Chapter 1The Billion-Dollar Bodyguard I Found in the Rain

My fiancé, Evan Carter, was sleeping with my half-sister, Sophia Lynn.

At our engagement party, in front of every notable name in the city, I put their intimate video up on the big screen.

Overnight, I became the laughingstock of Bay City — and the Lynn family threw me headfirst into Polaris Tech, a company teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

In the middle of a downpour, I picked up a dangerous stranger and paid him half a million dollars to be my security consultant.

He was quiet. He was ruthless. He noticed everything. When people came for me, he stepped up. When I was set up, he had my back. When I was accused of stealing someone else's work, he took every bit of the blame himself.

I told him to leave. All he said was, "I'll make sure you win."

It wasn't until every truth came to light that I finally understood — the rough stranger I'd pulled off the street was the real power behind Deep Bay Capital.

* * *

The night of the engagement party, I blew the whole thing up myself.

I put the video on the ballroom screen — footage of my fiancé tangled up with my half-sister, right in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of their hotel room.

Hundreds of people in that room. Every face that mattered in Bay City.

I was wearing a custom gown worth seven figures and four-inch heels. I walked up to that stage in dead silence.

Evan Carter rushed at me to grab the remote. I stepped aside and cracked him across the face with the back of my hand.

The sound rang through the whole room over the premium sound system.

The screen was supposed to play our love story highlight reel. Instead, it was playing high-definition security footage — the night before, the eve of our engagement party, him and my sister Sophia Lynn kissing by the window.

Sophia hiked up her skirt and ran onto the stage, eyes red, reaching out to grab me.

I stepped back. "Don't touch me," I said coldly. "You disgust me."

Evan stood there with his hand over his cheek, staring at me like he couldn't believe what was happening.

He thought I'd swallow it. That I'd keep my mouth shut to protect the Lynn family's stake in the business.

I picked up the microphone and looked out over the crowd — my father's face had gone gray, and the guests were already whispering.

"In front of everyone here tonight, I'm making this official — the engagement is over. I don't want any part of this anymore."

I ripped the diamond necklace off my neck and threw it at Evan's face. Then I turned and walked out of the ballroom.

I pushed through the hotel doors and the rain hit me like a wall.

No umbrella. No driver.

For twenty-four years — ever since my mother died and that woman moved in with Sophia — I had been playing dumb. Keeping my head down. Pretending not to see.

I was done pretending.

I stood in the rain, shaking from the cold, my stomach cramping so badly I could barely breathe. I'd starved myself for three days to fit into that dress.

A beat-up black SUV pulled up in front of me.

The window rolled down. The smell of cheap tobacco drifted out.

The man in the driver's seat was wearing a faded black tank top. There was a jagged scar running down his arm. He wasn't looking at me — he had a cigarette between his lips and his eyes fixed somewhere out in the rain.

His profile was sharp enough to cut glass.

"You getting in?" His voice was low and rough.

I hesitated for a second, then pulled open the door and dropped into the passenger seat.

"Drive."

He turned and looked at me. His eyes were black and flat, and the only thing in them was contempt.

"My car. I don't give rides to crazy women in wedding dresses."

I almost laughed. I reached into my clutch, pulled out a black card, and slapped it on the dashboard.

"PIN is six zeros. There's a million dollars on it. Get me out of here. Right now."

He looked at the card. His brow creased slightly, like he was looking at something unpleasant.

Half a minute passed. He stubbed out his cigarette.

"Buckle up."

The SUV roared out into the storm.