demands she beg. But the system wakes, ordering her to humiliate him or face a fatal electric shock, and her tearful insult only makes him drag her inside and bolt the door.

When Xavier tosses a black card and fifty thousand dollars onto the table and orders her to dance for it, the system demands she tear up the money and throw her drink in his face. The penalty for refusal is pain beyond bearing. Trapped between survival and the system's cruelty, Rachel must choose — and the glass in her trembling hand may not land where she intends.